Familiarity of the setting, the mother's presence, sex of the stranger, and the distance separating the infant and the stranger were varied to examine the expression of stranger fear in 32 infants from 6 to 11 months of age. (Author/JMB)

Examined patterns of children's inhibition and the behavior of their mothers, who were either well or depressed, in nonsocial and social situations that were unfamiliar. Children of unipolar depressed mothers were most inhibited. Boys were more inhibited to a new environment, and girls to a new person. Results suggested that encounters with the…

Social behaviors of 10- and 12-month-old infants were studied as a function of experimental context (home and laboratory) and experimental history (home rearing and day care). Results suggested that the experimental context influenced infant social behaviors. No differences attributable to rearing condition as a main effect were found. (Author/SB)

Investigated three-month-olds' abilities to discriminate and recognize smiling and frowning expressions of mothers and strangers. Discrimination and recognition occurred regardless of the adult who was involved; however, more infants discriminated the mothers' expressions than the strangers', and boys looked at their mothers' faces longer than did…

No differences were found between home-care and day-care 4- and 5-year-olds on dependency measures. However, home-care girls sought proximity toward their mothers significantly more often than home-care boys, while day-care girls did not differ from day-care boys. This suggests that day-care children may be less sex typed than home-care children.…

The preference of the infant for mother versus father as an attachment figure and as a secure base for exploration is examined in this study. Subjects were fifteen 15-month-old infants whose mothers were their primary caregiver. The Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure was modified to permit both parents' simultaneous presence during separation…

The attachment behavior of 35 white, middle-class 3 1/2- to 4-year-olds who had experienced different rearing histories was observed through a series of standardized episodes involving separations and reunions with the mother and a stranger. (Author/JMB)

This paper reports the effects of one hour of extra post-partum contact between mother and infant on the quality of the attachment observed when the infant was one year old. It was hypothesized that infants in the extra contact condition would be classified as securely attached while regular contact infants would be less frequently classified as…

Tests the hypothesis that, while the difference in rate of smiling to O degree v non-O degree orientations will diminish with increasing age with silent and/or unfamiliar faces, infants over 14 weeks of age should continue to discriminate between a talking familiar 0 degree face, and all other combinations of orientation, familiarity, and silent…

Explores the possibility of sex and socioeducational differences in young infants' patterns of vocal interaction with mothers and strangers at two and three months of age. Infants at both ages vocalized more to mothers than to strangers. (BB)

This paper reports an 18-month investigation of the differential effects of social context (i.e., characteristics of people in the child's immediate environment) on infants' positive social behavior. The social behaviors of 14 children from 1 to 2-1/2 years of age were observed at home and in a laboratory playroom. The social context was varied…

The Ainsworth-Wittig strange situation was used to compare 12 42-month-old children with approximately 6 months of day care experience to individually matched children who had not had group child rearing experience. Results did not support the idea that day-care experience impairs attachment to the mother. (JMB)

Examined home-reared and institutionalized infants in Greece to find sex differences in social-vocal behaviors as assessed by Differential Vocal Responsiveness (DVR) to mother/caretaker versus stranger interactions. Results suggest that early differences in vocal-interactional patterns, and possibly cognitive processing, may be attributable to…

Examined effects of the age of adult female strangers on the affective behavior of 60 Japanese toddlers. The first study investigated the importance of the age discrepancy between mothers and female strangers aged 23 and over 65. The second study compared toddlers' reactions to mothers, men and women strangers the mother's age, and men and women…