In the documentary "Fantasy World of North Nose", Casper Addyman, a British psychologist, investigated and experimented with more than 300 parents and babies.

He asked these parents and babies to play five different parent-child interactive games: tearing paper, putting a handkerchief in their mouth, wearing a cup as a hat, pretending to be a cat and hiding from the cat.

The experimental results show that the happiest game for babies is hide-and-seek, and more than 70% babies will be amused by the game!

As shown above, this kind of hide-and-seek game of "burying your face and slowly opening it", coupled with parents' exaggerated voices or movements, is particularly popular with babies.

Older children will take the initiative to hide and let adults find out and have fun.

No matter which form of hide-and-seek game is above, their principle is basically the same: hide while looking.

However, I don't know if you have noticed an interesting phenomenon: in the process of hiding, children often perform ironic things such as "covering their ears and stealing bells" or "there is no silver here for 320".

Actually, it is not.

Although these behaviors of children will make us laugh and cry, in fact, there are secrets of children's psychological cognitive development behind these behaviors.

Today, we will have a good talk with you.

Why do children all over the world love hide and seek?

In order to find out why children like to play hide-and-seek, in 20 17, the research team of Warsaw University in Poland conducted a special study on it.

The study found that:

The baby about 4 months old has responded to the hide-and-seek game played by his family;

By the age of 6 months, they have been able to play interactive games with their families well.

Why do babies love hide-and-seek games so much?

First of all, we should understand a psychological term-object constancy (also called object constancy).

The permanence of object is a concept put forward by Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist. It means that even if an object or an object cannot be perceived by people, it still exists objectively.

In other words, you put a toy in front of you, you close your eyes and say you can't see it, but that doesn't mean the toy doesn't exist.

1954, Piaget designed a simple curtain experiment.

The experimental object is a few months old baby.

This experiment shows that for Xiao Baobao, in the early stage of brain development, there is no concept of "object permanence".

Babies will think that the visible exists and the invisible does not exist.

How many children will form the concept of "object permanence"?

Piaget believes that babies can only realize the fact that even if an object is blocked, it still exists when it is 9 months old.

How did "object permanence" come into being?

Babies are very clever. They will constantly see things with their eyes and touch things with their hands.

Coupled with the interaction with adults, I try to understand "some things are invisible, but they are permanent" and constantly enhance my understanding of "objects are permanent".

And games such as hide-and-seek and hide-and-seek are important ways for babies to get the development and cognition of "object permanence" through the interaction between "hiding" and "seeking" with adults.

They will be surprised from the beginning, "where is mom going?" Mom came out again and gradually became "haha, I know you are here".

This game is full of curiosity, excitement, surprise and the pleasure of interacting with adults.

It is also an effective way to establish contact between the baby and parents, and reward and encourage the baby.

That's why babies never get tired of playing hide-and-seek games.

And this kind of game form is the only way for children's psychological cognitive development.

Why do children always hide their heads and feet in hide-and-seek

Here, we want to talk about another classic experiment by Piaget, a child psychologist-Sanshan Experiment.

The subjects in this experiment are divided into two groups, one is under 6 years old and the other is over 6 years old.

He made three three-dimensional models of hills with different sizes and shapes with plastic models, and took four photos (A, B, C, D) of the models from four directions.

Piaget first asked the children to look around the model, sat down in position A, and then put a doll opposite the children (position C).

Then, he asked the children to choose what they saw and what the doll saw from the four photos A, B, C and D.

The results came out:

From this experiment, Piaget came to the conclusion that children under 6 tend to compare what others see with what they see with their own eyes.

Simply put, they will think that what they see is the same as what others see; What you can't see, no one else can see.

Therefore, when children play hide-and-seek, they will have an interesting behavior of "hiding only their heads and not their feet".

Psychologists also believe that children's perception of the world is two-way: if I can't see you, you can't see me.

This is because children under the age of 6 are mostly self-centered, and they lack the ability to adopt opinions and cannot look at problems from the perspective of others.

If you think that children "only hide their heads and not their feet" because of their low IQ, it is too wrong for them.

There is another advantage of hide-and-seek that you must know!

Piaget, a child psychologist, believes that infants within 9 months have not yet formed the psychological cognition of "object persistence".

When something disappears before their eyes, they will think that it has really disappeared.

If the things that disappear are parents and family members, they will instinctively feel the fear of being abandoned.

There is a horror film called Silent Hill, in which there is such a plot: everyone around you slowly disappears, and finally they are trapped in a "different world". This fear is very painful.

The movie Silent Hill

For Xiao Bao Xiao, who has not established the cognition of "object eternity", when they can't find an adult, their fear of separation is the same.

What are the advantages of hide-and-seek

It can help build a baby's sense of security and ease the anxiety caused by separation from parents.

Because in the process of playing hide-and-seek repeatedly, children will gradually understand a truth:

The disappearance of parents is only temporary, not really gone. Although I can't see them, they haven't gone far, and they will appear again.

Playing such games with children often can help children alleviate their separation anxiety.

Perhaps, those babies who cry at the kindergarten gate and refuse to go to school just play hide-and-seek games less.

Finally, I want to say:

Whether it is hide-and-seek or other games, for children, the companionship and interaction of parents is the best way for them to perceive the world and gain psychological development and cognition.

Parents should not worry about their children being "stupid", let alone laugh at them because of their "childish" behavior.

We just need to cooperate with the children, pretend to be really invisible when they are "hiding their heads but not their feet", look around and start our "performance" as much as possible!

References:

1.Baillargeon river. DeVos, (199 1), Object Persistence of Children: Further Evidence. Child development, 62, 1227- 1246.

2. jean piaget (1977). Howard gruber; Jacques Vonnesh. (editor. ). Basic Piaget. London: routledge and K. Paul. International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-07 10087782.OCLC 38 13049。

3. Nomiku, I, Leonardi, G, Radkovska, A, R? Chazek-Leonardi, J. Luo fen, K. J. (20 17). Play an active role: participate in hide-and-seek in early mother-infant interaction. Frontiers of psychology,

8 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg . 20 17.0 1656

4. Liu Rude, Contemporary Educational Psychology M, Beijing Normal University Press, 2007.

5. (American) Schaefer, translated by Hu Qingfen. Key concepts of developmental psychology: East China Normal University Press, 2008.