A landmark experiment by Kiley Hamlin, Karen Wynn, and Paul Bloom demonstrated that infants as young as 6 months old possess previously unrecognized abilities to form social evaluations. In the experiment, infants were shown a shape that was made to appear as if it was climbing a hill. In one event, another shape helped the climber up the hill, while in a separate event, a different shape prevented the climber from reaching the top. When offered a choice between the helping and hindering shapes, both 6- and 10-month-olds chose the helping shape over the hindering shape, showing that they had evaluated the actions and preferred the helper as a result. In an additional test, the climber was made to appear as if it was "choosing" the helping shape or the hindering shape. Infant looking times were measured in order to assess which "choice" was more surprising. Interestingly, the 6-month-olds looked equally for both events, while the 10-month-olds looked longer when the hinderer was approached. This demonstrated that the 10-month-olds were attributing preferences to the climber, and expected that the climber would prefer the helper just as they had. This ability was apparently beyond that of the 6-month-olds, but no assessment or explanation has been offered for why this would be. The current study attempted to remedy this problem by replicating this experiment with 7- and 8-month-olds. The 7-month-olds in this experiment performed as expected, preferring the helper over the hinderer. The 8-month-olds, however, showed no clear preference. This was unexpected and not easily explainable. Neither age showed a difference in looking time whether the climber approached the helper or the hinderer. These looking time data suggest that 7- and 8-month-olds are closer to 6-month-olds in their ability to attribute evaluations to other agents, indicating that these abilities do not develop until later infancy, around 9 or 10 months. However, lack of significant results on the looking time test need not indicate a lack of social knowledge, and may instead stem more directly from developing theory of mind abilities. Options for future studies pitting social knowledge against theory of mind are explored.

<p>The question about the nature of art is at the centre of the philosophy of art. The thesis seeks to replace the two dominant approaches to this question in contemporary English-speaking philosophy - essentialism and descriptivism - with an historicist approach. The historicist approach I develop and defend holds that answers to the question ''What is Art?" must take the form of localized cultural-historical narratives.</p> <p>This alternative approach is applied to write the history of the development of what I call "the modem conception of art" in the early eighteenth century. A changing notion of art that emerges in Britain in this period is decisive for all later philosophy of art. Its genesis must be understood in a context of social, political and cultural changes. These changes deeply affected many people's conception of themselves and of their place in society. Social status becomes uncertain, and new criteria for the presentation of the self and evaluation of others emerge. Knowledge about art and the display of taste become indicators of social distinctions and thus criteria for social evaluation, replacing older notions of birth and rank. The modem conception of art emerges as part of new ideas of the presentation of the self, as part of a new ideal of edification.</p> <p>In contemporary philosophy of art, the evaluative contents of the conception of art - its historical and contemporary connection to notions of the moral and social order - are seldom discussed. Yet, as I show, these connections exist and have existed for a long time. At the centre of contemporary philosophy of art, therefore, there is a conception of art which is ideological in the sense that it treats the normative as factual and the historically contingent as the natural. Only a historical analysis of the kind I carry out is able to bring to light this aspect of the conception of art presupposed in contemporary philosophy of art.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore the present state of the sense of teacher efficacy in public kindergarten teachers as it relates to their background and subjective perception variables. The aim of this study was (1) to understand the condition of the sense of teacher efficacy in public kindergarten teachers, (2) to investigate the differences in teachers¡¦ sense of efficacy among public kindergarten teachers with diverse background variables (the teachers¡¦ attribute and schools¡¦ attribute variables), (3) to analyze the relationships between the subjective perception variables (the job characteristics perception and the social evaluation perception variables) and the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense, (4) to explore the predictive power of the diverse background variables and subjective perception variables for the teacher efficacy sense, (5) to compare the attitudes toward children, instruction and work between high and low sense of teacher efficacy, (6) based on the results of this study, the researcher proposed several suggestions for improving the sense of teacher efficacy in kindergarten teachers. This study adopted both questionnaire survey and interview methods. The participant¡¦s questionnaire survey included 354 public kindergarten teachers in Taiwan. The instruments employed were The Scale of Kindergarten Teachers¡¦ Efficacy, The Scale of Job Characteristics Perception, and The Scale of Social Evaluation Perception. The quantitative data obtained were analyzed by Descriptive Statistics, t-test, Hotelling¡¦s T2, One-Way MANOVA, Product-moment Correlation, Canonical Correlation Analysis and Stepwise multiple regression analysis. The participants in the interview for understanding the different attitudes toward children, instruction and work between high and low sense of teacher efficacy were 10 high and low efficacy sense teachers. Major findings of this study are summarized as follows: 1. The public kindergarten teachers possessed higher teachers¡¦ efficacy sense. 2. There were significant differences in the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense of the public kindergarten teachers with the diverse teachers¡¦ attribute variables. 3. There were relationships between the subjective perception variables (the job characteristics perception and the social evaluation perception variables) and the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense. 4. There were significant differences in the teachers¡¦ efficacy sense of the public kindergarten teachers with the diverse job characteristics perception and the social evaluation perception variables. 5. Number of working years, diploma and class grade background variables, skill variety, task importance, task autonomy, task feedback of the job characteristic perception variables, and the social evaluation perception variables could predict the sense of teacher efficacy of the kindergarten teachers. 6. There were differences in opinions and attitudes toward children, instruction and work between high and low sense of teacher efficacy. Finally, according to the results and conclusions of this study, the researcher proposed several suggestions to the kindergarten teachers, the kindergartens, the teacher education institutes, the educational administration institutions, and for future study.

