Everyone has heard the phrase “you’re being such a baby!” It’s usually used when we accuse someone of being overly dramatic or emotional.
Often times we’ll see young children exaggerating their emotions to get attention, however, this is something they learn as babies.
Japanese researcher Hiroko Nakayama found that some babies would “fake cry” and then stop once their mother would come near.
“Fake crying is one of the earliest forms of deception to emerge, and infants use it to get attention even though nothing is wrong,” Psychologist Dr. Vasudevi Reddy of the University of Portsmouth told The Telegraph.
“You can tell, as they will then pause while they wait to hear if their mother is responding, before crying again. It demonstrates they’re clearly able to distinguish that what they are doing will have an effect. This is essentially all adults do when they tell lies, except in adults it becomes more morally loaded.”
Nakayama, however, doesn’t see the baby’s “fake cry” as a negative thing. She says it’s actually a positive thing.
“[S]uch individual interaction contributes greatly not only to an infant’s social development but also to their emotional development,” she told the British Psychological Society. “Infants who are capable of fake crying might communicate successfully with their caregivers in this way on a daily basis. Fake crying could add much to their relationships.”
Some experts don’t see this behavior as “fake” at all.
“I would call it a calling cry. When I want to get my husband’s attention, I can yell down to him,” explains Tracy Cassels, a PhD candidate in developmental psychology at the University of British Columbia and author of the blog Evolutionary Parenting.
“These babies can’t do that, so all they have is the cry. It’s not malicious, they’re just trying to survive in a world where they are 100% dependent on other people. If we don’t allow babies respect, then we’re shutting down all forms of communication for them.”
Call it whatever you will, but one little girl on YouTube has this”fake crying” or “calling cry” thing down pat.
The video starts with her pouty face and a woman calling her out on her fake cry.
“What’s the deal?”she asks off-screen. “You’re not even crying. There’s no tears in your eyes — nothing!”
Then the baby proceeds with an award-winning “fake cry” performance that’s way overly dramatic. It’s not really a cry as it is a strange sound. You can what we mean in the video below.
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