Two studies examined social responses to attractive and unattractive faces on the part of 123 infants of 12 months. Results suggest that visual and behavioral preferences for attractiveness are exhibited much earlier in life than was previously thought. (RH)

This study attempted to distinguish between the ambivalent response of shyness and the more potent negative affect of fear in infancy. Sixty infants between 9 and 12 months of age participated in two laboratory situations: a nonsocial situation involving the presentation of a mechanical toy; and a social situation involving a standardized stranger…

Two-year-olds' reactions to strangers were related to ratings of their emotionality, sociability and activity and to ratings of parental love and control by both fathers and mothers. Each child received two sessions with strangers, one male and one female. Four times per session a stranger, in a friendly manner, approached each child as it sat in…

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)

A twin analysis was applied to infants' social behavior in standardized situations that permitted the comparison of social responding to mother and a stranger in different contexts. Twenty-one identical twin pairs and twenty-five fraternal twin pairs were observed in their homes using time-sampled observations of specific behaviors. (Author/SS)

Social experiences and stranger anxiety of infants of working mothers were compared with those of infants of nonworking mothers. Mothers' employment status, and sex and age of infants, were analyzed in relation to anxiety. Maternal work status was not found to be a significant parameter in infant reactions to a stranger except when physical…

A total of 87 infants 10 months of age received, either directly or indirectly, a positive nonverbal message, a neutral nonverbal message, or no message about a stranger. Infants, especially those with easy temperaments, were friendlier to the stranger when mothers had spoken positively, but only when the message was directly communicated.…

Forty middle-class mothers and their 12-month-old infants participated in an examination of the extent to which infant sociability and home experiences were correlated with cognitive capacity. (JMB)

This study examined infants' reactions to new people by manipulating the social context in which infants became acquainted with new people. Infants (N=48) met someone new in the presence of another unfamiliar adult and their mothers. The new acquaintance either: (1) chatted and worked on a puzzle with the mother; (2) remained silent and worked on…

Investigated the social interactions of 18 Taiwanese infants and toddlers with a baby in a group setting. Compared videotaped responses and other mediating issues with those of American children in a similar scenario. Found that Taiwanese toddlers demonstrated significantly more interactions toward the baby than did American toddlers. Children…

This study compares interactions between infants and parents to interactions between infants and strangers. Infants from 2 weeks to 6 months of age were taped in face-to-face interactions with unfamiliar male and female adults. Tapes of parent-infant interactions were available from a prior study. Specific infant and adult behaviors were coded and…

This study investigated at the age at which infants become able to discriminate between their mothers and females strangers, as measured by differential patterns of pauses during the infants' crying while being spoken to by their mothers and female strangers. The subjects, 14 infants ranging in age from 7 to 20 days, were fed, burped, and changed,…