The Effect of Pink/Blue Clothing on Implicit and Explicit Gender‐Related Self‐Cognition and Attitudes Among Men

In many cultures worldwide, one stereotype emerges: Pink is associated with girls and blue is associated with boys. Based on the enclothed cognition theory, the present study examined the effects of men's pink clothing on gender‐related self‐cognition and sex‐role attitudes. Male Japanese participants wore either a pink or blue coat and completed a gender stereotype Implicit Association Test, a self‐rating scale, and gender attitude scales (a measure of egalitarian sex‐role attitude and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory). Results showed that among participants with low self‐esteem, the implicit self–feminine association was stronger in the pink condition than in the blue condition. On the other hand, participants with high self‐esteem explicitly associated themselves more with power‐oriented traits compared with interpersonal‐oriented traits when they wore a pink coat compared with those who wore a blue coat. Additionally, participants in the pink condition expressed stronger egalitarian sex‐role attitudes and weaker benevolent sexism than those in the blue condition. We propose that men's pink clothing is a means of diminishing gender stereotypes and traditional sex‐role attitudes.     

The Effects of Clothing and Dyad Sex Composition on Perceptions of Sexual Intent: Do Women and Men Evaluate These Cues Differently1

The effects of clothing revealingness and dyad-sex composition on perceptions of male- and female-stimulus persons' sexuality were examined. Based on Abbey's (1982) findings, we hypothesized that men would attribute more sexuality to both male and female targets than women would. Furthermore, we predicted that the difference between men's and women's sexuality ratings would be most divergent when a male-female dyad was presented and when the female stimulus person wore revealing clothing. A laboratory study was conducted in which subjects viewed a photograph of two students in a classroom. As predicted, male subjects rated female targets as more sexy and seductive than did female subjects. Also as predicted, female targets who wore revealing clothing were rated as more sexy and seductive than those wearing nonrevealing clothing. Female targets were rated higher on sexual traits regardless of the gender of their partner. Men did not consistently perceive male stimulus persons more sexually than women did. Finally, both female and male targets were perceived as more kind and warm when they wore nonrevealing clothing. The implications of these findings for person perception and date rape research are described.     

Sex differences in attraction to infants: When do they occur?

Harlow (1971) observed that all-female college audiences responded to a pictured infant rhesus monkey with an “ecstasy response,” while males were “completely unresponsive,” and females in coeducational audiences “inhibited the ecstasy response,” explaining these differences in terms of innate sex differences. The present study compared college students' self-reported attraction to pictures of 15 infant and adult nonhuman primates under several conditions. Infant pictures were of two types: infants which were engaged in typical infant behaviors (Infant Behavior), and those which were not (Infant). Subjects made judgments in same- or mixed-sex groups and reported degree of attraction publicly or privately. Ratio scores were used to represent each subject's attraction to infant or infant-behavior pictures compared with his or her attraction to pictures of adults. There were no significant sex differences in attraction to infant or infant-behavior pictures, and sex did not interact with any other variable. However, situational variables significantly affected the response. Males as well as females reported greater attraction to infant and infant-behavior pictures when they viewed the pictures in same-sex compared with mixed-sex groups. Both sexes reported greater attraction to infant and infant-behavior pictures privately than publicly.     

Infants' responses to mothers' imitative behaviors

Several investigators have suggested that young infants' smiles and vocalizations following their mothers' imitative behaviors might reflect infant recognition that the mother's behavior is imitative or at least contingent. This study investigated whether infants smile and vocalize more frequently subsequent to maternal imitative than non-imitative behavior during both spontaneous and imitative face-to-face interactions. Fourteen 3 1/2-month-old infants and their mothers were videotaped in these two face-to-face interaction situations. The infants vocalized more frequently during the imitative situation and infant vocalizations plus simultaneous smiling, and vocalizations occurred more often following maternal imitative than non-imitative behavior. Although these data suggest that infant vocalizations and simultaneous smiles and vocalizations may reflect the infants' recognition of maternal imitative behavior, they do not establish definitively that it is the imitation per se vs. the contingency aspect that is recognized by the infant.     

