Magazine - Can Babies Tell Right From Wrong? | The New York Times

[@diwi5823]

It looks like the moms are holding their breaths like “Please God don’t let my baby choose the evil one 😬” 🤣

[@Mimi19701]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@xrs315]

probably

[@IndianSumaira]

🤣

[@lynnea5731]

🤣🤣

[@foundereren7789]

You know what their baby carring from their ancestors !!

[@jamieqroberts]

I like how at 2:40 the baby, having reached for the triangle, is reaching for the square and then the board is taken away.

[@wilddesigns857]

I agree I don't think this was a good experiment.

[@alfonsomena2558]

trying to reenact rather than decide who knows?

[@mahhk9855]

probably the baby is right handed and tried to reach the triangle first. Maybe changing the triangle to the non-dominant hand side would be better.

[@b_lue73]

Crystal B that was uncalled for. 😑

[@commandercorner5575]

mahh k It's over 80% that choose the "good guy". Without knowing what kind of controls they use, all you can do is make baseless assumptions that make no refutation as to the rate at which the "good guy" is chosen.

[@100kgBeasthehe10]

What would make these tests more credible and accurate would be to have two consequential test. The first test is just like what is in the video, having two characters playing a bad guy and a good guy. But the second test should have the same characters but with reversed role. It'd be interesting to see if they change their preference.

[@DrTiwade]

Too complicated for babies that young. It would be test of memory too rather than just morals.

[@SineN0mine3]

@@DrTiwade Thats debateable, and hard to assert without performing the experiment and observing the results, it would also be a good way to control for any bias towards particular types of puppets. We might have inadvertandly proved that babies prefer yellow puppets to blue ones.

[@JuJuAndPenny]

@@SineN0mine3 I had the same thought. I think a good control would be to randomize which puppets play which role to see if the results stay consistent, or to simply switch it up to be a perfect 50/50. For baby A, it could be Blue is Bad, Yellow is Good, while for Baby B, it could be vice versa. If the preference still stays at 80% of babies choosing the good baby, that's a better indication that that's what they're basing their choice on.

[@davidvarley1812]

It's a scientific study carried out by a prominent university. If the method was serious flawed the data would inaccurate and the project would be pointless. So I'm confident they know how to operate the study.

[@JuJuAndPenny]

@@davidvarley1812 I agree with you, I probably should have expanded my statement to say that this including the control methods that *were* used would have been a great addition to this report, because the way it's presented makes it seem less concrete.

[@roxiethecockapoo1138]

Imagine one of these people actually go to Yale one day and the teachers are like,"I remember you, you're the one that couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong!"

[@khairulamribinjumaat7566]

Perhaps such a person would be having a different conversation from within a prison, lol.

[@RexoryByzaboo]

The babies in the video are freshmen or sophomores now, so this thing might happen soon haha.

[@sillyjilly1855]

Lmao I love how the whole time the babies are just like: 👁👄👁 Haha so cute

[@RG_Eph]

😂

[@Ichangedmyname1221]

In the first test, shouldn't the characters look exactly the same while they do different things? Some of the babies might just prefer the color or shape of the character.

[@YuriLelisRafael]

Deven Lewis to the half of the babies the good one is the triangle and to the other half the good one is the square.

[@Ichangedmyname1221]

lol says the person with the username "pooping"

[@Ichangedmyname1221]

its cool I can dig it

[@hannasteven6275]

Deven Lewis lovely

[@vickisuni3899]

Deven Lewis Vicki

[@孙言-u4q]

I believe that some of the results might not be the actual choices that babies made. As some people said in the comment, they assumed babies choose the character just because they started to reach them. However, in some cases, as we see in the video, the baby also reach his or her hand to the other character after he attempt to grab one of them. Also, the color of the "bad guy" are mostly dark green, blue, gray; the color of the "good guy" are mostly bright orange, yellow.

[@AyanaSioux]

孙言 not in the case of the tigers. The good tiger was gray.

[@floofzykitten5236]

they switch the characters around

[@MelB868]

Babies don't know their colors

[@ellenakavarera1565]

Ayana Sioux Art yeah, and it was light gray. in my opinion, the tiger was eye-catching enough

[@paultardspambot]

Furthermore, the test may not show a sense of "right" versus "wrong" but a potentially "helpful" character versus a "harmful" one. In other words, it could be a test of baby being able to predict who would make a more useful friend, out of personal interest, not morality.

[@VictoriasUniverse]

Some of the choices seem to be made by the person's doing the evaluation rather than the babies because once the babies made eye contact or started to reach in a certain direction they just assumed that was the babies overall choice.

[@MyPureSteez]

I noticed that too. When the baby grabbed the yellow triangle, the tester immediately pulled the choices back. But you can notice for a split second the baby reached / grabbed for the grey square. They should of let that play out.

[@MonoEnta]

Exactly, in fact it seemed like she wanted both, which is a selfish characteristic, which would dis-prove an innate sense of good and evil. But they want their answers to be right so bad dont they Science is about making mistakes to find answers, psedo-science is about making the universe align with your answers and this is why psychology is not science

[@gregchung9244]

psychology is not a pseudo science, there's actually a large body of work showing how psychological practices or therapies do work

[@yourmajesty7012]

Corpsie I disagree with the statement that psychology is not a science, however I agree with your observation that the researchers had a bias for what they wanted the child to choose, and this is a huge problem in psychology which is why psychology seems fake to most people, however I'm a psychology student hoping to help change that; psychology has the potential to be a great and highly regarded science but it needs to get rid of theories and assumptions and focus more on measurable science based evidence focused mostly on the brain

[@PichDextro]

It's the first choice that matters. Our brain seperates in milliseconds so if you're given more time to overthink you start questioning your choice which wouldn't be good for the results

[@anpa7108]

This could also mean that babies can tell which character they are more likely benefit from by having. So they're looking out for what they benefit the most from.

