Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:08:15.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Different Kinds of Infants´ Smiles in the First Six Months and Contingency to Maternal Affective Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2014

Deise Maria Leal Fernandes Mendes  and
Maria Lucia Seidl-de-Moura
Deise Maria Leal Fernandes Mendes*
Affiliation:
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Maria Lucia Seidl-de-Moura
Affiliation:
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Deise Maria Leal Fernandes Mendes. Rua Edwaldo de Vasconcellos 20/302. 22795–385. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). E-mail: deisefmendes@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Infants’ smiling is considered an expression of affection, and an index of cognitive and socio-emotional development. Despite research advances in this area, there is much to explore on the ontogeny of smiling, its meaning and the context in which it is manifested early in life. This study aimed at: (a) investigating smiling patterns in these different developmental moments in early infancy, (b) analyzing patterns of association between babies’ smiles and their mothers’ affective behaviors, and (c) verifying whether babies can answer contingently, with smiles, to mothers’ affective behaviors. Participants were sixty Brazilian mother-infant dyads. Infants in three age levels (one, three, and five months of age) and their mothers were observed. They were videotaped at home, during 20 minutes in free sessions. The results indicate increase in frequency of infants’ smiling instances across ages (F(2, 59) = 9.18, p < .05), variations in the frequency of maternal behaviors accompanying the variations in infants’ smiling (F(2, 59) = 6.03, p < .05), correlations between infants’ smiling and mothers’ affective behaviors, and contingency between the behaviors of both mothers and infants. It was verified a strong association between mothers’ behavior and their babies’ smiles, emphasizing the importance of affective interactions in early stages of development.

