In Class Activity: The Deceptive Container AKA “Smartie Box Task” But a Crayon Box…

Step 1: Find a partner.

Step 2: Assign one partner to be a 3-year-old child and the other to the experimenter.

Step 3: Do the false-belief task with your partner by following this script.

Experimenter: Hi I’m “X”. I am going to show you some things and I want to know what you think about them. Is that okay?

Child: Yes!

Experimenter: Look here is a crayon box. What do you think is inside the box?

Child: Answer how you think they would answer.

Experimenter: Well, let’s see!

Experimenter: So what was inside the box?

Child: Answer how you think they would answer.

Experimenter: A friend is going to come here in a second. They have never seen the box before. What will the friend will think is inside it?

Child: Answer how you think they would answer.

Now reflect on how a 4- or 5-year-old might answer.