Interactive silences within spontaneous early infant–father ‘dialogues’

The present longitudinal and naturalistic study aims to investigate infants' and fathers' facial expressions of emotions during pauses preceding and following spontaneous early infant–father conversation. Studying emotional expressions in the course of pauses in early infant–father interaction is important because it may extend our knowledge on how, without being able to speak, infants begin communication and develop a capacity to share understanding of what they and Significant Others (such as fathers) mean by what they do. Eleven infant–father dyads from Crete, Greece, were observed during their natural interactions at home from the second to the sixth month of life. The microanalysis of fathers' and infants' facial expressions of emotions provided evidence that: (a) in the course of pauses preceding and following early infant–father conversation, either the infant is interested in the father while the latter expresses pleasure to the infant, or the infant expresses external interest while the father is interested in the infant, (b) infants seem to attune their descending and stable emotional intensity to the same direction as their father's emotional intensity, (c) infants and fathers remain consistent in their emotional expression in the beginning and at the end of the pause, and (d) infant and paternal pleasure and interest did not change significantly across the nine age points of this study. Exploratory analysis of the relationship of paternal and infant emotional expressions across infants' birth order provided evidence of certain differences and similarities. It is proposed that pausal interruptions preceding and following free early infant–father ‘dialogues’ constitute interactive silences, since in their course there is evidence of inter‐subjective emotional coordination and intra‐subjective regulation of emotion. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interpreting infant emotional expressions: Parenthood has differential effects on men and women

Interpreting and responding to an infant's emotional cues is a fundamental parenting skill. Responsivity to infant cues is frequently disrupted in depression, impacting negatively on child outcomes, which underscores its importance. It is widely assumed that women, and in particular mothers, show greater attunement to infants than do men. However, empirical evidence for sex and parental status effects, particularly in relation to perception of infant emotion, has been lacking. In this study, men and women with and without young infants were asked to rate valence in a range of infant facial expressions, on a scale of very positive to very negative. Results suggested complex interaction effects between parental status, sex, and the facial expression being rated. Mothers provided more positive ratings of the happy expressions and more extreme ratings of the intense emotion expressions than fathers, but non-mothers and non-fathers did not. Low-level depressive symptoms were also found to correlate with more negative ratings of negative infant facial expressions across the entire sample. Overall, these results suggest that parental status might have differential effects on men and women's appraisal of infant cues. Differences between fathers’ and mothers’ perceptions of infant emotion might be of interest in understanding variance in interaction styles, such as proportion of time spent in play.     

Observer Influences on Fathers and Mothers: An Experimental Manipulation of the Structure and Function of Parent – Infant Conversation

From studies over the past 20 years four contrasting hypotheses can be made about the nature of parent–infant communication: (1) mothers and fathers display similar skills to their infants and do not exert a differential influence on their development; (2) fathers are less sympathetic to their infants' level of development and therefore inadvertently stretch the child's development more than mothers; (3) both parents differentially socialize their sons' and daughters' early communicative skills; (4) any apparent differences between parents reflect their expectations about being observed. To examine these hypotheses together, this experiment records the communication of 10 mother–infant and 10 father–infant dyads in two conditions: when an observer was present or absent. The analysis revealed two patterns. Firstly, in keeping with most research on parent–child communication, mothers and fathers both simplified their speech to their infants in similar ways. Secondly, both the structure and function of parental communication showed differences between the two conditions and many of these differences were moderated by interactions between condition and sex of parent or child. The data thus provide more support for the first and fourth hypotheses cited above. It is suggested that analyses of parent–infant interaction should move away from simple assumptions about parental ‘influences’ upon children's development to consider the subtleties of different parental styles in different settings.     

Olfactory Comfort and Attachment Within Relationships

We replicated a previous study that found that men and women often smell their sexual partners' clothing when they are apart ( McBurney, Shoup, & Streeter, 2006 ). We found that women tend to perform this behavior across a broader range of relationships than do men. We asked 128 participants if they had ever intentionally smelled another person's clothing, slept with another person's clothing because of its smell, or given another person an article of their own clothing. The most common response was a romantic partner's clothing. However, women more often than men reported smelling the clothing of family members.     

Cultural transmission through infant signs: Objects and actions in U.S. and Taiwan

Infant signs are intentionally taught/learned symbolic gestures which can be used to represent objects, actions, requests, and mental state. Through infant signs, parents and infants begin to communicate specific concepts earlier than children’s first spoken language. This study examines whether cultural differences in language are reflected in children’s and parents’ use of infant signs. Parents speaking East Asian languages with their children utilize verbs more often than do English-speaking mothers; and compared to their English-learning peers, Chinese children are more likely to learn verbs as they first acquire spoken words. By comparing parents’ and infants’ use of infant signs in the U.S. and Taiwan, we investigate cultural differences of noun/object versus verb/action bias before children’s first language. Parents reported their own and their children's use of first infant signs retrospectively. Results show that cultural differences in parents’ and children’s infant sign use were consistent with research on early words, reflecting cultural differences in communication functions (referential versus regulatory) and child-rearing goals (independent versus interdependent). The current study provides evidence that intergenerational transmission of culture through symbols begins prior to oral language.     