[@chaoswitch1974]

Precisely . Don't all humans? The trouble comes when they don't gain introspection and look for people to give to them but don't reciprocate.

[@chaoswitch1974]

Reciprocity is learned. Criminals are underdeveloped and it's likely environmental.

[@GarvMania]

Babies are surely going to choose the character who exhibits the traits of helpfullness and frienliness. This is how us humans survive as social animals.

[@ChenathWanniarachchi]

Babies do not choose as a self behind the eyes, making choices. The baby has no distinction between, choice, chooser, chosing, objects and self, or even the sense of objects at ages before 8 monthsish.

[@smithsparishgirl]

In both examples the toys were whipped away as soon as the child had made "the right" choice even though it looked like in the first sample, the child wanted to also pick up the blue square. It was ten worse in the second test where the cat seems presented more than the other stuffed toy and as soon as she goes towards the cat the other one is whipped completely out of reach.

[@Arkylie]

Yeah, there seems to be need for a double-blind-study sort of thing here. Have the person presenting the toys not know which is the "good" answer, at minimum. Or remove the person entirely, and simply have the tray slide out mechanically.

[@Mastersniper803]

It´s a 2 min video. Also if they always took away the "right choise" why do "only" 80% of the children choose it and not 100%

[@joezingher4770]

this wasn't the whole study. Just an excerpt from it.

[@olivtrees8749]

The child picked the yellow first and therefore preferred the yellow first. That's the point made. So it doesn't matter that it reached for the second one afterwards. They were trying to find out preference. Personally I think the baby just preferred the brighter color over the blander one.

[@littlewammity9896]

and they smiled when the baby chose the right one - we know babies respond to positive attention, so they may have only chosen the good ones because they were led to choose it. babies are a lot more responsive to sound, emotion, and reaction which suggests their choices weren't completely original.

[@Dottyeyes]

Interesting and clever! But to make sure the presenter of the choice is not subconsciously guiding the baby's choice, the presenter should not have seen which toy was the "bad" or "good" one in the little play. I noticed that the moment one baby moved her hands toward the good toy, the presenter immediately pulled back the bad toy.

[@XXgenderloveXY]

That's a really good point, and babies pick up on energy so if the presenter is biased the baby could sense that.

[@bbyskittles91]

Yeah, it looked like the baby was going to pick up the bad character as well. I know kids can tell good guys from bad guys at a young age. I see it all the time at my job at a daycare, but this experiment had some flaws. Babies arent necessarily more interested in the first thing the grab.

[@tsukhtian]

She ruined the real experiment

[@blackngoldcuttlefish3390]

I also felt like the baby was trying to pick the one it thought the presenter wanted it to pick versus the one it actually liked better or anything like that. Because they kept looking to the adult for verification. So the presenter's demeanor would influence that, and we all know the presenters wanted them to pick the "nice" one lol

[@aang7505]

These are basic principles we learned in AP Psychology; I can’t believe a Yale professor neglected them

[@zachfindley2982]

I don't know if this is an accurate representation of cognition... at least regarding what is considered good and bad, naughty or nice. How is one able to justify whether or not the baby is selecting one or the other based simply on duration and exaggeration of movement? The Square block clearly moves significantly less in comparison to the triangle... the bad puppet clearly interacts less and moves less than the other to puppets. Babies are attracted to movement, sound, color... I don't feel that this experiment collects congruent data.

[@james757live5]

+Zachary Findley And she started to grab the square before they took it away @ 2:39. It's possible that being right or left-handed could affect these results. Edit: Logical thinkers versus creative thinkers as well. Not sure how present the differences would be in a group this young though.

[@sillyotter9047]

It's hard to assume that a baby chooses these things because they are either good or bad. Babies do react to yelling and negative responses, so in some ways they do have an idea of when someone is safe or not safe, happy or not happy, friendly or unfriendly, but I do not believe without personal experience they can see these things and recognize that the stuffed animal running away with the ball is a bad thing. The puppet with the ball, I can't imagine even children would understand what was happening, and I certainly don't think they would distinguish one puppet as the bad one.

[@TheDamo189]

Totally agree.

[@TheSassi14]

Zach Findley Good argument

[@rudys6315]

Truee

[@seniprime6693]

Did anyone take into consideration that a creature that had spent majority of its existence, being constantly cared for “ or helped” would prefer things or characters that exude helpfulness. Maybe it’s not being able to tell right from wrong/good or bad but vague form of manipulation. I like this thing/person/creature, because it will be useful to me like my parents who cater to my every whim.

