[lbo-talk] Noam 1, Israelo-apartheid 0

[Miles Jackson]

Mike Beggs wrote:
> In one experiment, babies aged between six months and a year watched
> an animated film in which a ball with eyes tries to climb a hill while
> a square tries to help push it up and a triangle tries to force it
> back down.
>
> At the end of the film, scientists tested which shape the babies
> favoured by measuring how long they spent looking at a picture of each
> one. In 80 per cent of cases, the babies chose the helpful character
> over the unhelpful one.
>   

Infants' time spent looking at something is not a measure of what they 
like; it's a measure of what is novel or new in their environment.  Not 
to sound too much like Skinner, but I can't begin to imagine how you 
determine what a six month old "likes".and how you could validate that 
measure.

Miles