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Unresponsive Children and Powerless Adults

Cocreators of Affectively Uncertain Caregiving Environments

  • Chapter
The Socialization of Emotions

Part of the book series: Genesis of Behavior ((GOBE,volume 5))

Abstract

Picture a common scene in a pediatrician’s office. The waiting room is filled with an assortment of parents and children engaged in a variety of interactions. One set of parents is absorbed in magazines while their 4-year-old wanders through the room talking to everyone. A mother has her daughter close at her side as she points out magazine pictures to the child. Another mother is engaged in active combat with a 7-year-old boy who appears intent on touching every object in the room and getting onto or under every piece of furniture. “Johnny, leave that alone,” she implores plaintively in a weak voice. Johnny glances at her briefly but ignores her. She smiles nervously and comments to the woman in the next chair, “Boys. You can’t do anything with them. You’re lucky you have a girl. She sits there so nice and quiet.”

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93111, USA

    Daphne Blunt Bugental

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  1. Daphne Blunt Bugental
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

    Michael Lewis

  2. Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, USA

    Carolyn Saarni

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© 1985 Plenum Press, New York

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Bugental, D.B. (1985). Unresponsive Children and Powerless Adults. In: Lewis, M., Saarni, C. (eds) The Socialization of Emotions. Genesis of Behavior, vol 5. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2421-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2421-8_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9474-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2421-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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