[@mari-mari-yasno]

very correct remark

[@taigenraine]

I feel like this study could be done better, at least at the choosing part. There are a lot of subconcious non verbal cues that the parent and/or the researcher can give the infant to affect their decision. A slight lean to one side or another, holding the toy slightly closer or higher, etc. I think it would be more convincing and rigorous to have the baby set down in a circle on the floor with the toys revealed by some mechanism and they can crawl to the one they want, to remove that potential suggestive element. They should also alternate half the time left or right and which toy is the hero/ villian just to make sure the babies aren't just picking the direction of their dominant hand or maybe just prefer a certain shape or color.

[@hermetickitten]

Does that mean that we carry our moral values in our DNA? Just like a specific type of butterflies always knows where to migrate because they seem to carry the knowledge in their genes...

[@vimalcurio]

Could be 🤷‍♂️

[@vimalcurio]

Why don't you research yourself lol

[@barel8741]

Yes it called fitra, same with everyone is believe god when they were kids, its the environment changes it, study has shown it.

[@Luna-ft8yh]

Of course you do, it's God's signature.

[@shamarwashington5574]

@@Luna-ft8yh I was about to say that same thing💯 God said He will make sure that you know right and wrong. He said he will put it on our heart💯 Unless you believe that people from 2,000+ years ago knew that morals were in DNA🤷🏽‍♂️ And those were the days where kids fought in war so🤷🏽‍♂️💯 (that’s why I believe it was God)

[@sillyotter9047]

This whole test felt very poorly done.

[@toukendanshiwarrior2846]

No it wasn't

[@Melinmingle]

SillyOtter its at Yale... look at Yale nowadays..

[@AyanaSioux]

I find it funny that everyone is judging a sturdy based on a short period of time watching it... Hahaha

[@Lambda_Ovine]

Yeah, you know better.

[@expressrobkill]

it was, the babey reached for the gray square at the end it was pulled away, there is a positive association with picking the right one, we never saw what happened when they picked the wrong one i.e did they say that was wrong, not only that the good one was always done first.

[@SanaMF]

I think they chose the closer.

[@cuteandred1]

Sana Meshari i think they choose base on the brighter character

[@desertcrown]

or maybe it was their colour of tshirt or furr.

[@rustheart9532]

I'm sure they switch up with one is the good and bad one with different kids to make sure that doesn't happen

[@dothedo3667]

The grey cat isn't brighter than the orange one though

[@slushdog1012]

Latisha Beaugard Well the baby chose the grey tiger over the brown one sooo Also the baby chose the brighter shape ?

[@madisontucker6661]

But they could be choosing over what color or look of the puppet they like best.

[@quinnmcbride9564]

Experiment etiquette aside, I feel like it does make some sense for babies to have a sense of right or wrong, or at least helpful vs unhelpful. Babies are tiny, squishy, and can't do much of anything for themselves. It doesn't seem too far fetched for a baby to be able to tell who's going to help them or not. I'm obviously no psychologist, it's just a thought

[@felixmontes7]

What if they use the bright yellow as the bad guy?

[@Mastersniper803]

wich they have already done

[@felixmontes7]

Lilia Chav i want to make sure they don't grab it just for his color

[@MegaZeta]

They use all the characters for all of the roles; no offense, but they know how to conduct a study

[@KoruGo]

They switch around the colors each trial. Please actually read the study before you comment.

[@Lindathemightywitch]

Um, I think they arleady did! The yellow tiger was the one preventing the other tiger from opening the box! Did you NOT see the video or am I being color blind here?!!!

[@maxiethecat182]

Hand dominance may also have an impact? The baby may be biased to going for his or her dominant side when making a decision for the puppets/shapes

[@amyimogenimagine]

J Park they're still figuring out which hand is dominant. Hand dominance only really comes into play when babies start interacting with tools, such as feeding themselves, drawing etc

[@AuntyGoogol]

Amy-Imogen Tanzer That’s when adults notice it but hand dominance must always be there or why would a child prefer one hand pver another at any age?

[@Little_Miss_Carrex]

J Park Babies? Im 13 years old and im bias to my dominant side

[@kyomado]

kayla roeten Congratulations, you aren't a baby.

[@Gee5425]

Babies this young shouldn't have a hand preference yet. They should still be ambidextrous, using both hands equally.

[@rebekahwilson1732]

there is a much longer version of this, which shows the experiments and results much more clearly. Also, research studies spend hours and hours of time on these experiments--they only showed a tiny bit of it. They wouldn't have published any film on it if the outcomes of the study were not quite irrevocably sound. We watched it in one of my Master's level classes for Professional Counseling. This is the real deal, people.

[@the_metamancer]

I love all the scientists in the comment section that know the perfect way to perform this experience.

[@AbsolutelyNoOne9]

The babies are presented stories, seeing the protagonist first and therefore wanting them to succeed. I think the takeaway is more that they understand who helped and who hindered the protagonist, who may not always be doing right in the real world. What babies learn about right and wrong is based on their protagonists and what people do to or for them.

[@wilddesigns857]

where is the control group?

[@sillyotter9047]

I noticed this test was very flawed but a control group never even occurred to me! She said 80% of babies choose the "good" triangle. How many babies choose the triangle without having seen the play?

[@AyanaSioux]

Architecture Technology when I think about it, even before the kids choose, you can see their reaction to the "bad" guy versus the "good" guy and they're generally much more pleased by the good guy, and it's doesn't seem their decision is based on the physically features of the object.

[@papayamango9629]

+Ayana Sioux Art I agree with you but I'm sorta skeptical on this since they only showed us 3 babies instead of all of the babies' reactions

[@AyanaSioux]

Susie Francy perhaps they have.

