Andrew N. Meltzoff

Research is needed to better characterize the cultural values that nurture children's prosocial behavior. We focused on simpatía, a Latino cultural value that prioritizes warm, positive engagement with others. We examined the relation between caregivers' simpatía and Latino children's prosocial behavior toward a stranger. A preregistered, experimental field study was conducted in Los Angeles County. The test site was strategically chosen to be in an area of the United States in which Latinos are a supermajority of the population (95%). Families were recruited in a public park; the participants were 100 caregivers and their 100 young Latina/o children. Caregivers reported the degree to which they personally endorsed simpatía, based on the validated Simpatía Scale. Independently, their children participated in an experiment using a standardized assessment of childhood prosocial behavior. Children's behavior was videorecorded and subsequently scored by independent coders who were kept blind to the caregiver simpatía scores and study hypotheses. There was a significant positive association between caregivers' valuing of simpatía and children's prosocial behavior on the experimental test. Children whose caregivers scored in the top quartile on simpatía showed especially high prosocial behavior. These positive associations held when controlling for preregistered covariates (child age, gender, family economic insecurity, etc.). These findings contribute to cultural and developmental theories about the roots of children's prosocial behavior and can inform future cross-cultural approaches to examine how children acquire simpatía and similar values both in Latino culture and in other cultural groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Classic theory in developmental science holds that the imitation of facial gestures is a late developing capacity in human infancy. Meltzoff and Moore (1977) reported that 12- to 21-day-old infants imitate facial and manual gestures, theorizing that young infants can recognize cross-modal correspondences between observed and performed actions and suggesting that early imitation plays a role in social learning from other people. Subsequent studies yielded mixed findings and alternative interpretations have been proposed. Thus, whether young infants can imitate adult gestures remains a debated question. As part of the ManyBabies consortium, a large-scale collaborative network in developmental science, we tested whether very young infants (14–28 and 40–54 days old) demonstrate facial imitation using a protocol that was standardized for use across multiple independent laboratories. In a within-subjects design, infants saw mouth-opening and tongue-protrusion gestures in randomized order, presented by the same experimenter at the same distance and rate; responses were videorecorded for later behavioral scoring. [Insert study results and interpretations here.]

Inferring the goals of other people’s actions is an important aspect of early social cognitive development. Using an experimental manipulation, we investigated the role of infant motor processes in the processing of action they see performed by another person. We designed a procedure in which we inhibited infants’ concurrent access to motor representations of precision grasping as they observed the reach‐to‐grasp action of an adult experimenter. In a within‐subjects design, 48 12‐month‐olds watched adult reach‐to‐grasp actions under two conditions of hand posture in randomly‐assigned order: (a) hands free and (b) hands constrained in a manner that blocked their grip formation. Infant looking times were measured as an experimenter reached toward large and small objects, using a power or precision grip type. Infants’ prior‐existing fine motor skills were assessed using a standardized parental report questionnaire. Results showed that infant looking times varied as a function of the interaction between infants’ existing fine motor skill and their experimentally‐manipulated access to motor representations of the action ( p = 0.017). The better an infant’s fine motor skills, the greater the reduction in their looking to the object congruent with the actor’s grip type under the motor interference induced by hand constraint. This effect was particularly pronounced during the precision grip trials ( p = 0.032). These findings advance our understanding of the role that infants’ self‐experience plays in the processing of the manual actions of others. More generally, such results inform theories about the functional significance of action perception‐production links in early human development.

Constructing a universal moral code for artificial intelligence (AI) is challenging because human cultures have different values, norms, and social practices. We therefore argue that AI systems should adapt to culture based on observation: Just as a child raised in a particular culture learns the specific values, norms, and behaviors of that culture, we propose that an AI system operating in a particular human community could similarly learn them as well. How AI systems might accomplish this from observing and interacting with humans has remained an open question. Here, we propose using inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) as a method for AI agents to acquire culturally relevant values implicitly from humans. We test our approach using an experimental paradigm in which AI agents use IRL to learn different reward functions, which govern the agents’ actions, by learning from variations in the altruistic behavior of human subjects from two cultural groups in an online game requiring real-time decision making. We show that an AI agent learning from a particular human cultural group can acquire the altruistic characteristics reflective of that group’s average behavior, and can generalize to new scenarios requiring altruistic judgments. Our results provide a proof-of-concept demonstration that AI agents can be endowed with the ability to learn culturally-typical behaviors and values directly from observing human behavior.

Estudiar la socialización infantil en múltiples culturas del mundo es importante para desarrollar teorías integrales y generalizables de la psicología del desarrollo. Investigaciones sugieren que las niñas y los niños latinoamericanos muestran niveles notablemente altos de comportamiento prosocial. En este artículo, teorizamos que esta «hiperprosocialidad» se sustenta en un conjunto de valores orientados hacia los demás, fundamentales para la cultura latinoamericana, como simpatía, respeto, acomedirse, «familismo» y cariño. Con base en nuestro análisis de 60 artículos que describen estudios realizados con más de 12.000 participantes, analizamos estos valores y examinamos procesos de socialización que facilitan su transferencia intergeneracional a los niños. El estudio del desarrollo infantil en América Latina aporta nuevos e importantes conocimientos sobre las influencias culturales en la conducta prosocial, a la vez que promueve la inclusión y la generalización científica. Las experiencias sociales, que varían dependiendo de la cultura, sustentan el desarrollo de la prosocialidad humana.

Understanding childhood socialization across multiple world cultures is important for developing comprehensive and generalizable theories of developmental psychology. Studies suggest that Latin American children show markedly high levels of prosocial behavior. In this article, we theorize that this hyper-prosociality is supported by a particular cluster of “other-oriented” values that are fundamental to Latin American culture—including the values of simpatía, respeto, acomedirse, familismo, and cariño. Based on our review of 60 papers describing studies with more than 12,000 participants, we discuss these values in adult caregivers and examine socialization processes that facilitate the intergenerational transfer of Latin American prosocial values from caregivers to children. The study of Latin American children yields new and important insights into cultural influences on prosocial behavior, while at the same time promoting inclusion and scientific generalizability. Social experiences, which vary by culture, undergird the development of human prosociality.