Signs of Self-preservation

April 3rd, 2004 · 3 Comments

Trixie shows no hesitation whatsoever when it comes to getting down from an elevated surface. Whether she’s on the bed (28″), the couch (18″), or the file boxes (11″) she is perfectly confident in her ability to crawl straight down the side of it - headfirst - like a squirrel.

I personally find this behavior baffling. Trixie has good eyesight. She clearly avoids obstacles when she’s crawling around on the floor. Plus, all other non-tree-climbing mammals instinctually exercise caution when on an elevated surface. Why is it different for Trixie? (Or maybe it’s all human babies - I don’t know because I only have the one.) I really don’t understand why she can crawl around a chair for example, but will also crawl straight off the bed if we aren’t there to catch her.

Anyway, whatever the reason, she’s finally beginning to get it. In the last week she has started to apply a little problem-solving to such situations. She now tries to swing her body around so she can lower/slide/drop/crash down feet-first. It’s not graceful, but it’s better than doing a face plant.

Tags: Behavior

3 responses so far ↓

1 John // Apr 3, 2004 at 4:53 pm

Colum is the same way. My wife says that it’s because babies don’t fully understand depth. There was that brief, two-week period when he could sit up but not crawl, and I could leave him on the bed while I brushed my teeth or put on a shirt or something, but now, when I put him down while I’m doing something, it’s on the floor, between my feet.
2 fred // Apr 4, 2004 at 9:27 pm

I remember hearing about this in a psychology class where the professor said something about babies not having good object permanence; they don’t realize the floor that used to be underneath them has been moved. I dunno if that’s actually part of what’s going on, but it’s worth throwing into the mix.
3 benmac // Apr 5, 2004 at 12:33 am

Both these answers seem legitimate. I guess I was also remembering something about the “Visual Cliff” psychology experiment.

I tried to google the topic to buttress my memory. I didn’t find any sites that I love, but here are two pages that give a little bit of detail and include pictures:

http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/~flanagan/PSYC100/lecture1/lecture1.html
Under the section titled: Perceptual World of Infants

and

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/science/psychol/bully/tom.htm
this site has a nice black and white photo of what I would build if I had extra plexi laying around. According to its text, maybe Trixie would stop crawling off the bed if I didn’t laugh at her when she tried it.

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