The Infant Toolbox Includes A Moral Compass

Some new research in the area of emotional development has come to my attention and has motivated me to take a detour this week away from my usual topic of signing with babies.

There’s no doubt that by the time they are preschoolers, children understand the difference between virtue and evil deeds—as is evident in their appreciation of Cinderella over the Wicked Stepmother and of Little Red Riding Hood over the Big Bad Wolf. But when does this critical distinction hold sway in the minds of little children? Believe it or not, fascinating new research indicates the seeds of distinguishing “good guys” from “bad guys” are there practically from Day 1! Here is just one example from Professor J. Kiley Hamlin’s lab at the University of British Columbia that demonstrates how we know.

Imagine you’re a 4 month old baby watching the following two events:

(1) A puppet is struggling to open the lid of a hinged box and a second puppet joins the effort, helping get the box open.
(2) The first puppet is once again struggling to open the box, but this time a third puppet jumps on top of the lid, pinning it down, thereby hindering the first puppet’s efforts.

Having seen these little events, you are given a choice of which of two puppets you want to look at and hold—the “helper” or the “hinderer.” Even babies as young as 4.5 months strongly (75%-100% of them) prefer the “Helper,” thereby indicating they took into account the goal of the lst puppet and evaluated the intentions of the 2nd and 3rd: they liked the “Helper” and spurned the “Hinderer.” (And don’t worry, the order of events was varied across children and other scenarios were tested as well.)

This is indeed good news! Why? Because it indicates that humans hit the ground running in terms of preferring helping and cooperation over negative behaviors—and that takes some of the burden off of parents. Rather than having to start from scratch getting their child to understand and prefer helping others, they need only to nurture the seeds that are already there. That’s burden enough!

Happy Signing! (and don’t forget to look for us on Facebook)

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs® Program
and
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

Baby Hearts: Teaching Toddlers to be Kind

One of the most important values that parents pass on to their children is empathy—that is, the ability to recognize what other people are feeling AND the willingness to take action to help them feel better—and in general to be kind and helpful to others. As Dr. Susan Goodwyn and I point out in our book, Baby Hearts, feeling empathy for others is important to your child’s future because research shows that children who are high in empathy are more popular with their peers, get along better with teachers and other adults, and in general, tend to live lives that garner them respect and affection.

What can you do to help your child develop this important emotional trait? The photo I’ve added to the right of this posting provides a clue to one easy strategy. The photo shows my 22-month-old granddaughter, Olivia, very carefully filling our dog’s food bowl. The strategy it illustrates is to provide lessons in empathy by involving your child with the care of animals. Children are naturally attracted to animals and seem to easily grasp the dependence of many animals (particularly pets) on the love and attention of humans. If your child is too young for a major pet (such as a dog or cat) or other circumstances rule them out, try installing a bird feeder outside or an aquarium inside. Be sure to talk about how animals feel many of the same feelings your child does—like hunger, thirst (except for fish, of course!) and pain—and also explain how to properly care for the animal. Even very young children can help feed fish, add seed to a bird feeder, or fill a pet’s water bowl—and lessons about being gentle can never begin too early.

Use this strategy and you’re be laying the foundation for the very important trait of feeling empathy for PEOPLE.

Happy Signing! (And don't forget to visit Baby Signs on Facebook!)

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program

and

Professor Emeritus, UC Davis