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Child development
05, 2023;94 (3): 734-751.

Infants and toddlers leverage their understanding of action goals to evaluate agents who help others.

Brandon M Woo, Elizabeth S Spelke
Author Information
  1. Brandon M Woo: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. ORCID
  2. Elizabeth S Spelke: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
PMID: 36752158 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13895

Abstract

Why do infants and toddlers prefer helpers? Four experiments (conducted from 2019-2022; n = 136, 66% White, 15% Asian, 4% Black, 2% Hispanic/Latino, 13% multiracial, majority USA) investigated whether infants and toddlers favor agents whose actions allow others to achieve their goals. In the key experiment, 8-month-old infants and 15-month-old toddlers viewed a protagonist who tried and failed to open a box that contained a toy while two other agents (helpers) observed; then the toys were exchanged and the helpers opened different boxes. Infants and toddlers differently evaluated the two helpers, consistent with their developing means-end understanding. Together, the present four experiments connect infants' and toddlers' evaluations of helping to their understanding of goal-directed behavior.

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MeSH Term

Child, Preschool
Humans
Infant
Goals
Helping Behavior
Journal Article
Article has an altmetric score of 12

Word Cloud

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