Okay, well actually, Harvard came to us. No she hasn't received early admission or a scholarship, although maybe in 18 years she will. We were invited to participate in a study through the Laboratory for Development at Harvard. I thought it would be a neat opporunity and figured we didn't have much else more exciting going on so why not. How many other families that I know have gotten to do it? None. 
Last week, a woman came to our house and set up two very official looking laptops and a big two-way mirror on our dining room table. The woman explained that they were studying the development of racial preference in babies. I have to admit, it wasn't really what I imagined the study being about. The letter said they were studying how babies view the world. Somehow I imagined watching a children's video like Sesame Street or playing with toys to see what they're interested in this age. But, oh well. It's interesting that babies notice race. I was told to hold Emma in front of the computer so she could see the images of people on the screen. Again, I imagined smiling babies of all colors. I wasn't actually allowed to look at the pictures so maybe that is what she saw.
Emma being Emma, she didn't feel much like looking at the pictures and she ended up having a meltdown. It wasn't really her fault though. The researcher came late and took awhile to set up so, Emma was getting tired and hungry. She said it was okay, that they understood that babies can be unpredictable and that it was okay if she didn't really look at the pictures, but that they would gather as much info as she was willing to give.
We were then given a book and DVD of pictures of people fall rom one race. We were to review both quickly everyday to see if exposing her to that particular race all week would change her responses to the pictures next time she arrived. We did as we were told, but I'm not sure how much Emma got out of our review sessions. As a mom, I would've chosen different pictures if I was trying to capture the attention of babies. The people were adults - Harvard students I assume - and none were smiling. They really looked like mug shots. One gentleman in particular looked like a serial killer. Emma always looked away when it came time to look at his picture.
Today the researcher came back and set up her mini-lab on our table again. This time Emma was rested and fed so I was hopeful that we'd have a better experience. Emma still didn't want to look at the pictures again. She preferred looking at her reflection in the mirror surrounding the computer. Again, as a mom, I wouldn't make a baby choose between mug shots or her adorable reflection, but I'm no scientist so what do I know. She started to fuss so I gave her her binkie. Sucking away, she was able to focus a bit more. Just as she was about to have a meltdown the researcher said we were done! Thank goodness! I was a little embarrased about her meltdown last week.
I'm not sure how helpful Emma's contribution was since the race we had to study was our own. Emma's really only been exposed to our family and close friends with the exception of a few African-American doctors so I'm not sure it changed her preferrence for race. Maybe she was part of the control group. It was a neat experience though and I'll be interested to find out what the study's findings are. I hope in the future we'll get to participate in other studies. Maybe we'll actually get to go to Harvard to participate!
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