Under greater cooperative care, childhood fear is more accommodated, but less warranted.
Garriy ShteynbergPublished in: The Behavioral and brain sciences (2023)
The target article posits that caregiver cooperation rendered heightened expression of childhood fear an adaptive response to threat. I argue that caregiver cooperation rendered childhood fear expression less accurate as a signal of actual threat, and hence less effective for harm avoidance. Further, other emotional expressions that avoid unwarranted caregiver stress may be more likely to evoke needed care.