Infants’ Social Evaluations Revisited: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Over the past twenty years, numerous studies have suggested that infants prefer prosocial agents—who help, comfort, or act fairly—over antisocial agents, who harm others or act unfairly. However, the field has faced replication challenges, including a recent multi-lab failed replication, raising concerns about the robustness of these effects. In response, we updated and extended an earlier meta-analysis, synthesizing 181 effect sizes from published and unpublished studies, with an aggregate sample of 4,036 infants aged 0–32 months, using manual choice and visual preference measures. The estimated meta-analytic raw proportion for infants’ preference for prosocial over antisocial agents was 0.64, 95% CI [0.61, 0.68]. This preference was largely stable across age, type of measure, and scenario type, but was moderated by sample size—studies with larger samples reported smaller effects—and by scenario delivery mode (live shows vs. movies). No evidence of publication bias was detected.