Sense Of Fairness, Altruism Observed In Infants As Young As 15 Months Old

Well before “not fair!” becomes a staple phrase of your child’s spoken repertoire, he or she might already have a fundamental grasp of right and wrong. A study published last October in PLoS One found that 15-month-old infants could identify unequal distributions of food and drink and that this sense of fairness was connected to their own willingness to share.

To measure these moral sentiments, researchers first had the children watch movies of an actor distributing food, either equally or unequally, between two people. Most of the toddlers spent more time looking at the unequal outcome, suggesting it surprised them by violating their basic sense of fair­ness. Next, every child picked his or her favorite of two new toys, and the researchers then asked the kids to share one of the toys. Of the infants who shared their favorite toy, 92 percent had also been surprised by the unfair outcome in the videos.

Scientists have typically thought that other-regarding preferences—which may have played an important role in the evolutionary history of human cooperation—emerge in early or mid-childhood, around the ages of seven or eight. This study suggests that they may develop as early as the second year of life and that those early moral judgments and behaviors are more closely intertwined than ever expected.

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Comments

[LaoShur]

08:07 AM on 04/17/2012

See GOP?!! Even at 15 months, NORMAL human beings know the difference and understand the problem of income inequalty!!

[mamacat]

01:40 AM on 04/16/2012

I can speak from my own experience as an infant. I remember quite clearly being told what was acceptable, and what was not. Without that guiding influence, behavior which was not acceptable would have become the norm. Thus, I do not entirely accept the notion that babies know right from wrong, since I did not, at least not entirely.

[mangez merde]

01:21 AM on 04/16/2012

History is filed with the underestimation of capability.

It was once thought that animals could not use tools.

It was once thought that animal were incapable of empathy.

It was once thought that ancient peoples were incapable of sailing great distances to populate Polynesia etc.

This article just another reminder of human arrogance and the negative influence of religious dogma..

[mangez merde]

01:03 AM on 04/16/2012

All civilizations that fail, fail because cooperation is the fabric of civilizations.

[Tim The Enchanter]

08:00 PM on 04/15/2012

"Liberals" are created by family situations where the child feels that "life just isn't fair" and so they spend their entire lives trying to enforce their view of fairness on the world, no matter who they hurt.

[mangez merde]

01:26 AM on 04/16/2012

Actually, this article was placed as a ruse to see what Tea Party Taliban Manchurian Candidate would be the first to turn a scientific article into political pablum.

Tim the Enchanter is the winner !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually. Whiner is more accurate.

[mamacat]

01:43 AM on 04/16/2012

Liberals tend to be tolerant of others viewpoints, while Conservatives tend to try to force their viewpoints onto others.

Liberals tend to think that people have worth, so that it is worthwhile to work for the common good, while Conservatives tend to think that most people are bad, so they don't believe in working for the common good.

[mangez merde]

02:04 AM on 04/16/2012

Don't reason with the animals please. They are incapable of understanding facts and/or logic.

[Tim The Enchanter]

08:44 AM on 04/16/2012

"Liberals" are the least tolerant people I know. It's amusing that you think you are tolerant. You are only tolerant of socialist viewpoints.

[Tim The Enchanter]

07:57 PM on 04/15/2012

Obviously these people don't have any children.

Aside from this, "scientists" usually means kids working on a science degree of some sort.

[Indygrl76]

08:15 PM on 04/14/2012

This research proves that the human sense of morality is innate-- not a product of religious superstition... once again.

[mangez merde]

01:07 AM on 04/16/2012

Maybe not innate. Maybe more quickly learned than previously thought.

There is no evidence that emotions and or morality are coded within DNA.

However, your observation about morality not a product of religious superstition is astute.

[Indygrl76]

06:13 PM on 04/16/2012

Actually there is considerable evidence that personality is more a product of genetics than environment. For more evidence from the field of neuroscience and the relationship between genetics and emotion/personality read Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape...

[Mike Sandes]

06:51 AM on 08/21/2012

Oh Yes there is. Google Sam Harris

[waterycoffee]

03:46 PM on 04/14/2012

This is very interesting because it seems to disprove the Piagetian conservation tasks that are often failed by children in the sensorimotor or pre-operational stages.
Also, children as young as a year old are able to comfort one another with hugs, pats, and kisses. This is before they become desensitized like the rest of us.

[mangez merde]

01:10 AM on 04/16/2012

Piaget ???

Never thought I would here his name mentioned on HuffPost.

La capacité de Cognative est comme le fait la capacité cognitive. - Forrest Gump

[Crisdean Wulver]

10:06 AM on 04/13/2012

I just had an interesting thought. Look at the expression on the face of the baby in the picture above. Humans are very good at reading faces. And our state of mind is often revealed on our faces. How do you read that baby's face? What would you say is the state of mind revealed by the baby's expression? Do you ever see that expression on the face of an adult? If not, why not? Is it because adults are never in that same mindset? If not, why not?

:-)

Anyone who cares to try and answer my questions, please leave a response to this comment.

[Crisdean Wulver]

08:36 AM on 04/13/2012

There's a good book on this subject called "The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life." It's by Alison Gopnik, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Berkeley.

People are born good.

[Crisdean Wulver]

08:33 AM on 04/13/2012

Or as the lyrics from a song in South Pacific say:

-

You've got to be taught to hate and fear,
You've got to be taught from year to year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

[mangez merde]

01:13 AM on 04/16/2012

Wow !!!

That is from South Pacific ???

Thought it was just some entertaining musical.

Learn something new everyday. Thanks.

Is that Rodgers & Hammerstein ????

[TomMartin]

03:57 AM on 04/13/2012

Obviously it is not only some scientists who used to be wrong about it. Many Christians claim that little children can't sin, so if they die they go automatically to heaven, because they don't know right from wrong. Some use this argument as the main argument for not baptizing babies, in denominations that reject baby baptism.

[mangez merde]

01:32 AM on 04/16/2012

Most Christians agree that animals are incapable of knowing right from wrong and that is what separates mankind from animals.

Applying their logic about babies, then all animals would also be welcomed to Heaven.

Christians also believe a mansion is waiting for them in Heaven.

Of course, that would be a cockroach infected mansion.

Christian logic is so hilarious.

[TomMartin]

03:53 AM on 04/13/2012

Some other mammals can similarly determine fairness, so it is surprising that before this study some scientists could have thought that five-year olds can't.

[itruth]

10:23 PM on 04/12/2012

Infants have shown reactions to facial cues within minutes of birth and they put their hands to cover their eyes with light and over their ears to loud sound.We are listening while we are in the womb to our mother and the world she lives in.Emotion and the cues to go with it must be formed early on so the child will be picking out the faces that it will depend on in the family or group that will help it to live.Social cues in faces of adults will give the baby feedback on how it should behave.Try the fear face on a baby and watch how fast it will cling to the adult mother or father.Tone of the mother or father's voice will cause an 'Alarm' respose as fast but they may just look to the adult if it is from someone else to take the cue as how to respond.Show me a calm baby and i'll show you a calm mother.

[Dahbig Kahuna]

02:03 PM on 04/12/2012

I fear if the police read these kinds of reports they will conclude that since the kids are basicaly born knowing right from wrong that it will be OK to taser tyrannical toddlers.