Responses to infant vocalizations as a function of veridical and non-veridical feedback: an experimental analog of child abuse

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate child abuse through the development of an experimental analog. Infant cries were used as aversive stimuli within a learned helplessness paradigm to examine the relationship between crying and infant-directed aggression. Subjects were assigned to one of several feedback conditions and were required to select one of nine responses (cuddle, talk to, feed, pacify, check, ignore, scold, and spank) in order to terminate each of a series of pain, hunger, anger, and abnormal infant cries. During the first half of the experiment, subjects were given either false, veridical, or no feedback. During the second half of the experiment, all subjects received veridical feedback. It was hypothesized that compared to the veridical feedback groups, subjects in the learned helplessness groups would exhibit negative affect, learning impairments, motivational deficits, and decreased nurturance. Although motivational deficits were not obtained, the induction of learned helplessness did result in negative affect, poor learning, and diminution in nurturance. The results represent a successful first approximation toward the creation of an experimental analog of child abuse.