How evaluation of protective third-party interventions and the relationship context interact at 21 months

This study investigates the interplay between social evaluation and relationship context in the second year of life. We examined how 21-month-olds (N = 50) evaluate a ‘protective puppet’ over to an ‘ignore puppet’ in three different types of relationship: in the first one a puppet observes from a distance a child playing alone and eventually falls down (uninvolved); in the second two puppets play together when one accidentally falls down (social); in the third two puppets play together when an aggressor disturbs one of the two players (defence). We assessed with two test trials: (a) toddlers’ preferences through a choice phase; (b) social evaluations through a rewarding/punishing phase. The results reveal how social relationship context affects toddlers’ personal preferences and evaluations. On the choice task, toddlers preferred a puppet who protected a victim to one who ignored only when the victim was identified as a member of a social interaction and a playmate. On the allocation task, toddlers were more likely to give tasty cookies to the protective and ignore puppet in all cases, except when the receiver was the ignore puppet in the social and defence relationship context. The findings support a developmental continuity and provide further evidence of a rich prosociality, which before the second year of life proves to be based on well-defined principles.