Influence of Labeling on Ratings of Infant Behavior: A Prematurity Prejudice
- 1 December 1986
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Pediatric Psychology
- Vol. 11 (4) , 561-572
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/11.4.561
Abstract
Two full-term and two preterm infants were videotaped while being administered six items from the Brazelton (1973) scale. Infants were assigned alternately the labels preterm and full-term and shown to a group of 256 undergraduate students. Subjects demonstrated no influence of label in their ratings of the infants' Brazelton performance or in assessment of their confidence in performing various care-giving tasks for the particular infant viewed. However, on global ratings, the labeled preterms were rated as significantly less attentive, less healthy, smaller, more difficult to care for, less enjoyable to interact with, and less sociable. Results are discussed as supporting the existence of a prematurity prejudice.Keywords
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