According to recent research from Yale University, infants can distinguish between helpful and hurtful behavior. Not even experiencing it themselves but by just watching it.

In this study, infants watched a short play with two objects. As one object climbed up a mountain, there was another object that came by. This second object either helped the first object up or it pushed it back down the mountain. When given the chance to choose an object to play with, infants more often selected the object that helped versus the one who pushed the other down. What’s more is that the helpful object was selected more often than a neutral object, and the neutral object was selected more often than the hurtful object.

This research shows that infants can distinguish from good and bad behavior at an early age, even before they can talk. Even more the researchers suggest that understanding good from bad behavior may be a heritable instead of a learned trait. And although it’s possible for behaviors to be reinforced without much exposure, I find it heartening to think that deep down inside that we could all be wired to favor the good.

Further Reading:

Article from Nature

Yale Infant Lab

Other stories about this research:

Science Daily

MSN