Video, Worksheets: Experiments on the social behavior of babies
Using puppets psychologists explore what small children as young as a few months old think about their social environment and whether they can distinguish between “good” and “bad”.
LiteratureBase
Young infants prefer prosocial to antisocial othersr prosocial to antisocial others
Hamlin, J. K., & Wynn, K. (2011). Young infants prefer prosocial to antisocial others. Cogn Dev., 26(1), 30–39. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2010.09.001
Abstract
- The current study replicates and extends the finding (Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom, 2007) that infants prefer individuals who act prosocially toward unrelated third parties over those who act antisocially. Using different stimuli from those used by Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom (2007), somewhat younger subjects, and 2 additional social scenarios, we replicated the findings that (a) infants prefer those who behave prosocially versus antisocially, and (b) these preferences are based on the social nature of the actions. The generality of infants’ responses across multiple examples of prosocial and antisocial actions supports the claim that social evaluation is fundamental to perceiving the world.
- Concepts Development of behavior, Moral cognition, Social cognition
- Relevant research methods Behavioral research/Psychology
