The relationship between mothers' organization of emotional experience and their sensitivity to babies' affect.
Item
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Title
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The relationship between mothers' organization of emotional experience and their sensitivity to babies' affect.
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Identifier
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AAI9304648
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identifier
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9304648
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Creator
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Cohen, Lisa Janet.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arietta Slade
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Date
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1992
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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, Clinical | Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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The relationship between maternal representational organization and maternal sensitivity to infant affect was studied in thirty middle class first-time mothers and their 10 month old infants. Mothers' level of integration and differentiation of emotional experience was correlated with measures of behavioral and representational sensitivity to infants' affect. While correlations were not significant, further analysis revealed a complex set of relationships between maternal representational and sensitivity variables.;Correlations among the different maternal sensitivity variables, however, were highly significant, such that mothers who responded sensitivity to babies' initiative bids also spoke about babies' emotional experiences in a sensitive way.;In addition, the patterns of mothers' insensitive responses was indicative of their general style of engaging with their babies. Mothers who demonstrated a removed form of behavioral insensitivity favored representational modes of relating to babies relative to behavioral modes, while mothers who showed intrusive insensitivity displayed the opposite pattern. Furthermore the different modes of responding to babies' experience seemed to fall along an underlying continuum from experience-far (reflective, removed, cognitive) modes of relating to babies to experience-near (immediate, affective, visceral), suggesting mothers consistently orient towards either a more cognitive or more affective style when relating to babies. Implications for theories of cognitive and affective development are discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy Restricted.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.