A recent study published in Nature Communications offers compelling evidence that newborn infants—just five days old—can distinguish between helpful and unhelpful behaviour, showing a clear preference for prosocial actions. This discovery adds to growing research indicating that fundamental aspects of human social understanding may be present from birth.1
The study, led by leading doctors of the University of British Columbia and the University of Catania, involved 90 newborns. The researchers used simple animations to examine how infants respond to different social interactions. In one set of videos, a ball attempted to climb a hill. In a prosocial version, a second ball helped it reach the top; in an antisocial version, another ball pushed it down. The newborns consistently looked longer at the helpful interaction, suggesting a preference for supportive behaviour.
A second set of animations showed one ball approaching another, mimicking friendly behaviour, while another showed avoidance. Again, infants spent more time watching the prosocial action. To rule out the possibility that the babies were simply reacting to movement, control videos showed similar shapes in motion without any social context. No preference was observed in those trials, strengthening the conclusion that the newborns were responding to social cues rather than just visual motion.
It is explained that although newborns have limited vision, they are capable of focusing on objects nearby, especially those involving movement. The animations were presented close to the infants in high contrast with repeated, simple motion stimuli well within a newborn's visual capabilities.
This study builds upon earlier research showing that older infants (6–10 months) tend to favour individuals who help others.2 What sets this study apart is the demonstration that even within days of birth, infants may already possess a rudimentary sense of social preference, challenging the belief that such understanding is solely learned through experience.
Since five-day-old infants spend most of their time sleeping and have limited opportunities to observe social interactions, it is unlikely that their preference for prosocial behaviour is learned in that brief window. Their limited ability to see distant interactions further supports the idea that this tendency is not experience-driven but may be an innate part of early cognitive development.
These findings contribute to the ongoing debate about whether moral development is shaped by the environment or inherent biology. While this study does not offer a definitive conclusion, it leans toward the theory that components of moral cognition—such as the ability to evaluate others based on social behaviour—may be hardwired into the human brain from the very beginning of life.3
This summarises the significance well: even before they can speak or move independently, newborns appear to favour kindness over hostility. This suggests that the roots of moral awareness and social evaluation are present at birth and not entirely the product of social learning.
References:
- Geraci, A., Hamlin, J.K., Surian, L., & Tina, L.G. (2024). Newborns show preference for prosocial over antisocial actors in animated displays. Nature Communications
- Hamlin, J.K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557–559
- Alessandra Geraci et al, Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61517-3
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