WASHINGTON, Sept 20 — Young children can understand complex concepts such as justice or religion, even if they are not always able to express them. They also seem to have a good understanding of wealth. US research, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, found that young children appear to show a preference for wealthier people from the age of 14 months.

A UC Berkeley research team led by Arianne Eason conducted seven experiments with children aged 11 to 18 months. The aim was to find out whether or not the toddlers showed a preference for “wealthier” individuals, ie, those with the most material resources.

To do this, the researchers first placed 35 infants and two adults in the same room. Each adult had a transparent bowl in their hands, one filled with toys or treats, the other completely empty. After spending some time with the children, the two volunteers momentarily left the room. They returned a few minutes later with two opaque bowls.

Although the children couldn’t see the contents of each container, they tended to show a preference for the adult who previously had the bowl full of toys/treats. The academics see this as a sign that children are quite capable of forming an idea about the material situation of two individuals. But do they attach any importance to this, and above all, do they adapt their behaviour according to each person’s level of wealth?

This would appear to be the case. The researchers found that young children were more cooperative with “wealthy” people than others. They were more likely to help adults they had identified as “rich” with toys or treats than those they remembered as not having any. They also played more with them. “It’s very clear that toddlers can track well and have these behavioural preferences in favour of people who have more,” says the study’s lead author, Arianne Eason, quoted in a news release.

Arianne Eason and colleagues observed that children begin to make value judgments about the individuals they meet, based on their level of resources, from as early as 14 months of age. “These are early-ingrained tendencies,” the researcher says. But it is possible to deconstruct them through educational efforts with the very young. This could be the key to a more equitable world, where overcoming bias could help make wealth disparities less pronounced. — ETX Studio