Evening star., 1931-04-23
Your Baby and Mine
By MYRTLE MEYER ELDRED.

Fear is one of the fundamental emo
tions Of which even tiny babies are
capable. Their fear is aroused by loud
sounds and by an expectation OF be
ing dropped. Later on other fears may
develop through association with these
two.
If babies are universally terrified by
loud sounds they also have the faculty
of becoming terrified of other quite
harmless things which are presented to
them at the moment when they are ex-
periencing this fear. II was demon
Strated that a repulsive reptile would
arouse only interest in the baby until
that same reptile was presented at the
same moment in which loud bang as
sailed babyS ears. If this were repeat
ed often enough the baby showed the
same terror of the snake as he formerly
exhibited toward the loud sound. We
say then that the baby was "condt-
toned" to a fear of the snake.
PavlovS dog, which many of you have
perhaps seen in educational movie ex-
hibitions, is the classic example Of
conditioning The flow of saliva at
the approach of food was considered
an indication of pleasurable anticipa-
ton. But when a bell was rung re-
peatedly as the food was offered, very
tirely and the saliva would flow freely
at the sound of the bell.
Suppose We translate these expert
ments into something more nearly ap-
preaching our home experiences. There
are sufficient noise-making instruments
in any home to make it possible to
frighten baby a dozen times a day.
Heavy objects fall. Roller shades snap
up. And We have vacuum sweepers
with their noisy suction, shrill bells,
loud musical instruments. II the baby
shows terror of these, then any other
harmless object presented at the same
time or any habit which we may try to
introduce may become terrifying to the
child if combined with the noise.
If we are putting baby in his bed at
the moment when a pile OF dishes
crashes to the floor, 1t is quite TO be ex-
pected that each time baby Is put into
bed after that he may cry pitifully. re-
membering his fear experience at that
moment. II baby is taken to the home
of some stranger and an excited dog
barkS furiously at him, or the hubbub
of excitement terrifies him, he may for
ever dislike strange homes and strange
people, and certainly all dogs.
This should make the mother most
careful in the way she introduces new
foods, new faces, new habits and
strange objects to the baby. There
should be a real effort to see that the
initial experiences are pleasurable. A
mother knows that If she offers a
strange food masked by well-liked
one, baby will eventually come to ac-
cept the new food alone. If strange
persons approach baby while he is safe
in his mothers arms and make no
forcible efforts to take him away, the
baby will become used TO strange peo-
pie and eventually they viii not terrify
him
II the child has become terrified Of
some object or animal or some natural
experience because it has become aSso-
ciated with terror, the mother can
make diligent effort to erase the bad
impression by repeating the experience
and attaching it more firmly to some
thing pleasurable and interesting TO the
child. Conditioning works both ways.
The expense Of operating Army planes
ranges from $48 to S268 an hour.