SHAPE JOY: A Project to Extend Empathic Joy

A longitudinal virtual study investigating behavioral interventions to extend the duration of empathic joy in children.

Overview

The Problem

Empathic joy is often fleeting in early development. This study sought to identify behavioral "anchors" that could extend this positive emotional state.

The Outcome

Maintained the study’s operational integrity by managing a complex longitudinal participant pipeline and refining virtual behavioral protocols.

  • My Role: Research Assistant (with the Leaf Lab).
  • The Goal: Adapting complex, in-person observational methods for a virtual environment while maintaining high data integrity across diverse participant groups.

Understand

To understand how to measure "joy" virtually, we had to bridge the gap between clinical theory and remote feasibility.

The Strategic "Why"

We transitioned to a Virtual Research Model to increase participant accessibility and socio-economic diversity. We chose remote synchronous observation over a lab setting to observe children in their natural home environments, where empathic behaviors are most authentically expressed and longitudinal engagement is higher.

Research

Findings: "The Virtual Engagement Gap"

  1. Protocol Fatigue: Virtual sessions exceeding 15 minutes caused a significant engagement drop in children aged 4-6.
  2. Environmental Variance: Inconsistent home lighting and camera angles created "noise" when coding non-verbal empathic cues.
  3. Dyadic Interference: Child participants frequently looked to guardians for "correct" answers, requiring a shift in moderation techniques.

Process Artifacts

Georgia State University Psychology Research Conference Poster

Conference Publication

Georgia State University Psychology Research Conference Poster (2024)

Outcome & Impact

"The virtual environment requires a different kind of presence; we had to learn to read the room through a 13-inch screen." — Research Observation Log

Based on the evidence of "engagement lag," I worked with the lead researchers to shorten task durations and simplify digital stimuli to maintain data integrity.

Takeaways

The "Rigorous" Mindset: This role taught me that "inconclusive" results are valuable; they force researchers to audit their tools and methods for hidden virtual biases.

Longitudinal Management: I learned that maintaining a year-long study requires extreme organizational diligence and a high-touch communication strategy with participant families.

Future Roadmap:

Successfully bridged the gap between clinical qualitative observation and remote tools (WebEx, Qualtrics) without compromising scientific rigor.