Does contingency in adults’ responding influence 12-month-old infants’ social referencing?

In two experiments we examined the influence of contingent versus non-contingent responding on infant social referencing behavior. EXPERIMENT 1: Forty 12-month-old infants were exposed to an ambiguous toy in a social referencing situation. In one condition an unfamiliar adult who in a previous play situation had responded contingently to the infant’s looks gave the infant positive information about the toy. In the other condition an unfamiliar adult who previously had not responded contingently delivered the positive information. EXPERIMENT 2: Forty-eight 12-month-old infants participated in Experiment 2. In this experiment it was examined whether the familiarity of the adult influences infants’ reactions to contingency in responding. In one condition a parent who previously had responded contingently to the infant’s looks provided positive information about the ambiguous toy, and in the other condition a parent who previously had not responded contingently provided the positive information. The infants looked more at the contingent experimenter in Experimenter 1, and also played more with the toy after receiving positive information from the contingent experimenter. No differences in looking at the parent and in playing with the toy were found in Experiment 2. The results indicate that contingency in responding, as well as the familiarity of the adult, influence infants’ social referencing behavior.     

Does contingency in adults’ responding influence 12-month-old infants’ social referencing?

In two experiments we examined the influence of contingent versus non-contingent responding on infant social referencing behavior. EXPERIMENT 1: Forty 12-month-old infants were exposed to an ambiguous toy in a social referencing situation. In one condition an unfamiliar adult who in a previous play situation had responded contingently to the infant’s looks gave the infant positive information about the toy. In the other condition an unfamiliar adult who previously had not responded contingently delivered the positive information. EXPERIMENT 2: Forty-eight 12-month-old infants participated in Experiment 2. In this experiment it was examined whether the familiarity of the adult influences infants’ reactions to contingency in responding. In one condition a parent who previously had responded contingently to the infant’s looks provided positive information about the ambiguous toy, and in the other condition a parent who previously had not responded contingently provided the positive information. The infants looked more at the contingent experimenter in Experimenter 1, and also played more with the toy after receiving positive information from the contingent experimenter. No differences in looking at the parent and in playing with the toy were found in Experiment 2. The results indicate that contingency in responding, as well as the familiarity of the adult, influence infants’ social referencing behavior.     

Contexts as moderators of observed interactions: a study of Costa Rican mothers and infants from differing socioeconomic backgrounds

20 first-born infants from low socioeconomic status (SES) families and 20 first-born infants from middle SES families in Costa Rica were observed for 12 hours when they were 14 weeks old. The goals of this study were the following: 1) to study the impact of length of observation and context on the authors measures of interactional engagement; 2) to compare the interactional experiences of the infants in the two groups in various functional (e.g. feeding, object play) and social (e.g. with mother, with mother and others) contexts. Attuned and disharmonious interactions, as well as the frequency of positive affect, soothing, and vocalization, varied considerably across the functional contexts. In addition, disharmonious interactions increased and interactional engagement decreased when mothers and infants were joined by others. Highly unstable measures of individual differences were obtained when observations were limited to 45-minute blocks, but stability increased considerably as the duration of the observations expanded. The groups did not differ with respect to amounts of time spent in various functional and social contexts, in attuned or disharmonious states, or in high levels of interactional engagement. Within some of the functional contexts, however, significant group differences in levels of attuned interactions, infant vocalization, and maternal response vocalization were found. Overall, functional and social contexts clearly moderated interactional experiences. SES effects on verbal and other interactional measures were limited to some contexts and may thus represent the infants' overall experiences quite poorly. Consequently, comparisons based on a single context may be inadequate for studies of subjects from differing socioeconomic backgrounds.     

Symbols Scales for Use in Beginning Reading

Bayley Mental scores were significantly related to several concurrent ratings of infant and maternal testroom behavior when firstborn black male infants were 14 months (N = 49), 18 months (N = 34), and 22 months of age (N = 32). With increasing age, social responsiveness played a relatively less important role in successful performance, while object responsiveness became increasingly important. Bayley Motor scores were related to many fewer ratings than the Mental scores. Gross Muscle Coordination was related to performance at all three ages, and Energy ratings at two of the three ages. For both the Mental and Motor scores, fewer relationships were observed at the 18-month testings as compared to the 14- and 22-month testings. By 22 months, infants scoring higher on the Bayley Mental scale had mothers who were more highly involved with their child's achievement as judged by testroom behaviors.     

