%0 Journal Article %J Child Development %D 2023 %T Infants and toddlers leverage their understanding of action goals to evaluate agents who help others %A Woo, Brandon M. %A Spelke, Elizabeth S. %X

Why do infants and toddlers prefer helpers? Four experiments (conducted from 2019–2022; n = 136, 66% White, 15% Asian, 4% Black, 2% Hispanic/Latino, 13% multiracial, majority USA) investigated whether infants and toddlers favor agents whose actions allow others to achieve their goals. In the key experiment, 8-month-old infants and 15-month-old toddlers viewed a protagonist who tried and failed to open a box that contained a toy while two other agents (helpers) observed; then the toys were exchanged and the helpers opened different boxes. Infants and toddlers differently evaluated the two helpers, consistent with their developing means-end understanding. Together, the present four experiments connect infants' and toddlers' evaluations of helping to their understanding of goal-directed behavior.

%B Child Development %8 02/2023 %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13895 %! Child Development %R 10.1111/cdev.13895