Baillargeon’s explanation of early infant abilities

Biallargeon’s research: what it focuses on

It focuses on understanding how developed cognitive abilities are in infancy. Baillargeon’s work directly challenges some of Piaget’s ideas about the sensori-motor stage, proposing that even very young babies have a fairly well-developed understanding of the physical world, including object permanence.

Baillargeon’s Violation of expectation (VOE) research

Based on the idea that an infant will show surprise when it witnesses an impossible event.

Baillargeon and Graber (1987)

Procedure - 24 infants aged 5-6 months were shown a tall and a short rabbit moving along a track behind a screen with a window.

Habituation / familiarisation stage: this stage involves the infant simply watching the different sized rabbits moving along the track behind the screen.

Test even stage:

• Possible (non-magical) events - infants are shown the possible events, when the small rabbit passes the window in the screen it is not visible as it is too small. However, tall rabbit is visible as it passes the window in the screen.

• Impossible (magical) event - infants are shown rabbits passing behind the screen, however, this time the small rabbit is shown in the window. Whereas the tall rabbit is not visible.

Findings - infants looked for an average 33.07 seconds at impossible event, compared to 25.11 seconds in possible condition. Researchers interpreted this as meaning the infants were surprised by the impossible condition. Surprised infants means they must have known the tall rabbit should have re-appeared at the window. Demonstrating an understanding of object permanence.

Baillargeon’s theory of infant physcial reasoning

Evaluation of Baillargeon’s research: research, methodology, alternative explanation/truly understanding, debates