Babies divide their friends from their foes at the age of just nine-months-old
- University of British Columbia study found babies condone bullying of people they consider 'dissimilar' to themselves
- It suggests babies feel pleasure when an individual they dislike is harmed
- Study found babies recognise that the 'enemy of their enemy' is their friend
- Behaviour is an early form of the social biases that exist in most adults
A discriminating side to babies has been revealed in a study that showed they condone bullying of those 'dissimilar' to them.
The University of British Columbia carried out research that found infants divide their friends from their foes as young as nine-months-old.
Previous research has shown that babies generally prefer people who act kindly, but this new study is the first to find that they condone antisocial behaviour directed at individuals who are different to them.
Sinister: Babies are happy to condone bullying of people they feel are different or 'dissimilar' to themselves, a new study has found
Professor Kiley Hamlin of the University's Department of Psychology, who carried out the study, said: 'Our research shows that by nine months, babies are busy assessing their surroundings, trying to determine who is friend or foe.
'One important way they make these distinctions, our study finds, is based on perceived differences and similarities.'
Researchers made babies choose which food they preferred between crackers and green beans then treated the babies to a puppet show.
During the show one puppet demonstrated the same food preference as the infant, while another exhibited the opposite preference.
In the experiments, other puppets harmed, helped or acted neutrally towards the puppets with different or similar food preferences.
Prompted to pick their favourite puppet, infants demonstrated a strong preference for the puppets who harmed the 'dissimilar' puppet and helped the 'similar' one.
One baby even went as far as planting a kiss on the head of the familiar puppet.
Development: The behaviour is thought to be an early form of the social biases that most adults have
Professor Hamlin added: 'These findings suggest that babies feel something like schaudenfreude - pleasure when an individual they dislike or consider threatening experiences harm.
'Or babies have some early understanding of social alliances, recognising that the 'enemy of their enemy' is their friend.'
Hamlin described the behaviour as an early form of the social biases that exist in most adults.
She said that as humans get older, they favour individuals who are more familiar to themselves - over people with whom they have fewer things in common.
These familiarities include origins, languages, appearances - even birthdays and sports affiliations.
While studies show that humans tend to gravitate toward people who have things in common, these preferences can have a dark side.
Professor Hamlin said: 'Disliking people who are different may lead us to mistreat them, and excuse - or even applaud - others who mistreat people who are different than us.
'But this does not mean that more extreme outcomes, like xenophobia and intergroup conflict, are inevitable.
'Rather, this research points to the importance of socialization practices that recognize just how basic these social biases might be and confront them head-on.'
The study, called Not Like Me = Bad: Infants Prefer Those Who Harm Dissimilar Others was published by the Association for Psychological Science.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia, pictured, in Vancouver carried out the study on babies as young as nine-months-old
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