Babies recognize those who help them and return the favor

Babies may be more perceptive of what is usually thought, and that children as young as 21 months could recognize and appreciate the good intentions that a person has towards them. In addition, researchers from Queen's University (Canada) found that children could work to reward the effort that others do to help. The authors Valerie Kuhlmeier and Kristen Dunfield stressed that this attitude could be recorded even when the aid received was not enough for the baby to fulfill his desire. The Baby perceptual experiments performed three experts on the subject and published their findings in the journal Psychological Science. In the first experiment the children were divided into two groups. In one successful actress gave them a toy, but in the other set a different woman pretended to want to help but do it in spite of their efforts. She put the object on the edge of a table and watched with surprise as he fell. Then the guys had their chance to repay the favor and 75% of them did with the woman who had helped him, regardless of the results. In the second study, two women gave each child a toy, and in response the boys were equally predisposed to repay the aid as well to another.

In the third experiment, the two actresses successfully got the toy for babies, but one of them pretended to be indifferent to it. When repay the favor, 75% of boys helped the woman who proved to have positive feelings toward them. Looking at these results, researchers concluded that children can recognize the intentions of the people and give them much importance. This is the first time someone shows that babies as young can be selective in defining who they help. It was known from previous studies that help children, but this research was that children choose how to distribute your help, said Dunfield. More information www.neomundo.com.ar