For centuries, philosophers and psychologists have debated the moral sense of children, with some considering them to be born devoid of any notion of right and wrong.
Twenty years ago, there seemed to be a consensus on the idea of an innate moral compass. But now, a major new study by ManyBabies has turned this perspective on its head.
This research challenges the conclusions of a 2007 study by Kiley Hamlin, Paul Bloom and Karen Wynn of Yale University, published in the journal Nature.
In this experiment, six- to 10-month-old babies watched a puppet show in which a character attempted to climb a hill, helped by a “benefactor” or hindered by an “obstructor”.
The researchers found that the infants seemed to prefer the benefactor, suggesting an early moral sense enabling them to distinguish prosocial from antisocial behaviour.
However, the small size of the initial sample raised questions about the reliability of these findings. To address this, ManyBabies – an international consortium of developmental psychologists – conducted a larger-scale study, collecting data from 567 infants.
The findings, reported in an article for The Conversation, differ radically, in that the babies showed no preference for the “helper” character.
Despite these results, the researchers urge caution. “Some people will jump to the interpretation that this study shows that the original finding was incorrect. This is one possibility, but we shouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions,” ManyBabies founder Michael Frank noted.
He added that the differences observed could be explained by methodological adjustments, such as the use of digital videos instead of puppet shows.
Yet the fundamental question remains: are we really born with an awareness of right and wrong? To date, science has yet to settle this question.
The absence of conclusive results about the existence of a moral compass does not rule out the idea; it may require specific conditions or more time to emerge, perhaps in connection with the development of language.
In the meantime, this enigma continues to fuel reflection and challenge our assumptions about human nature.