Part of Piaget's stages of development suggests that after about 8 months from birth, babies start to develop the concept of object permanence, the idea that things continue to exists even when out of sight. We watched a video in class of a woman showing a baby an object and then hiding it under a cloth. The baby COULD NOT FIND THE OBJECT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS STICKING OUT RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! It actually made me laugh out loud. It's such a crazy concept! But anyway, this is why babies under 8 months often love playing peek-a-boo. When the parent covers their face, the baby just doesn't understand that their parent is still sitting right in front of them, so when the parent uncovers their face to reveal themselves, the baby is ecstatic. It's hilarious.
Tonight Seth Goldstein was at our house to watch the Super Bowl. For some unknown reason, my 2 year old brother, Jacob, has something against Seth and avoids him at all cost. He keeps his distance. So to try and interact with Jacob and get him to laugh, Seth started to play peek-a-boo with him. As you can guess, Jacob showed no response. Blank face. Not even a smile. I was so tempted to have a Mrs. Perl moment and explain, "Well Seth, after about 8 months of age babies develop the concept of object permanence so he understands that you're really still there and therefore you really aren't going to amuse Jacob by playing peek-a-boo," buuuuuuut I held myself back.
And that's my story.
I'll admit it's kinda cool being able to see psychology in my world. This class rocks my socks.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAH. That is funny. I wonder also if he doesn't like seth because of something he did like scare him or something when he was still super young. I wonder if babies have that sense of who is who and remember who they don't like.
ReplyDeleteThis story is actually pretty hysterical. As you said at the end, it's pretty awesome to be able to see psychology in the real world. I guess that's one of the greatest advantages of having this class: we're much more able to rationalize what's going on in the world and work around the problems. I'm sorry that Jacob has a thing against Seth, but this sure makes a good psych story. :)
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