Babies have moral preferences

[nancylebov]

Apparently, they like helpers best, but only if the helper is aiding goal-oriented activity.

Also, babies are "cooperative in grabbing things".

Ok, there are some caveats at the end about how much the study means. Maybe it just means six-month-olds understand narrative--much earlier than I would have thought.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Since early in our being parents, my husband has believed that children understand both individual words and concepts long before they can express them.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I was watching a little girl (seemed like 3 or 4, but it's a faint memory so she might have been younger) who wasn't talking at all have trouble getting puzzle pieces out of a wooden frame. I said something to her mother about her turning the puzzle over and shaking it, and the little girl did it.

I said something about being surprised that kids could understand so well before they talked, and her mother said that they did.