[@emilydarrall6693]

Yes thank you, what I was thinking the whole time

[@ArcadianWizard]

"We just like to participate in baby science" lmao

[@magnificentpup2875]

I like participating in baby history. (Enter the babies wearing Troy Roman helmets and swords)

[@reklaw103]

There was just something very unsettling about all of these people right?

[@Animatorsrule25]

It looks fun! Coming from someone that wants to be a future parent.

[@ahhwe-any7434]

Me playing w/ my munchkin all the time.

[@IWillBeSaved]

lol

[@klimtkiller]

maybe they just pick the one they saw do something first.

[@tomiekawakami5039]

Yeah, thought the same thing too.

[@dawnstar6727]

Then they would’ve been looking for the circle. Do you really think an infant that young would know which shape did what first or second or third?? Especially if, as they said, they play the same scenario over and over again? They’d lose track of what occurred first and last because it would all blur together. And yet they choose the shape associated with positive emotions.

[@aoiahiru670]

great observation!

[@trishakatz386]

They counterbalance it. Not all babies see the helpful character first.

[@MaddieYchama]

@@dawnstar6727 but if they focus on the first doll that made all the commotion, and noticed that the good toy/doll never left the stage, they may have been eyeing it the whole time

[@miaoz84]

rather than actually knowing exactly who is good and bad... they could be feeling more affectionate towards the character that helped solved the problem

[@olyabutorina6869]

Of course, that's called "feeling that you're loved" And of course children understand the difference. If you will scream at child he wouldn't be happy while if you will play and being nice, child will feel that he is loved. Even animals understand that.

[@ibexibex]

4:20 - Kitten is a savage

[@pattilacey8450]

The best advice I've been told is that a baby's picker is not broken and can tell a nice person from an evil person. Animals have the same capabilities when it comes to telling the difference between a nice person verses an evil person.

[@Nieninqefreymodur]

This test was complete nonsense.

[@eyyyeyeyeyey1783]

how? I mean i guess its just a random test right?

[@RosettePosette]

Babies, in fact, are attracted to bright colors. Maybe if they were both dark or bright colors, the results would be more accurate.

[@caldercockatoo2234]

Marion Müller, Yeah.

[@caldercockatoo2234]

Sensy Abadeer, Yup.

[@hannahscott6604]

Marion Müller this is a test done at YALE. My mother went here for part of her MASTER’S DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. She now makes over 100k per year in healthcare marketing and is a Vice President. This was a great study.

[@cagedtigersteve]

Is the triangle always the helpful one or do you switch it up? Do you use a mixture of right or left choosing to eliminate bias?

[@jennylharrellcatron1454]

The yellow one was closest to her hand. When you do studies it's important HOW The experiment is conducted. Thank you for putting the actual footage on here so we can see your process.

[@raheen8949]

Also like the yellow one just might look mor attractive because of its appearance to them

[@raheen8949]

And what I dont get is that these babies are so young, like how do they understand which one even helped them?? Like if I was a baby I’d think that the circle dude just wanted to go up and down the hill like that and both of them were bad since they kept him from doing that iykwim

[@hellopumpkin86]

I agree. Kids are attracted more to bright colors instead of dull ones. That may have swayed some of the infants’ decisions.

[@humilulo]

this is a very interesting study. but it made no indication whether the 'good' characters are switched with the 'bad' ones to different children, so various factors can be ruled out, like maybe more babies just choose yellow, or choose a triangle, or many instinctive choices. my brother was very perceptive and in grade school, when teachers wud ask him what the right answer was and read the list, he'd choose based on how they read the options and he scored very well, not knowing the real material. so how the 'good' character is even handed to them, a little shake, etc, can make all the difference. the test needs to be carefully and prudently administered. and we know not whether such care was taken. but again, this is a very interesting idea. and kudos to the people who are doing this! very creative!

[@stephenkamenar]

The choice process is very flawed. You need to mixup a lot more things, including the roles of the characters. And the whole test looks biased.

[@MonoEnta]

Neil Reinhardt because facts are all just opinions right 😒 if you dont know what youre talking about then dont comment moron

[@foedeer]

hmm i agree as well it doesnt seem like an accurate method to capture responses. especially when you can clearly see the child being equally curious about both toys.....?

[@commandercorner5575]

This video showed one session of each scenario. You literally have no idea whether or not they "mix up" anything in other sessions, not to mention that would make no difference in the interpretation of the results. How would you suggest they "mix up" the scenarios between sessions to improve the reliability of their resulting theories?

[@mapoking5087]

This is for babies, based on shapes Not middle school students on Harry Potter

[@DodderingOldMan]

You watched a five minute video. They constructed and carried out a detailed study over a long period of time. Also they're trained scientists. But no, I'm sure you're right about it being biased. Because clearly you're not the sort of person to make vast assumptions based on a tiny amount of information or anything.

[@angie2647]

Hhmmm I think it's the colors that draws the attention of the baby the good toys are bright

[@pearl9184]

Angelica Alvarado the good toy was grey in the box skit. The bad toy was yellow.

[@TheHuntermj]

The testers alternated the roles of the toys and got the same results

[@samcostin7586]

I don't know how the babies remembered which one was the "good" puppet because I even forgot.... test is off a little

[@MrUranium238]

I got confused

[@jellyacc]

omg it was literally like 3 seconds long wtf

[@ellie_zabeth6843]

No that’s just you😂

[@krabbykrabby8818]

They show it to them like 15 times till they get bored. Do ya'll watch the whole thing?

