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Infant Jealousy Responses: Temperament and EEG

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Date Issued:
2008
Summary:
Jealousy results from the fear of loss of an important relationship partner or his/her exclusive attention (Neu, 1980; Tov-Ruach, 1980). Infants are dependant on their caregivers for basic needs and emotional support. Therefore, if an infant perceives that a rival threatens the parent-child dyad relationship, it is possible that the infant will respond in a jealous manner just as adults do when their important relationships are threatened . Although infants have limited emotional understanding, Palmer and Palmer (2002) suggest that jealousy evolved out of other resource-protecting drives. Because parental care is a valuable resource, supporting survival, infants may have at least precursory jealousy capabilities. Research on infant jealousy is minimal however, Hart and Carrington (2002) characterized approach responses to the loss of maternal attention to a life-like doll as jealousy. The purpose ofthe current repeated-measures research design is to provide a conceptual replication of previous infant jealousy research. Whether infant jealousy responses are moderated by individuals approach or withdrawal tendencies, is still to be determined and is another focus of the current research. Temperamental characteristics may influence emotional responses and asymmetrical frontal brain activity is associated with individual differences in emotional responding (see Coan & Allen, 2004 for a review). Therefore baseline electroencephalography (EEG) is collected in the current research followed by subjecting 15 infants (mean age = 12.87 months) to two maternal ignoring conditions, one involving the mother attending to a social object (lifelike doll) and a control condition in which the mother attends to a non-social object (book). Results show that infants respond differentially to the two conditions with increased approach behaviors, arousal, and negative affect in the doll condition. The infants' responses in the social-object condition are identified as jealousy, suggesting that infants are capable of at least some complex emotional experiences. v
Title: Infant Jealousy Responses: Temperament and EEG.
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Name(s): Mize, Krystal D.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Jones, Nancy Aaron, Thesis advisor
Bjorklund, David F., Thesis advisor
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2008
Date Issued: 2008
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 74 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Jealousy results from the fear of loss of an important relationship partner or his/her exclusive attention (Neu, 1980; Tov-Ruach, 1980). Infants are dependant on their caregivers for basic needs and emotional support. Therefore, if an infant perceives that a rival threatens the parent-child dyad relationship, it is possible that the infant will respond in a jealous manner just as adults do when their important relationships are threatened . Although infants have limited emotional understanding, Palmer and Palmer (2002) suggest that jealousy evolved out of other resource-protecting drives. Because parental care is a valuable resource, supporting survival, infants may have at least precursory jealousy capabilities. Research on infant jealousy is minimal however, Hart and Carrington (2002) characterized approach responses to the loss of maternal attention to a life-like doll as jealousy. The purpose ofthe current repeated-measures research design is to provide a conceptual replication of previous infant jealousy research. Whether infant jealousy responses are moderated by individuals approach or withdrawal tendencies, is still to be determined and is another focus of the current research. Temperamental characteristics may influence emotional responses and asymmetrical frontal brain activity is associated with individual differences in emotional responding (see Coan & Allen, 2004 for a review). Therefore baseline electroencephalography (EEG) is collected in the current research followed by subjecting 15 infants (mean age = 12.87 months) to two maternal ignoring conditions, one involving the mother attending to a social object (lifelike doll) and a control condition in which the mother attends to a non-social object (book). Results show that infants respond differentially to the two conditions with increased approach behaviors, arousal, and negative affect in the doll condition. The infants' responses in the social-object condition are identified as jealousy, suggesting that infants are capable of at least some complex emotional experiences. v
Identifier: FA00000870 (IID)
Degree granted: Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Subject(s): Parent and infant
Social perception in children
Child psychology
Behavioral assessment of infants
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000870
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
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Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.