Do Babies Have a Moral Compass? Debate Heats Up

Do Babies Have a Moral Compass? Debate Heats Up

An experiment five years ago suggested that babies are equipped with an innate moral compass, which drives them to choose good individuals over the bad in a wooden puppet show. But new research casts doubt on those findings, demonstrating that a baby’s apparent preference for what’s right might just reflect a fondness for bouncy things.

The researchers who conducted the original study stand by their results and interpretations, pointing to some discrepancies in the new study.