No. It doesn't. It has absolutely nothing to do with that. As a matter of fact, when he started doing something they didn't like, they shunned him. Sounds like hateful behavior to me. All we are told is that the children eventually started playing with him. The implication of the article was that they were initially uneasy with him. It might have been their acceptance of him that was a learned behavior. Furthermore, the people doing the test might have been encouraging them to interact with the robot initially, which destroys any inference that could be made about "learned" behavior.
As someone who interacts with small children in that age range on a daily basis, this article is kinda pointless. So what? Small children will react to a stuffed animal being waved around with the adult speaking in a high-pitched voice as though it was human. I've even seen small children do the "night, night" thing with a blanket to stuffed animals I've placed on their sides. They clearly know that the stuffed animal isn't a "real person" (i.e. a sentient being,) even when I've tried to convince them that it was in fact the animal talking and not me. Maybe the toddlers just figure the same thing is going on. Little kids are smarter than they appear.
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No. It doesn't. It has absolutely nothing to do with that. As a matter of fact, when he started doing something they didn't like, they shunned him. Sounds like hateful behavior to me. All we are told is that the children eventually started playing with him. The implication of the article was that they were initially uneasy with him. It might have been their acceptance of him that was a learned behavior. Furthermore, the people doing the test might have been encouraging them to interact with the robot initially, which destroys any inference that could be made about "learned" behavior.
As someone who interacts with small children in that age range on a daily basis, this article is kinda pointless. So what? Small children will react to a stuffed animal being waved around with the adult speaking in a high-pitched voice as though it was human. I've even seen small children do the "night, night" thing with a blanket to stuffed animals I've placed on their sides. They clearly know that the stuffed animal isn't a "real person" (i.e. a sentient being,) even when I've tried to convince them that it was in fact the animal talking and not me. Maybe the toddlers just figure the same thing is going on. Little kids are smarter than they appear.