From the February 21, 1931, issue
By Science News
WHAT BABIES THINK ABOUT
What are baby’s secret thoughts? Babies understand what is said long before they are able to speak, psychologists have discovered. Wherefore, parents are reminded to think before they talk in front of even very young infants and to count to 10, or 110, before indulging in a family tiff while the baby looks on.
“Blissful as a babe” may not be so blissful as commonly supposed, some of the modern evidence shows. If the babe in mind happens to be less than a month old, the chances are especially against his being a really contented creature, for the moment, Prof. Charlotte Buhler concluded from her studies of children in the clinic of the University of Vienna. She based her conclusions on the things the baby turned toward as if to reach and the things it turned away from as if to avoid. Food appeared to be the only solace of the very young child, whereas he found a variety of things strange and frightening.