Babies Display Schadenfreude Toward People Who Are Different
Mean Babes Andrew Vargas via Wikimedia CommonsIn a new study, babies like it when people are mean to those who are different from them. Humans have a tendency to gravitate toward those that they share something with -- whether that's a common nationality, a shared love of a certain band or a favorite food. Yet babies don't just like individuals they have something in common with -- they also prefer people who are mean to dissimilar individuals, a new study in Psychological Science indicates. In previous studies, infants have shown a preference for people who help others. However, that goodwill may only extend to those they identify as being like them. To study this, (and put themselves in the running for the "most fun in research" award) a group of psychologists put on a puppet show for 9 and 14-month-old infants. The babies first had to chose which food...