Sex stereotyping of infants: A review of gender labeling studies

Studies that have addressed the question of whether adults and children respond differently to male and female infants because of actual differences in the infants or because of preconceived sex stereotypes are reviewed, and the overall conclusions from these studies are evaluated. Twenty-three studies were identified in which neutrally clothed infant stimuli were labeled male in some conditions and female in other conditions. The strength and consistency of gender labeling effects on perceptions and behaviors in these studies were appraised. The results indicate that knowledge of an infant's gender is not a consistent determinant of adults' reactions, but more strongly influences young children's reactions. The implications of these findings for research on early sex role socialization are considered.     

The effects of mothers' teasing: Do Japanese infants read their mothers' play intention in teasing?

The focus of this study was whether an infant can understand the playful intention in the mother's teasing behaviour. The mother's teasing behaviour can elicit playful interaction with the infant on the one hand, or can result in the infant's distress. In other words, teasing may function as the turning-point in mother-infant interaction. Thus it was hypothesized that the consequence of mothers' teasing behaviour would be positive or negative depending on the success or failure in communication of both mothers' play intention with play signs and infants' interpretation of the play signs. Subjects were 20 mothers and their infants aged from 10 to 13 months (M = 11 months) who were observed during 10 minutes of free play with toys that evoke minor surprise and/or fearfulness. Results showed that about one-third of mothers' teasing behaviour elicited the infant's enjoyment. Especially, mothers' playful teasing accompanied by a smile or laugh led most successfully to infant enjoyment. In contrast, mothers' pretence teasing elicited no particular response from infants. These data suggest that around their first birthday infants develop some understanding of the play intention latent in mothers' teasing behaviour.     

Maternal attachment disturbances in failure to thrive

Psychological characteristics pertaining to attachment relationships were measured in mothers of 25 hospitalized failure-to-thrive (FTT) infants and mothers of 25 hospitalized, normally growing infants. The groups were matched for race, socioeconomic status, maternal education, and infant's age and sex. Results showed that 96% of mothers of FTT infants were classified as insecure with respect to attachment, as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985), compared to 60% of control group mothers. Lack of resolution of mourning over the loss of a loved one was found in 52% of the mothers in the FTT group and in 32% of mothers in the control group. Mothers of FTT infants reported receiving less support from their families and rated their current relationship with their partner as less satisfying. These findings provide empirical support for the widely held clinical notion that FTT in infants is often a relationship disorder between infant and caregiver.     

Mothers' responses to infant physical appearance

Mothers' responses to slides of infants were assessed. During individual presentations of the slides they showed increases in smiling to infant photographs in general, but showed large skin conductance responses only to pictures of their own infant. They did not look differentially at the photographs. During paired presentations, mothers looked longer at their own infant's photograph. Moreover, they looked longer at unfamiliar infants who they perceived to be high in cuteness. These findings are discussed with reference to the role of infant physical appearance in infant-adult social relations.     

Mother's attachment representations of their premature infant at 6 and 18 months after birth

The effects of premature birth on attachment have generally been examined from the infant's perspective. There is a lack of data concerning parental attachment representations toward a premature child. Because of the psychological stress engendered in parents confronted with a premature birth, we hypothesized that their attachment representations would be altered during the first months after the hospital discharge. Fifty families with a premature infant (25–33 gestation weeks) and a control group of 30 families with a full‐term infant participated to the study. Perinatal risks were evaluated during hospitalization. To assess mothers' representations of their infant, the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI, Zeanah & Benoit, 1995 & Benoit, Zeanah, Parker, Nicholson, & Coolbear, 1997) were administered when their children were 6 and 18 months old. The severity of the perinatal risks was found to have an impact on the mothers' attachment representations. At six months, only 20% of the mothers of a prematurely born infant (30% at 18 months) had secure attachment representations, vs. 53% for the control group (57% at 18 months). Furthermore, mothers of low‐risk premature infants more often had disengaged representations, whereas distorted representations were more frequent in the high‐risk group of premature children. These findings suggest that the parental response to a premature birth is linked to the severity of postnatal risks. The fact that secure attachment representations are affected in mothers of low‐risk infants just as much as they are in mothers of high‐risk infants points to the need to conduct further studies aimed at evaluating whether preventive intervention for both low‐risk and high‐risk premature will be helpful.     

