Babies ‘fake’ cry to get attention…
True or false? Well, according to new research they do!
I’m not one to question new studies/research often but I’m left questioning the validity of this study. Hmm, I’m not sure what the new research is trying to prove here and to be honest I’m not convinced that it is creditable research as it was conducted on the crying patterns of only two baby girls over a 6 month period.
What did the study find?
Ok, so the study found that a baby around the 7 month of age mark used ‘fake’ crying to get attention. The study talks about how the baby “appeared to cry deliberately to get her mother’s attention and convey to her [mother] that she wanted her to come closer and play with her again,” study researcher Hiroko Nakayama, of the University of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo, wrote in the December issue of the journal Infant Behavior and Development. They then deducted that it appeared to be an instance of what they labelled ‘fake’ crying. The researcher does go on to point out that the term ‘fake’ crying should not necessarily be of the negative form and it shouldn’t be used in a negative context.
She goes on to further explain that “Infants who are capable of fake crying might communicate successfully with their caregivers in this way on a daily basis. Fake crying could add much to their relationships,” Nakayama said.
Why I don’t have confidence in this study?
The problem I have with this study is the period and the amount or lack of amount of quantitative research conducted. They used two babies and basically came to the conclusion with the results from one child and demonstrated ‘fake’ crying existed. The ‘fake’ crying results were based on this particular child out of the two that were used in the study and this baby also displayed more episodes of real crying. Their rationale for the difference in the two babies was the one that they used more of the findings results on was a baby that was with two other siblings and therefore they believed that the baby may have cried more to compete for her mother’s attention, whereas, the second baby, and only other participant in the study was an only child.
I see glaringly obvious issues with this study such as: Why were girls used? Why were there only two subjects? Why was the study such a sort one?
The study to me is flawed and the results are problematic. The study doesn’t account for individual temperaments or parenting styles and they used two children that were non comparable based on their differing circumstances. Surely this cannot reflect accurate and creditable findings. If it does then surely we can all do research studies based on our own kids and, heck, the kids next door or the ones we observe at the shops. Surely this is not going to be taken seriously. It may be a good basis for a further reputable study but currently this study is nothing more than an observation not scientific research and certainly not worthy of being included in a reputable journal of any kind?
