The right timing matters: identifying sensitive periods in the formation of socio-emotional skills

Crawford School of Public Policy
Photo by 	Palashrcz on Wikimedia Commons

Event details

ACDE Seminar

Date & time

Tuesday 31 May 2022
2.00pm–3.30pm

Venue

Weston Theater and Zoom

Speaker

Shyamal Chowdhury, University of Sydney

Hybrid event, Zoom link available on registration.

In a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with about 3,200 children in grades 2 to 5 in Bangladesh we examine the existence of sensitive periods in the formation of socio-emotional skills. In sensitive periods, returns to investments into skills are particularly high. Using a novel design for identifying sensitive periods, we implement the same intervention in different school grades to study its age-specific treatment effects on children’s self-control, patience, and pro-sociality. Our results identify sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience around the ages 7 and 8, while pro-sociality appears to be similarly malleable throughout ages 7 to 11.

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