The Mind of the Child - Child Psychology : Part 4

The Story of the Mind
by James Mark Baldwin

(Page 7 of 21)

To illustrate this method, I may cite certain results reached by myself on the questions of color and distance perception, and right-handedness in the child.

Distance and color Perception. - I undertook at the beginning of my child H.'s ninth month to experiment with her with a view to arriving at the exact state of her color perception, and also to investigate her sense of distance. The arrangements consisted in this instance in giving the infant a comfortable sitting posture, kept constant by a band passing around her chest and fastened securely to the back of her chair. Her arms were left bare and quite free in their movements. Pieces of paper of different colors were exposed before her, at varying distances, front, right, and left. This was regulated by a framework, consisting of a horizontal rod graded in inches, projecting from the back of the chair at a level with her shoulder and parallel with her arm when extended straight forward, and carrying on it another rod, also graded in inches, at right angles to the first.

This second rod was therefore a horizontal line directly in front of the child, parallel with a line connecting her shoulders, and so equally distant for both hands. This second rod was made to slide upon the first, so as to be adjusted at any desired distance from the child. On this second rod the colors, etc., were placed in succession, the object being to excite the child to reach for them. So far from being distasteful to the infant, I found that, with pleasant suggestions thrown about the experiments, the whole procedure gave her much gratification, and the affair became one of her pleasant daily occupations. After each sitting she was given a reward of some kind. I give the results, both for color and distance, of 217 experiments. Of these 111 were with five colors and 106 with ordinary newspaper (chosen as a relatively neutral object, which would have no color value and no association, to the infant).

color. - The colors range themselves in the order of attractiveness - blue, red, white, green, and brown. Disregarding white, the difference between blue and red is very slight, compared with that between any other two. This confirms the results of the second method described above. Brown, to my child - as tested in this way - seemed to be about as neutral as could well be. A similar distaste for brown has been noticed by others. White, on the other hand, was more attractive than green. I am sorry that my list did not include yellow. The newspaper was, at reaching distance (9 to 10 inches) and a little more (up to 14 inches), as attractive as the average of the colors, and even as much so as the red; but this is probably due to the fact that the newspaper experiments came after a good deal of practice in reaching after colors, and a more exact association between the stimulus and its distance. At 15 inches and over, the newspaper was refused in 93 percent of the cases, while blue was refused at that distance in only 75 percent, and red in 83 percent.

Distance. - In regard to the question of distance, the child persistently refused to reach for anything put 16 inches or more away from her. At 15 inches she refused 91 percent of all the cases, 90 percent of the color cases, and, as I have said, 93 percent of the newspaper cases. At nearer distances we find the remarkable uniformity with which the safe-distance association works at this early age. At 14 inches only 14 percent of all the cases were refused, and at 13 inches only about 7 percent. There was a larger percentage of refusals at 11 and 12 inches than at 13 and 14 inches, a result due to the influence of the brown, which was refused consistently when more than 10 inches away.

The fact that there were no refusals to reach for anything exposed within reaching distance (10 inches) - other attractive objects being kept away - shows two things; 1. the very fine estimation visually of the distance represented by the arm-length; and 2. the great uniformity at this age of the phenomenon of Motor Suggestion upon which this method of child study is based, and which is referred to again below. In respect to the first point, it will be remembered that the child does not begin to reach for anything that it sees until about the fourth or sixth week; so it is evident at what a remarkably fast rate those obscure factors of size, perspective, light and shade, etc., which signify distance to the eye, become associated with arm movements of reaching. This method, applied with proper precautions, obviates many of the difficulties of the others. There are certain requirements of proper procedure, however, which should never be neglected by any one who experiments with young children.

In the first place, the child is peculiarly susceptible to the appeals of change, novelty, chance, or happy suggestion; and often the failure to respond to a stimulus is due to distraction or to discomfort rather than to lack of intrinsic interest. Again, fatigue is a matter of considerable importance. In respect to fatigue, I should say that the first signs of restlessness, or arbitrary loss of interest, in a series of stimulations, is sufficient warning, and all attempts at further experimenting should cease. Often the child is in a state of indisposition, of trifling nervous irritability, etc.; this should be detected beforehand, and then nothing should be undertaken. No series longer than three trials should be attempted without changing the child's position, resting its attention with a song, or a game, etc., and therefore leading it fresh to its task again.

Furthermore, no single stimulus, as a color, should be twice repeated without a change to some other, since the child's eagerness or alertness is somewhat satisfied by the first effort, and a new thing is necessary to bring him out to full exercise again. After each effort or two the child should be given the object reached for to hold or play with for a moment; otherwise he grows to apprehend that the whole affair is a case of "Tantalus." In all these matters very much depends upon the knowledge and care of the experimenter, and his ability to keep the child in a normal condition of pleasurable muscular exercise throughout.

In performing color experiments, several requirements would appear to be necessary for exact results. Should not the colors chosen be equal in purity, intensity, luster, illumination, etc.? In reference to these differences, I think only that degree of care need be exercised which good comparative judgment provides. colors of about equal objective intensity, of no gloss, of relatively evident spectral purity, under constant illumination - this is all that is required. The variations due to the grosser factors I have mentioned - such as condition of attention, physical unrest, disturbing noises, sights, etc. - are of greater influence than any of these more recondite variations in the stimulus. Intensity and luster, however, are certainly important. It is possible, by carefully choosing a room of pretty constant daylight illumination, and setting the experiments at the same hour each day, to secure a regular degree of brightness if the colors themselves are equally bright; and luster may be ruled out by using colored wools or blotting-papers. The papers used in the experiments given above were colored blotting-papers. The omission of yellow is due to the absence, in the neighborhood, of a satisfactory yellow paper.

Copyright 1902 by D. Appleton and Company.

About the Author

James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934) was an American philosopher and psychologist who was educated at Princeton under the supervision of Scottish philosopher James McCosh. He made important contributions to early psychology, psychiatry, and to the theory of evolution.