Negative emotionality,attachment quality,and behavior problems in early childhood

Negative emotionality, as well as attachment security and disorganization, are seen as major contributors to social adjustment and maladjustment in childhood. However, relatively little is known about whether infant negative emotionality and attachment quality operate together to affect developing behavior problems. The present study thus aims to contribute to this question. Participants were 64 healthy firstborn children and their primary caregivers. Negative emotionality was assessed at the infant ages of 4, 8, and 12 months using laboratory routines. At 18 months, the Strange Situation procedure was conducted to assess infant attachment security and disorganization, and at 30 months, the child's behavior problems were assessed within a structured clinical interview. Attachment security and attachment disorganization were significantly associated with subsequent behavior problems. There was no significant relation between infant negative emotionality and behavior problems. However, there were indications of a stronger association between attachment disorganization and behavior problems in infants high in negative emotionality. The results underpin the importance of attachment quality as well as negative emotionality in social adjustment. Disorganized attachment precedes poor adjustment, especially in infants high in negative emotionality.     

SOCIAL VALIDATION OF COMPONENT BEHAVIORS OF FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS,ACCEPTING CRITICISM,AND NEGOTIATING

This study evaluated whether behaviors often taught as part of social skills training are judged favorably by others. Community judges evaluated the performances of people in various situations requiring one of three social skills: following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating to resolve conflicts. These skills were displayed in videotaped scenes by actors with and without mental retardation who acted out roles that had different types of authority relationships, and when different components or clusters of behavior (nonverbal, specific verbal, or general verbal behaviors) were performed well or poorly. The highest ratings by judges were of videotaped scenes that depicted correct use of all behaviors, regardless of which skill was being examined, whether or not the actor had mental retardation, or what the relationship was between the two actors. The lowest ratings were of videotaped scenes that depicted poor performance of all behaviors, and intermediate ratings were obtained when only some of the behaviors were performed poorly. These results, as well as the verbal responses of judges to questions, indicated that the different behaviors commonly used in teaching the skills of following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating are relevant to judgment of social performance, and are likely to be reinforced and maintained by social contingencies.     

Intervention to improve mother-infant interaction and infant development

Thirty-three infants at risk for developmental delay were videotaped interacting with their mothers. Maternal position during interaction (facing, beside, or behind the infant) was strongly related to the frequency of maternal interactional behavior and to indices of infant communication and cognitive development. Intervention to teach mothers to use the facing position showed that improvement in position was related to increases in both maternal interactional behavior and infant development. Because the mother's position is easily assessed, understood, and changed by a mother, it is potentially useful to early intervention programs, particularly those serving at risk populations.     

Behavioral and environmental correlates of infant abuse in group- living pigtail macaques

The present study investigated the context of occurrence of infant abuse and the behavior of abusive mothers and their infants in pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina). Subjects were 8 abusive mothers with their infants and 8 control mother-infant pairs living in 3 captive social groups. The most common forms of abuse were infant crushing and dragging and the most common context of occurrence was social stress. Severe and mild abuse differed in the frequency but not in the type of abuse patterns. Abusive mothers had controlling parenting styles relative to nonabusive mothers, and abused infants played at a later age and less frequently than controls. This study replicates previous findings on the parenting styles of abusive macaque mothers and provides new evidence on the context of occurrence of abuse and its consequences for infant health and social development.     

Social grooming in the kindergarten: the emergence of flattery behavior

The present study examined the emergence of flattery behavior in young children and factors that might affect whether and how it is displayed. Preschool children between the ages of 3 and 6 years were asked to rate drawings produced by either a present or absent adult stranger (Experiments 1 and 2), child stranger (Experiments 2 and 3), classmate, or the children's own teacher (Experiment 3). Young preschoolers gave consistent ratings to the same drawing by the person regardless of whether the person was absent or present. In contrast, many older preschoolers gave more flattering ratings to the drawing when the person was present than in the person's absence. Also, older preschoolers displayed flattery regardless of whether the recipient was an adult or a child. However, they displayed flattery to a greater extent towards familiar individuals than unfamiliar ones, demonstrating an emerging sensitivity to social contexts in which flattery is used. These findings suggest that preschoolers have already learned not to articulate bluntly their true feelings and thoughts about others. Rather, they are able to manipulate their communications according to social context.     

Oxytocin trajectories and social engagement in extremely premature infants during NICU hospitalization

Extremely premature infants, born 28 weeks gestation or less, are at high risk for impaired socioemotional development, due in part to exposure to early stressful social experiences that alter brain development. Understanding mediators that link experience with outcomes is necessary to assess premature infant responses to social experiences that are critical to brain development. The hormone oxytocin (OT), released during supportive interactions, has potential as a biomarker of the premature infant's responses to social experiences. The purpose of this study was to examine associations among infant plasma OT trajectories and maternal-infant social engagement behaviors during initial hospitalization. This study also examined demographic correlates of engagement behaviors in mothers and infants. Plasma from 28 extremely premature infants, born gestational ages 25–28 6/7 weeks, was collected at 14 days of life, then weekly until 34 weeks. Social engagement behaviors were measured by the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment during a videotaped feeding when the infant was receiving one-quarter full oral feeds. Maternal-infant demographics were extracted from the medical record. Higher infant plasma OT was associated with lower infant social engagement, but no associations were found with maternal social engagement. Infant social engagement was positively related to maternal social engagement. Maternal parity was related to maternal social engagement, and infant demographics did not predict infant social engagement. The significant, yet negative, association between infant OT and engagement provides support for the measurement of OT as a neurobiological antecedent to infant social behaviors. Finally, this research suggests that during the earliest period of infant socio-behavioral development, premature infants are behaviorally reactive to the social engagement behaviors of their mothers.     