[@hnpet4245]

@@krabbykrabby8818 also, they act as if they were in the room with the babies and editing doesn’t exist.

[@KickerMans]

The first baby quite literally was going to pick the evil dude, but the teacher moved it away before the baby could touch it

[@berneverything1932]

3:47 "We just like to participate in baby science" Love

[@PJemus]

There is bias with presenting the toys to the baby. You need a blind test where the person presenting it doesn't know which one it is. You should know how children with autism do what they think their facilitator wants them to do.

[@AyanaSioux]

PaJeezy but this isn't a test on autistic children...

[@hattiekemp]

PaJeezy YEE

[@sarahtea9272]

There is no reference to any of the babies having a formal medical diagnosis of Autism nor parental concern of their children showing signs of the Neurological disorder. The word Autism LITERALLY is never spoken or insinuated anywhere in this video.

[@AyanaSioux]

Sarah Tea honestly we don't know any of that. The Video is all we see, but that doesn't mean that's all there is.

[@junkoyaki5486]

I really cant take this seriously considering what you have as your profile pic

[@julied86]

Can it be because of right handed or left handed? The teddy the nearest of his main hand?

[@katelynpimenta3010]

Julie D I agree

[@AyanaSioux]

But the triangle was on the left.

[@Vishangro]

My thoughts exactly.

[@naelpontes8444]

They vary it

[@pmm1767]

I think it's also a matter of colour. babies to my knowledge like colorful objects than bland ones so they're chic could be influenced by colour preference. all in all the test is kinda flawed :|

[@Wasteman365]

praanav m very true

[@AyanaSioux]

Not necessarily true. Babies can't see every color until they reach a certain age.

[@szoszk]

You'd need to read the full scientific paper to judge this. This video is obviously just a snippet, maybe they did switch things up, maybe not.

[@Wasteman365]

Ayana Sioux Art also very true, they see shades of grey up until a certain age

[@szoszk]

I googled it, and found a video about this on a different site. They did actually switch things up.

[@davidwalter2002]

I wonder if the babies are picking up unintentional clues from the parents. A subtle tensing or relaxing might be signaling which puppet the parents want their child to choose. Was that taken into consideration?

[@lauraatthecorepoint]

There seem to be lots of explanations available. They might be selecting the puppet closest to their dominant hand, based on bright color, or because those characters are more helpful and therefore a better evolutionary choice?

[@infinity2864]

So you’re telling me my friends (sibling) lil screaming machines knows not to bite my pups ear and still does?

[@malvikarahate2836]

infinity 2 Its the way babies initially explore, ie., through mouth (chewing, biting, sucking, etc.)

[@MochaTater]

Not necessarily. These tests don't prove babies know right from wrong and even if they did it doesn't mean babies know every bad thing. Plus they are looking at things from the outside. It's easier to see which one did a good thing and which one did a bad thing

[@s.e.e455]

This test is exploring a far too complex subject, but the truth is, babies and kids more or less act on instinct. It requires a lot of work and focus for them to make what we view as a “good” decisions, because they are not only learning to regulate their behavior to fit societal norms, they slowly learn to regulate their emotions, which is hard for a growing brain. I don’t think the concept of right and wrong is at the forefront of their minds, they are too busy learning how to live.

[@eonni160]

I love how thoughtful the first kid looked. "It's okay for me to have, yeah?"

[@matthiasasemota5859]

wtf? How do you say that the baby knows which helper is good or evil if you can't even be sure that the baby knows that going up the hill is good and and going down is bad, and not the other way round. How about the "the square is the good character because he helped the circle roll down the hill."

[@alfonsomena2558]

yup

[@taylorvettese8718]

Matthias Asemota I suppose because generally, it's a lot more effort to get up hill than down.

[@matthiasasemota5859]

Taylor Vettese and a baby knows this how? and even if the baby understands that ... the amount of effort required says nothing about intent...

[@matthiasasemota5859]

"Babies understand gravity and exertion against gravity. " LOL even if this is true, you miss the point. It is not that the baby does or does not understand physics (they don't), it is that you as the observer cannot be sure that the baby thinks going up is the good outcome. With an adult you can ask? with a baby you assume that the baby understands gravity, assume that the baby understands which way the ball wants to go, assume that the baby agrees that going where the ball wants to go the right thing, assume that the baby is picking the good actor rather than pointing out the bad one. ergo assuming that all babies communicate in the same way... all of these assumptions make for a flawed experiment.

