on Thursday shows that children are aware of this dynamic from a very young age, and see saliva exchange – through activities like kissing, sharing food, or wiping away dribble – as a cue to tell whether two people have a special bond.
In particular, Thomas and colleagues wanted to know whether children can distinguish special relationships referred to as"thick", a term first coined by the philosopher Avishai Margalit. The children successfully predicted that"sharing utensils, or licking the same food item, would occur within nuclear families, whereas sharing toys and partitionable food would occur equally within friendships and families."Next, the researchers wanted to test the theory on infants and toddlers, who cannot vocalize their thoughts as well as older children.
The first woman took a bite of an orange slice, then fed the puppet, then took another bite of the same slice."Both are really friendly interactions and cooperative, but only one of them might be something that we would associate as adults with a close relationship," said Thomas.
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