Magazine - Can Babies Tell Right From Wrong? | The New York Times

00:05:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBW5vdhr_PA

Summary

TLDRThe video dives into the question of whether babies are born with an inherent sense of morality or if they learn moral behavior from society. Yale University's infant cognition Center, led by Professor Paul Bloom, investigates this by examining how infants perceive and react to moral behaviors. Researchers conduct experiments using puppet shows displaying 'good' and 'bad' characters. Babies are then asked to choose between the characters. Results show that about 80% of babies consistently choose the 'helpful' character over the one that acts selfishly. This implies a possible innate ability to discern moral behavior, challenging the notion that all moral precepts are learned after birth.

Takeaways

  • 🧠 Babies may have an innate sense of morality.
  • 🎭 Puppet shows are used to test babies' understanding of good and bad.
  • 👶 Infants often choose the 'helpful' character.
  • 🔍 Research challenges the idea that morality is solely learned.
  • 📊 Over 80% of babies prefer the 'good' character.
  • 🍼 Study could influence how we teach morals to children.
  • 🔬 Shows potential for innate understanding of social interactions.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:13

    The video explores the moral understanding of babies, questioning whether they are blank slates or have innate senses of right and wrong. Paul Bloom, a psychology professor at Yale, discusses his team's research at the Infant Cognition Center. Through puppet shows, they study whether infants can distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' characters. Results show that about 80% of babies consistently choose the helpful character, suggesting a possible inborn moral sense. This challenges the belief that moral understanding is solely learned from society. The research hints that basic concepts of good and evil might be inherent rather than entirely taught.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the main topic of the video?

    The video explores whether babies have an innate sense of morality or if they learn it from society.

  • Where is this research conducted?

    The research is conducted at Yale University's infant cognition Center.

  • How do the researchers test the babies?

    Researchers use puppet shows to present scenarios with 'good' and 'bad' characters, then see which character the babies choose.

  • What is the surprising finding from the research?

    The surprising finding is that 80% of babies choose the 'helpful' character over the 'unhelpful' one.

  • What might this study suggest about teaching morals to children?

    The study suggests that infants might come into the world with some innate understanding of good and bad behavior.

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  • 00:00:05
    [Music]
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    is a human baby a purely aoral creature
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    just a blank slate who learns from
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    society to respond with compassion to
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    suffering and with outraged unfairness
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    and Injustice or is it possible that a
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    baby understands right from wrong at the
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    very start of his or her life there's a
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    growing body of scientific evidence to
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    support the idea that perhaps some sense
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    of Good and Evil is bred in the bone I
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    am Paul Bloom a psychology professor at
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    Yale University and I'm part of a team
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    exploring the moral life of babies we're
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    here at Yale University's infant
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    cognition Center um this Center
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    researches what infants know about their
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    physical worlds and their social worlds
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    and has been doing so for about the last
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    10
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    years so my work here as a graduate
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    student is what infants understand about
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    people as good people and bad people
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    whether a young infant before they're
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    being taught about these kinds of
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    Concepts um could make distinctions like
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    these all right so I'll have you sit
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    right here with her and then just scoot
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    her all the way up to the front of the
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    table there we run puppet shows in the
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    lab I you do something fun now okay they
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    are um either hand puppets or little
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    wooden shapes in which one character
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    plays the role of the good guy and
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    another character plays the role of the
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    bad guy goes the
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    curtain one puppet tries but fails to
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    get to the top of the hill sort of
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    struggling and and falling back down on
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    alternating trials we show infants one
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    character who comes and bumps the
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    climbing character up the hill and down
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    goes the
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    curtain if you're ready up goes the
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    curtain on another trial we have a
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    character who comes and bumps the
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    character down the hill
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    down goes the
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    curtain and up goes the
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    curtain infancy um that interaction sort
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    of over and over again between six and
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    14
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    times after they're sort of finished
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    looking at it when they're nice and
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    bored we simply ask them to choose
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    between the two
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    characters all right great so we are all
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    done with that part we're just going to
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    have her choose between the puppets
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    now that
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    one all right good job that was The
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    Helpful guy wasn't it astonishingly
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    really we are finding that um upwards of
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    80% of babies are choosing the character
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    who was helpful um over the character
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    who was unhelpful okay Ellie all right
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    gorgeous can we have that ducky thank
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    you and up goes the another of our tests
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    is a character who um has a ball and he
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    plays with his ball sort of Happily and
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    then he drops his ball to one side of
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    the stage or another um at the back of
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    the stage there are two characters one
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    of whom runs up when the ball goes over
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    near him grabs the ball and gives the
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    ball back to the character who dropped
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    [Music]
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    it on the other hand um the character on
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    the other side of the stage when he runs
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    up he grabs the ball and runs off stage
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    with it
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    so we are just going to have her choose
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    between the puppets now hey which one do
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    you
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    like that guy okay all right that was
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    the nice guy I heard about the concept
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    and I thought it was a really neat idea
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    we just like to participate in baby
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    science the girls really enjoy it it's a
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    lot of fun to improve our chances of
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    becoming better parents in another
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    scenario we show infants a character who
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    tries but fails to open a box okay
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    gorgeous one up goes the
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    curtain um one character comes and helps
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    him open the box after he
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    struggles and down goes the curtain up
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    go the
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    curtain another character comes and
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    jumps down on top of the box preventing
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    him from doing
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    so okay great now we're just going to
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    have her choose between the puppets hi
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    which one do you
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    like that
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    one so parents often ask us what it
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    might mean that their baby seems to tell
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    the difference between a nice guy and a
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    mean guy um that's the only question I
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    would really have is you know how did my
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    baby do and one of the things I think it
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    means is that we spend a lot of time
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    worrying about teaching children the
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    difference between um good guys and bad
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    guys in the world good things and bad
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    things but that in fact these things
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    might be something that infants just
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    come to the world with 50 years ago we
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    didn't understand a lot of what we
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    understand now what we take for granted
Tags
  • morality
  • babies
  • Yale University
  • infant cognition
  • psychology
  • Paul Bloom
  • puppet shows
  • innate sense