Maybe We Aren't Born Evil After All....... (evolution, experience, point of view)

[Buttercup]

WASHINGTON - Even infants can tell the difference between naughty and nice playmates, and know which to choose, a new study finds

Babies as young as 6 to 10 months old showed crucial social judging skills before they could talk, according to a study by researchers at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center published in Thursday's journal Nature.

The infants watched a googly-eyed wooden toy trying to climb roller-coaster hills and then another googly-eyed toy come by and either help it over the mountain or push it backward. They then were presented with the toys to see which they would play with.
Nearly every baby picked the helpful toy over the bad one.

The babies also chose neutral toys — ones that didn't help or hinder — over the naughty ones. And the babies chose the helping toys over the neutral ones.

>>>snip>>>
"David Lewkowicz, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton who wasn't part of the study, said the Yale research was intriguing. But he doesn't buy into the natural ability part. He said the behavior was learned, and that the new research doesn't prove otherwise.

"Infants acquire a great deal of social experience between birth and 6 months of age and thus the assumption that this kind of capacity does not require experience is simply unwarranted," Lewkowicz told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

But the Yale team has other preliminary research that shows similar responses even in 3-month-olds, Hamlin said."
Babies may make social judgments - Yahoo! News

Is this study is probably much ado about nothing or do you think humans are born naturally helpful?

Is it possible for a 3 month old to "learn" this type of helpful behavior? What do you think?

[Sunstone]

A baby that could distinguish between helpful people and unhelpful or "naughty" people would have a tremendous evolutionary advantage over a baby who couldn't.

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

A baby that could distinguish between helpful people and unhelpful or "naughty" people would have a tremendous evolutionary advantage over a baby who couldn't.

I agree. I find it fascinating that the possibility of distinguishing between positive and negative social behavior at such a young age is a probability. A three month old baby is asleep nearly 18 hours a day. One of the psychologists suggests this as learned behavior.....I'm guessing he's never been around a nearly newborn child.

[methylatedghosts]

Wow that's amazing!

I thought that was a learned behaviour - or at least, moreso than what this seems to say! (from what I gather anyways)

I also thought that this abillity would appear much later - when they actually began to communicate and socialize, but then on second thoughts, I guess they do already socialize at a very early age.

[yossarian22]

Quite interesting.
It does not further the romantic or the classic point of view at all though.

[Terrywoodenpic]

Perhaps a tendency to bad behaviour and domination is also inbuilt.
Much like a cuckoo knows it has to dispose of the other young chicks in the nest.

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by yossarian22

Quite interesting.
It does not further the romantic or the classic point of view at all though.

Which classic point of view are you referring to?

[yossarian22]

Originally Posted by Buttercup

Which classic point of view are you referring to?

Its the whole born good, turned evil by society (the romantic point of view) or the born evil, turned good by society (the classic point of view).

[Willamena]

What about "born neutral, turned good or evil by society"? Does that have a fancy niche?

[Mathematician]

That is fairly remarkable. I'd like to see more studies done.