Math 132A

Infant Cognition Study

• Help triangle
• Hinder square
• Choice

Infant Cognition Study

A study performed in 2007 by the Infant Cognition Center at the Yale University presented 16 10-months old infants with a puppet show depicting a character trying to climb a hill.

• In one situation, another character helped the climber ascend the hill.
• In the other situation, a different character pushed the climber down the hill, hindering it and preventing it from ascending.

The infants were then asked to select one of the two characters (helper and hinderer) to play with. The researchers were interested in whether the infants will choose the “friendly, helpful” character more often than the “mean, hindering” one.

The result

Out of the 16 infants in the study, 14 chose to play with the “helpful, friendly” character.

Come up with possible explanations why 14 out of 16 infants chose the friendly character.