[@matthiasasemota5859]

wow that is a really hand wavy response that don't really say anything relevant to what is being pointed out here. "In order to submit an experiment it has to pass the rigour of an ethics board and submit its methodology." Sure, yet there are literally thousands of poor experiments that slip though the nets of ethics boards. In this case, we are discussing a subset of the study, the number of experiments within studies that are poor yet still slip through is immense (even in institutions such as as Harvard) " At the age the babies are in the video, they can understand several words, ask for things by pointing, and therefore understand volition." This may be true, however we see such a broad range of development in children when it comes to communication. Your milestones might be true for some children and even if so might not be the necessary development in communication that is required to understand and fulfill this experiments requirements. Milestones can vary by YEARS between children. At best, this variance is accounted for, leaving us with a study involving a non random selection of babies. At worst the variance is not accounted for and you get different responses from children not because of their "morality" but because of the differences in levels of communication and understanding. Why don't you point out how you can be sure of the assumptions I raised, namely : you are sure the baby understands gravity. you are sure the baby understands which way the ball "wants" to go. you are sure the baby understands that the ball going up is the best thing for the ball. (despite what the ball wants) you are sure the baby understands that he or she should choose the "good" actor at the end. you are sure that all babies communicate at the same level. In an adult study you would secure these variables by explaining the events and getting a response showing understanding. You don't have it here, so how exactly can you make sure that these significant assumptions are not interfering with the results of the study.

[@juddotto3660]

I once heard it said babies should be in charge of law making. Naps for everyone!

[@infjelphabasupporter8416]

It's insane I actually did this experiments on my baby sister when I was about six. Well, kinda. I'd pretend to quietly fall through a crack in the sofa and see if she react or easily help me at all. She ignored me completely. Dissapointing.

[@jaschabull2365]

Wouldn't having the parents watch with the babies affect the experiment and be a possible confounding factor? If the parents gave perceivable reactions to the skits, the babies might notice, and their preference would be one they just learned from the parent, not something they were born with.

[@jaschabull2365]

Alex I suspected that was the reason, though one would think good researchers would come up with some way to compensate for confounding data like that.

[@ko6081]

I've worked in an infant lab before. We always tell the parents before the experiment begins to try their best to not to influence the baby whatsoever and to act completely neutral as possible. Some of the babies would turn around to look at their parent's face but as long as the parent didn't react, the experiment always turned out well.

[@tylyragadson1908]

Jascha Bull ok tho

[@PSYCKYO]

Just the fact that some of them choose the unhelpful character shows how not all people are created equally/good!

[@alroyesserrao]

Children learn from what parents do. They observe everything, they look and learn at the actions happening

[@laureanneMD]

it seems like the creators of the experiment tend to jump to the conclusion that the baby went the ''nice'' puppet as soon as the baby lay eyes on that puppet.. (like with the last baby) I think for this study to be really relevant a third party should show the puppet to the baby, not knowing witch puppet is the evil or good one. It kind of remind me of the horse that ''knew'' how to count but in reality, the horse was she pickup on social cues.

[@christiamccubbins3251]

Trying holding the bad guy a bit closer to them. Seems most babies reach with their right hand so if you put the good guy closer to right hand, of course he will reach for the good guy. Just try it and see.

[@stephaniejoobern1001]

Aw, those babies are so CUTE!:)

[@lisa585]

0:21 well that's a very morbid placing of legs.

[@jonathanle7971]

I like how everyone suddenly became a Professional Psychologist.

[@sajeucettefoistunevaspasme]

The main problem is They talk about the methodology But they didn't even read the article It's actually easier to see if a result is correct than found the result

[@andromedatonks60]

As a grad student, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to make a 5 minute video on my research directed at laypeople and have a million people who are totally unfamiliar with accepted best practices in your very specific field tear it apart for apparent methodology problems *without actually reading the paper* 😅 You can’t fully explain and defend your methods in a 5 minute video aimed for the general public! Pop science journalism misrepresents studies all the time through oversimplification of concepts, omission of details, and overstatement of results. It’s actually great to see so many people thinking critically about a study and caring about the scientific method- just would be nice if they did so based on the peer-reviewed paper and not an unscientific 5-min video.

[@El_papa_de_Rambo]

You don't need to be an expert to see the experiment's flaws.

[@boingyboop4960]

I think the babies were likely able to relate to the characters that were trying to achieve a goal, like the red circle who was trying to climb the hill, or the toy playing with the ball, or the character trying to open the box, because babies try to do things and learn as they go, and it would be satisfying to see the character achieve the goal, so they become more fond of the characters who help these characters reach their goals and not the characters that make it harder, because they want to learn.

[@freenchrist2935]

I honestly feel the good character was yellow,and yellow is a color that attracts. Especially when compared to blue. Change the colors, and I feel they will almost always pick yellow. Whether the character is good or bad.

[@flatscan1978]

This just restored my faith in humanity (at least a little bit). Thanks for that!

[@archilzhvania6242]

Do they change the roles of the characters? I mean, it could be the case that the babies prefer the shape and colour that coincide with the helpful toy.

[@xel9345]

It has been ten years since this came out....it would be so cool to see the children react to their baby-selves! :)

[@LubnaHaddad-di9mc]

They will react the same way you react to your baby self in videos 😁. Too bad most people didn’t have video cams when I was a baby

[@joycehendry3595]

Did you notice how the good one was nearer the babies & even waved a little to get them to pick what the tester wanted

[@rawmaterials3909]

of course some people are gonna say it's god signature😂😂😂 no sir, it's empathy, a survival instinct.

[@Analyticalinadream]

Even if these babies were making a decisive choice, how many human experiences have they witnessed in the first six months of their lives, that have enabled them to make these choices.

[@pearl9184]

The point of the experiment is to understand whether or not they NEED to undergo experiences inorder to develop a conscience.

