Young Children's Trust in Their Mother's Claims: Longitudinal Links With Attachment Security in Infancy

In a longitudinal study of attachment, children (N = 147) aged 50 and 61 months heard their mother and a stranger make conflicting claims. In 2 tasks, the available perceptual cues were equally consistent with either person's claim but children generally accepted the mother's claims over t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 2009-05, Vol.80 (3), p.750-761
Main Authors: Corriveau, Kathleen H., Harris, Paul L., Meins, Elizabeth, Fernyhough, Charles, Arnott, Bronia, Elliott, Lorna, Liddle, Beth, Hearn, Alexandra, Vittorini, Lucia, de Rosnay, Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attachment
Attachment Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Caregivers
Child
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive development
Comparative Analysis
Cues
Developmental psychology
Early childhood
Emotions
Empirical Articles
Experimentation
Family studies
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Infancy
Infants
Legal objections
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
Mothers - psychology
Mummies
Newborn. Infant
Object Attachment
Parent Child Relationship
Perceptual Development
Preschool children
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reliance
Social referencing
Speech Perception
Strangers
Studies
Trust (Psychology)
Young Children
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Summary:In a longitudinal study of attachment, children (N = 147) aged 50 and 61 months heard their mother and a stranger make conflicting claims. In 2 tasks, the available perceptual cues were equally consistent with either person's claim but children generally accepted the mother's claims over those of the stranger. In a 3rd task, the perceptual cues favored the stranger's claims, and children generally accepted her claims over those of the mother. However, children's pattern of responding varied by attachment status. The strategy of relying on the mother or the stranger, depending on the available perceptual cues, was especially evident among secure children. Insecure-avoidant children displayed less reliance on their mother's claims, irrespective of the available cues, whereas insecure-resistant children displayed more.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01295.x