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When Empathy Fails

Aversive Infant Crying and Child Abuse

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Infant Crying

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing research interest in the various qualities of the infant cry. In some investigations, the acoustic features of the cry have been analyzed (e. g., Vuorenkoski, Lind, Wasz-Höckert, & Partanen,1971; Zeskind & Lester,1978), whereas in others, the effects of the cries on the listener have been examined (e. g., Frodi, Lamb, Leavitt, & Donovan, 1978; Frodi & Lamb, 1980b; Lounsbury, 1978). This chapter will focus on the latter. Within this perspective, the infant cry is seen as a proximity-eliciting and proximity-maintaining signal, which is functional virtually from the time of birth.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 14627, USA

    Ann Frodi

Authors
  1. Ann Frodi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Barry M. Lester  & C. F. Zachariah Boukydis  & 

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© 1985 Plenum Press, New York

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Frodi, A. (1985). When Empathy Fails. In: Lester, B.M., Zachariah Boukydis, C.F. (eds) Infant Crying. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2381-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2381-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9455-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2381-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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