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Babies Expect Comfort: Ignoring Cries Brings Surprise
16 Sep
Summary
- Infants show surprise when caregivers ignore their crying.
- Mothers' depression symptoms correlated with infant expectations.
- Babies as young as 6 months expect caregivers to respond.
Infants as young as six months old hold expectations for positive caregiving experiences, a new study reveals. Researchers observed that babies show surprise when a caregiver ignores a crying infant, indicating a violation of their expectations. This surprise was measured by how long infants looked at videos depicting either a caregiver responding to a cry or ignoring it.
Results indicated that babies at six, nine, and twelve months old stared longer at the scenario where the crying was ignored. The study also found a link between mothers' depressive symptoms and their infants' expectations. Infants whose mothers reported more depressive symptoms demonstrated less surprise at the ignored crying, suggesting a diminished expectation for comfort.
