Student Experience
Following a passion for early childhood development
Undergraduate Chelsey Tien won the Dean’s Award for her psychology research that explored the role parents play in helping children develop causal reasoning
In the first few years of every child’s life, their brain grows and develops rapidly, in ways that will affect the course of their learning and behavior for the rest of their lives. During this crucial time, a child’s experiences and environment have a major impact on outcomes. That’s why psychology researchers are working hard to understand what conditions set children up for success.
UC Santa Cruz undergraduate Chelsey Tien discovered her passion for this type of research while double-majoring in intensive psychology and cognitive science. Tien spent several years working in Professor Su-Hua Wang’s Infant and Child Development Lab studying parent-child interactions. She ended up collaborating with Wang and graduate student Samantha Basch to develop an independent research project for her senior thesis, which recently earned her the Social Sciences Dean’s Award for outstanding undergraduate research.
“My senior thesis project looked at how caregivers use praise during a collaborative problem-solving task with children, specifically, with a task involving causal reasoning,” Tien explained. “I feel like the results kind of show the active role that caregivers have and could have in children’s learning.”
To study the topic, Tien designed an experiment using a machine called a blicket detector that lights up when certain objects are placed on top of it. Parents and children were asked to sort objects that did and didn’t turn the machine on, then figure out what those that did had in common. Throughout the process, researchers studied the types of praise that parents used to encourage their children.
Tien found that parents expressed praise frequently, at a rate of 0.54 instances per minute. Parents used significantly more “process praise” phrases to recognize children’s efforts, strategies, or actions, compared to “person praise” phrases that evaluate fixed, inherent traits, like “you’re so smart” or “you’re the fastest learner.” Parents were also significantly more likely to use praise when a child completed a task than in response to a child’s listening, observations, or other activities. These findings set a useful baseline for future research to dive into cultural differences in how parents support learning.
“Traditionally, blicket detector experiments are more often used with the idea of trying to look inside children’s heads at cognitive processes,” explained Professor Wang. “But this research project allowed us to bring parents into the picture, which prepares us to look at the socio-cultural aspect of learning and approach it as an interactive activity that also involves children’s parents and culture.”
Tien says she greatly enjoyed her work on the project, and it affirmed her desire to become a professional psychology researcher. She now plans to pursue a Ph.D. after graduation.
“I think the experience taught me how creative you can be in the research process,” she said. “You can create a study, and find out the answers to the questions that you’ve always been wondering.”