Rengiant mokslinius tiriamuosius darbus, galimybių studijas, investicinius projektus bei kitus įvairių objektų plėtros galimybes apibūdinančius dokumentus, dažnai atliekama išsami techninė analizė, nuošalyje paliekant ekonominį-socialinį įvertinimą, viena tai lemiančių problemų – nesukurta universali ekonominio-socialinio įvertinimo metodika. Siekdama supaprastinti ir suvienodinti objektų plėtros galimybių tyrimą ir pagrindimą ekonominiu-socialiniu aspektu Europos Komisija patvirtino metodiką „Guide to cost-benefit analysis of investment projects“. Darbo objektas - mokslinis tiriamasis darbas „Navigacijos sąlygų gerinimas Nemuno upės ruože Kauno HE-Lietuvos-Baltarusijos valstybių siena“. Jame pateikiama vandens kelio Kauno HE-Druskininkai plėtros galimybių analizė technologiniu bei ekonominiu aspektais. Norint nustatyti ruožo Kauno HE-Druskininkai paruošimo bei naudojimo laivybai užtikrinimo eksploatacinius kaštus, atsiperkamumą, įvertinti alternatyvius scenarijų variantus, būtina atlikti technologinį bei ekonominį-socialinį įvertinimus. Tai suponuoja tyrimo problemą – optimaliausio ekonominiu-socialiniu požiūriu scenarijaus parinkimą bei įvertinimą. Naudojantis ekonominės-socialinės metodikos gairėmis atliekama 2006 m. LŽŪU mokslininkų VĮ Vidaus Vandens kelių direkcijos užsakymu parengto mokslinio tiriamojo darbo „Navigacijos sąlygų gerinimas Nemuno upės ruože Kauno HE-Lietuvos-Baltarusijos valstybių siena“ duomenų analizė, siekiant parinkti technologiniu bei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / During prepare process of scientific researches, feasibility studies, investment projects and other objects development feasibilities documentation, the technical evaluation is performed often, the economical-social evaluation isn’t popular as the technical. One of the main problems – the universal methodology of economical-social evaluation isn’t created. European Commission decided to simplify and unify objects development feasibilities documentation, and the methodology “Guide to cost-benefit analysis of investment projects“ was confirmed. The object – scientific research “The navigation conditions development on Nemunas river section “Kaunas hydroelectric power station-Lithuanian-Belarus border””. The feasibility analysis of the Nemunas river section “Kaunas hydroelectric power station-Druskininkai” development is formulated by the technological and economical aspects. Trying to count the expenditure of the adjusting the river section for navigation, the rentability, evaluate alternative scenarios, the full technological and socio-economic evaluation is needed. The main problem of the research is the selection and evaluation of the optimal scenario by the socio-economical aspects. According to this methodology, the data analysis of scientific research of LUOA scientists “The navigation conditions development on Nemunas river section “Kaunas hydroelectric power station-Lithuanian-Belarus border”” was made, tried to select the most optimal navigation conditions development... [to full text]

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:52:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 OrildoSOS.pdf: 487861 bytes, checksum: 000c581381b10a9543619587412d4f6e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-05-19 / O objetivo desse trabalho foi investigar a contribui??o social da atividade econ?mica denominada de carcinicultura, para o munic?pio de Canguaretama no Rio Grande do Norte, a partir da vis?o dos moradores do citado munic?pio, sendo enfocados aspectos ambientais, aspectos de produ??o, consumo de energia, gera??o de empregos e renda, e investimentos na ?rea social, para a melhoria de vida da popula??o local. Foi realizada uma pesquisa amostral do tipo Survey com 234 pessoas daquele munic?pio de um universo de 27.011 habitantes. Foi escolhido esse munic?pio porque o mesmo ? um dos principais produtores de camar?es no Estado, al?m de contar com as principais fazendas de cria??o e laborat?rios de melhoramento gen?tico dessa cultura. O instrumento de pesquisa utilizado, foi o question?rio com perguntas abertas e fechadas. Resultados mostram que grande maioria declarou pouco conhecimento com rela??o ao processo produtivo da atividade da carcinicultura e reconheceram como principal benef?cio da mesma, a gera??o de empregos. Em termos de associa??o entre vari?veis, n?o se verificou relacionamento entre as vari?veis investigadas do grupo perfil e a vari?vel dependente que expressa a opini?o do entrevistado quanto aos benef?cios sociais gerados pela atividade. Ou seja, em termos de g?nero, n?o h? diferen?a de percep??o entre homens e mulheres sobre os benef?cios sociais advindos da carcinicultura. De forma an?loga, n?o se observa diferen?a de percep??o sobre os benef?cios sociais da atividade entre as diferentes faixas de escolaridade, idade e renda familiar da popula??o entrevistada

