Susan C. Johnson

Recognizing the role of perception in action at 6 months

The present research examined whether infants as young as 6 months of age would consider what objects a human agent could perceive when interpreting her actions on the objects. In two experiments, the infants took the agents actions of repeatedly reaching for and grasping one of two possible objects as suggesting her preference for that object only when the agent could detect both objects, not when the agents perceptual access to the second object was absent, either because a large screen hid the object from the agent (Experiment 1), or because the agent sat with her back toward the object (Experiment 2). These results suggest that young infants recognize the role of perception in constraining an agents goal-actions.

Evidence for Infants' Internal Working Models of Attachment

Nearly half a century ago, psychiatrist John Bowlby proposed that the instinctual behavioral system that underpins an infant’s attachment to his or her mother is accompanied by ‘‘internal working models’’ of the social world—models based on the infant’s own experience with his or her caregiver (Bowlby, 1958, 1969/1982). These mental models were thought to mediate, in part, the ability of an infant to use the caregiver as a buffer against the stresses of life, as well as the later development of important self-regulatory and social skills. Hundreds of studies now testify to the impact of caregivers’ behavior on infants’ behavior and development: Infants who most easily seek and accept support from their parents are considered secure in their attachments and are more likely to have received sensitive and responsive caregiving than insecure infants; over time, they display a variety of socioemotional advantages over insecure infants (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). Research has also shown that, at least in older children and adults, individual differences in the security of attachment are indeed related to the individual’s representations of social relations (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999). Yet no study has ever directly assessed internal working models of attachment in infancy. In the present study, we sought to do so. METHOD

Function and the Origins of the Design Stance

We report 2 experiments addressing childrens developing understanding of design. Experiment 1 showed that although 5-year-old children judged an objects function according to its original design rather than a subsequent accidental activity, design was not preferred over a subsequent intentional use. Adults select the design function in both cases, suggesting that childrens initial assignment of function is based on any intended goals for which the object is used. Experiment 2 compared assignment of function with object categorization, demonstrating that although 5-year-old childrens assignment of object function is based on any goals associated with the object, their categorization is adult-like and based on the category intended by the objects creator (over a category assigned by another agent). We conclude that preschoolers appreciate the link between creators and categories before constructing a design stance supporting reasoning about artifact functions.

Oxytocin receptor (OXTR) polymorphisms and attachment in human infants

Ordinary variations in human infants’ attachment behaviors – their proclivity to seek and accept comfort from caregivers – are associated with a wide range of individual differences in psychological functioning in adults. The current investigation examined variation in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene as one possible source of these variations in infant attachment. One hundred seventy-six infants (77 Caucasian, 99 non-Caucasian) were classified as securely or insecurely attached based on their behavior in the Strange Situation (Ainsworth et al., 1978). The A allele of OXTR rs2254298 was associated with attachment security in the non-Caucasian infants (p < 0.005). These findings underscore the importance of oxytocin in the development of human social behavior and support its role in social stress-regulation and the development of trust.

An Oxytocin Receptor Gene Variant Predicts Attachment Anxiety in Females and Autism-Spectrum Traits in Males

A molecular genetic approach was used to investigate the relationship between common variants of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and self-reported social functioning in healthy adults. Females with at least one copy of the A allele at OXTR rs2254298 reported greater attachment anxiety than females with two copies of the G allele. Males with at least one copy of the A allele at OXTR rs2254298 reported more autism-associated traits than males with two copies of the G allele. These results support the growing evidence that naturally occurring differences in the oxytocin system contribute to individual differences in social functioning in healthy adults. The authors discuss potential avenues by which sex may moderate the relationship between oxytocin and human social behavior.

Socioemotional Information Processing in Human Infants: From Genes to Subjective Construals

This article examines infant attachment styles from the perspective of cognitive and emotional subjectivity. We review new data that show that individual differences in infants’ attachment behaviors in the traditional Strange Situation are related to (a) infants’ subjective construals of infant—caregiver interactions, (b) their attention to emotional expressions, and (c) polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. We use these findings to argue that individual differences in infants’ attachment styles reflect, in part, the subjective outcomes of objective experience as filtered through genetic biases in socioemotional information processing.

Variability in social reasoning: the influence of attachment security on the attribution of goals

Over the last half decade there has been a growing move to apply the methods and theory of cognitive development to questions regarding infants’ social understanding. Though this combination has afforded exciting opportunities to better understand our species’ unique social cognitive abilities, the resulting findings do not always lead to the same conclusions. For example, a growing body of research has found support for both universal similarity and individual differences in infants’ social reasoning about others’ responses to incomplete goals. The present research examines this apparent contradiction by assessing the influence of attachment security on the ability of university undergraduates to represent instrumental needs versus social-emotional distress. When the two varieties of goals were clearly differentiated, we observed a universally similar pattern of results (Experiments 1A/B). However, when the goals were combined, and both instrumental need and social-emotional distress were presented together, individual differences emerged (Experiments 2 and 3). Taken together, these results demonstrate that by integrating the two perspectives of shared universals and individual differences, important points of contact can be revealed supporting a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the nature of human social reasoning.

The role of agent behavior in mentalistic attributions by observers

A series of studies examined the possibility that humans, including infants as young as 12 months, attribute the mental abilities of perception and goal-directedness to morphologically unfamiliar agents. When participants observed a morphologically ambiguous object interact contingently with its environment they were able to monitor and follow its attentional focus, identify its goal, and describe its behavior as mentalistic.

Folk taxonomies and folk theories: The case of Williams syndrome

Work with people with Williams syndrome is reviewed relative to Atrans claim that the universality of taxonomic rank in the animal and plant domains derives from a biological construal of generic species. From this work it is argued that a biological construal of animals is not necessary for the construction of the adult taxonomy of animals and therefore that the existence of an animal (or plant) taxonomy cannot be taken as evidence of a biological domain.