Kelsey Lucca
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
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
Dr Samuel Forbes samuel.forbes@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
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 |
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