The Distinction between Good and Bad

Infant Cognition Center at Yale University in Connecticut. The scientists used the ability to tell helpful from unhelpful behavior as an indication of moral judgement. Infants can even act as judge and jury in the nursery. Researchers who asked one-year-old babies to take away treats from a “naughty” puppet found they were sometimes also leaning over and smacking the figure on the head. As part of the study, they conducted multiple tests on infants, who were less than a year old. Firstly, an animated film of simple geometric shapes was screened for the kids to watch. It showed a red ball, with eyes, trying to climb a hill. A yellow square helped, pushing it up, while a green triangle forced it back down. Later, the children were asked to “choose” between the “good guy” square, and the “bad guy” triangle. In 80% of cases, the infants choose the square over the triangle. In a second study, the children were shown a toy dog trying to open a box. One teddy bear helped him, while another sat on it to stop him from getting inside. The observer found that most babies opted for the friendly teddy bear. To further confirm that the babies were responding to niceness and naughtiness, the scientist devised another test. A toy cat played with a ball while two cuddly rabbit puppets stood on either side. When the cat lost the ball, the rabbit on the right side returned it to him, while the rabbit on the left side picked it up and ran away with it. The children were asked to handle any one puppet. Most picked the naughty rabbit and smacked it on the head. Paul Bloom, the professor of psychology who led the study, said the research counters theories of psychologists such as Sigmund Freud who believed humans began life as “amoral animals” and William James who described the baby’s mental life as “one great, blooming, buzzing confusion”. “There is a growing body of scientific evidence that supports the idea that perhaps some sense of good and evil is bred in the bone,” the Times quoted Bloom as saying. Kiley Hamlin, author of the team’s infant morality report, said: “We spend a lot of time