En 2007, une étude menée par Hamlin, Wynn et Bloom a montré qu’à 6 mois les jeunes enfants disposent de capacités d’évaluation sociale, qui s’illustrent dans leur préférence pour des personnages prosociaux. Depuis, de nombreuses études ont tenté de retrouver la préférence pour un personnage prosocial. Parmi elles, certaines n’ont pas retrouvé ce résultat, questionnant la solidité de ces capacités.L’objectif de cette thèse est de tester l’existence et la robustesse de la préférence pour un comportement prosocial chez les jeunes enfants en manipulant : 1) l’âge (6, 12, 18, 24, 36 mois), le type de scénario social (aide, jeu, partage), et l’apparence faciale des agents prosociaux et antisociaux (familière ou inhabituelle). Dans cet objectif, quatre études ont été réalisées auprès de 446 enfants âgés de 6 à 36 mois qui ont visionné des dessins animés faisant interagir des agents prosociaux et antisociaux. Leurs préférences ont été identifiées par un geste de pointage/atteinte ou à l’aide d’un oculomètre.Nos résultats montrent que la préférence pour un comportement prosocial est observée quasiment à tous les âges testés, et varie en fonction du scénario social. Enfin, dans les situations sensées être conflictuelles au regard des préférences des jeunes enfants, ces derniers n’expriment majoritairement pas de préférence. L’ensemble des résultats remettent en question la solidité d’une préférence précoce pour un comportement prosocial et questionnent les conditions nécessaires à son observation. Les résultats de cette thèse sont discutés à la lumière de questionnements méthodologiques et d’études récentes qui fragilisent les résultats princeps d’Hamlin et ses collaborateurs. / In 2007, a study carried out by Hamlin, Wynn, and Bloom showed that infants aged 6 months are able to make social evaluation, that could be identified through their preference for prosocial characters. Since, a number of studies have tried to confirm this preference for prosocial characters. Of these, some did not find similar result, raising question on the robustness of this ability.This dissertation aims to test the existence and the strength of the preference for prosocial behaviors in infants by manipulating: 1) age (6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months), the type of the social scenario (help, play, share), and the facial appearance of the prosocial and antisocial agents (familiar or unusual). To that end, four studies have been carried out with 446 infants aged 6 to 36 months who were shown specially designed animated cartoons in which prosocial and antisocial agents interacted. Infants’ preference was identified through their pointing/reaching gesture or assessed by an eye-tracker. Our results show that the preference for the prosocial behaviors was observed in nearly all the tested age, and varied according to the social scenario. Finally, in the situation assumed to be conflicting infants' preferences, infants mostly did not express any preference. All results challenge the strength of the preference for prosocial behaviors as well as the conditions that must be met to observe it. The results of this dissertation are discussed in the light of methodological issues and recent studies that weaken Hamlin and collaborators’ original results.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:16:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcia Moreira.pdf: 1886012 bytes, checksum: 362518a645606d3878f3120e35fdf35d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research, on the social worker's professional practice, focused the dependent senior's social evaluation in home attendance, rendered by a hospitalar service. The home attendance is a modality of attention to health in which a team of professionals makes the service in the patient's own home. The senior dependent, main user of the home attendance is the person that lost his or her functional capacity in reason of worsening that happened to his or her health turning he or she partially or totally disabled. The social evaluation is a procedure used by the social worker to obtain the knowledge of the reality of the person's life in the context in that he or she lives. The literature that describes the instrumental technic of the Social Work is very restricted justifying the importance of writting more on the professional practice. The objective of this study was to identify the constituent elements of the dependent senior's social evaluation in the Program of Home Attendance of the Academical Hospital of the University of São Paulo. For so, 24 profiles of patients' attended by the Program were selected of which the Social Evaluation Record and Social Report were used. Starting from this research, it was possible to choose some aspects to be considered in the dependent senior's social evaluation in home attendance: physical, cultural, emotional and socioeconomic patient and his or her family characteristics; the composition, structures and family dynamics; the condition of the cares rendered the patient, the conditions of the home, the social support and the eligibility criteria established by for the institution / Esta pesquisa, sobre a prática