Abstract
The present study investigated whether infants reason about others’ social preferences based on the intentions of others’ interactive actions. In Experiment 1, 12-month-old infants were familiarized with an event in which an agent either successfully helped a circle to climb up a hill (successful-helping condition) or failed to help the circle to achieve its goal (failed-helping condition). During the test, the infants saw the circle approach either the helper (approach-helper event) or the hinderer (approach-hinderer event). In the successful-helping condition, the 12-month-old infants looked for longer at the approach-hinderer event than at the approach-helper event, but in the failed-helping condition, looking times were about equal for the two test events. These results suggest that 12-month-old infants could not infer the circle’s preference when the helper’s action did not lead to its intended outcome. In Experiment 2, 16-month-olds were tested in the failed-helping condition; they looked longer at the approach-hinderer event than at the approach-helper event, which suggests that they could reason about the third party’s social preferences based on the exhibited intentions. In Experiment 3, 12-month-olds were familiarized with events in which the final outcomes of helping and hindering actions were ambiguous. The results revealed that 12-month-old infants are also sensitive to intentions when inferring other’s social preferences. The results suggest that by 12-months of age, infants expect an agent to prefer and approach another who intends to help the circle to achieve its goal, regardless of the outcome. The current research has implications for moral reasoning and social evaluation in infancy.
Highlights
As adults, we readily reason about others’ preferences when watching social interactions
In Experiment 2, we investigated whether older infants, i.e., 16-month-olds, are capable of inferring that the circle would prefer a helpful agent to a hindering agent, even when the helpful agent failed to help the circle to achieve its goal
The present research expands on previous studies [1, 2, 4] by demonstrating that infants understand that others prefer a helpful agent
Summary
We readily reason about others’ preferences when watching social interactions. The intentions behind Ben’s and Mary’s behaviors are critical in determining John’s preference even though the outcome is identical (the tower of blocks has been demolished). As in this example, when understanding why others choose to approach or avoid a particular person, we typically reason about their actions in terms of preference, often relying on the intentions that they exhibited during previous interactions. Such information can help us predict and interpret others’ future actions. The current research examined whether infants consider intentionality when inferring others’ preferences
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