Dale F. Hay

Does Sharing Become Increasingly "Rational" in the Second Year of Life?.

Forty-eight 1- and 48 2-year-olds were observed in groups of 3, with either a female or a male majority, on 2 consecutive days, 1 day with scarce resources and the other day with ample resources in counterbalanced order. Particular toys were available in duplicate for half the groups on both days. All the experimental variables together influenced spontaneous sharing, but sharing under pressure from peers was affected by age (1-year-olds sharing more often than 2-year-olds) and the relative loss of gain of resources across days

Dyadic Interaction in the First Year of Life

The purpose of this chapter is to review existing information and to present some new evidence concerning human infants’ interactions with other infants during the first year of life. This topic is of interest both for its practical significance and its theoretical import. In contemporary Western societies, early experience with peers can no longer be considered anomalous; day care, playgroup, or nursery school arrangements represent a familiar part of life for increasing numbers of infants and toddlers. Thus it is not surprising that developmental researchers have charted the structure and content of peer interactions in these settings (Field, 1979b; Finkelstein, Dent, Gallacher, & Ramey, 1978; Holmberg, 1980; Field & Roopnarine, Note 1). These naturalistic studies have been supplemented by attempts to specify the determinants of early peer interaction; such experiments have been conducted both in laboratory playrooms (Eckerman & Whatley, 1977; Jacobson, 1981; Vandell, Wilson, & Buchanan, 1980) and under controlled conditions in homes (Becker, 1977). Both types of studies have served to broaden the scope of current accounts of early development and to inform attempts by parents and educators to provide stimulating care for young children.

Social Learning Perspectives on the Development of the Mother-Child Relationship

The authors of the two previous chapters have examined the contributions of evolutionary biology and psychoanalysis to the study of motherhood. A third, centrally important perspective on the mother-child relationship is that of social learning theory. The purpose of our chapter is to examine the current status of that third perspective. In particular, we focus on social learning accounts of attachment formation, or, in other words, how the relationship between mother and child is initially established. Social learning perspectives generally hold that mothers and children must learn to relate to each other, and thus that neither maternal caregiving nor infants’ attachment behavior is completely instinctual.