Live Science -- Babies are famous for copying adults, but a new study shows that little ones carefully choose whether to imitate an adult's actions based on how credible they think the adult is.
For example, if an adult has previously displayed unreliable or dishonest behavior, the baby is less likely to mimic them, according to the study.
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The findings are consistent with previous studies from the same laboratory that suggest babies are adept at detecting an adult's reliability based on their previous behavior. In 2007 Yale University researchers found that 10-month-olds and 6-month-olds are capable of judging a person's character and using that information to decide whom they'd prefer to hang out with.
"Like older children, infants keep track of an individual's history of being accurate or inaccurate and use this information to guide their subsequent learning," said study researcher Diane Poulin-Dubois, a professor in the Concordia Department of Psychology and member of the university's Centre for Research in Human Development. "Specifically, infants choose not to learn from someone who they perceive as unreliable."
For example, if an adult has previously displayed unreliable or dishonest behavior, the baby is less likely to mimic them, according to the study.
--snip--
The findings are consistent with previous studies from the same laboratory that suggest babies are adept at detecting an adult's reliability based on their previous behavior. In 2007 Yale University researchers found that 10-month-olds and 6-month-olds are capable of judging a person's character and using that information to decide whom they'd prefer to hang out with.
"Like older children, infants keep track of an individual's history of being accurate or inaccurate and use this information to guide their subsequent learning," said study researcher Diane Poulin-Dubois, a professor in the Concordia Department of Psychology and member of the university's Centre for Research in Human Development. "Specifically, infants choose not to learn from someone who they perceive as unreliable."
