Early education fascinates me. I'm not sure why it does, but I often wonder at the how's and why's of development. The Cate's of Why Homeschool posted about a study from Yale that showed that 100% of six month-olds and 87.5% of 10 month-olds picked a toy recently associated with a "Good Samaritan" role in a video. The controls and results all seem valid to me, and it has significant implications regarding the "on-board" morality of pre-verbal children. They actually appear to have a preference toward objects that are cooperative and selfless.
These findings seem to erode the tabula rosa theory that insists children are born with a blank slate and learn everything from environmental factors. Could we be born with a pre-disposition toward valuing cooperation and selflessness? Do we have a moral center at birth or even before? This study seems to indicate so.
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