Can a one-year-old baby tell a good person from a bad person? A new 2026 study from the University of Toronto suggests that babies may be able to make simple moral judgments earlier than many people expect. In the study, researchers tested infants from 12 to 24 months old to see whether they could connect one action with later behavior. The idea was not to ask babies with words, but to study what surprised them when they watched short videos. (artsci.utoronto.ca)

The babies watched animated shapes in a social story. One shape acted like an aggressor and hit another shape, the victim. In one version, a protector stepped in and tried to stop the attack. In another version, a bystander watched but did nothing. After this, one of the same characters shared four strawberries with two new characters, either fairly or unfairly. The babies looked longer when the sharing did not fit the earlier role. They expected protectors and victims to share fairly, but they did not show a clear expectation for bystanders. This suggests that even very young children may see some people as good, some as bad, and some as “in between.” (artsci.utoronto.ca)

The study also found something interesting about daily life. Babies who had both siblings and daycare experience were better at telling these moral roles apart. The researchers think that regular social experience may help infants build these early judgments about other people. At the same time, the authors note that this was a lab study, and more research is needed in different cultures and settings. (artsci.utoronto.ca)

So, is the answer yes? Maybe yes—but carefully. This research gives strong new evidence that one-year-old babies can make simple guesses about who is kind, harmful, or unclear. But scientists are still discussing how early this ability starts. For example, a large 2025 replication study with younger infants did not find a clear overall preference for “helpers” in a classic test, so the full story is still developing. (collaborate.princeton.edu)