Anatomy Of A Tantrum

Parents often feel helpless as a young child explodes into a tantrum. They feel like somehow they've failed as parents when they can't keep the offspring from meltsdown.

Now research indicates that these events are not inevitable and that there is a rhythm to a childs seemingly uncontrollable outbursts. Key to this research is analysis of the sounds they make during a tantrum. In a paper published in the journal Emotion, scientists found that different toddler sounds – or "vocalizations" – emerge and fade in a definite pattern in the course of a tantrum.

"We have the most quantitative theory of tantrums that has ever been developed," said study co-author Michael Potegal of the University of Minnesota. First they devised a method to collect tantrum sounds, says co-author James A. Green of the University of Connecticut.

"We developed a onesie that toddlers can wear that has a high-quality wireless microphone sewn into it," Green said. "Parents put this onesie on the child and press a go button." Green and Potegal collected more than a hundred tantrums in high-fidelity audio. The scientists then analyzed the audio. They found that different tantrum sounds had very distinct audio signatures. When the sounds were laid down on a graph, the researchers found that different sounds emerged and faded in a definite pattern. Unsurprisingly, sounds like yelling and screaming usually came together.

Here's a video from the research. And here's a link to the abstract.