Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Jones, Nancy Aaron

Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair

Bjorklund, David F.

Abstract

Jealousy results from the fear of loss of an important relationship partner or his/her exclusive attention (Neu, 1980; Tov-Ruach, 1980). Infants are dependant on their caregivers for basic needs and emotional support. Therefore, if an infant perceives that a rival threatens the parent-child dyad relationship, it is possible that the infant will respond in a jealous manner just as adults do when their important relationships are threatened . Although infants have limited emotional understanding, Palmer and Palmer (2002) suggest that jealousy evolved out of other resource-protecting drives. Because parental care is a valuable resource, supporting survival, infants may have at least precursory jealousy capabilities. Research on infant jealousy is minimal however, Hart and Carrington (2002) characterized approach responses to the loss of maternal attention to a life-like doll as jealousy. The purpose ofthe current repeated-measures research design is to provide a conceptual replication of previous infant jealousy research. Whether infant jealousy responses are moderated by individuals approach or withdrawal tendencies, is still to be determined and is another focus of the current research. Temperamental characteristics may influence emotional responses and asymmetrical frontal brain activity is associated with individual differences in emotional responding (see Coan & Allen, 2004 for a review). Therefore baseline electroencephalography (EEG) is collected in the current research followed by subjecting 15 infants (mean age = 12.87 months) to two maternal ignoring conditions, one involving the mother attending to a social object (lifelike doll) and a control condition in which the mother attends to a non-social object (book). Results show that infants respond differentially to the two conditions with increased approach behaviors, arousal, and negative affect in the doll condition. The infants' responses in the social-object condition are identified as jealousy, suggesting that infants are capable of at least some complex emotional experiences. v

Extent

74 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00000870

Format

pdf

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