At the UNCG Development, Culture, & Health Lab, we are interested in how children learn about the world, especially what they learn from other people and how their knowledge or behavior changes or stays the same over time. We are especially interested in social influences on food preferences and eating behavior, such as the development of picky eating. 

We use multiple methods to study these questions!

Experimental studies

In many of our studies, we are interested in understanding how children respond in a controlled situation. We might introduce children to different people, describe a food's properties, ask questions about a story, or design activities to understand how children think. These studies are typically short (15-30 minutes) and are set up to test a specific prediction.

Observational studies

In some studies, we observe a child's behavior (or interactions between parents and children) to better understand their thinking. We usually give minimal instructions because we are interested in how people respond or interact spontaneously! We might have predictions about what we will see, but we also generate new ideas or research questions by watching people's interactions.

Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal

We use a both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods in our research.
In cross-sectional studies, we recruit children of different ages and compare their responses (for example: 3-year-olds vs. 6-year-olds). In longitudinal studies, we follow the same children over time to look at patterns over time (for example: the same child measured at 6, 9, and 12 months).

​Interested in joining our team? Visit our "Info for Students" page to learn more!

Current online studies:

Germs
What do children (ages 5 to 12) think about getting sick?
Lunchbox
What do children (ages 5 to 12) think about different lunchbox foods?
Unfamiliar Foods
How do 6- to 24-month-old infants react to new foods that they have not tasted before?
Bilingual children's social judgments
What do bilingual children think about people who speak in different languages and accents?
Sharing with Others
In this study, we are interested in children's beliefs about sharing (age 5-12). In this study, we will send you a paper form to complete and send back to us!
Visit our Online Studies page to sign up!

Recent Publications (last 5 years)

     Asterisks [*] mark student researchers who contributed to the paper!

Can children report on their own picky eating? Similarities and differences with parent report. (in press).
Authors: Shruthi Venkatesh* & Jasmine M. DeJesus
Published in: Appetite

​Children expect others to prefer handmade items. (2022)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Susan A. Gelman, & Julie C. Lumeng. 
Published in: Developmental Psychology     [link to journal]     [link to free preprint]     [link to OSF page]

Uncontaminated food is an early-emerging and previously ignored disgust elicitor. (2021)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Emily Gerdin,* Shruthi Venkatesh,* & Joshua Rottman. 
Published in: Emotion     [link to journal]     [link to OSF page]

When gender matters in scientific communication: The role of generic language. (2021)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Valerie A. Umscheid*, & Susan A. Gelman
Published in: Sex Roles     [link to journal]     [link to free preprint]     [link to OSF page]

Young children's ability to make predictions about novel illnesses
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Shruthi Venkatesh*, & Katherine D. Kinzler
Published in: Child Development     [link to NIH free copy]     [link to OSF page]

Studying children’s eating at home: Using synchronous videoconference sessions to adapt to COVID-19 and beyond. (2021)
Authors: Shruthi Venkatesh* & Jasmine M. DeJesus
Published in: Frontiers in Psychology     [link to free journal copy]     [link to OSF page]

Developmental antecedents of cleansing effects: Evidence against domain-generality (2021)
Authors: Emily Gerdin*, Shruthi Venkatesh*, Joshua Rottman, & Jasmine M. DeJesus 
Published in: Behavioral and Brain Sciences     [link to journal]

Nationality cognition in India: Social category information impacts children’s judgments of people and their national identity (2021)
Authors: Radhika Santhanagopalan*, Jasmine M. DeJesus, Ramya S. Moorthy, & Katherine D. Kinzler 
Published in: Cognitive Development     [link to journal]

Social identity and contamination: Children are willing to try foods contaminated by native speakers even when they know the foods are germy (2021)
Authors: Yuejiao Li*, Jasmine M. DeJesus, Diane J. Lee*, & Zoe Liberman 
Published in: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology     [link to journal]

Show or tell: Children’s learning about food from action vs. verbal testimony (2020)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus & Shruthi Venkatesh*
Published in: Pediatric Obesity     [link to journal]     [link to free preprint]     [link to OSF page]

Children’s implicit food cognition: Developing a food Implicit Association Test (2020)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Susan A. Gelman, & Julie C. Lumeng 
Published in: Cognitive Development     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]     [link to OSF page]

Generic language in scientific communication (2019)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Maureen A. Callanan, Graciela Solis, & Susan A. Gelman 
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America     [link to free journal copy]     [link to OSF page]

How information about what is "healthy" versus "unhealthy" impacts children’s consumption of otherwise identical foods (2019)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Katherine Du*, Kristin Shutts, & Katherine D. Kinzler 
Published in: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]     [link to OSF page]

Children eat more food when they prepare it themselves. (2019)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Susan A. Gelman, Isabella Herold*, & Julie C. Lumeng
Published in: Appetite     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]     [link to OSF page]

Children judge others based on their food choices (2019)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Emily Gerdin*, Kathleen R. Sullivan, & Katherine D. Kinzler
Published in: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology     [link to journal]     [link NIH free copy]     [link to OSF page]

Mere social knowledge impacts children’s consumption and categorization of foods (2018)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Kristin Shutts, Katherine D. Kinzler
Published in: Developmental Science     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]

An investigation of maternal food intake and maternal food talk as predictors of child food intake (2018)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Susan A. Gelman, Gail B. Viechnicki, Danielle Appugliese, Alison L. Miller, Katherine L. Rosenblum, & Julie C. Lumeng
Published in: Appetite     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]
 
Selective eating behaviors in children: An observational validation of parental report measures (2018)
Authors: Carmen Fernandez*, Jasmine M. DeJesus, Julie C. Lumeng, Alison L. Miller, Katherine L. Rosenblum, Danielle Appugliese, & Megan H. Pesch 
Published in: Appetite     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]
 
“American = English-speaker” before “American = White”: The development of children’s reasoning about nationality (2018)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Hyesung G. Hwang*, Jocelyn B. Dautel, Katherine D. Kinzler
Published in: Child Development     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]

Bilingual children’s social preferences hinge on accent rather than language (2017)
Authors: Jasmine M. DeJesus, Hyesung G. Hwang*, Jocelyn B. Dautel, Katherine D. Kinzler
Published in: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology     [link to journal]     [link to NIH free copy]

Implicit attitudes, eating behavior, and the development of obesity (2017)
Author: Jasmine M. DeJesus
Published in: Behavioral and Brain Sciences     [link to journal]     [link to free author copy]

For a full list of Dr. DeJesus's publications, take a look at her faculty page or her listing on Google Scholar.