Is Our Tendency to Prefer Similar Others Innate? A Replication and Extension

Researchers posit individuals’ tendency to prefer others similar to themselves is not learned, but innate. Mahajan and Wynn (2012) asked infants seated in their parents’ lap (n = 32), to choose between two foods, watch a puppet show during which two puppets verbally stated a liking or disliking of these foods, and then choose one of the puppets. More infants (87.5%) chose the puppet that “liked” the same food the infants chose, which led the researchers to suggest this tendency is innate. We replicated and extended their methodology to address the possibility of parent bias and use of a single choice measure. Infant-parent dyads were randomly assigned to Group 1 (n = 12) or Group 2 (n = 12). After choosing a food and watching the puppet show, infants in Group 1 chose a puppet 3-5 times before their parents were exposed to the parent bias measure and then chose an additional five times; parents in Group 2 were exposed to the parent bias measure first, then infants chose a puppet five times. First choice trials from Group 1 did not replicate findings, instead, 7 of 12 infants (58%) selected the similar puppet; interestingly, in Group 2, 10 of 12 (83%) chose the dissimilar puppet. Repeated choice trials showed no influence of parent bias (3 of 24 infants chose the similar puppet more often) but did show patterns of side stability with 18 of 24 infants (75%; 13 on the right and 5 on the left) making a majority of their puppet selections (i.e., 80% or more of the choice trials) on the same side. Moreover, two thirds of parents reported their infants had no history with either foods. Results suggest factors other than innate preference account for infant puppet selections.