Magazine - Can Babies Tell Right From Wrong? - nytimes.com/video

Babies at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center respond to "naughty" and "nice" puppets.

Related Link: http://nyti.ms/aQtFv8

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Science & Technology

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• The New York Times
• NYT
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• Magazine
• moral baby
• Yale University
• Cognition Center
• babies
• experiment
• puppets

[Jellies256]

problems:

- parent holding child might give minute and inadvertent cues

- shaking of circular puppet at top of hill and not at bottom (yes, this shows the happiness but the noise and visual cues might cause the baby to react differently)

[MegF142857]

Would be better if the person offering the puppet to baby at the end didn't know which was the "nice" and "bad" one. My horses show me that teeny tiny body positioning or gestures can influence them. So is this happening with this study without realizing it?

I'm assuming they do make sure to alter the colors and shapes to make sure that isn't a factor.

[thestrugglewithin]

This test is flawed.

As MegF142857 and Jellies256 stated, as well as this: how do they know that the child does not already have a positive emotional association to a particular shape and or colour or combination of both or an animal character?

It is wrong to assume they are a complete blank slate until the test itself.

Maybe the actual test swapped characters/ colours/ shapes etc around in repeat tests to avoid these variables.

My own experience in academic research leaves me doubtful.

[callmeyourdady]

does anybody know the exact age bracket these infants fall into ?

[AVezie]

seems biased. Why not have baby placed in highchair and pupet presenter be blind to which is good and which is bad?

[vidasprotegidas]

@Jellies256 This "moral instinct" takes place in a different way to animals sometimes. Have you seen a hippopotamus save an animal of another species of prey crocodile? Personally, I've seen some very interesting things in Brazil with another species and human babies. It seems to me that the aversion to death, cruelty activates a sort of protectionism or even a pre-morality in some animals. I think something similar is happening with the babies. PGTC.

[vidasprotegidas]

This really proves the synderesis. We are happy to research of great value as this. Ever heard of PGTC? Genetic programs of behavioral tendencies? It's reviewed by Professor André Luís Cardoso Roque in Portuguese. If anyone knows how to speak Portuguese, it is worth looking here on Youtube for his video classes: PGTC and "União e Prazer" (Union and Pleasure). Thank you! Congratulations!

[PetercAW]

@ScottfromTexas I can't tell if you're a really subtle troll or a really ignorant human.

[blackfootnavajo]

i find this very problematic, especially for the parents and i believe a child is neutral when its born also in terms of sexuality.

[ScottfromTexas]

Babies know from birth that Blacks are evil and Whites are good and have to be brainwashed in to believing the races are equal.

[phreakoutaston]

@Jellies256: this is where I would like to read the peer review paper that accompanies this studies. Love to see what control conditions they have put into this study.

[felipe1ktm]

@MegF142857 Very good point. It would be nice to see this done with a bad and good character that have the same color and shape, as yellow is in fact more attractive than the blue square.