Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nl 3250 days ago
If there is a cliff, toddlers are scared of being nearby.

Not sure if you are a parent, but this isn't the case at all!

1 comments

https://youtu.be/WanGt1G6ScA

Not sure what to think about it.

https://youtu.be/WanGt1G6ScA?t=92 (from that video, at a timepoint which shows a young a baby crawling over a glass surface with a drop beneath it, with no sign of discomfort).

I'd say this proves the point completely. It shows that babies aren't scared of heights, and they don't acquire the fear from experience. Instead it seems likely it is that they either develop a mental model of how the world works, or they learn from watching other's behavior.

Or the mechanism is developed during a "critical period" once depth perception has developed. It isn't necessarily totally learned behavior.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period

It comes with age, at least. Babies are afraid of some kinds of heights, but not others. Too bad that I don't remember what kinds they fear.