Twenty-four children between 18 and 24 months were exposed to two people interacting in a neutral way and two people having a negative emotional interchange. In the emotion condition they saw either anger or sadness at equal levels of intensity. Anger was enacted with an argumentative and hostile voice which was raised but short of yelling. For sadness, actresses spoke in loud voices, sobbed, whined, and wailed. The children's vocalizations, constructive play, looks to mother, gaze to experimenters, and proximity to mother were coded. In response to the negative emotion, children stopped activities and attended to the interchange. They stopped exploring, vocalizing, and playing constructively. No differences in children's behavior were noted for anger versus sadness. Children's behavior was affected by the order in which they saw the neutral or emotional interchange. When they saw the negative emotion interchange first, they reacted to the neutral condition as if they were being exposed to a negative interchange. Results are discussed in terms of the development of models of relationships, organized around emotional interchanges. (A)
Abstract