Children of 6 months differentiate between good and bad people

Children can differentiate good and bad people by being friendly to people who help others and avoid bullying. Surprising results because people still think that the ability to judge the opponent based on their behavior is an adult-only skill.

This is the first study to show that even though babies are not able to speak, they have made judgments and based on that.

According to researchers at Yale University, this ability is a survival skill of creation and is the foundation for later moral thoughts and behavior. They conducted tests on children aged 6-10 months.

In the first experiment, Kiley Hamlin and colleagues showed children a wooden character trying to climb a hill. After a few unsuccessful attempts, one of the other characters will either help drag the other person up the hill or intentionally push the person down.

(Photo: nestlenutrition.com) When choosing 1 of these 2 characters, 80% of children choose helpers. The second experiment also showed that the children had a surprising reaction when the climber approached the person who had harmed him.

To find out what kind of attitude the child has with helpers and hindrances, Hamlin does a follow-up experiment. The group takes in a third neutral character and monitors the child's reaction when they have to choose between this new character and one of the other two.

Children have a clear preference for helpers compared to neutral people, while grabbing a third person when he is standing next to the bad guy.

"These evidence suggest that babies can assess others based on their behavior towards people around them," the team concluded.

MT