Game Theory Goes to School: Strategic Decisions in Young Minds | with Isabelle Brocas
May 6, 2024
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Researcher Isabelle Brocas discusses children's strategic decision-making abilities, revealing insights from long-term experimental studies. The podcast explores brain development's influence on choices, age-related variations, bilingual education impacts, different types of logic in kids, and ways to encourage critical thinking and decision-making skills through activities and healthy habits.
Children's age impacts strategic decision-making abilities and cognitive limitations inhibit rationality.
Experimenting with children of different ages provides insights into cognitive development and how they grasp complex concepts over time.
Deep dives
Interest in Conducting Experimental Studies with Children
Studying children's developmental trajectories in behavior, Professor Isabel Brokas explains her focus on observing age-related variations in behavior. By studying children of different ages, she can track developmental anomalies and cognitive limitations inhibiting rational decision-making. The engaging nature of experimenting with children allows for a deeper understanding of how behavior evolves over time and provides insights into cognitive development among youth.
Experimental Setup and Focus on Developmental Trajectories
In conducting experiments with children, Professor Isabel Brokas selects participants from elementary, middle, and high school levels to analyze developmental trajectories. By ensuring that participants differ only in age and not in other factors like SES or curriculum, she aims to isolate the impact of age on behavior. The experiments employ simple, age-appropriate setups to assess strategic decision-making. Understanding the nuances of cognitive development at various ages enhances insights into how children grasp complex concepts over time.
Insights from the Lila Study on Bilingual Education
In the Lila study, which commenced in 2014 at a French-English bilingual school, Isabel Brokas examined cognitive development from preschool to 12th grade students. The standardized curriculum and homogeneity among students allowed for a detailed analysis of strategic decision-making skills. By comparing these findings with other school settings, including public schools and educational magnets, the study highlighted the impact of environment and education on children's cognitive abilities.
Understanding Strategic Decision-Making and Cognitive Abilities
Strategic decision-making involves intricate cognitive abilities like theory of mind and logic, essential for predicting and understanding the intentions of others. Professor Isabel Brokas delves into the development of logic types in children, from inductive to abstract logic, and how these abilities progress through adolescence. By exploring the complexity of cognitive processes underpinning strategic thinking, the study sheds light on the interplay between cognitive skills, age, and decision-making.
In this episode, we explore the fascinating intersection of developmental psychology and economic theory through the lens of children's strategic decision-making abilities: Our discussion focuses on how the evolving capacities of children's brains influence their ability to engage in complex strategic thoughts. Our guest Isabelle Brocas shares the fascinating findings from long-term experimental studies she conducted with children from kindergarten to young adulthood.
Isabelle Brocas is a Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California, where she co-directs both the Los Angeles Behavioral Economics Laboratory (LABEL) and the Theoretical Research in Neuroeconomic Decision-making (TREND) Institute. Her research primarily examines the decision-making processes in humans, with a focus on how young people make choices, the influences behind these decisions, and the cognitive limitations that may affect their rationality. For more on Isabelle's work, you can visit her personal homepage.
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