Powerful experiment shows how toddlers regulate their behavior in presence of angry adults

Living with a toddler can be incredibly fun, filled with their innocence, silly yet funny antics, and constant curiosity about the world around them. Their boundless energy brings joy to everyone, especially when their laughter fills the room. But have you ever thought about how they perceive positive or negative emotions? To explore how even babies understand the difference, researchers at the University of Washington conducted an experiment. In a ten-year-old video shared on YouTube by the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (UW I-LABS), a 15-month-old toddler participates as the subject of the study.

The video shows a toddler sitting with his mom in front of an experimenter, with limited awareness of what's happening around him. The experimenter then pulls a box from a cabinet and extends it toward the toddler. "There's something inside. Can you see what's inside the box?" she asks, prompting the child to remove the lid. But it doesn't end there, as her next question focuses on whether or not there’s actually something inside the box.

The toddler follows her lead, finding a green comb inside the small box. “There's a green comb!” the experimenter exclaims, bringing a smile to the child’s face. “You want to put it back inside the box?” she asks, and the toddler complies. “I'm going to put the lid back on the box and close it up,” the experimenter adds, taking back the box, and the toddler returns to his calm, neutral state, adjusting to the setting and environment.

Next, the experimenter shows the toddler how to play with a toy—a strand of beads that makes a rattling sound when dropped into a plastic cup. As she repeats the action, subtly placing cues in the toddler's mind, another woman enters the room. She is introduced as Kelly, the "emoter," and sits next to the experimenter. “I'm going to sit here and read a magazine,” said Kelly, looking at the subject of the experiment.

At this point in the two-minute-and-twenty-second video, the experimenter again tries to drop the beads into the cup. This action catches the emoter’s attention, and she criticizes it as "aggravating" and "annoying." When the toddler has the opportunity to play with the toy, he refrains, while the emoter watches with a neutral expression. This behavior serves as an example to show that "he’s using the emotional information to regulate his own behavior."

The initial warm-up with the box, followed by the emoter conveying her disapproval showed the toddler reacting in different ways. This experiment, conducted for research purposes, was later referenced in a study titled, “Infant, Control Thyself: Infants' Integration of Multiple Social Cues to Regulate Their Imitative Behavior.” The research published in the journal “Cognitive Development” highlighted how even infants who overhear adults disagreeing can use that emotional information to shape their own behavior.

You can follow the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (UW I-LABS) on YouTube for more neuroscience and human behavior-related content.