'Bully' study reveals babies have an innate sense of justice

Children were able to tell the difference between bullies and victims when shown clips of aggressive behaviour

03 Feb 2017
iStock / Yasin Emir Akbas

Children as young as six months old are able to understand interactions between a bully and their victim, according to a study in the Nature Human Behaviour journal.

Researchers from Kyoto University showed children between six and 10 months old examples of aggressive behaviour. The children were shown this behaviour using Pac-Man like characters, described as agents.

The scenarios shown to the children involved three agents: a victim, a bully, and a third-party, which, at times, intervened. In images and video published alongside the paper, an aggressive interaction between the characters shows one being squashed up against a wall, while a neutral interaction shows the characters standing side-by-side. When intervening, the third character moves between the other two. A near-infrared eye-tracking system monitored the children's gaze as they watched the videos on a 23-inch screen while they were sat on their parents' laps.

After each clip, the children were presented with the characters from the video and had to pick one. The youngest children in the study had a 'preference' for characters in the situations where the third character intervened. The 10-month-olds similarly chose these characters but at a much higher frequency.

"Six-month-olds regarded the interfering agent to be protecting the victim from the aggressor, but only older infants affirmed such an intervention after considering the intentions of the agent," the research paper says.

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Put simply, the 10-month-old babies had an understanding why someone was intervening, but the six-month-olds didn't. The researchers said this understanding was demonstrated by the older babies preferring clips where the interference in the aggressive was deliberate, not an accident. This indicates the understanding of an intention develops between these two points.

Based on their studies, the researchers believe infants can learn what an agent may be trying to achieve and understand the differences between positive and negative actions. "They can also discriminate the victim from the aggressor in aggressive interactions," the paper says.

The authors add that the work is able to "shed light" on the development trajectory of how children understand what happens around them and the meaning of "protective" third-party interventions suggesting "our admiration for and emphasis upon such acts is rooted within the preverbal infant’s mind".