Temperament emotion and social interaction

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TEHPEIW1ENT EHOTI~ PH) SOCIAl INTERACTI~. Ross Thallpson lJames Connell The role played by temperament in attachmentsystem functioning has recently been hotly debated.Simultaneously, alternative conceptual and methodologicalapproaches to the A-B-C system have been developed in orderto examine component processes of attachment systemfunctioning, including h~ emotional responses to separationmay regulate subsequent social interactive behaviors t~ard

the caretaker. In this study we examined the role played bytemperamental variation: a) in predicting emotion and socialinteraction in the Strange Situation, b) in accounting forcross-situational consistencies in the emotional callponent,and c) in contributing to the asymmetry of influence infavor of th. emotional callponent. We also examined whetherthese relations changed over the first half of the secondyear of life. Forty-three infants were assessed in theStrange Situation at 12 1/2 and 19 1/2 months. Ratings ofinfants' proximity seeking, contact maintaining, resistance,avoidance and positive distance interaction with motherduring reunion episodes were made using consistent. scoringcriteria at both ages. Time sampled measures of facial andvocal expressions of emotion were also obtained in episodes2 through 8 of the Strange Situation. Two social interactivedimensions were formed for each reunion episode at each ageby weighting the interactive rating scales:Resistance/Ambivalence versus Distance Interaction andProximity St.king and Contact Maintaining versus Avoidance.Asingle dimension, N.gative Emotionality, was derived~ithin each episode. The Fear subscale of the IBO wasselected as the temperamental dimension and found tocorrelate significantly and positively with the negativeemotionality dimension in both separation episodes with thestranger and with the two social interactive dimensions, butmore strongly at the older age. Using residualized emotionscores, partial correlation analyses indicated no noteworthychange in the strong consistency of emotion measures or inthe asymmetric influence of emotion on social interaction atboth ages•._-------~~--~=~--~~~-~--