Work

Heightened fearfulness in infants is not adaptive

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Grossmann proposes the “fearful ape hypothesis,” suggesting that heightened fearfulness in early life is evolutionarily adaptive. We question this claim with evidence that (1) perceived fearfulness in children is associated with negative, not positive long-term outcomes; (2) caregivers are responsive to all affective behaviors, not just those perceived as fearful; and (3) caregiver responsiveness serves to reduce perceived fearfulness.

Source: Behavioral and Brain Sciences

DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x2200187x

Authors: Marissa Ogren, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Katie Hoemann, Vanessa LoBue

Institutions: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Northeastern University, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, KU Leuven

Language: English

Topic: Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, James S. McDonnell Foundation, Elizabeth R Koch Foundation, European Commission, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

Awards: G1279245286, The Brain Basis of Emotion: A Category Construction Problem, G158342955, Emotional fit within and between cultural contexts: Analyzing natural language to describe and compare the conceptual system for emotions, G2155100517, G3723654204, G434337789, G5541584711, G9000163042

OpenAlex ID: W4375934809

FWCI:

Cites: 26

Cited by:

Related to: 10