Are babies born bullies?

That's a question provoked by a new University of B.C. study that has found infants approve of individuals who pick on those different from themselves.

Psychology Prof. Kiley Hamlin conducted experiments into social bias with babies from nine to 14 months and found that "babies either feel something like schaden-freude - pleasure when an individual they dislike or consider threatening experiences harm - or babies have some early understanding of social alliances, recognizing that the 'enemy of their enemy' is their friend."

During the experiment, children selected either graham crackers or green beans, then watched a video of two puppets - one choosing as they did and the other selecting the less favoured food.

Then, other puppets helped or harmed the two puppets who had made the food selections. The babies were then asked to pick their favourite puppet and selected the one that had shared their food preference. They weren't distressed when that puppet picked on the puppet who chose differently.

In an interview, Hamlin clarified that this didn't mean babies are necessarily programmed to be bullies or to lack empathy. Rather, it indicates that kids make complex social judgments from a very early age and have a strong preference for people who mirror their own preferences.

"What it does seem to show is the tendency to note who is similar to me and who isn't might be very basic to human socialization," Hamlin said. "There is very clear evidence that infants are quite empathetic, but what it might be is that they are limiting their empathy to certain individuals, and we know we do that as adults. We feel more empathy for kids in front of us who need help than (for) kids in other countries."

The research might have some practical applications in the classroom for reducing bullying, Hamlin added.

For example, "teachers could help students see how they are all on the same team," she said.

Summerland Secondary School teacher Trevor Knowlton, the founder of a nationwide anti-bullying program, said research into the nature-versus-nurture origins of bullying was "fascinating," but he stressed that in his experience later socialization of youth also plays a big role.

"There has to be a society component to it," he said. "There night be a 'nature' side of things, but there can't be any doubt they are picking it up from adults as well."

Knowlton set up the website and anonymous bullying reporting service Stopabully.ca in 2009 after he witnessed a fight on school grounds. Today, more than 150 schools have joined the network and the site has fielded 200 bullying reports.

The infant research was conducted though UBC's Centre for Infant Cognition, which was founded in 2010, and is part of the university's Early Development Research Group.

The study, titled, Not Like Me = Bad: Infants Prefer Those Who Harm Dissimilar Others, was coauthored by Karen Wynn of Yale University, Zoe Liberman of the University of Chicago and Neha Mahajan of Temple University.

Watch videos of the experiments in progress at: cic.psych.ubc.ca/ Media_Videos.html.

eoconnor@theprovince.com

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