Amrisha Vaish, postdoctoral researcher at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, concludes that young children are very sensitive to the way we treat others. Her research showed that young children were less helpful to an adult when they saw that the person harmed another person. More remarkably, young children were also less likely to help a person they believed intended to harm another person without causing actual harm.
It seems that young children do notice how the people in their lives think about others as well as treat others. Its another reminder for those of us who care for children daily to be sure we are emotionally engaged with each child in positive ways.
Reference: Amrisha Vaish, Malinda Carpenter, Michael Tomasello. Young Children Selectively Avoid Helping People With Harmful Intentions. Child Development, 2010; 81 (6): 1661 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01500.x
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