WOMENS RESPONSES TO YOUNG INFANTS CRIES

Women's caregiving and perceptual responses to young infants' cries were assessed as a function of parity and cry cause. Ss cared for a crying infant manikin in a simulated baby-sitting situation. Mothers and nonmothers were quite similar in basic features of their caregiving behaviors, suggesting that the effects of parity may be to fine-tune skills that many women bring to the task of caring for young infants. The specific cause of the cry (hunger or pain) was associated with few differences in caregiving behavior, even though a subsequent perceptual task showed that subjects reliably discriminated the two cries. Further analyses of the perceptual data indicated that cry sounds communicate information about the general distress level of the infant better than information about specific causes. Thus, although the sound of the cry may inform caregivers about overall distress level, caregiving behaviors appear to be determined by additional factors.