Infants and height
Summary
Goal
The goal of the study was to determine whether or not an infant’s fear of heights was a learned or an instinctual emotional response. The authors examined whether there was a difference in pre-locomotive and post-locomotive infants.
Method
The study was conducted with four different studies. The first experiment was conducted on 92 infants of 7.3 months of age, half being post-locomotor. The researchers observed and recorded their heart rate, facial expressions, and visual placing response. They used the visual cliff to test the infants. This consisted of a safety glass covered table that had two sides. The “shallow side” had a solid surface and the “deep side” had the same surface but 43 in beneath the glass on the floor. Then a female experimenter lowered the infants on either side.
The second experiment provided all the infants with walkers, and divided them into two groups; pre-locomotor and post-locomotor. They were then placed on both sides by the experimenter and their reactions were observed.
The third experiment consisted of a mentally normal infant that was born with dislocated hips. After a surgery the infant was in a full body cast. Throughout the infants developments from six to ten months he was observed under the same circumstances that the other infants were.
The fourth experiment was what they called the locomotor crossing test. In this experiment the infants were placed in the middle of the cliff. They were then called over by their mothers and they had to decide whether to cross to their mothers by using the shallow or deep end.
Results
In the first experiment post-locomotor infants demonstrated a wariness of height while pre-locomotor infants did not. All infants inhibited depth perception. In both the first and second experiments post-locomotor infants inhibited a wariness of heights and a change in heart rate while the pre-locomotor infants did not. The infant in the third experiment showed to change in heart rate
Goal
The goal of the study was to determine whether or not an infant’s fear of heights was a learned or an instinctual emotional response. The authors examined whether there was a difference in pre-locomotive and post-locomotive infants.
Method
The study was conducted with four different studies. The first experiment was conducted on 92 infants of 7.3 months of age, half being post-locomotor. The researchers observed and recorded their heart rate, facial expressions, and visual placing response. They used the visual cliff to test the infants. This consisted of a safety glass covered table that had two sides. The “shallow side” had a solid surface and the “deep side” had the same surface but 43 in beneath the glass on the floor. Then a female experimenter lowered the infants on either side.
The second experiment provided all the infants with walkers, and divided them into two groups; pre-locomotor and post-locomotor. They were then placed on both sides by the experimenter and their reactions were observed.
The third experiment consisted of a mentally normal infant that was born with dislocated hips. After a surgery the infant was in a full body cast. Throughout the infants developments from six to ten months he was observed under the same circumstances that the other infants were.
The fourth experiment was what they called the locomotor crossing test. In this experiment the infants were placed in the middle of the cliff. They were then called over by their mothers and they had to decide whether to cross to their mothers by using the shallow or deep end.
Results
In the first experiment post-locomotor infants demonstrated a wariness of height while pre-locomotor infants did not. All infants inhibited depth perception. In both the first and second experiments post-locomotor infants inhibited a wariness of heights and a change in heart rate while the pre-locomotor infants did not. The infant in the third experiment showed to change in heart rate