The Development of Social Expectations in Distress-Relief Sequences: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Thirty infants were observed at home each month between one and seven months of age. They were unobtrusively filmed in situations in which their mothers or unfamiliar women responded to their naturally occurring cries by either picking them up or standing alongside and talking to them (the 'inhibit' condition). Picking up was effective in soothing infants from the first month on. Further, 80% of the one-month-olds began to soothe even before being picked up. Starting around four to five months of age, the infants protested (by crying more loudly) when the adults (especially mothers) failed to pick them up (i.e., in the inhibit condition). At the same age, infants began to orient away from the adults in the inhibit condition. These results suggest that infants develop conditioned associations among distress, pick-up, and comfort by one month of age and that by four to five months, they develop cognitive expectations regarding social responses. Protest and aversion occur when these expectations are violated.