[@flameshana9]

If what you're saying is true why do newborns (meaning seconds old) prefer symmetrical faces over less attractive ones? You don't "learn" what is attractive, nor do you "learn" good and bad. You learn what not to do because of the consequences. But a very young child doesn't grasp any real moral concepts. If you asked them "Should this puppet/person die?" they wouldn't have a clue what it means. They don't know anything about any real consequences, thus they aren't "educated" on moral matters. Their responses are instinct until they learn to make decisions based on understood consequences.

[@ahhwe-any7434]

I obviously don't think my wiwhoa 1 thinks that in depth. But I do wonder how far along she's come. I only know what she sees as comfort & what doesn't.

[@sami6998]

The baby would naturally prefer the brighter piece

[@joezingher4770]

They should have switched the pieces from one group of children to another so that 50% got the brighter piece being the nice guy and 50% got the darker piece being the nice guy;

[@thalieem9383]

I said the same thing

[@ayenako7072]

​@@joezingher4770 Read the study, lol. That's exactly what they did. No offence, but they know how to conduct a study.

[@jengable4888]

In the first test, I wonder if the shape and color of the objects, in addition to, what action was taken makes a difference. I would re-test using the same colored, same shape objects and repeat the action to see if there is a difference. I would be very curious as to the outcome.

[@blupyxi5669]

Can't wait for the next season of puppets. I'm on the edge of my seat!

[@scotthoerner2148]

I don’t believe babies know what is moral and immoral. Babies and all animals have evolved to understand what is good for them. Self-preservation is the strongest instinct in animals. Assuming that the test is not biased, I think it proves more that babies are choosing the character that would be most useful to them.

[@nickokid19]

They should, for example do some tests with the blue square being the 'good' subject etc. I do personally believe we are born with love, and the negative side is taught. If this test was done more accurately, I'm sure there would be a breakthrough in understanding of our true nature somewhere along the line.

[@Marshmallow_Trees]

Maybe babies see yellow more vividly than pastel blue? I mean, I don’t know that, but did they make a point to interchange the “good” with the “bad” characters so that there wasn’t a possibility of the test being skewed in one direction by mistake? For instance, infants may tend to reach for one specific object again and again based on texture or color, not because of some perceived morality they’ve placed there...

[@artisttjan]

what of the stuffed animals?

[@khoile9807]

This is the kind of studies that really put you into questioning Yale's credibility. Too much variables, easily contaminated results. The babies may just like a certain shape or color more than the other.

[@rishuuuuuu]

What if the first child choose the character as per the colour preference or the close proximity to righthand or dominant hand ??

[@skatersurfersnowboarder3545]

i think to a degree of just self preservation babies can identify good from bad, Say a babysitter who doesn't treat baby well, will cry and cry, recognizing the bad alerting the parents something is up. Not necessarily morally driven, but survival surely! Even newborns instinctually hold their breath underwater But who knows, i wouldnt be surprised if babies were more morally aware

[@ahmeda.3128]

This test doesn't seem too accurate in all honesty. Why would the "good guy" always be the lightest color? Doesn't the lighter colors appeal more to the babies?

[@vinayseth1114]

But the triangle looked like it was pushing the circle forcefully :/

[@oliballing]

Vinay Seth Ikr

[@jiangchenxiaoxitm9677]

All I can say is that they are so adorable and intelligent babies!!!

[@xueqiang-michaelpan9606]

I think the person who holds the toys in front of the baby should not know which one is the nice or bad so that this experiment could be like a double blinded experiment.

[@وردالجنها]

خلقنا الرحمن علي الفطره السليمه...لكن نحن من يغير ويشوه هذه الفطره الجميله... سبحان الله

[@HeathenMaiden]

As a baby/toddler, I probably would have gravitated towards the "unhelpful" character of the first test. I apparently LOVED seeing things go downhill as a baby, whether it was being pushed, shoved or went on its own. I found it hysterical, or so I've been told. But then again, I still tend to have a darker sense of humor and a bit of a schadenfreude streak.

[@fbession]

Admitting that the video is but a summary of the many different variations done in terms of colors, movement, shapes etc.. to reach a significant statistic result (after all, let's imagine that Psychologists in Yale know a bit about what they are doing) why is that interpreted in terms of "right" and wrong" and not related to "cooperation" or not? after all, Sapiens are social primates, it wouldn't be surprising to find out some tendencies in favor of social interactions. it seems to me that the notion of "right and wrong" is too vague at this stage to venture in... however i am mostly impress by the fact that babies seems to get a pretty clear notion of "The Other" Vs "Self" clearly far from a psychotic structure where distinction between self and the world is still but a vague concept... I'm going to look up the exp, to check the age of the babies. but I didn't see any teeth so I figured they are still in the oral stage : /?

[@solarpanelsarecool]

I was thinking that it's in a baby's survival interests to be able to distinguish between a person who's likely to help them, and one who might harm them.

[@jessielynn]

Help=right; Harm= wrong

[@Duke00x]

Have you really looked Yale latey? This is the same school that had one campus that had students yelling at faculty "'It's not about creating an intellectual space, It's about creating a home" (I cut out some of the middle of the quote. But it doesn't change the meaning of it any) and there are many more gems like that. Sure this was not the science campus. But still this is the level of what the "quality" of students they are letting in now a days. And this has been going on for over a decade now. This is getting to be the level of most colleges except in the sciences (and then only in the hardest sciences like physics and math and engineering) and even they are starting down the same path and have been for years now.

