Evaluating “jealousy” in infants: A behavior-analytic approach.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the negative behaviors emitted by infants during conditions of divided maternal attention from a behavior-analytic perspective. Three infants (21-29 weeks of age) and their mothers participated. Seven conditions were run with the mother-infant dyads (i.e., Control, Neutral Face/Toy, Neutral Face/No Toy, Magazine/Toy, Magazine/No Toy, Doll/Toy, Doll/No Toy). Negative infant behaviors were measured to determine if they occurred more often when mothers did not fully engage with their infants (i.e., engaged in neutral stare, reading a magazine, or talking to a life-like, life-size infant doll) or when infants did not have stimuli with which to engage (i.e., toy). Negative behavior occurred more often in the absence of toys regardless of maternal behavior. This finding suggests that negative behaviors are perhaps more likely accounted for by the lack of interaction rather than infant jealousy.