title: Probing the Strength of Infants' Preference for Helpers over Hinderers: Two Replication Attempts of Hamlin and Wynn (2011).
abstract: Several studies indicate that infants prefer individuals who act prosocially over those who act antisocially toward unrelated third parties. In the present study, we focused on a paradigm published by Kiley Hamlin and Karen Wynn in 2011. In this study, infants were habituated to a live puppet show in which a protagonist tried to open a box to retrieve a toy placed inside. The protagonist was either helped by a second puppet (the "Helper"), or hindered by a third puppet (the "Hinderer"). At test, infants were presented with the Helper and the Hinderer, and encouraged to reach for one of them. In the original study, 75% of 9-month-olds selected the Helper, arguably demonstrating a preference for prosocial over antisocial individuals. We conducted two studies with the aim of replicating this result. Each attempt was performed by a different group of experimenters. Study 1 followed the methods of the published study as faithfully as possible. Study 2 introduced slight modifications to the stimuli and the procedure following the guidelines generously provided by Kiley Hamlin and her collaborators. Yet, in our replication attempts, 9-month-olds' preference for helpers over hinderers did not differ significantly from chance (62.5% and 50%, respectively, in Studies 1 and 2). Two types of factors could explain why our results differed from those of Hamlin and Wynn: minor methodological dissimilarities (in procedure, materials, or the population tested), or the effect size being smaller than originally assumed. We conclude that fine methodological details that are crucial to infants' success in this task need to be identified to ensure the replicability of the original result.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Eliala
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salvadori
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blazsekova
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Volein
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zsuzsanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Karap
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tatone
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mascaro
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gergely
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Csibra
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D002657:Child Development; D002755:Choice Behavior; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011581:Psychological Tests