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from the please-put-down-my-camera dept.
http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/10/07/toddlers-regulate-behavior-to-avoid-making-adults-angry/
Abstract: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201414000513
Researchers have found that toddlers as young as 15 months can detect anger from adults and regulate their behaviour accordingly.
Now researchers at the University of Washington have found that children as young as 15 months can detect anger when watching other people’s social interactions and then use that emotional information to guide their own behavior.
The study, published in the October/November issue of the journal Cognitive Development, is the first evidence that younger toddlers are capable of using multiple cues from emotions and vision to understand the motivations of the people around them.
“At 15 months of age, children are trying to understand their social world and how people will react,” said lead author Betty Repacholi, a faculty researcher at UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences and an associate professor of psychology. “In this study we found that toddlers who aren’t yet speaking can use visual and social cues to understand other people – that’s sophisticated cognitive skills for 15-month-olds.”
The findings also linked the toddlers’ impulsive tendencies with their tendency to ignore other people’s anger, suggesting an early indicator for children who may become less willing to abide by rules.
The abstract explains the process a little more:
Infants were bystanders to a social exchange in which an Experimenter performed actions on objects and an Emoter expressed anger, as if they were forbidden acts. Next, the Emoter became neutral and her visual access to the infant was experimentally manipulated. The Emoter either: (a) left the room, (b) turned her back, (c) faced the infant but looked down at a magazine, or (d) faced and looked toward the infant. Infants were then presented with the test objects. When the previously angry Emoter was facing them, infants were hesitant to imitate the demonstrated acts in comparison to the other conditions. We hypothesize that infants integrated the emotional and visual-perceptual cues to determine whether the Emoter would get angry at them, and then regulated their behavior accordingly.
(Score: 1) by silverly on Wednesday October 08 2014, @11:29PM
I would agree (even with a lack of evidence).
I think adults will always underestimate children since their memory isn't as strong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 10 2014, @08:54AM
That's why I don't carry babies unless the parent(s) AND the babies give permission. Even if the parents ask me to (unless of course it is very important e.g. emergency).
To get permission from the baby what I do is say "hi" to the baby, then extend my arms and hands out towards the baby. If the baby reaches out or moves/turns towards me, then I carry the baby. If the baby turns away, the baby doesn't want to be carried by me. If the baby just looks, he/she might be feeling unsure, so either try once again or forget it. I find when I get permission the baby usually doesn't cry when I carry him/her.
Too many adults just grab the baby (sometimes even without permission from parents!), I consider that extremely rude and insensitive. Babies are people and not dolls/toys for you to play with. They are also not property of their parents. Just because their parents say you can carry them or play with them doesn't mean you can or should.
How would you feel if some big unknown person just grabbed you and carried you? Or pinched your cheeks, or assaulted you in other "popular" ways. Some rude lady pinched my niece's cheeks when she was very very young (less than a year old?), and months later my niece was afraid of her.
Most babies are fairly intelligent. They just are ignorant and their memory doesn't work the way ours does - they don't yet have the symbols and systems to handle memories the way we do.