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Luo Y, vanMarle K, Groh AM. The Cognitive Architecture of Infant Attachment. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2024:17456916241262693. [PMID: 39186195 PMCID: PMC11861394 DOI: 10.1177/17456916241262693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/27/2024]
Abstract
Meta-analytic evidence indicates that the quality of the attachment relationship that infants establish with their primary caregiver has enduring significance for socioemotional and cognitive outcomes. However, the mechanisms by which early attachment experiences contribute to subsequent development remain underspecified. According to attachment theory, early attachment experiences become embodied in the form of cognitive-affective representations, referred to as internal working models (IWMs), that guide future behavior. Little is known, however, about the cognitive architecture of IWMs in infancy. In this article, we discuss significant advances made in the field of infant cognitive development and propose that leveraging insights from this research has the potential to fundamentally shape our understanding of the cognitive architecture of attachment representations in infancy. We also propose that the integration of attachment research into cognitive research can shed light on the role of early experiences, individual differences, and stability and change in infant cognition, as well as open new routes of investigation in cognitive studies, which will further our understanding of human knowledge. We provide recommendations for future research throughout the article and conclude by using our collaborative research as an example.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyan Luo
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
| | - Kristy vanMarle
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
| | - Ashley M Groh
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
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2
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Kominsky JF, Lucca K, Thomas AJ, Frank MC, Hamlin JK. Simplicity and validity in infant research. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Abstract
Observed variability and complexity of judgments of "right" and "wrong" cannot be readily accounted for within extant approaches to understanding moral judgment. In response to this challenge, we present a novel perspective on categorization in moral judgment. Moral judgment as categorization (MJAC) incorporates principles of category formation research while addressing key challenges of existing approaches to moral judgment. People develop skills in making context-relevant categorizations. They learn that various objects (events, behaviors, people, etc.) can be categorized as morally right or wrong. Repetition and rehearsal result in reliable, habitualized categorizations. According to this skill-formation account of moral categorization, the learning and the habitualization of the forming of moral categories occur within goal-directed activity that is sensitive to various contextual influences. By allowing for the complexity of moral judgments, MJAC offers greater explanatory power than existing approaches while also providing opportunities for a diverse range of new research questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cillian McHugh
- Department of Psychology, University of Limerick
- Social Psychology & Cognition Lab, University of Limerick (SOCOUL)
- Centre for Social Issues Research, University of Limerick
| | - Marek McGann
- Department of Psychology, Mary Immaculate College
| | - Eric R. Igou
- Department of Psychology, University of Limerick
- Social Psychology & Cognition Lab, University of Limerick (SOCOUL)
- Health Research Institute, University of Limerick
| | - Elaine L. Kinsella
- Department of Psychology, University of Limerick
- Centre for Social Issues Research, University of Limerick
- Health Research Institute, University of Limerick
- Research on Influence, Social Networks, & Ethics (RISE) Lab
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Loheide‐Niesmann L, Lijster J, Hall R, Bakel H, Cima M. Toddlers' preference for prosocial versus antisocial agents: No associations with empathy or attachment security. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jasmijn Lijster
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology Erasmus MC–Sophia Children's HospitalErasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam The Netherlands
- Department of Tranzo Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences Tilburg University Tilburg The Netherlands
| | - Ruby Hall
- Department of Tranzo Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences Tilburg University Tilburg The Netherlands
| | - Hedwig Bakel
- Department of Tranzo Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences Tilburg University Tilburg The Netherlands
| | - Maaike Cima
- Behavioural Science Institute Radboud University Nijmegen The Netherlands
- Conrisq Group Juvenile Youth Institutions (YouthCarePLUS) Zetten The Netherlands
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Vaporova E, Zmyj N. Social evaluation and imitation of prosocial and antisocial agents in infants, children, and adults. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0235595. [PMID: 32936791 PMCID: PMC7494113 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The question of whether infants prefer prosocial agents over antisocial agents is contentious. Therefore, the first goal of the present study was to replicate previous findings regarding infants' preference. The second goal was to assess whether infants are more likely to imitate a prosocial agent than an antisocial agent. We tested 9-month-old, 14-month-old, and 4-year-old children. The study used the "opening a box to get a toy" paradigm in which an animal puppet is trying unsuccessfully to open a box and is either helped by a prosocial puppet or hindered by an antisocial puppet. We presented these social events via video, and subsequently administered an imitation task. As an additional control, adults were asked to describe the videos showing the prosocial and antisocial agent. Although most adults were able to identify both agents, the three age groups of children did not prefer the prosocial agent over the antisocial agent, and were not more likely to imitate the prosocial agent. The lack of differences might be explained by methodological issues or by a lack of robustness of the effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Vaporova
- Institute of Psychology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Norbert Zmyj
- Institute of Psychology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
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Taborda-Osorio H, Lyons AB, Cheries EW. Examining Infants' Individuation of Others by Sociomoral Disposition. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1271. [PMID: 31214082 PMCID: PMC6554281 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Early on infants seem to represent social actions of others from a moral perspective, evaluating others’ dispositions as “mean” or “nice.” The current research examined whether or not 11-month-old infants represent these sociomoral dispositions as deep and identity-determining properties using an object individuation task. Infants were shown two identical looking characters emerging sequentially from behind a screen and engaging in two different sociomoral actions. By using a looking-time paradigm the results show an interaction effect between the baseline and test trials, showing that infants seem to represent two different characters involved in the event, disregarding their same external appearance. This effect was mainly apparent when infants witnessed a negative event first in test trials. Experiments 2 and 3 control for alternative explanations. In Experiment 2 infants failed to individuate two characters when they are shown two identical looking puppets. In Experiment 3 infants fail to represent two characters when social information was taken away from the show. We discuss the possibility that by the end of the first year of life infants might represent sociomoral dispositions as diagnostic of individual identity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ashley B Lyons