profissional do assistente social, enfocou a avaliação social do idoso dependente na assistência domiciliar, prestada por um serviço hospitalar. A assistência domiciliar é uma modalidade de atenção à saúde na qual uma equipe de profissionais faz o atendimento no próprio domicílio do paciente. O idoso dependente, principal usuário da assistência domiciliar, é a pessoa que perdeu sua capacidade funcional em razão de agravos ocorridos à sua saúde tornando-o incapacitado parcial ou totalmente. A avaliação social é um procedimento utilizado pelo assistente social para obter o conhecimento da realidade de vida da pessoa no contexto em que vive. A literatura que descreve o instrumental técnico do Serviço Social é muito restrita justificando a importância de que se escreva mais sobre a prática profissional. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar os elementos constitutivos da avaliação social do idoso dependente no Programa de Assistência Domiciliária do Hospital Universitário da Universidade de São Paulo. Para tanto, foram selecionados 24 prontuários dos pacientes em atendimento no Programa dos quais foram utilizados a Ficha de Avaliação Social e o Relatório Social. A partir desta pesquisa, foi possível elencar alguns aspectos a serem considerados na avaliação social do idoso dependente em assistência domiciliar: características físicas, culturais, emocionais e socioeconômicas do paciente e sua família; a composição, estrutura e dinâmica familiar; a condição dos cuidados prestados ao paciente, as condições do domicílio, o apoio social e os critérios de elegibilidade estabelecidos pela instituição

[pt] Este trabalho se propõe a realizar um estudo sobre a Avaliação Social para acesso ao Benefício de Prestação Continuada (BPC) e identificar a sua repercussão no fazer profissional do Assistente Social. Desde 2009 o BPC sofreu alterações significativas no processo de concessão para pessoas com deficiência. Além de mudanças na avaliação do médico perito, foi introduzida a Avaliação Social a ser realizada pelo assistente social do INSS (Instituto Nacional de Seguro Social). O assistente social entrou em cena como figura que traria a concepção de outro profissional além do médico, com uma visão mais ampla das questões sociais que envolvem a vida dos requerentes. Conhecer o olhar desses profissionais e investigar as possibilidades e impasses encontrados por eles na realização da avaliação social foi nosso objetivo através da realização deste estudo. Realizamos entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 7 das 14 assistentes sociais da Gerência Executiva do INSS de Niterói. Os resultados da pesquisa demonstraram que os profissionais de serviço social acreditam que a Avaliação Social propiciou uma democratização do acesso ao BPC, pois passou a contemplar vários aspectos antes deixados de lado. Contudo, as mudanças ocorridas na legislação no ano de 2011 levaram novamente para as mãos do médico o poder decisório na concessão do benefício. Além disso, foram apontadas questões relativas condições de trabalho, exigências institucionais e padronização do instrumento que rebatem no fazer profissional do Serviço Social trazendo dificuldades na realização da Avaliação Social. Estratégias e possibilidades também foram sinalizadas pelos entrevistados principalmente no que diz respeito à aproximação e articulação com a rede de serviços na garantia dos direitos dos usuários. / [en] This work intends to conduct a study on the Social Evaluation for access to the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC), impact on the role of social worker. Since 2009, the BPC has significantly changed the process of granting for people with disabilities. In addition to changes in the evaluation of medical expert, was introduced to Social Assessment to be conducted by a social worker at the INSS (National Social Security Institute). The social worker entered the scene as a figure who would bring the conception of another professional other than the doctor, with a broader social issues that surround the life of the applicant. Understanding the views of professionals and investigate the possibilities and dilemmas they face in carrying out social assessment is our goal with this study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 7 of 14 social workers of the Executive Management of the INSS Niterói. The results showed that social service professionals believe that the Social Evaluation provided a democratization of access to BPC because will consider various aspects before neglected. However, changes in legislation in 2011 led again to the doctor s hands the power to decide on granting the benefit. In addition, issues were identified as working conditions, institutional requirements and standardization of the instrument that that bring to difficulties in conducting Social Evaluation. Strategies and opportunities were also flagged by the interviewees, especially with regard to the approach and coordination with the network of services to guarantee the rights of users.

