Two experiments replicated the results of a series of earlier studies (Sagi and Hoffman, 1976; Simner, 1971). Calm infants cry in response to the tape-recorded crying of other infants. In addition, four new findings were reported: (1) crying infants continue to cry in response to the crying of another infant; (2) crying infants who hear their own cry almost completely stop crying; (3) calm infants who hear their own cry make practically no response; (4) calm infants simply ignore the cries of a chimpanzee and an older child. The response differential between own cry and other cry tapes was taken as evidence in opposition to a conditioning hypothesis. A post hoc explanation of response crying was offered. It was suggested that the observed behavior is based upon the concept of intraspecific rivalry--response crying is an evolutionarily adaptive mechanism by which infants compete for food and physical contact from adult care-givers. The behavior is peer and species specific. Finally, several suggestions for further research were offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-08, Section: B, page: 3233. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74264 |
| Contributors | MARTIN, GRACE BURKETT., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 49 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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