In Fact, Children Have The Ability To Recognize A Person's Traits

Illustration of a child's ability to recognize someone's character (Unsplash / Edy Libedinsky)

JAKARTA - If you think that children have a limited ability to recognize and judge someone's character, it is wrong. Based on scientific research, children have an amazing ability to judge the good and bad qualities of the people they meet.

Professor Karen Wynn, a psychologist at Yale University, Connecticut, says that everyone has one sophisticated component of moral judgment. Wynn in her research with the team found that the ability to judge morals has an innate basis.

Based on the findings of previous scientists, this ability develops through language at the age of about 18 months to 2 years. In the study, Wynn and her team studied the reactions of babies aged 6 and 10 months from a hill climb scenario.

In the research scenario, there are two options for climbing, namely the obstructing square box and the triangle which assist the climber. Out of 16, 10-month-olds chose the helpful triangle, and 12 6-month-olds also chose a path that helps in the climbing scenario.

Reporting from Romper, Tuesday, March 30, apart from being able to recognize faces, respond to sounds, and respond with their hands, babies can distinguish a person's attitude. Babies have a preference to judge someone who is helpful or vice versa.

Micro cues from the gestures of the people they meet are used as assessment materials. With these signals, a 6-month-old baby can distinguish between good and bad characters.

Another study conducted by the Infant Cognition Center at Yale University made an experiment using two puppet characters. The first doll helps open the box while the second doll slams and closes the box. Nearly 80 percent of babies choose the first doll.

"Humans are born with a programmed morality, a sense of good and evil grows in the bones", said Paul Bloom, author of Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil.

Another study that proves that children can judge and recognize a person's traits was conducted by Harvard University and published in the Psychological Science Journal.

In the study, it was revealed that children aged 3 years tended to judge a person's character through their faces. From the faces of the people they meet, they will know whether that person is good or not.

Subsequent research was published in the National Library of Medicine by Maureen C. Kenny and Sandy K. Wurtele. A person's face may be judged by the children, but if accompanied by action, further knowledge and assistance are needed.

The study, conducted by Kenny and Wurtele, aims to test children's ability to recognize 'good' people who have the intention of behaving badly in relation to personal safety.

It was found that children were not able to recognize covert intentions, especially at the age of under 4 years. Although naturally, they have the ability to recognize traits through faces, children have not been able to judge intentions accompanied by actions without knowledge of safety.