Curiosity and the Parent-Child Relationship

4 groups of first grade boys were observed with their mothers in a playroom by trained raters. The results of behavior observations indicated mothers of curious-high-prosocial boys displayed more positive feeling, fewer restrictions, and less nonattention than mothers of aggressive boys. Mothers of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 1971-06, Vol.42 (2), p.373-384
Main Authors: Saxe, Robert M., Stollak, Gary E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Anxiety
Attention
Child
Children
Curiosity
Educational Status
Exploratory Behavior
Female
Human aggression
Humans
Imitative Behavior
Male
Maternal Behavior
Mental stimulation
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
Observational learning
Parent-Child Relations
Parents
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Social Behavior
Social learning theory
Sons
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Summary:4 groups of first grade boys were observed with their mothers in a playroom by trained raters. The results of behavior observations indicated mothers of curious-high-prosocial boys displayed more positive feeling, fewer restrictions, and less nonattention than mothers of aggressive boys. Mothers of curious-high-prosocial boys also displayed more positive feeling than mothers of low curious boys. Mother's positive feeling was also correlated with child's attentiveness, manipulation, and offering information. Child's curiosity toward novel stimuli was most highly correlated with mother's novel curiosity. The results were interpreted within a social learning theory emphasizing the effects of imitation and social reinforcement.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.2307/1127473