Caring for a baby makes the world seem more dangerous

ITHACA, N.Y. — In a potentially threatening situation, the world looks more dangerous when caring for a baby, finds first-of-its-kind Cornell University psychology research using virtual environments to explore parenting dynamics.

When playing an online game that placed an adult on the side of a road after running out of gas, both parents and nonparents were quicker to detect oncoming traffic—and rated cars as moving faster—when they had to keep a virtual baby out of harm’s way. Reactions were quicker when looking after a crawling infant than a dog or a toy robot.

The findings suggest that infants’ appearance and movements lead adults to interpret sensory information differently, which supports babies’ safety and learning. This automatic behavior likely evolved because humans are a slowly developing (altricial) species, with infants who begin to move and explore long before they have the cognitive capacities to stay safe while doing so.

“It’s not a question of multitasking that caused these adults to perceive the cars as moving faster or to see them as more dangerous – it was having the baby there,” said Michael Goldstein, professor of psychology and co-author of “The Dynamics of Perception in Caregiving: How Infants Change the Way We See the World,” published in Child Development.

In a pair of experiments, the online game-players scored points for flagging down cars that appeared at random intervals, traveling between 30 and 70 mph. The first study, including 65 parents and 31 nonparents, introduced a stationary, crawling or walking baby that players could pick up if it moved too close to the road. In the second study (16 parents, 21 nonparents), players might be responsible for a crawling baby, a mutt or a mobile robot.

Goldstein, director of the Behavioral Analysis of Beginning Years (B.A.B.Y.) Laboratory, was initially surprised by how similarly parents and nonparents behaved. But upon reflection, he said it made sense that anyone in an alloparental species—a species in which individuals other than biological parents help care for young—would react quickly to protect another’s child.

The researchers also observed women reacting faster than men, suggesting a possible gender difference. Goldstein said that effect merits further investigation, but could also be due to the study sample including more women who were primary caregivers.

“Evolution has shaped adults to have an automatic and deep understanding of what it takes to keep a baby safe and provide information for that baby,” Goldstein said.

For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.

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