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Infant temperament and subject loss due to crying during operant conditioning
Child Development
|April 1, 1987
Summary
Infant temperament influences operant conditioning task completion. Crying in female infants predicted task success, but not in males, suggesting individual differences impact study validity.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Behavior Studies
Background:
- Operant conditioning tasks are used to study infant behavior.
- Subject attrition can affect the external validity of research findings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate infant temperament and demographic factors influencing completion of an operant conditioning task.
- To determine if individual differences predict task success or failure.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of infants who failed to complete a 2-day operant conditioning task with those who did.
- Discriminant-function analysis of infant temperament and demographic data.
- Assessment of crying behavior, duration of orienting, and latency to approach stimuli.
Main Results:
- Female infants who cried differed significantly in orienting duration and approach latency compared to non-crying females.
- Predicting crying and non-crying was unreliable for male infants.
- Partially successful female participants were distinguishable from those who cried during the first session based on age and maternal ratings of smiling.
Conclusions:
- Infant temperament, particularly crying in females, is associated with operant conditioning task completion.
- Individual differences among infants may influence subject loss in conditioning studies.
- Subject loss in operant conditioning may affect the external validity of findings, similar to habituation studies.