Flourishing Through Fieldwork

Building on her classroom studies at Oberlin, fourth-year student Vivian Friedman spent last summer interning as a research assistant at NYU’s Cognitive Development Lab.

The Brooklyn, New York, native—who double majors in psychology and sociology—was inspired to pursue the internship after taking Professor Nancy Darling’s course Development in a Cultural Context. 

“This class really opened my eyes to the importance of culture, especially within the field of research,” Friedman says. “My biggest takeaway from this course was just how insular the field of psychology—developmental psychology, specifically—can be, with most participants coming from very similar backgrounds.”

Friedman carried this revelation with her as she undertook her fieldwork, ensuring that her research took diversity, as well as social and cultural factors, into account.

“I helped with recruitment online, through social media, and in person, going to New York City zoos and parks to ask families if they would like to participate,” she explains. 

Friedman collected data by facilitating interviews and recording participants’ answers, she says.

“One of the most interesting parts of the internship was seeing how the answers differed based on the participants' age,” Friedman says. “The projects I worked on focused on children’s explanations, growth mindset beliefs, and understanding of gender differences.” 

She was particularly interested in “how exposure to diversity as a child impacts the development of critical thinking,” she says. “I believe that understanding how children learn and develop is vital in better understanding our world.”

Through her time at the NYU Cognitive Development Lab, she also learned how collaborative and gratifying the research process can be.

“Before I began, I thought that research was way more individualistic, and that people would be pretty focused on their own topics,” Friedman says. “But I was pleasantly surprised by how much the researchers helped each other—giving advice, feedback, and lending a helping hand.”

To learn more about internship opportunities for Oberlin students, check out Career Exploration and Development.