Infant social referencing and exploratory confidence related to maternal support for autonomy.
Item
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Title
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Infant social referencing and exploratory confidence related to maternal support for autonomy.
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Identifier
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AAI9405532
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identifier
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9405532
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Creator
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Guile, Emily.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Herbert D. Saltzstein
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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This laboratory study explored the possibility that infant differences in social referencing (frequency of referencing mother's positive facial expression and babies' exploratory confidence in response to an unfamiliar, potentially anxiety-provoking stimulus) are related to maternal encouragement of infant autonomy. The study videotaped twenty-six mothers and their 11- to 14-month-old infants in situations designed to assess (1) infant differences in social referencing; and (2) maternal differences in autonomy-promoting play style. In addition, the researcher tested infants on a series of cognitive (object permanence) tasks and mothers rated their babies on the Approach and Activity Level subscales of the Toddler Temperament Scale (TTS) (Fullard, McDevitt & Carey, 1978).;Analysis of the data confirmed the hypothesis that maternal support for infant autonomy is linked with both referencing frequency and likelihood of approaching an unfamiliar, potentially anxiety-provoking stimulus among one-year-olds. Mothers who let baby initiate, lead and control play, who adapted to baby's pace and goals and who reinforced baby's pleasure in discovery during free play, tended to have infants who referenced infrequently and who approached the unfamiliar stimulus. In contrast, babies of mothers who tried to control infant play, who interrupted and interfered with baby's ongoing activity and who demonstrated toy play without baby's active participation referenced mother at a significantly higher rate and avoided contact with the unfamiliar stimulus. Babies' social referencing and approach/avoidance behavior was stable across two separate episodes designed to elicit these behaviors. Maternal perceptions of infants' typical Approach behavior on the TTS also predicted these infant differences; babies who referenced mother at a lower rate and who approached the unfamiliar stimulus received significantly higher maternal ratings on acceptance of and approach to unfamiliar events during daily life. Neither infant Activity Level nor object concept development (object permanence) predicted infant differences in referencing and exploratory confidence.;Study findings are considered in the context of other research linking specific maternal behaviors with infant socio-emotional variables. Implications for the development of the self during infancy are also discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
