Abstract
The assumption of mutual influence and the instrumental-conditioning paradigm have provided the theoretical bases of an experimental program that we begin to report here. The central assumption is that at the same time a caregiver’s behaviors may be conditioning (reinforcing) responses of her infant, the infant’s behaviors may be conditioning the caregiver’s own responses. Under this conception of mutual learning and reciprocity, mother—infant interactions were manipulated systematically in a contrived situation to highlight critical aspects of the mutual-conditioning process that we have assumed characterize such interchanges in life settings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S. Attachment and dependency: A comparison. In J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972, 97–137.
Ainsworth, M. D. S. The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. M. Caldwell and H. N. Ricciuti (Eds.), Review of child development research. Vol. 3. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, 1–94.
Beckwith, L. Relationships between attributes of mothers and their infants’ IQ scores. Child Development, 1971, 42, 1083–1097.
Bell, R. Q. The effect on the family of a limitation in coping ability in the child: A research approach and a finding.Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 1964, 10, 129–142.
Bell, R. Q. A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in studies of socialization. Psychological Review, 1968, 75, 81–95.
Bell, R. Q. Stimulus control of parent or caretaker behavior by offspring. Developmental Psychology, 1971, 4, 63–72.
Berberich, L. P. Do the child’s responses shape the teaching behavior of adults? Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 1971, 5, 92–97.
Bowlby, J. The nature of the child’s tie to his mother. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1958, 39, 350–373.
Bowlby, J. Attachment and loss. Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books, 1969.
Bowlby, J. Attachment and loss. Vol. 2. Separation. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Boyd, E. F., & Gewirtz, J. L. An infant’s head turns to mother condition her facial expressions, 1976.
Brackbill, Y. Extinction of the smiling response in infants as a function of reinforcement schedule. Child Development, 1958, 29, 115–124.
Cairns, R. B. Attachment and dependency: A psychobiological and social-learning synthesis. In J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972, 29–80.
Connerly, R. J. A comparison of personality characteristics of parents of brain-injured and normal children. Dissertation Abstracts, 1968, 28, 1291–1292.
Etzel, B. C., & Gewirtz, J. L. Experimental modification of caretaker-maintained high rate operant crying in a 6- and a 20-week old infant (Infans tyrannotearus): Extinction of crying with reinforcement of eye contact and smiling. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1967, 5, 303–317.
Ferguson, C. A. Baby talk in six languages. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), The ethnography of communication. American Anthropologist, 1964, 66 (Pt. 2), 103–114.
Gewirtz, H. B., & Gewirtz, J. L. Caretaker settings, background events, and behavior differences in four Israeli child-rearing environments: Some preliminary trends. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behaviour IV. London: Methuen, 1969, 229–252.
Gewirtz, J. L. A learning analysis of the effects of normal stimulation, privation, and deprivation on the acquisition of social motivation and attachment. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behaviour. London: Methuen (New York: Wiley), 1961, 213–299.
Gewirtz, J. L. Mechanisms of social learning: Some roles of stimulation and behavior in early human development. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research. Chicago: Rand Mally, 1969, 57–212.
Gewirtz, J. L. (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972. (Distributed by Halsted Press Division of J. Wiley Sons, New York.) (a)
Gewirtz, J. L. Attachment, dependency, and a distinction in terms of stimulus control. In J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972, 139–177.(b)
Gewirtz, J. L. On the selection and use of attachment and dependence indices. In J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972, 179–215.(c)
Gewirtz, J. L. The attachment acquisition process as evidenced in the maternal conditioning of cued infant responding (particularly crying). Human Development, 1976.
Gewirtz, J. L. Maternal responding and the conditioning of infant crying: Directions of influence within the attachment-acquisition process. In B. C. Etzel, J. M. Llanc, & D. M. Baer (Eds.), New developments in behavioral research: Theories, methods, and applications. Hillsdale, New Jersey: L. Erlbaum Associates, in press.
Gewirtz, J. L., & Boyd, E. F. Infant vocalizations condition maternal verbalizations,Child Development, in press.
Gewirtz, J. L., & Gewirtz, H. B. Stimulus conditions, infant behaviors, and social learning in four Israeli child-rearing environment: A preliminary report illustrating differences in environment and behavior between the “only” and the “youngest” child. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behaviour III. London: Methuen (New York: Wiley), 1965, 161–184.
Halverson, C. F., & Waldrop, M. F. Maternal behavior toward own and other preschool children: The problem of “ownness.” Child Development, 1970, 41, 839–845.
Harper, L. V. The young as a source of stimuli controlling caretaker behavior. Developmental Psychology, 1971, 4, 73–88.
Haugan, G. M., & Mclntire, R. W. Comparisons of vocal imitation, tactile stimulation, and food as reinforcers for infant vocalizations. Developmental Psychology, 1972, 6, 201–209.
Kessen, W. Research in psychological development of infants: An overview. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1963, 9, 83–94.
Klaus, M. H., Jerauld, R., Kreger, N. C., Mlpine, W., Steffa, M., & Kennell, J. H. Maternal attachment: Importance of the first postpartum days. New England Journal of Medicine, 1972, 286, 460–463.