Maternal speech to infants at 1 and 3 months of age

The goal of this study was to assess maternal speech and in relation to changes in infant social behavior occurring around the second month post birth. Sixty infants interacted with their mother at 1 and 3 months of age in a face-to-face context. At 3 months, infants gazed, smiled, and positively vocalized significantly more than at 1 month. These findings point to a transition in infant social behavior at around the second month post birth. In addition, maternal speech to infants increased between these times in both amount and complexity, possibly in response to an increase in infant social behavior. Maternal speech was related to infant positive vocalizing at 3 months, suggesting mothers especially monitored infant vocalizing at 3 months. Individual differences in maternal speech were stable across visits.     

Continuities and Consequences of Interactional Styles Across the Life Course

Behavior patterns can be sustained across the life course by two kinds of person-environment interaction. Cumulative continuity arises when an individual's interactional style channels him or her into environments that themselves reinforce that style, thereby sustaining the behavior pattern across the life course through the progressive accumulation of its own consequences. Interactional continuity arises when an individual's style evokes reciprocal, sustaining responses from others in ongoing social interaction, thereby reinstating the behavior pattern across the individual's life course whenever the relevant interactive situation is replicated. Using archival data from the Berkeley Guidance Study (Macfarlane, Allen, & Honzik, 1954), we present evidence for the operation of these two continuity-promoting processes by identifying individuals who were ill-tempered, shy, or dependent in late childhood and then tracing the continuities and consequences of these interactional styles across the subsequent 30 years of their lives in the domains of work and family. The importance of the sociocultural context in mediating these continuities and consequences is stressed.     

Facial emotion recognition during pregnancy: Examining the effects of facial age and affect

It is vital that new mothers quickly and accurately recognize their child’s facial expressions. There is evidence that during pregnancy women develop enhanced processing of facial features associated with infancy and distress, as these cues signal vulnerability and are therefore biologically salient. In this study, 51 pregnant women at 17–36 weeks gestation watched neutral infant and adult faces gradually morph into either happy or sad expressions. We measured the speed and accuracy with which participants were able to recognize facial affect (happy vs. sad) across facial ages (infant vs. adult). Participants were faster and more accurate at recognizing happy versus sad faces and adult versus infant faces. We discuss how prior exposure to a certain face type may explain faster recognition. We also consider these results in the context of evidence indicating positive affect is recognized more quickly, but associated with slower attention and detection.     

Early stress and social support influences on mothers' and high-risk infants' functioning in late infancy

The relationships among early stress, maternal social network supports, and mother-infant functioning during later infancy were explored in a group of 52 mothers and their high-risk premature infants. Maternal stress and support data were collected 1 month after infants were released from the hospital, and measures of parenting, mother-infant interaction, infant social and developmental competence, and infant attachment were collected at infant corrected ages of 8 and 12 months. Results indicated that stress and support from various ecological sources, including professionals, were related to parent and infant outcomes at both measurement occasions. Varying sources of support differentially predicted varying parent and infant measures where support had a stress buffering effect only under certain conditions. Professional support was found to account for significant amounts of variance in relation to some parenting factors beyond that attributable to other support sources. The results are discussed within the context of previous support findings and in relation to transactional models of high-risk infant development.     

Mother-infant responsiveness: timing, mutual regulation, and interactional context

Mutual regulation during the naturalistic interaction of 150 mothers and their 4-month-old infants was investigated from a dynamic systems perspective. Microanalyses of a wide range of behaviors and analysis of contingencies indicated that a 3-s time period best captured contingencies. Both mothers and infants communicated primarily through vocal signals and responses, although maternal touches and infant looks also elicited responses. Although more expressive mothers did not have infants who behaved similarly, levels of contingent responsiveness between partners were significantly associated and occurred within distinct behavioral channels, suggesting coregulated interactional processes in which contingently responsive mothers shape their infants' communications toward mutual similarity. Mothers were more influential than infants over object play, whereas infants were more influential than mothers over expressive behavior. Interactional context consistently influenced contingent responsiveness; there was less mutual responsiveness when the infant was exploring, being held, or looking.     

