Infants Recognize 'Thick' Social Affiliation

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Social Cognition

Abstract

Humans are in large networks of cooperative relationships. A small subset of these relationships can be thought of as ‘thick social affiliation’ which can happen between family members or with unrelated individuals we treat as ‘like-kin’. Preliminary results from two studies suggest that infants distinguish thick social affiliation (e.g. people you’d share an ice cream cone with) and distant social affiliation (e.g. people you would work with or help). In one study, 9 and 10-month old infants anticipated that someone who had displayed a ‘close’ affiliative cue toward a puppet (took a bite of orange, fed the puppet, then took another bite) would comfort that puppet over a person who merely interacted with the puppet (by passing a ball back and forth) (BF=18.49; N=24). We found similar results for 18-month old infants (BF=22; N=23) in both the described above, an interaction that did not involve food, but still involved sharing saliva. Together, these results suggest that infants may be sensitive to cues that might be particularly important in understanding who is in their immediate social circle. The next studies will investigate whether these anticipatory looks are the result of infants seeing food sharing as specific to a relationship or a trait.

Authors

• Ashley J Thomas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  Presenting Author

• Brandon Matthew Woo, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel Nettle, Newcastle University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth S. Spelke, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebecca Saxe, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  Non-Presenting Author