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Infants' Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large-Scale, Multi-Lab, Coordinated Replication Study

Lucca, Kelsey; Yuen, Francis; Wang, Yiyi; Alessandroni, Nicolás; Allison, Olivia; Alvarez, Mario; Axelsson, Emma L.; Baumer, Janina; Baumgartner, Heidi A.; Bertels, Julie; Bhavsar, Mitali; Byers‐Heinlein, Krista; Capelier‐Mourguy, Arthur; Chijiiwa, Hitomi; Chin, Chantelle S.‐S.; Christner, Natalie; Cirelli, Laura K.; Corbit, John; Daum, Moritz M.; Doan, Tiffany; Dresel, Michaela; Exner, Anna; Fei, Wenxi; Forbes, Samuel H.; Franchin, Laura; Frank, Michael C.; Geraci, Alessandra; Giraud, Michelle; Gornik, Megan E.; Wiesmann, Charlotte Grosse; Grossmann, Tobias; Hadley, Isabelle M.; Havron, Naomi; Henderson, Annette M. E.; Matzner, Emmy Higgs; Immel, Bailey A.; Jankiewicz, Grzegorz; Jędryczka, Wiktoria; Kanakogi, Yasuhiro; Kominsky, Jonathan F.; Lew‐Williams, Casey; Liberman, Zoe; Liu, Liquan; Liu, Yilin; Loeffler, Miriam T.; Martin, Alia; Mayor, Julien; Meng, Xianwei; Misiak, Michal; Moreau, David; Nencheva, Mira L.; Oña, Linda S.; Otálora, Yenny; Paulus, Markus; Pepe, Bill; Pickron, Cha...

Authors

Kelsey Lucca

Francis Yuen

Yiyi Wang

Nicolás Alessandroni

Olivia Allison

Mario Alvarez

Emma L. Axelsson

Janina Baumer

Heidi A. Baumgartner

Julie Bertels

Mitali Bhavsar

Krista Byers‐Heinlein

Arthur Capelier‐Mourguy

Hitomi Chijiiwa

Chantelle S.‐S. Chin

Natalie Christner

Laura K. Cirelli

John Corbit

Moritz M. Daum

Tiffany Doan

Michaela Dresel

Anna Exner

Wenxi Fei

Laura Franchin

Michael C. Frank

Alessandra Geraci

Michelle Giraud

Megan E. Gornik

Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann

Tobias Grossmann

Isabelle M. Hadley

Naomi Havron

Annette M. E. Henderson

Emmy Higgs Matzner

Bailey A. Immel

Grzegorz Jankiewicz

Wiktoria Jędryczka

Yasuhiro Kanakogi

Jonathan F. Kominsky

Casey Lew‐Williams

Zoe Liberman

Liquan Liu

Yilin Liu

Miriam T. Loeffler

Alia Martin

Julien Mayor

Xianwei Meng

Michal Misiak

David Moreau

Mira L. Nencheva

Linda S. Oña

Yenny Otálora

Markus Paulus

Bill Pepe

Charisse B. Pickron

Lindsey J. Powell

Marina Proft

Alyssa A. Quinn

Hannes Rakoczy

Peter J. Reschke

Ronit Roth‐Hanania

Katrin Rothmaler

Karola Schlegelmilch

Laura Schlingloff‐Nemecz

Mark A. Schmuckler

Tobias Schuwerk

Sabine Seehagen

Hilal H. Şen

Munna R. Shainy

Valentina Silvestri

Melanie Soderstrom

Jessica Sommerville

Hyun‐joo Song

Piotr Sorokowski

Sandro E. Stutz

Yanjie Su

Hernando Taborda‐Osorio

Alvin W. M. Tan

Denis Tatone

Teresa Taylor‐Partridge

Chiu Kin Adrian Tsang

Arkadiusz Urbanek

Florina Uzefovsky

Ingmar Visser

Annie E. Wertz

Madison Williams

Kristina Wolsey

Terry Tin‐Yau Wong

Amanda M. Woodward

Yang Wu

Zhen Zeng

Lucie Zimmer

J. Kiley Hamlin



Abstract

Evaluating whether someone's behavior is praiseworthy or blameworthy is a fundamental human trait. A seminal study by Hamlin and colleagues in 2007 suggested that the ability to form social evaluations based on third-party interactions emerges within the first year of life: infants preferred a character who helped, over hindered, another who tried but failed to climb a hill. This sparked a new line of inquiry into the origins of social evaluations; however, replication attempts have yielded mixed results. We present a preregistered, multi-laboratory, standardized study aimed at replicating infants' preference for Helpers over Hinderers. We intended to (1) provide a precise estimate of the effect size of infants' preference for Helpers over Hinderers, and (2) determine the degree to which preferences are based on social information. Using the ManyBabies framework for big team-based science, we tested 1018 infants (567 included, 5.5-10.5 months) from 37 labs across five continents. Overall, 49.34% of infants preferred Helpers over Hinderers in the social condition, and 55.85% preferred characters who pushed up, versus down, an inanimate object in the nonsocial condition; neither proportion differed from chance or from each other. This study provides evidence against infants' prosocial preferences in the hill paradigm, suggesting the effect size is weaker, absent, and/or develops later than previously estimated. As the first of its kind, this study serves as a proof-of-concept for using active behavioral measures (e.g., manual choice) in large-scale, multi-lab projects studying infants. [Abstract copyright: © 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.]

Citation

Lucca, K., Yuen, F., Wang, Y., Alessandroni, N., Allison, O., Alvarez, M., Axelsson, E. L., Baumer, J., Baumgartner, H. A., Bertels, J., Bhavsar, M., Byers‐Heinlein, K., Capelier‐Mourguy, A., Chijiiwa, H., Chin, C. S., Christner, N., Cirelli, L. K., Corbit, J., Daum, M. M., Doan, T., …Hamlin, J. K. (2024). Infants' Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large-Scale, Multi-Lab, Coordinated Replication Study. Developmental Science, 28(1), Article e13581. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13581

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 29, 2024
Online Publication Date Nov 26, 2024
Publication Date Dec 13, 2024
Deposit Date Nov 28, 2024
Publicly Available Date Nov 27, 2025
Journal Developmental Science
Print ISSN 1363-755X
Electronic ISSN 1467-7687
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 28
Issue 1
Article Number e13581
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13581
Keywords Male, Social Behavior, Infant, Infant Behavior - physiology, Humans, infancy, Female, moral development, social cognition, Child Development - physiology, Social Interaction, experimental methods, reproducibility, social development
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3108557