Early Social Development Lab

03/18/2022

Congratulations to ESDL team members Dr. John Corbit, Hayley MacDougall, Stef Hartlin, and Dr. Chris Moore on the publication of their paper titled "The Development of Intergroup Cooperation: Children Show Impartial Fairness and Biased Care". Way to go team!

One of the most remarkable features of human societies is our ability to cooperate with each other. However, the benefits of cooperation are not extended to everyone. Indeed, another hallmark of human societies is a division between us and them. Favoritism toward members of our group can result in a...

01/31/2022

February is African Heritage Month
The theme "Through Our Eyes: The Voices of African Nova Scotians" explores & examines affects of anti-black racism & the voice of African Nova Scotians who blazed the trail for change. Visit the African Heritage Month website to learn more - http://www.ahm.bccnsweb.com/wp/home/

10/21/2021

In this episode, we interview Dr. Chris Moore. He’s a developmental psychologist with the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Dalhousie University. His long-standing research interest examines social understanding and behaviour in early childhood.

Outside of his research, he spent the last 12 years as Dalhousie’s Dean of Science. Now that his period as Dean has come to an end, he’s exploring a new phase of his career with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction at the University of King’s College. With that, he plans to write a book for the general public that explores the emotion of guilt — what it is, what it’s for, and how it manifests in our lives.

This episode covers Dr. Moore’s path to psychology, the creativity needed to research little kids’ behaviours in the lab, and his new direction as a science communication author.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Chris Moore. He’s a developmental psychologist with the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Dalhousie University. His long-standing research interest examines

09/07/2021

🎉🎉 Congratulations to ESDL collaborator Dr. Fatemeh Keshvari, ESDL manager Stef Hartlin, former ESDL honours student Olivia Capozzi-Davis, ESDL director Dr. Chris Moore, and former ESDL post doc Dr. John Corbit on the publication of their article titled "Group over need: Convergence in the influence of recipient characteristics on children's sharing in Iran and Canada" Way to go team! 🎉🎉

Children are remarkably concerned with fairness, yet social evaluations often lead to partiality in fairness behavior. For instance, children share more generously with in-group peers and allocate re...

08/11/2021

The ESDL team was happy to be able to re-connect in person for the first time in 16 months and celebrate the many successes of our team members.

We celebrated the amazing work of our 2020-21 honours students Hayley MacDougall and Mya Dockrill who finished up their degrees in the spring and will be off to graduate programs in Occupational Therapy and Psychology in the upcoming year. Congratulations Hayley and Mya on all of your successes!

We also celebrated the wonderful work of our stellar research assistants Alicia Reil and Mya Dockrill who have done a phenomenal job working with families to understand more about the development of cooperation and collaboration under the supervision of Post Doc Dr. John Corbit and ESDL director Dr. Chris Moore.

We celebrated the end of Dr. John Corbit's post doc in the lab and his move to teach at StFX in the upcoming year. John has exceeded all expectations during his tenure at the lab and we are excited to continue our collaborative work into the future. Congratulations on your new position John! We know you will do great!

We also celebrated the recent successful defense of clinical PhD candidate Erin Dempsey who will be working in the IWK in the upcoming year. Way to go Erin!

Last but certainly not least, we celebrated the end of Dr. Moore's successful 12 year tenure as Dean of Science at Dalhousie University and wish him all the best in his continued role in the associate vice presidents office.

Although there has been many challenges over the past 16 months we couldn't be prouder of all of the ESDL team members for their perseverance and for contributing to the continued success of the ESDL's work on learning more about how children understand themselves, others, and the world around them. Go team!

07/27/2021

The Early Social Development Lab is looking for children 4- to 9-years of age to take part in an ONLINE study on collaboration. Visit https://esdldalhousie.wixsite.com/esdl/current-studies to learn more and sign up or contact us at [email protected].

07/19/2021

Are You Ready for Some Science FUN?!
JOIN US ONLINE!!
For info visit: https://bit.ly/35UteJc
We'll test out all sorts of spectacular reactions. Gather some supplies, follow along & do some experiments at home. Our Mad Scientist will also do a few for kids to watch. From colour changes to fizzy foamy fun, and even some dancing raisins, get ready to be amazed while you learn!

06/21/2021

🎉🎉 Congratulations to Clinical PhD candidate Erin Dempsey on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation titled The Development of Morality in Autism Spectrum Disorder 🎉🎉

06/17/2021

Spend July and August at the Museum of Natural History, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and more.

06/15/2021

Hey Teachers!
Are you and your students missing your annual field trip as much as we are? We created a few short curriculum-linked videos we can send you to share with your class.
Pre-Primary - Exploring Wildlife
Primary - Comparing Animals
Grade 1 - Animal Characteristics
Grade 2 - Animal Growth
Grade 4 - Habitats
Grade 6 - Adaptations
(Sorry grades 3 and 5, no videos linked to your curriculum at the moment)
Email [email protected] with which video you would like us to send to you (a government login is required for file sharing).