La plupart des interactions sociales humaines font intervenir des objets, et ceci dès le plus jeune âge. Dans ces interactions, les enfants semblent prendre en compte qui est le propriétaire de l’objet. La notion de propriété ne concerne donc pas seulement une personne et un objet, mais constitue une relation entre différentes personnes vis-à-vis d’un objet. Cette relation est régie par un ensemble de règles ou droits de propriété. Nos travaux portent sur la compréhension qu’ont les enfants de la notion de propriété. A quel âge les enfants acquièrent-ils la compréhension des droits de propriété ? Avant de manier la notion de propriété de manière explicite, les enfants en ont-ils une compréhension plus implicite ? Plus particulièrement, nous avons exploré la compréhension et l’évaluation de transferts de propriété illégitimes et légitimes chez des enfants de 5 mois à 5 ans. Nous avons étudié deux types de transgressions de propriété : l’acquisition illégitime d’un objet (sans intention de transfert de la part du propriétaire) et l’absence de restitution d’un objet à son propriétaire. L’ensemble de nos études ont consisté à présenter aux enfants des transferts de propriété entre deux personnages de manière non verbale, dans des dessins animés ou des films mettant en scène des marionnettes, puis à mesurer la compréhension et l’évaluation de ces transferts par les enfants. Les études du Chapitre 2 (Etudes 1 et 2) se sont intéressées à l’évaluation que font les enfants de l’acquisition d’un objet. Les deux expériences de l’Etude 1 ont exploré la compréhension et l’évaluation de transferts de propriété illégitimes et légitimes par des enfants de 3 ans et 5 ans, ainsi que des adultes (population contrôle). Cette étude est la première à examiner simultanément la compréhension explicite et implicite qu’ont les enfants de la notion de propriété. En effet, les questions posées concernent respectivement les droits de propriété, ainsi que l’évaluation sociale et morale des agents impliqués. Dans l’Etude 1a, les participants ont vu un personnage acquérir un objet soit de manière illégitime (condition vol), soit de manière légitime (condition réception par don). Dans l’Etude 1b, c’est une action illégitime (condition vol) qui était comparée à une action légitime (condition don). Les enfants de 5 ans (comme les adultes) ont montré une compréhension de la notion de propriété à la fois implicite par leur évaluation sociale/morale, en préférant l’agent de la condition légitime (receveur du don ou donneur) par rapport à l’agent de la condition illégitime (voleur), et explicite par leur capacité à attribuer des droits de propriété différents selon la légitimité du transfert. Les enfants de 3 ans n’ont pas distingué les conditions illégitime et légitime, ni dans leur évaluation, ni dans leur attribution de droits de propriété. Ces résultats suggèrent que les enfants acquièrent simultanément les compréhensions implicite et explicite de la propriété. Dans l’Etude 1, aucune réaction émotionnelle n’était présente. Nous avons examiné dans l’Etude 2 le rôle des émotions du premier possesseur dans l’évaluation que font les enfants de 3 ans de l’acquisition d’un objet. En présence d’indices émotionnels (les mêmes dans la condition légitime et illégitime : le premier possesseur étant triste après le transfert dans les deux cas), les enfants de 3 ans sont parvenu à distinguer les deux conditions dans leur évaluation sociale/morale. Cette distinction n’a pu être basée uniquement sur la présence de l’émotion négative étant donné que l’émotion présentée était la même dans les deux conditions. Nous suggérons que les enfants de 3 ans ont détecté la transgression morale dans le cas du vol, et se sont basés sur l’émotion négative pour la confirmer. Les études du Chapitre 3 (Etudes 3 à 5) se sont intéressées à l’évaluation que font les enfants de la restitution d’un objet à son propriétaire… / Since a very young age, the majority of human social interactions involve objects. In these interactions, children seem to take into account who owns what. The notion of ownership thus does not involve only a person and an object, but is a relationship between several persons with respect to an object. This relationship is organized by a set of rules or property rights. Our work deals with children’s understanding of the notion of ownership. At what age do children acquire the understanding of property rights? Before an explicit mastery of the notion of ownership, do children have a more implicit understanding of it? More precisely, we explored the understanding and evaluation of illegitimate and legitimate transfers of property