[@HarishSasikumar]

Why can't I interpret the following as the reasons for those particular choices of the babies: Exp1: yellow was a brighter colour Exp2: the red rabbit played for a longer time rather than the green one & babies like more amusement

[@Rynne_1]

I thought the same thing! I would try doing the experiment a few times (probably on separate occasions a week or so apart) with the same children where the the same characters are used but the roles are reversed to see if this is actually accurate, as well as use other children, so the risk of the children remembering the last experiment isn't too much a problem.

[@JohnDoe-zk1nf]

Or they choose the one they saw first. Hopefully they knew to control for these factors by reversing everything.

[@shnglbot]

Regarding yellow being a brighter color - if you notice in the last experiment, it's the grey cat that's the nice cat, yellow/orange cat is mean.

[@isoney]

To all the comments picking holes: this is a five minute clip demonstrating findings. It’s not the experiment. You want control groups and variations in 5 minutes? Come on. Go read the papers if you feel that somehow Yale doesn’t understand how to put together a proper study.

[@davidacheson5953]

Lol 11 years later and it’s kind of hysterical that the New York Times is making any calls about what’s right and wrong 😂

[@presto709]

One thing I wonder about is how baby is interpreting the play. It could be that the central character was trying to open the box to steal something. That would reverse the good guy and the bad guy. I think the people doing the study probably realize there are lots of complications and so they run lot's of different tests to try to see a pattern.

[@jellyno1946]

why would an infant understand the concept of theft

[@presto709]

@@jellyno1946 The same way they are assuming the baby thinks it's good to help someone get something out of the box. In each of these tests, there is an assumption. In the first test, they assume the baby knows that getting to the top of the hill is good and blocking that is bad,. It could be that getting to the top of the hill is bad and one character is protecting the other from getting to the top.

[@wartgin]

​@@presto709They are not testing whether there is some larger scenario that the baby is aware of but whether someone is helping or hindering the first character. It might be possible to set up something where you can show the baby something dangerous and the helpful character is keeping the viewpoint character away from the danger but that is a different experiment and I don't know if they have done enough studies in that age group to even think it is feasible.

[@sarah5031]

id love to run experiments like these

[@sarah5031]

+Sarah Dawn Green just maybe change a few things and run it more in depth

[@ineffablemars]

I’d feel like I’m playing all day 😂

[@MonoEnta]

Very poorly structured expirement. The yellow triangle will appear more attractive to the baby cause thats one of the earliest colours they see when theyre eyes are developing and the colour yellow is a brighter more stimulating colour (something I learned in fashion design, colours have very huge influences on us) The teddy bears could be chosen as well on appearance you're assuming infants have the mental complexity to understand the scene youre performing yet the wouldnt understand something as simple as a handshake at that age it just looks like nonsense, to them. Honestly them picking the right could be a good amount of chance based on what stimulates them the most, not to mention you show three examples??? Redesign your tests theres too much room for error and perform a LOT more tests and then calculate your stats and have something more concrete to show than this flimsy youtube video

[@vjeraturk]

You don't think the puppets might have played different roles throughout testing to avoid such bias? And, yeah, they should've totally shown you all the babies they tested, because what is more appealing to a parent then a video of their kid being shown around on the Internet?...Also, ofcourse they did something more concrete to show than this filmsy youtube video www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3076932/

[@citobop256]

Babies know when parents or caregivers are upset or frustrated with them,as well as when people are smiling and happy around them so why would they not know which character was presenting nice or bad behavior? I think babies can recognize aggressive or rude behavior. Definitely! I have two children and have worked a lot with kids and babies over the years. I think there is truth in this study. Babies typically avoid negative behavior in others. Makes total sense

[@AyratHungryStudent]

I think they should put the "evil" babies under surveillance, just in case)

[@ebonyhippo]

The babies are sitting on the laps of their grownups while watching the reenactments. Surely, intentional or not, the adults' muscles tensed up during a "bad" scene. Their breathing may've changed or attentiveness changed. Babies are attuned to that. I doubt this could be done without sitting on someone's lap, but that does seem to present another potential flaw in the test.

[@heidipereckas3704]

"We just like to participate in baby science"😂

[@stefxicilicitici6592]

Well I mean it is the brightest color

[@nicolenikky8874]

The last one...the baby just smiled...was still choosing...and the lady immediatly took the other toy...🙄

[@mahmoodxyz]

More research is needed. There's chance that babies were attracted not to the characters but to colours, or the good characters acted out better and more interestingly than the bad characters.

[@matta.631]

or maybe the triangle character is easily accessible

[@mel.atonin]

I think the reactions have an impact as well. In the first test with the shapes, you can see that when the triangle helps the circle, it’s clear that the circle has a positive reaction (the shaking) whereas when it is pushed down by the square, it has very little to no reaction, therefore a “negative” reaction. That’s something I noticed! If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me!

[@spulwasser]

I first thought red circle was bouncing because it was scared of the height yellow triangle unvoluntarily pushed it to😅

[@umeshshridar5487]

May be results will be changed if u changed the color... As yellow is more appealing to babies

[@magmartin9726]

Yah, right...! "Infants come into the world with "... You don't need your parents children ... you are just fine without any parental influence . Are you joking?!

[@rfitzsimmons]

These results do not tell us anything about babies having a concept of morality or even "naughty" and "nice," it just shows that they recognize helpfulness, which is not a surprise given that their lives depend on it.