Infants Know Size Matters When It Comes to Social Dominance

A new study claims that babies as young as 8 months old understand that size does matter when it comes to power.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Harvard University studied the reactions of children aged 8 to 16 months to cartoons showing a big character and little character in conflict.Rift Gold Many of the babies were under a year old; none were talking yet.

The animated videos showed a big block and a little block walking toward each other in opposite directions. When the larger block acquiesced to the smaller one -- which is not what is expected -- the babies stared at the screen for longer. The study authors said their responses meant they were surprised at the outcome,RIFT Platinum since big typically prevails over little.

"Infants understand already at 9 months old that size really is a cue for power and dominance," lead author Lotte Thomsen, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Copenhagen and a Harvard research fellow, said in a video statement about the paper.

But Utah pediatrician Dr. Zachary Zarbock said those conclusions may not be accurate, as babies normally aren't aware of size, rift goldsocial dominance or the relationship between the two until they're at least 18 months old.

"If anything, it's a confusing visual because it doesn't make sense," he told AOL Health. "To extrapolate that it has some social significance is a stretch."

He said if babies are showing any understanding of or tendency toward dominance when they're under a year old,RIFT Platinum it probably isn't about how large or small they are.

"It's more of a personality trait than a size issue," Zarbock explained. "We have some babies who are very assertive and aggressive -- they walk a little earlier, explore a little more -- and some babies who are a little more passive."

The children in the study sat with their mothers to watch the cartoons showing the two opposite scenarios -- one in which the big block got its way at the expense of the little one, and the other where the reverse occurred. The babies stared at the video screen for longer after the videos ended when the big block didn't win than when it did,TERA Gold the researchers said.

None of the babies could talk yet to express their thoughts about the cartoons, so the authors of the Science study analyzed their behavior instead.

"If a big and a small guy have goals that conflict, preverbal infants expect the big guy to win over the little guy," Thomsen said in a summary of the findings. "But you cannot just interview them and ask them what they think. So instead, you have to look at what they do. Infants -- like adults -- tend to look longer at something that surprises them."

But Zarbock said using the results to assume babies had grasped the concept of size as it relates to dominance is problematic based on the cognitive abilities of a child under 18 months old.

"I don't think an infant would understand this," he told AOL Health. "Children naturally don't interact well at that age. They don't understand sharing. ... Probably half aren't even walking. To know they're larger than someone else would be difficult."