Klebanoff, L. B. Parents of schizophrenic children: Parental attitudes of mothers of schizophrenic, brain-injured and retarded, and normal children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1959, 29, 445–454.
Korner, A. F. Mother-child interaction: One- or two-way street?Social Work, 1965, 10, 47–51.
Lamb, M. E. A defense of the concept of attachment. Human Development, 1974, 17, 376–385.
Leifer, A. D., Leiderman, P. H., Barnett, C. R., & Williams, J. A. Effects of mother-infant separation on maternal attachment behavior. Child Development, 1972, 43, 1203–1218.
Lewis, M. State as an infant-environment interaction: An analysis of mother-infant interaction as a function of sex. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1972, 18, 95–121.
Lewis, M., & Lee-Painter, S. An interactional approach to the mother-infant dyad. In M. Lewis & L. A. Rosenblum (Eds.), The effect of the infant on its caregiver. New York: Wiley, 1974, 21–48.
Menzie, B., & Day, R. H. Operant learning of visual pattern discrimination in young infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1971, 11, 45–53.
Moss, H. A. Sex, age, and state as determinants of mother-infant interaction. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1967, 13, 19–36.
Osofsky, J. D., & Danzger, B. Relationships between neonatal characteristics and mother-infant interaction. Developmental Psychology, 1974, 10, 124–130.
Osofsky, J. D., & O’Connell, E. J. Parent-child interaction: Daughters’ effects upon mothers’ and fathers’ behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 1972, 7, 157–168.
Prechtl, H. F. R. The mother-child interaction in babies with minimal brain damage. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behaviour II. London: Methuen (New York: Wiley), 1963, 53–59.
Ramey, C. T., & Ourth, L. L. Delayed reinforcement and vocalization rates of infants. Child Development, 1971, 42, 291–297.
Rheingold, H. L. The social and socializing infant. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research. Chicago: Rand Mally, 1969, 779–790.
Rheingold, H. L., Gewirtz, J. L., & Ross, H. W. Social conditioning of vocalizations in the infant. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1959, 52, 68–73.
Richards, M. P. M. Social interaction in the first weeks of human life. Psychiatria, Neurologia, Neurochirurgia, 1971, 14, 35–42.
Robson, K. S., & Moss, H. A. Patterns and determinants of maternal attachment. Journal of Pediatrics, 1970, 77, 976–985.
Rosenfeld, H. M., & Baer, D. M. Unbiased and unnoticed conditioning: The double agent robot procedure. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1970, 14, 99–105.
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobsen, L. Teachers’ expectancies: Determiners of pupils’ I.Q. gains. Psychological Reports, 1966, 19, 115–118.
Routh, D. K. Conditioning of vocal response differentiation in infants. Developmental Psychology, 1969, 1, 219–226.
Sears, R. R. A theoretical framework for personality and social behavior. American Psychologist, 1951, 6, 476–483.
Sears, R. R. Attachment, dependency, and frustration. In J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972, 1–27.
Sears, R. R., Maccoby, E. E., & Levin, H. Patterns of child rearing. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson, 1957.
Siegel, G. M. Adult verbal behavior with retarded children labeled as “high” or “low” in verbal ability. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1963, 68, 417–424.
Siegel, S. Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. New York: Mraw-Hill, 1956.
Snow, C. Mothers’ speech to children learning language. Child Development, 1972, 43, 549–565.
Stern, D. N. Mother and infant at play: The dyadic interaction involving facial, vocal, and gaze behaviors. In M. Lewis & L. A. Rosenblum (Eds.), The effect of the infant on its caregiver. New York: Wiley, 1974, 187–213.
Thoman, E. B., Leiderman, P. H., & Olson, J. P. Neonate-mother interaction during breastfeeding. Developmental Psychology, 1972, 6, 110–118.
Vuorenkoski, V., Wasz-Hockert, O., Koivisto, E., & Lind, J. The effect of cry stimulus on temperature of the lactating breast of primipara: A thermographic study.Experientia, 1969, 25, 1286–1287.
Wahler, R. G. Infant social attachments: A reinforcement theory interpretation and investigation. Child Development, 1967, 38, 1079–1088.
Weisberg, P. Social and nonsocial conditioning of infant vocalizations. Child Development, 1963, 34, 377–388.
Wenar, C., & Wenar, S. C. The short-term prospective model, the illusion of time, and the tabula rasa child. Child Development, 1963, 34, 697–708.
Wolff, P. The natural history of crying and other vocalizations in early infancy. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behaviour IV. London: Methuen, 1969, 81–109.
Yarrow, L. J. Dimensions of maternal care. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1963, 9, 101–114.
Yarrow, L. J. Attachment and dependency: A developmental perspective. In J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.), Attachment and dependency. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 1972, 81–95.
Yarrow, M. R., Waxier, C. Z., & Scott, P. M. Child effects on adult behavior. Developmental Psychology, 1971, 5, 300–311
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1977 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gewirtz, J.L., Boyd, E.F. (1977). Experiments on Mother-Infant Interaction Underlying Mutual Attachment Acquisition: The Infant Conditions the Mother. In: Alloway, T., Pliner, P., Krames, L. (eds) Attachment Behavior. Advances in the Study of Communication and Affect, vol 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4187-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4187-1_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4189-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-4187-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive