Do children less than a year old recognize the difference between naughty and nice and show show a preference for nice over naughty? In a study reported in the November 2007 issue of Nature, researchers investigated whether infants take into account an individual's actions toward others in evaluating that individual as appealing or aversive. In one component of the study, 10-month-old infants were shown a "climber" character (a piece of wood with "google" eyes glued onto it) that could not make it up a hill in two tries. Then they were alternately shown two scenarios for the climber's next try, one where the climber was pushed to the top of the hill by another character ("helper") and one where the climber was pushed back down the hill by another character ("hinderer"). The infant was alternately shown these two scenarios several times. Then the child was presented with both pieces of wood (the helper and the hinderer) and asked to pick one to play with. The researchers found that 14 of the 16 infants chose the helper over the hinderer.
(a) If infants really do not show any preference for either type of toy, what is the probability 14 or more of the infants would have chosen the helper toy? What does this suggest about infants making their selections based only on random chance?
(b) Suppose the study had only 8 infants, and 7 out of the 8 chose the helper toy. Does this result constitute more than, less than, or the same amount of evidence as part (a) that infants show a preference for the helper toy? Explain.