INFANT APPROACH BEHAVIOR AS RELATED TO ATTACHMENT

Abstract

An attempt was made to identify characteristics that distinguish approach as an attachment behavior from approach serving other behavioral systems. Locomotor approaches of 16 male and 10 female white middle-class infants to an attachment figure (the mother) and to a nonattachment figure (the vistor-observer) were examined under naturalistic conditions at home. Observations were made during 4 home visits at 3 wk intervals; those from 26-54 wk were used. When approach was examined in a free-choice situation and without regard to behavioral context, infants approached the mother proportionally (although slightly) more often than the vistor (P < .05). In 2 behavioral contexts, spontaneous infant approaches were sharply differential to the mother; approaches accompanied by crying and approaches terminating in a pickup appeal were directed almost exclusively to the mother (P < .0001 for both). Touching upon completion of the approach was not differential, except in the context of a pickup appeal. Object-oriented approaches were more often directed to the vistor than to the mother (P < .002) and may be either exploratory or affiliative. Neither approach nor touching can be assumed to serve the attachment system without consideration of context.sbd.both environmental and behavioral.