I am interested in how children infer relationships from observed social interactions and then use this information to predict how people will treat each other in the future. For instance, do children expect people who are friendly with one another to provide comfort when one of them is hurt? Our work with 4- to 6-year-olds suggests that 6-year-olds expect friendly characters to comfort more often than strangers.

Social exclusion hurts. I am interested in the ways children respond to being left out, how they evaluate those who are left out, and how being excluded influences their future partner choice. Prior studies focused on how children's play partner choices and evaluations are influenced by social exclusion. Current work is investigating additional factors that influence the way children understand social exclusion.

Children readily help others from an early age. What do they think of those who do not help? How do other factors, such as hesitating to help or social information, alter children's evaluations? Our work suggests that these factors matter!