Some research has found that observers believe overt mimicry is socially unacceptable and embarrassing in the presence of a stranger. It was hypothesized that observers would inhibit their mimicry of learned pairs of gestures in the presence of a stranger, and that their learning would be adversely affected unless they compensated for the…

The effects of the actor-observer relationship (friendship or stranger) were tested to determine the attribution of responsibility for success or failure in a prisoner's dilemma game (PDG). Male subjects (N=80) participated, four subjects per experimental session. Two subjects competed in a non-zero sum, mixed-motive PDG while being observed by…

This study compared the social behaviors of daycare-attending and home-reared children in a novel social setting with both an unfamiliar peer and adult. Subjects were 24 children 26 months of age, each accompanied by a familiar caretaker. Twelve children (5 girls and 7 boys) were a randomly drawn sample of the general population recruited from…

Papers and discussants' comments from a symposium on issues concerning infants' reactions to strangers are presented. Researchers agreed that there is a developmental shift in infant behavior at 7 to 9 months of age when the infant becomes more cautious in approaching strangers. However, investigators hypothesize that the presence of the mother,…

In this study an attempt was made to measure variables which were expected to be related to individual differences in infants' social responsiveness toward strangers. The subjects were 48 infants (24 boys and 24 girls) between 8 and 13 months of age. Most were children of Cornell University faculty or graduate students, but a broad range of…

This study was intended to determine whether differences in maternal attitude and behavior relate to differences in infants' Strange Situation security classification. Subjects for the present study were 38 white middle-class mothers and their normal, 1-year-old infants (20 male, 18 female). Infants who were classified as to the quality of their…

This paper describes the results of a longitudinal study which compared the effects of three types of home-based, parent-oriented, infant education curricula. One curriculum stressed language, another stressed play, and a third stressed social development. Mothers and children from 108 middle and working class families received home visits…