Not like me = bad: Infants prefer those who harm dissimilar others

摘要

Adults tend to like individuals who are similar to them, and a growing body of recent research suggests that even infants and young children prefer individuals who share their attributes or personal tastes over those who do not. Here, we examine the nature and development of attitudes for similar and dissimilar others in human infancy. Across two experiments and over 200 infant participants, we find that 9- and 14-month-old infants prefer individuals who treat similar others well and dissimilar others poorly. A developmental trend was observed, wherein 14-month-olds’ responses were more robust than were 9-month-olds’. These findings suggest that the identification of common and contrasting personal attributes influences our social attitudes and judgments in powerful ways, even very early in human life.