Infants prefer those who bow out of conflicts

Abstract

Humans quickly and automatically evaluate others. We evaluate others on many dimensions, but two of the most basic are social rank and prosociality. Infants as young as six months evaluate others based on prosociality, liking helpers to hinderers. Infants also recognize cues of social rank. But how do infants feel about high- and low-ranking individuals? Recent studies have shown that toddlers ages 21 to 31 months prefer high-ranking individuals to low-ranking individuals. The present study asks this question about younger infants. In this series of nine experiments, infants ages 10 to 16 months watched puppet shows featuring two puppets with conflicting goals. In four experiments, we found that unlike toddlers, infants prefer (reach for) puppets who yield to another individual.