As adults, we have the ability to predict others’ behavior.
We know our friend is thirsty and she reaches for a glass, we can predict that she’s going to pour herself a drink.
Similarly, social scientists are discovering that with practice, even babies are able to forecast human behavior, an important part of growing up.
Developmental psychologists wanted to learn when babies begin to predict the behavior of others and how.
Researchers showed infants a video of a woman reaching for toys. When the babies watched a similar video that paused, eye-tracking equipment measured exactly where the baby’s eyes focused during the pause.
“What the eye tracker is doing in this instance is telling us if the baby can predict what the woman is going to reach to before her hand gets there,” says Amanda Woodward, developmental psychologist.
Researchers found that if they gave the babies practice reaching for the toys ahead of time, even those as young as eight months could make predictions.
“So just reaching themselves gave them some insight, some ability to think about other people’s intentions,” Woodward says.
This ability is important, because researchers say understanding other people’s actions helps babies learn social cues.
Parents can help babies learn to predict actions by letting them safely explore. Let them hold and manipulate household objects like a spoon or a sock.
Researchers say while babies are able to reach out and grasp objects by eight months, just watching the action may not be enough for them to form predictions without practice and help from their parents.
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