Article
Parental sensitivity to infant distress: what do discrete negative emotions have to do with it?
Attachment & Human Development
(2012)
Abstract
Parental sensitivity, a crucial element of attachment theory, refers to the ability to
correctly interpret and respond appropriately to infants’ signals. The question of
whether infants’ emotional expressions communicate discrete negative emotions
has been widely debated in the literature on infant emotional development, but it
has rarely been discussed in the parental sensitivity literature. This article explores
how insights from the parental sensitivity literature and from evolutionary and
dynamical systems perspectives on infant emotion expressions can be brought
together to enhance our understanding of parental responsiveness to infant distress.
The current research concludes that sensitivity does not rely on reading discrete
negative emotions in infant signals, but rather on an integration of complex, graded
distress expressions with contextual factors and iterative interaction processes.
Keywords
- maternal sensitivity,
- infant emotion,
- distress,
- evolution,
- dynamic systems
Disciplines
Publication Date
July, 2012
DOI
10.1080/14616734.2012.691649
Citation Information
Judi Mesman, Harriet Oster and Linda A. Camras. "Parental sensitivity to infant distress: what do discrete negative emotions have to do with it?" Attachment & Human Development Vol. 14 Iss. 4 (2012) p. 337 - 348 ISSN: 1461-6734 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/linda_camras/46/