Sarah Gerson

And then we randomly assigned them once we had that group to one of these two conditions.

And the benefits in boys were very similar to the benefits in girls.

So again, if the boy's comfortable and happy to do that, great, it can be potentially helpful for them.

But I think both parents and society and children themselves will vary in their kind of comfort level with that.

Yeah, it's a really interesting question and one we can't exactly say from this particular study.

But I think it's really fascinating to think about because, like I said, you get this kind of basic theory of mind when you're pretty early, pretty young in life.

But there's individual differences through adulthood.

And I think, again, thinking about what parents take from dolls and whether they think it's fun or not.

and whether they think it's useful or not, they often forget that things like social skills and empathy and understanding others is going to be really crucial foundational skills for success in life, right?

Even for careers, for education, for forming friendships and relationships and social support.

So I think there's all sorts of potential implications and we need to do more research to find out whether these kinds of early differences actually relate to that.

And that's something I'm really interested in doing in the future.

Maybe.

Give it a go.

See what happens.

Thank you so much.

What if there's a secret to raising emotionally intelligent humans?

And it's not an app, a tablet, or a fancy educational game, but a humble plastic doll.

New research shows that old-fashioned playing with dolls might teach kids better social skills than technology.

Let's dive into that with developmental psychologist at Cardiff University in Wales, Sarah Gerson.