Who is running our experiments? The influence of experimenter identity in the marshmallow task

Thomas St. Pierre; Katherine S. White; Elizabeth K. Johnson

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101271

Who is running our experiments? The influence of experimenter identity in the marshmallow task

Thomas St. Pierre^*, Katherine S. White, Elizabeth K. Johnson

^*Corresponding author for this work

extern

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

While developmental researchers take great care to report on the characteristics of their participants, they rarely report on the characteristics of their experimenter(s). This is surprising, given the real potential for experimenter identity (e.g., gender, race, age, etc.), especially as it relates to children's identities, to influence children's behavior in experiments. In the current study, we investigate how experimenter identity (as signaled by language and race cues) influences 3- to 5-year-old children's (N = 159) behavior in the famous marshmallow task. Results show that experimenter identity indeed influenced children's wait times in the marshmallow task; specifically, we found that racial mismatch between experimenter and child led to longer wait times, and in an exploratory analysis, we found that this effect was exaggerated by an additional mismatch in accent. We thus reveal a previously overlooked factor that may influence children's behavior in a delayed gratification task—experimenter identity—and discuss the important implications of these findings for developmental research more broadly.

Original language	English
Article number	101271
Number of pages	13
Journal	Cognitive Development
Volume	65
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101271
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2023
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

This research was supported by grants awarded to the second and third authors from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ( SSHRC ), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council ( NSERC ), as well as additional financial support from MITACS Global Links. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This research was supported by grants awarded to the second and third authors from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), as well as additional financial support from MITACS Global Links. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.We would like to thank Ala Refai, Runyi Yao, Khrystyna Mandziy, Mariam Galytskyy, Grace Wang, Lisa Hotson, and the rest of the Child Language and Speech Studies Lab, as well as the participating families in our community, for their assistance in the completion of this project.

Funders	Funder number
Child Language and Speech Studies Lab
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Mitacs

Keywords

Delay of gratification
Experimental design
Experimenter effects
Implicit bias
Marshmallow task
Social cognition

Access to Document

10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101271

Cite this

@article{1e22a961bbca4cc9a51f285d3fc0ae0d,

title = "Who is running our experiments? The influence of experimenter identity in the marshmallow task",

abstract = "While developmental researchers take great care to report on the characteristics of their participants, they rarely report on the characteristics of their experimenter(s). This is surprising, given the real potential for experimenter identity (e.g., gender, race, age, etc.), especially as it relates to children's identities, to influence children's behavior in experiments. In the current study, we investigate how experimenter identity (as signaled by language and race cues) influences 3- to 5-year-old children's (N = 159) behavior in the famous marshmallow task. Results show that experimenter identity indeed influenced children's wait times in the marshmallow task; specifically, we found that racial mismatch between experimenter and child led to longer wait times, and in an exploratory analysis, we found that this effect was exaggerated by an additional mismatch in accent. We thus reveal a previously overlooked factor that may influence children's behavior in a delayed gratification task—experimenter identity—and discuss the important implications of these findings for developmental research more broadly.",

keywords = "Delay of gratification, Experimental design, Experimenter effects, Implicit bias, Marshmallow task, Social cognition",

author = "{St. Pierre}, Thomas and White, {Katherine S.} and Johnson, {Elizabeth K.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101271",

language = "English",

volume = "65",

journal = "Cognitive Development",

issn = "0885-2014",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Who is running our experiments? The influence of experimenter identity in the marshmallow task

AU - St. Pierre, Thomas

AU - White, Katherine S.

AU - Johnson, Elizabeth K.

PY - 2023/1/1

Y1 - 2023/1/1

N2 - While developmental researchers take great care to report on the characteristics of their participants, they rarely report on the characteristics of their experimenter(s). This is surprising, given the real potential for experimenter identity (e.g., gender, race, age, etc.), especially as it relates to children's identities, to influence children's behavior in experiments. In the current study, we investigate how experimenter identity (as signaled by language and race cues) influences 3- to 5-year-old children's (N = 159) behavior in the famous marshmallow task. Results show that experimenter identity indeed influenced children's wait times in the marshmallow task; specifically, we found that racial mismatch between experimenter and child led to longer wait times, and in an exploratory analysis, we found that this effect was exaggerated by an additional mismatch in accent. We thus reveal a previously overlooked factor that may influence children's behavior in a delayed gratification task—experimenter identity—and discuss the important implications of these findings for developmental research more broadly.

AB - While developmental researchers take great care to report on the characteristics of their participants, they rarely report on the characteristics of their experimenter(s). This is surprising, given the real potential for experimenter identity (e.g., gender, race, age, etc.), especially as it relates to children's identities, to influence children's behavior in experiments. In the current study, we investigate how experimenter identity (as signaled by language and race cues) influences 3- to 5-year-old children's (N = 159) behavior in the famous marshmallow task. Results show that experimenter identity indeed influenced children's wait times in the marshmallow task; specifically, we found that racial mismatch between experimenter and child led to longer wait times, and in an exploratory analysis, we found that this effect was exaggerated by an additional mismatch in accent. We thus reveal a previously overlooked factor that may influence children's behavior in a delayed gratification task—experimenter identity—and discuss the important implications of these findings for developmental research more broadly.

KW - Delay of gratification

KW - Experimental design

KW - Experimenter effects

KW - Implicit bias

KW - Marshmallow task

KW - Social cognition

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141982233&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101271

DO - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101271

M3 - Article

SN - 0885-2014

VL - 65

JO - Cognitive Development

JF - Cognitive Development

M1 - 101271

ER -

Who is running our experiments? The influence of experimenter identity in the marshmallow task

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this