From an early age, children begin to recognize the structure of their social environment. According to a new study that has come to light babies relate size to social hierarchy identifying the greatest with the most powerful.
The trial was conducted by researchers from Harvard and the University of Copenhagen with 144 babies aged 8 to 13 months. They were sitting next to their parents to see images of dolls of different sizes in a kind of competition and observed the attention they put on them.
When the smallest doll beat the big one, the children stayed much longer looking at the screen than when it happened the other way around. According to the authors of the study, the children stayed longer observing the unexpected, because what was expected for them was that the little one was defeated by the big one.
Although it may sound somewhat simple to draw a conclusion about this reaction in babies, it is believed that they would be their first representations about who is who on the scale of the most powerful. A notion that begins to emerge between 8 and 10 months of age.
These types of studies are nothing more than a curiosity about certain behaviors of babies. Than babies relate size to social hierarchy It helps us to understand how they assimilate notions about social structure so soon. Then it is up to parents to teach them values as important as equality and respect for others.