Keywords

smilefacial expressionaffective interchangemother-infant interaction
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E80
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bakeman, R., Deckner, D. F., & Quera, V. (2005). Analysis of behavioral streams. In Teti, D. M. (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in developmental psychology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Bigelow, A. E., & Rochat, P. (2006). Two-month-old infants’ sensitivity to social contingency in mother-infant and stranger-infant interaction. Infancy, 9, 313–325. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327078in0903_3 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowlby, J. (1969/2002). Apego: A natureza do vínculo. [Attachment: Attachment and loss]. São Paulo, Brazil: Martins Fontes.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1872/2001). A expressão das emoções no homem e nos animais [The expression of the emotion in man and animals]. São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Schwarcz Ltda.Google Scholar
Dezecache, G., Mercier, H., & Scott-Phillips, T. C. (2013). An evolutionary approach to emotional communication. Journal of Pragmatics, 59, 221–233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.06.007 Google Scholar
Ekman, P. (1992). Facial expression of emotion: New findings, new questions. Psychological Science, 6, 34–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00253.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogel, A., Nelson-Goens, G. C., & Hsu, H. C., (2000). Do different infant smiles reflect different positive emotions? Social Development, 9, 497–520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00140 Google Scholar
Fogel, A., Hsu, H., Shapiro, A. F., Nelson-Goens, G. C., & Secrist, C. (2006). Effects of normal and perturbed social play on the duration and amplitude of different types of infant smiles. Developmental Psychology, 42, 459–473. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.3.459 Google Scholar
Gergely, G., & Watson, J. S. (1999). Early socio-emotional development: Contingency perception and the social-biofeedback model. In Rochat, P. (Ed.), Early social cognition: Understanding others in the first months of life, (pp. 101–136). New Jersey, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar
Goldenthal, P., Johnston, R. E., & Kraut, R. E. (1981). Smiling, appeasement, and the silent bared-teeth display. Ethology and Sociobiology, 2, 127–133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(81)90025-X Google Scholar
Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (1996). Parents’ cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X Google Scholar
Holodynski, M., & Friedlmeier, W. (2006). Development of emotions and emotion regulation. New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
IBGE (2013). Cidades@. Braizil: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografía e Estatística Retrieved from http://www.cidades.ibge.gov.br/xtras/perfil.php?lang=&;codmun=330455 Google Scholar
Kagitçibasi, C. (2007). Family, self, and human development across cultures. Londres, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar
Kärtner, J., Holodynski, M., & Wörmann, V. (2013). Parental ethnotheories, social practice and the culture-specific development of social smiling in infants. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 20, 79–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2012.742112 Google Scholar
Kärtner, J., Keller, H., & Yovsi, R. D. (2010). Mother-infant interaction during the first 3 months: The emergence of culture-specific contingency patterns. Child Development, 81, 540–554.Google Scholar
Keller, H., & Otto, H. (2009). The cultural socialization of emotion regulation during infancy. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40, 996–1011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022022109348576 Google Scholar
Lavelli, M., & Fogel, A. (2002). Developmental changes in mother-infant face-to-face communication: Birth to 3 months. Developmental Psychology, 38, 288–305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.38.2.288 Google Scholar
Lavelli, M., & Fogel, A. (2005). Developmental changes in the relationship between the infant’s attention and emotion during early face-to-face communication: The 2-month transition. Developmental Psychology, 41, 265–280. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.1.265 Google Scholar
Lin, H., & Green, J. A. (2009). Infants’ expressive behaviors to mothers and unfamiliar partners during face-to-face interactions from 4 to 10 months. Infant Behavior & Development, 32, 275–285.Google Scholar
Mehu, M., Little, A. C., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). Sex differences in the effect of smiling on social judgments: An evolutionary approach. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 2, 103–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0099351 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendes, D. M. L. F., Seidl-de-Moura, M. L., & Siqueira, J. O. (2009). The ontogenesis of smiling and its association with mothers’ affective behaviors: A longitudinal data. Infant Behavior and Developmen, 32, 445–453. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.07.004 Google Scholar
Mendes, D. M. L. F., & Pessôa, L. F. (2013). Emotion, affection and maternal speech in parental care. In Seidl-de-Moura, M. L. (Ed.). Parenting in South American and African contexts (pp. 129–145). Rijeka, Croácia: InTech.Google Scholar
Messinger, D. S., Fogel, A., & Dickson, K. L. (1999). What´s in a smile? Developmental Psychology, 35, 701–708.Google Scholar
Messinger, D. S., Fogel, A., & Dickson, K. L. (2001). All smiles are positive, but some smiles are more positive than others. Developmental Psychology, 37, 642–653. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.37.5.642 Google Scholar
Messinger, D., Cassel, T., Acosta, S., Ambadar, Z., & Cohn, J. F. (2008). Infant smiling dynamics and perceived positive emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 32, 133–155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0048-8 Google Scholar
Messinger, D. S., Mattson, W. I., Mahoor, M. H., & Cohn, J. F. (2012). The eyes have it: Making positive expressions more positive and negative expressions more negative. Emotion, 12, 430–436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0026498 Google Scholar
Seidl-de-Moura, M. L., Ribas, A. F. P., Seabra, K. da C., Pessôa, L., Nogueira, S. E., Mendes, D. M. L. F, ...Vicente, C. C. (2008). Interações mãe-bebê de um e cinco meses de díades urbanas: Aspectos afetivos, comportamentos, complexidade e sistemas parentais predominantes. [Mother-infant interactions of one and five-month-old of urban díades: affective aspects, behaviors, and parental systems complexity prevalent]. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (Psychology), 21, 66–73.Google Scholar
Strathearn, L., Li, J., Fonagy, P., & Montague, P. R. (2008). What’s in a smile? maternal brain responses to infant facial cues. Pediatrics, 122, 40–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2007-1566 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNDP, (2013). Summary Human Development Report 2013. New York, NY: United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/2013-report Google Scholar
Wörmann, V., Holodynski, M., Kärtner, J., & Keller, H. (2012). A cross-cultural comparison of the development of the social smile: A longitudinal study of maternal and infant imitation in 6- and 12-week-old infants. Infant Behavior & Development, 35, 335–347.Google Scholar
Yale, M. E., Messinger, D. S., Cobo-Lewis, A. B., & Delgado, C. F. (2003). The temporal coordination of early infant communication. Developmental Psychology, 39, 815–824. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.5.815 Google Scholar