ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2025, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (4): 559-572.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.0559 cstr: 32110.14.2025.0559

• 亲社会行为专刊(2) • 上一篇    下一篇

6个月婴儿社会评价的个体差异初探

吴楣, 梁熙, 时嘉惠, 王争艳()   

  1. 首都师范大学心理学院, 儿童发展研究中心, 北京市“学习与认知”重点实验室, 北京 100048
  • 收稿日期:2023-09-30 发布日期:2025-02-06 出版日期:2025-04-25
  • 通讯作者: 王争艳, E-mail: wangzhengyan@cnu.edu.cn
  • 作者简介:第一联系人:

    吴楣和梁熙为共同第一作者。

  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金(31971006)

Individual differences in the social evaluation of 6-month-old infants

WU Mei, LIANG Xi, SHI Jiahui, WANG Zhengyan()   

  1. Department of Psychology, Center for Child Development, Learning and Cognitive Key Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
  • Received:2023-09-30 Online:2025-02-06 Published:2025-04-25

摘要:

2007年Hamlin等人在《自然》上发表的研究表明6个月婴儿具备社会评价能力, 对个体在社会互动中的“帮助”和“阻碍”行为产生不同反应, 并对帮助者表现出偏好。此后, 不断有学者对此结果的可复制性提出质疑。本研究采用Hamlin等人(2007)经典的“帮助者—阻碍者”选择范式和预期违背范式, 考察了我国婴儿(月龄6.32 ± 0.34; 共179名, 其中女孩86名)在社会评价任务中的选择偏好和注视时长, 及其与婴儿气质的关系。本研究结果显示, 在预期违背任务中, 当第三方接近“阻碍者”时婴儿的注视时长显著高于当第三方接近“帮助者”时的注视时长; 但在行为选择任务中, 婴儿并未表现出Hamlin等人报告的帮助者偏好。然而, 在气质的外向性维度上得分更高的婴儿越有可能在手动选择任务中选择“帮助者”。上述结果说明, 6个月婴儿可能已经具备社会评价能力, 能够理解行为并推断他人评价, 但是这种能力存在一定的个体差异, 这种差异可能与婴儿的气质有关。

关键词: 婴儿, 社会评价, 个体差异, 气质

Abstract:

Social evaluation refers to the capacity of a human being to assess the behavior and intention of others in a social context. As social beings, humans inhabit a profoundly interconnected world characterized by unceasing interpersonal interactions. Under this background, the manner in which individuals evaluate their peers acts as the foundation for comprehending the world. In particular, early social assessment serves as a precursor variable in the development of moral and prosocial behaviors in subsequent years. It is a pivotal factor in shaping an individual’s future prosocial tendencies. On the one hand, social evaluation aids in identifying suitable social companions, avoiding inappropriate or hazardous individuals, and making judicious decisions. On the other hand, it assumes a pivotal role in kindling an individual’s prosocial inclinations, guiding prudent behavioral choices, molding prosocial conduct, and fostering moral maturation.

Social evaluation capacity among adults primarily manifests through their quick acquisition of meaningful insights from the emotional, behavioral, and postural cues of others, enabling them to formulate corresponding assessments and behavioral responses. Similarly, infants exhibit the capacity to discern behavioral cues exhibited by others during social interactions, extrapolating insights into their motives and intentions and making apt assessments.

In 2007, Hamlin et al. published a study in Nature that reported that 6-month-old infants possessed social evaluative skills, responding differently to the “helping” and “hindering” behaviors of individuals during social interactions and showing greater preference for helpers (prosocial agents). Since then, researchers have continuously challenged the replicability of this result. In the present study, we used the classic “helper− hinderer” choice paradigm of Hamlin et al. (2007) and a violation of the expectation paradigm to examine the choice preferences and gaze duration of Chinese infants (age: 6.32 ± 0.34 months; total of 179, 86 were girls) in a social evaluation task, and their relationship with the temperament of infants. The results of the present study showed that the gaze duration of infants was significantly higher when a third party approached the hinderer than when a third party approached the helper in an expectation violation task. However, infants did not show a preference for the helper in the behavioral choice task as reported by Hamlin et al. Infants who scored higher in the surgency dimension of temperament were more likely to choose “helper” in the manual choice task.

In general, the results suggested that 6-month-old infants may already exhibit social evaluation ability to understand the behavior of others and infer their evaluation. However, individual differences are observed in this ability, which may be related to the temperament of infants.

Key words: infants, social evaluation, individual differences, temperament

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