Differences in object sharing between infants at risk for autism and typically developing infants from 9 to 15 months of age

Object sharing abilities of infants at risk for autism (AR infants) and typically developing (TD) infants were compared from 9 to 15 months of age. Specifically, we examined the effects of infants’ locomotor abilities on their object sharing skills. 16 TD infants and 16 AR infants were observed during an “object sharing” paradigm at crawling and walking ages. Overall, AR walking infants demonstrated lower rates of object sharing with caregivers compared to TD walking infants. Specifically, AR walking infants had lower rates of giving and approaches toward caregivers compared to TD walking infants. AR walking infants also had lower step rates toward task-appropriate targets, i.e. caregivers and objects compared to TD walking infants. No group differences in object sharing were observed at crawling ages. Object sharing could be a valuable context for early identification of delays in infants at risk for developing Autism spectrum disorder.     

Infants’ expressive behaviors to mothers and unfamiliar partners during face-to-face interactions from 4 to 10 months

Changes in the organization of infant looking, facial expressions, and vocalizations were examined over age (4, 7, and 10 months) and with different social partners. Although infants at all ages accompanied smiling with looking at both mothers and unfamiliar partners, 7- and 10-month infants accompanied vocalization with looking only when they were with mothers. Seven- and 10-month-olds vocalized with unfamiliar partners only when they were smiling at the same time. When mothers stopped talking, infants reduced smiling significantly at all ages, yet vocalized more at 10 months. In the second half of the first year, there are fundamental changes in the coordination of infant expressive behaviors that reveal a keen attunement to variations in maternal behavior and the familiarity of social partners.     

The effects of various rater training procedures on the perception of social skills and social anxiety

Procedures for the behavioral assessment of social skills typically rely on judges' perceptions of subjects' behavior in several simulated situations. This study examined two methodological variables which could influence the degree of situational specificity perceived by social skill judges. Forth-eight judges were presented videotapes of 15 actors who role played responses to eight simulated social situations. Half of the judges viewed the situations in a sequential fashion and the remaining half viewed the tapes grouped by situations. The second factor of this design included three different expectancy conditions included in an analogue training procedure. Differences in observed variability were examined for both social skill and social anxiety constructs. Order of stimulus presentation had no effect on variability. The expectancy manipulation significantly increased variability among social skill ratings but had no effect on reliability.This study was supported in part by the Veterans Administration.     

Sharing food with infants in Hadza communities in Tanzania

By analyzing mealtime interactions of Tanzanian Hadza infants with their interactional partners, we explored how two foundational schemas, namely giving/sharing and autonomy are realized and fostered in infants. We focused on three aspects of the mealtime interactions, namely how the infants’ share was protected, whether independent eating was fostered by the infants’ interactional partners, and how infants were encouraged to share food. To answer these questions, we also considered the settings that were created for infant eating, persons involved, and characteristics of the foods. Hadza infants (N = 24) between the ages of approximately 6 and 27 months were video recorded in mealtime situations. The videos were analyzed qualitatively and revealed the following patterns: First, infants’ shares were protected by eating meals in secluded places or providing infants with separate dishes. Second, independent eating was situational. It can be limited according to the child’s interest in the food or by the interactional partner. Some caregivers subtly enhanced independence by appearing unaware of infants’ signals. Third, sharing was encouraged and supported when it occurred spontaneously. Infants were also asked to share and occasionally tricked into sharing. Tolerated scrounging seemed to be generally accepted by both infants and caregivers. However, we also observed conflicts in competitive situations and somewhat overwhelmed infants. These results are discussed in light of hunter-gatherers’ foundational schemas and livelihood changes observed in the Hadza.     

Depressed mothers' and their infants' interactions with nondepressed partners

Twenty depressed adolescent mothers were videotaped interacting with their own infant and with the infant of a nondepressed mother. In addition, nondepressed mothers were videotaped with their own infant as well as with the infant of a depressed mother. Depressed mothers showed less facial expressivity than nondepressed mothers and received less optimal interaction rating scale scores (a summary score for state, physical activity, head orientation, gaze, silence during gaze aversion, facial expressions, vocalizations, infantized behavior, contingent responsivity, and gameplaying). This occurred independent of whether they were interacting with their own infant versus an infant of a nondepressed mother, suggesting that depressed mothers display less optimal behaviors to infants in general. The infants of both depressed and nondepressed mothers received better head orientation and summary ratings when they were interacting with another mother, perhaps because the other mother was more novel. Infants of nondepressed mothers, in particular, had better summary ratings (state, physical activity, head orientation, gaze, facial expressions, fussiness, and vocalizations) than the infants of depressed mothers when interacting with depressed mothers. Thus, it may be that infants of nondepressed mothers are generally better interaction partners than infants of depressed mothers. Another related possibility is that they persist longer in trying to elicit a response from mothers less responsive than their own, given that they have learned to expect a response to their behavior.