Psychophysiological Research of Emotions in Infants and Their Social Partners

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Maternal soothing behavior with regard to infant distress is a central concept in mother-infant interactions, as well as in the child's socio-emotional development (Lewis & Ramsay, 1999). The mother's warmth and pleasurable acceptance are key emotional features of infant's experience (Bringen & Robinson, 1991). Her inability to respond to the infant's messages leads to negative mood and behavior in the infant (Denham & Moser, 1994).We investigated the emotional responses in unmarried young people when they have face-to-face interactions with an infant. The salivary cortisol response is a useful measure for examining negative and positive affect (Lewis & Thomas, 1990; Gunnar, 1992; Benjamins, et. al., 1992). The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between salivary cortisol concentrations and self-reports of pleasure-displeasure, arousal and stress level in unmarried students when they have interaction with an infant. Furthermore, we investigated infant-directed behavior and speech as emotional responses.This study demonstrated the relationship between salivary cortisol concentrations and self-report of pleasure-displeasure, arousal and stress level in unmarried young people when they have a face-to-face interaction with an infants. There was a significant decrease in the salivary cortisol concentration of students who did not feel stress and enjoyed fondling infants, suggesting that people who enjoy fondling infants decrease stress and feel relaxed. Both male and female unmarried young people made similar infant-directed physical behaviors such as patting the baby on the back, rocking, and soothing.