Semester
Summer
Date of Graduation
2000
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Anne C. Watson.
Committee Co-Chair
Tracy L. Morris
Committee Member
Hayne W. Reese
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine relations between joint attention, language, maternal sensitivity, and temperament and the emergence of social referencing in infants and to closely observe variability in social referencing. Five infants, 7 months of age, were observed on a weekly basis for a period of four months. All five infants were engaging in social referencing behavior at the beginning of the study, which is much earlier than the literature indicates; therefore, the onset of the behavior was missed. However, results did indicate variability in social referencing behavior, in that infants referenced more in the laboratory than at home, more after being picked up by a stranger than when the stranger was approaching, and more when hearing a noise for the first time than when hearing that noise the second time. Results also showed an emergent pattern of behavior in joint attention.
Recommended Citation
Atkins, Melissa Sue, "Dynamical analysis of infant social referencing" (2000). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 738.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/738