Infants Are Scared Of Heights And Avoid Drop-Up

1232 Words3 Pages

This article works to disprove the idea that infants are scared of heights and avoid drop-offs for this reason. Throughout the article, the authors described this common misconception, explained how previous evidence of fear in infants is insufficient, and detailed different studies that suggest infants’ behavior at heights or drop-offs are guided by their knowledge of their “physical capabilities” and the “environmental properties” rather than fear (Adolph et al, 2014). According to the article, these “affordances” influence whether infants move across a surface or steer away from a drop-off (Adolph et al, 2014). This article referenced studies that used several different structures to determine the responses of infants to heights. For example, visual cliffs were used that merely appeared to be a drop-off due to …show more content…

These infants seemed to take pleasure in determining whether they should cross, and they sometimes even smiled, suggesting happiness rather than fear (Adolph et al, 2014). The article stated that the infants made mostly positive or neutral facial expressions and sounds both when they moved over the edge of the visual cliff and when they stayed on the “safe” side, and the lack of negative reactions suggests that they were not scared either way they chose to go (Adolph et al, 2014). Also, the infants did not cry more or display more clinginess as they grew older or gained more experience in crawling or walking; this contradicts the idea that more experience in movement leads to the infants developing a fear of heights, because these are reactions that would suggest fear (Adolph et al, 2014). Therefore, researchers sometimes claim that staying clear of the drop-offs is the evidence of fear, though the article does not approve of this (Adolph et al,

Open Document