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States
| | - Erik W Cheries
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States
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Van de Vondervoort JW, Hamlin JK. Preschoolers Focus on Others' Intentions When Forming Sociomoral Judgments. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1851. [PMID: 30333776 PMCID: PMC6176058 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Accepted: 09/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies suggest that preschoolers initially privilege outcome over intention in their moral judgments. The present findings reveal that, in contrast, even younger preschoolers can privilege intentions when evaluating characters who successfully or unsuccessfully help or hinder a third party in achieving its goal. Following a live-action puppet show originally created for infant populations, children made a forced-choice social judgment (which puppet was liked) and two forced-choice moral judgments (which puppet was nicer, which puppet should be punished), and were asked to explain their punishment allocations. In two experiments (N = 195), 3- and 4-year-olds evaluated characters with distinct intentions to help or to hinder who were associated with either positive or negative outcomes. Both ages judged characters with more positive intentions as nicer, and allocated punishment to characters with more negative intentions; neither of these tendencies depended on the outcomes the characters were associated with. Three-year-olds’ responses were somewhat less consistent than were 4-year-olds’, in that 3-year-olds’ judgments were disrupted by ambiguous harmful intent. Notably, children’s social judgments were less consistent than their moral judgments. In a third and final experiment (N = 100), children evaluated characters with the same intention but who were associated with different outcomes. Children showed inconsistent responding across age and outcome valence, but only 4-year-olds evaluating two characters with positive intentions reliably responded based on outcome. When providing informative responses in all three studies, children most frequently explained their punishment allocations by appealing to the puppet’s (attempted) hindering action or failure to help. These findings raise questions as to what underlies different patterns of response across studies in the literature, and suggests that observing live interactions may facilitate young children’s intention-based moral judgments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia W Van de Vondervoort
- Centre for Infant Cognition, Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - J Kiley Hamlin
- Centre for Infant Cognition, Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Shimizu Y, Senzaki S, Uleman JS. The Influence of Maternal Socialization on Infants’ Social Evaluation in Two Cultures. INFANCY 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Sawa Senzaki
- Department of Human Development; University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
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Steckler CM, Liberman Z, Van de Vondervoort JW, Slevinsky J, Le DT, Hamlin JK. Feeling out a link between feeling and infant sociomoral evaluation. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 36:482-500. [DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2017] [Revised: 11/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Conor M. Steckler
- Department of Psychology; University of British Columbia; Vancouver British Columbia Canada
| | - Zoe Liberman
- Department of Psychology; University of California Santa Barbara; California USA
| | | | - Janine Slevinsky
- Department of Psychology; University of British Columbia; Vancouver British Columbia Canada
| | - Doan T. Le
- Department of Psychology; University of British Columbia; Vancouver British Columbia Canada
| | - J. Kiley Hamlin
- Department of Psychology; University of British Columbia; Vancouver British Columbia Canada
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Heiphetz L. The development and importance of shared reality in the domains of opinion, morality, and religion. Curr Opin Psychol 2017; 23:1-5. [PMID: 29156322 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Accepted: 11/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The importance of shared reality emerges early in human development. Infants and young children notice when others share their beliefs, and information about shared beliefs influences their social judgments. This article reviews recent research on the importance of shared beliefs in three domains that have been widely investigated over the past several years-opinions, moral views, and religious beliefs. I argue that shared religious beliefs appear especially influential and suggest several reasons why this might be the case, including the perceived link between religion and morality as well as the strong role that religious beliefs play in personal identity. Future research can further test these possibilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larisa Heiphetz
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027, USA.
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Woo BM, Steckler CM, Le DT, Hamlin JK. Social evaluation of intentional, truly accidental, and negligently accidental helpers and harmers by 10-month-old infants. Cognition 2017; 168:154-163. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.06.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2016] [Revised: 06/28/2017] [Accepted: 06/28/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Abstract
The past 15years occasioned an extraordinary blossoming of research into the cognitive and affective mechanisms that support moral judgment and behavior. This growth in our understanding of moral mechanisms overshadowed a crucial and complementary question, however: How are they learned? As this special issue of the journal Cognition attests, a new crop of research into moral learning has now firmly taken root. This new literature draws on recent advances in formal methods developed in other domains, such as Bayesian inference, reinforcement learning and other machine learning techniques. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates how learning and deciding in a social domain-and especially in the moral domain-sometimes involves specialized cognitive systems. We review the contributions to this special issue and situate them within the broader contemporary literature. Our review focuses on how we learn moral values and moral rules, how we learn about personal moral character and relationships, and the philosophical implications of these emerging models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fiery Cushman
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States.
| | - Victor Kumar
- Department of Philosophy, Boston University, United States
| | - Peter Railton
- Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan, United States
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