"Size matters to babies, too, a study suggests" by Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff / January 28, 2011
Long before they learn about popular kids or bullies — much less how to walk or talk — infants already understand social hierarchies and the fact that size is a key factor in determining who will yield when paths cross, according to a new study by Harvard researchers.
Far from being something children learn on the playground, from pop culture, or in lessons from parents, the importance of size in social hierarchies may be innate or develop very early in life, the research suggests.
And when they grow into adulthood it becomes a matter of the penis and which world leader can lie his way into mass-murdering wars.
The study published yesterday by the journal Science describes an experiment in which babies watched animated cartoons in which big and small blocks bound toward one another, bump against each other, and bow deferentially.
I stopped believing in the journal Science when they said all the oil disappeared.
If the big block bowed to the small one, infants as young as 10 months old stared for a long time, indicating to researchers that this bit of social choreography defied their expectations.
I notice I lose a lot of time doing that at the Globe.
The new work adds to a growing body of research revealing the powerful social tool kit that babies use to make sense of the world and suggests that they understand some basic rules of social interaction before they have had to use them....
As if I'm going to believe this social science garbage.
Sorry, but studies featured by the agenda-pushing media are always called into question now.
Too much BS over too long a time, folks.
Research into how people first perceive social hierarchies is more than just a fascinating question about early childhood. Our ability to navigate complex social situations is crucial for success in life, and also shapes our behavior, attitudes, and opinions.
All about putting you in your place, kiddo.
Preschoolers, researchers have found, calibrate their social interactions with a playmate depending on whether the other child is of higher or lower social rank. There has been growing concern about the role social hierarchy plays in adolescence, because of bullying in schools.
Why? According to this study kids have been figuring this out for a long time.
As for adults, research shows that people who say they prefer an abstract symbol that is a hierarchical pyramid — instead of one that shows a more egalitarian arrangement of overlapping circles — are more likely to be racist, ethnocentric, or tolerant of the persecution of others.
That explains Israel.
In the animal kingdom and across human culture, size is an important factor in establishing social hierarchies, from an animal that puffs itself up to show its dominance to kings or popes who wear big hats or sit up high....
Yeah, I always thought that crap was silly.
I must be pretty well-adjusted, huh?
Infants who are still learning their first words cannot describe their thoughts....
So these guys who did the study are mind readers, huh?
Yeah, I am smelling something, readers.
"The more we understand about how social hierarchy and dominance hierarchies work and how we recognize them and how we manipulate them, that should ultimately also make us able to intervene and shape them in ways that are less harmful," said Lotte Thomsen, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study.
Then HOW COME MILLIONS were UNABLE to STOP the WARS?!!
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Yeah, just BABY BABBLE passing as "news," readers!
Related: Study questions timing of human migration out of Africa
