An experiment was designed to demonstrate that infants as young as 3 months of age would show face/voice coordination in matched and mismatched conditions if exposure trials were extended to 1 minute in duration. A total of 16 infants participated in each of four experimental conditions. Conditions were (1) mother present with mother's voice…

Twenty infants were observed at home interacting with their mothers, fathers, and an unfamiliar investigator when they were 15, 18, 21, and 24 months of age. (Author/JMB)

Face-to-face interaction between 26 infants and their mothers and a relatively unfamiliar figure was observed longitudinally in the home environment when the infants were between 6 and 15 weeks of age. Normative findings indicated that infants became more responsive over this time period, whereas maternal behavior did not change. (Author/JMB)

Demonstrates that eye contact per se, and not solely the inherent attractiveness of the eyes and face, is salient to five-month-old infants. Five-month-old infants can distinguish when another person is looking at them, rather than at a nearby location. (Author/MP)

Discusses the significance of emotional communication and social referencing of the mother by her infant as determinants of the infant's affective reactions to other social figures in the environment. (PCB)

This study investigated the way 12 infants, aged 1 month and 2 months, scanned the still and expressionless faces of their mothers, of strange women, and of strange men. Each infant was placed in a padded head-restraining cradle under a half-silvered mirror which was angled at 45 degrees to enable the child to view an adult's face at an optical…

Examines 2,000 Strange Situation classifications obtained in eight different countries. Differences and similarities between distributions in classifications of samples are investigated using correspondence analysis. Substantial intracultural differences are established; data also suggest a pattern of cross-cultural differences. (Author/RWB)

Forty-three infants and mothers were observed in the Strange Situation when infants were 12.5 and 19.5 months old. Following each assessment, mothers completed a questionnaire concerning changes in family and care-giving circumstances. Results indicate that security of attachment reflects the current status of infant-mother interaction and that…

Investigated the autonomic reactions (heart rate and skin conductance) of 17 mothers of five-month-old infants to two landscape scenes and four types of videotaped segments depicting their own baby and an unfamiliar baby smiling or crying. (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…

The general proposition of attachment theory is that attachment is grounded in an independent, biologically based system. The quality of primary attachment relationships strongly influences a child's early personality organization, particularly the concept of self and others. The theory emphasizes the primary status and biological function of…

Characteristic patterns of infant-parent relationships were examined in a sample of Black infants presumed to be at low risk for psychopathological development. Infant responses toward parents and a stranger in a structured laboratory play session were analyzed to determine normative patterns of Black infant-parent attachments. Infant exploratory…

Critically evaluates knowledge about relations between early interaction, the "strange situation," and later social behavior in normal and atypical infants including premature infants, abused or neglected infants, and the infants of depressed mothers. Attributes equivocal relations between early interaction behaviors and later attachment…

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)