Children's Use of Head Orientation and Eye Contact in Making Attributions of Affiliation

Abstract

ABRAMOVITCH, RONA, and DALY, ELEANOR M. Children's Use of Head Orientation and Eye Contact in Making Attributions of Affiliation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 519-522. 2 studies were conducted to investigate children's use of head orientation and eye contact as cues for judging affiliation. In the first study 40 preschool children were shown videotaped female dyads who faced or did not face each other. The children were asked which dyads liked or did not like each other. Subjects were able to make accurate judgments of affiliation based on head orientation. In the second study 32 preschool children and 30 elementary school children were asked with which of two female confederates they would like to interact. The confederates were presented on videotapes in which the only difference between them was absence or presence of eye contact-the confederate either looked into the camera or kept her eyes down. The preschool children showed no preference based on eye contact. However, the older children showed a significant preference. There was no significant sex difference in either study.