in children from 5 months to 5 years of age. We studied two types of ownership transgressions: illegitimate acquisition of an object (without owner’s intention to transfer it), and absence of restitution of an object to its owner. In all our studies, we presented to children property transfers between two characters using non-verbal animated cartoons or movies with puppets as actors, and then measured children’s understanding and evaluation of those transfers. The studies in Chapter 2 (Studies 1 and 2) assessed children’s evaluation of different modes of acquisition of an object. The two experiments of Study 1 explored 3- and 5-year-olds’s understanding and evaluation of illegitimate and legitimate property transfers. Adults were also tested as a control population. This study is the first one to investigate simultaneously children’s explicit and implicit understanding of the notion of ownership, by asking questions about property rights, as well as social and moral evaluations of the characters implicated in the transfers, respectively. In Study 1a, participants saw a character acquiring an object either in an illegitimate way (theft condition) or in a legitimate one (gift-reception condition). In Study 1b, an illegitimate action (theft) was compared to a legitimate action (giving). 5-year-old children (as adults) showed both an implicit understanding of ownership through their social/moral evaluation (preferring the legitimate agent (gift recipient or giver) compared to the illegitimate agent (thief)), and an explicit understanding of ownership through their ability to attribute different property rights considering the legitimacy of the transfer. 3-year-old children did not make any distinction between the illegitimate and legitimate conditions in their evaluation, neither in their attribution of property rights. These results suggest that children acquire implicit and explicit understanding of ownership at the same time. In Study 1, no emotional reaction was present. We examined in Study 2 the role of the first possessor’s emotions in 3-year-olds’ evaluation of object acquisition. The same cue was present in the legitimate and illegitimate conditions: the first possessor being sad after both transfers. In the presence of this emotional cue, 3-year-olds managed to distinguish between the two conditions in their social/moral evaluation. This distinction could not have been based solely on the presence of a negative emotion, as the emotion displayed was the same in both conditions. We suggest that 3-year-old children detected the moral transgression in the theft condition, and used the negative emotion to confirm it. The studies in Chapter 3 (Studies 3 to 5) examined children’s evaluations of the restitution of an object to its owner. Young children (2-3-year-old) have a bias to consider that the first possessor of an object is its “owner” and that the object cannot be definitively transferred to someone else. We thus investigated whether 3-year-old children (Studies 3 and 4) implicitly evaluate the absence of restitution as a transgression, and evaluate it negatively compared to the restitution of an object to its first possessor…

Foundational research on infant social evaluations (e.g., Hamlin et al., 2007; Hamlin et al., 2011; Hamlin & Wynn, 2011) has been cited over 2,500 times and infant researchers suggest these data show infants have an unlearned preference for prosocial others. However, several failed replications have been published, which might be attributable to the type of research methods used to investigate this question. A single measure of the dependent variable is ubiquitous among these studies; within-subject repeated measures are rarely used. In the current study, we adapted methods used by Hamlin and Wynn (2011) to a video-only format, due to COVID-19 restrictions; we extended their methods by including four puppet shows and four corresponding puppet choices to assess for choice stability within and across participants. Six infants were assessed; all but one infant failed to make all four choices and three sessions had to be terminated early due to fussiness. Among the four infants who made at least two choices, no infant showed a robust preference for the helper puppet, two infants chose a puppet on the same side at least three times, and one infant chose the hinderer on three of four opportunities. Our data suggest that a completely virtual method might not be feasible for assessing infants’ choices between two puppets presented on a screen. Suggestions for addressing the limitations of the current study and directions for future research are described.