The development of Japanese mother–infant feeding interactions during the weaning period

During the weaning period, infants are not skilled at self-feeding and caregivers play a prominent role in feeding. Solid feeding is therefore an inherently collaborative and interactive process between infants and caregivers. The present study examined how caregivers and infants coordinate their solid feeding interactions, based on naturalistic longitudinal observations of three Japanese mother–infant dyads. The main results were as follows. Four or five months after weaning (about 10–11 months of age), children's mouth movements and mothers’ arm movements became more synchronized, and the success or failure of coordinated feeding became independent on children's gaze behavior. During this same period, both mothers’ and children's body movements accelerated. Specifically, children's food-intake motions and mothers’ food-carrying movements became faster together, although before 10–11 months fluctuations of these motions were not as correlated. Finally, at 9–11 months of age rhythmic body movements became frequent. From the first day of weaning, all three mothers swayed their bodies rhythmically while feeding, and about 2–3 months later their children also began to sway as they ate, at first infectiously but later spontaneously. These observations indicate how specific behavioral development contributes to mother–infant coordination in feeding.     

Sex differences in infant-mother attachment

A sex difference in security of infant attachment was found in a sample of 52 infant-mother dyads. The infants were enrolled in early care and education programs within a predominantly small-town geographic area in the southwest. Security of attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation procedure. Male infants (76%) were significantly more likely to be securely attached than female infants (39%). No other variables related to the infants' early care and education experience or mothers' age, race, marital status, and education were significantly associated with infants' attachment status.     

Adults' perceptions of infant sex and cuteness

Five experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship between infant sex and adults' perceptions of infant physical attractiveness. College students rated the cuteness and/or sex of male and female infants at each of six age levels: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 months. The results indicated that (a) subjects had little difficulty assigning a sex label to infants, although in some instances the assigned label was incorrect; (b) older infants received higher cuteness ratings than younger infants; (c) cuter infants were more likely to be perceived as female than male; (d) Labeled Males received higher cuteness ratings than Labeled Females, although this effect was stronger for Perceived Males than for Perceived Females; and (e) perceived cuteness influenced perceived sex. Results are interpreted as generally supporting the existence of a sex stereotype related to physical attractiveness.Preparation of this report was supported in part by an NIH 1 T32 MH 14622-01 Institutional National Research Service Award (KAH) and a Biomedical Sciences Research Support Grant (HEF & KAH).     

Longitudinal changes in term and preterm infant night wakings: The role of caregiver anxious-depression

Changes in infant night waking during the first year of life are associated with individual (e.g., prematurity) and family (e.g., caregiver psychopathology) factors. This study examined the association between infant night waking and caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms during the first year of life in preterm and term infants. We considered between-person differences and within-person changes in caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms in relation to changes in infant night waking from 2- to 9-months. Racially (30.0% Black, 60.4% White, 9.5% multiracial/other) and socioeconomically (40.0% below median household income) diverse caregivers (N = 445) of full term (n = 258) and preterm (n = 187) infants were recruited from hospitals and clinics in two midwestern states. Caregivers completed measures of anxious-depression and their infant's night waking at four sampling periods (2-, 4-, 6-, and 9-months). Infant night wakings declined from 2- to 9-months. Between-person differences were observed, such that caregivers with higher average anxious-depressive symptoms or infants born full term reported more night wakings. Within-person effects of caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms were not significant. Caregiver anxious-depression is closely associated with infant night wakings. By considering a caregiver's average severity of anxious-depression, healthcare providers can more effectively plan infant sleep interventions. If caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms are ameliorated, night wakings may also decrease.     

Infant's action skill dynamically modulates parental action demonstration in the dyadic interaction

When interacting with infants, human adults modify their behaviours in an exaggerated manner. Previous studies have demonstrated that infant‐directed modification affects the infant's behaviour. However, little is known about how infant‐directed modification is elicited during infant–parent interaction. We investigated whether and how the infant's behaviour affects the mother's action during an interaction. We recorded three‐dimensional information of cup movements while mothers demonstrated a cup‐nesting task during interaction with their infants aged 11 to 13 months. Analyses revealed that spatial characteristics of the mother's task demonstration clearly changed depending on the infant's object manipulation. In particular, the variance in the distance that the cup was moved decreased after the infant's cup nesting and increased after the infant's task‐irrelevant manipulation (e.g. cup banging). This pattern was not observed for mothers with 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds, who do not have the fine motor skill to perform the action. These results indicate that the infant's action skill dynamically affects the infant‐directed action and suggest that the mother is sensitive to the infant's potential to learn a novel action. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNS2IHwLIhg&feature=youtu.be