This study presents, for the first time, (a) the analysis of the modern literature on the reciprocal impact of emotional arousal and interactional synchrony that creates the synergy of this tandem increasing group productivity; (b) the empirical results of 10 online experiments with 41 dyads. These online experiments in different languages found a…

The relationship between Young's (1999) Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) and Baumrind's (1971) parental authority prototypes (i.e., permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative) were investigated. As hypothesized, parental authoritarianism positively predicted the prevalence of EMSs, whereas authoritativeness was inversely related to EMS scores.…

Solving challenging math problems often invites a child to ride an "emotional roller-coaster" and experience a complex mixture of emotions including confusion, frustration, joy, and surprise. Early exposure to this type of "hard fun" may stimulate child's interest and curiosity of mathematics and nurture life long skills such…

This paper examines the Japanese word "kawaii" "cute". Teachers frequently use "kawaii" to show positive feelings toward objects in the classroom. Female children also are primary users of the word, which suggests that they are acquiring "kawaii" as an index of female gender identity. From a linguistic…

This study compared the degree to which young children were placated during a standard medical evaluation by the presence of their mother, blanket, mother plus blanket, or no supportive agent. Participating were 64 three-year-olds who underwent 4 routine medical procedures. Children were rated by their mothers as attached or nonattached to…

Three studies explored age, sex, and individual differences in children's defensiveness about four feelings: happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Also investigated was the relation between children's defensiveness and their mothers' comfort with and expression of feelings. Participants included children ranging in age from 4 through 11 years of…

Summaries of papers presented in a symposium deal with a related series of four issues concerning the development of maternal attachment: Is maternal attachment best conceptualized and measured as an emotional tie or as observable behavior? Is there continuity in the development of maternal attachment from the prenatal to postpartum period? Can…

Preschoolers' expression of various emotions and overall social-emotional competency may be related to mothers' emotional responsivemness to children's emotions. This research investigated, through extended naturalistic observation, (1) how maternal emotion displays differ according to antecedent child emotion (happy, sad, angry, or afraid) and…

Within the framework of the social stress and behavioral theories of depression, this study investigated the hypothesis that postpartum depression is a function of disruption of parents' prepartum functioning by the subsequent demands of infant caretaking. Seventy-eight primiparous married couples (N=156, 78 men and 78 women) volunteered to…

This study examined the reactions of 45, 10-month-old infants to peer strangers. The infants were observed in two conditions: with a stranger of the identical age (10 months) and with one who was younger (5 months). In additon, each infant's behavior when he was alone with his mother was compared to his behavior when he was in the presence of…

Whether maternal touching of the infant while speaking to him or her about a stranger facilitates or interferes with social referencing is investigated in this study. Thirty-three 10-month-olds received positive or neutral nonverbal messages when their mothers spoke to them about a stranger. Infants whose mothers did not touch them while speaking…

This study measured infant responses to mother and stranger as a function of mother and stranger distance. A group of 10-month-old infants were pretested for level of object permanence and person permanence, and 18 males and 18 females were chosen as study participants. The infants were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: (1)…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not infants who had experienced different types of naturally-occurring, significant separations from an attachment figure during the first year of life differed in their response to separation at 12 months of age. Thirty-three 12-month-old Caucasian infants from middle class, intact families…

This essay reviews research on mother-infant roles during early interactions and how these serve to foster the development of infant emotion regulation. It provides illustrations of the ways in which physical unavailability (resulting from hospitalization or other separation) and emotional unavailability (resulting from mental illnesses such as…

The maternal affective environment to which children are exposed, conceptualized by (1) percentage of total emotional displays (happy, sad, angry, tense, or tender) and (2) global indices of current maternal psychosocial functioning, is likely to be related to children's expression of emotions and overall social-emotional competence. Thus,…