Qualities of Mother – Infant Relationships in Monkeys

Abstract

We habitually use qualitative terms to describe relationships. This paper is concerned with methods for describing, assessing and classifying these qualities objectively. Some judgements about qualities depend on which interactions occur, some concern qualities of the interactions themselves, and some depend on the way in which the different interactions within a relationship are patterned. In addition some judgements depend on diverse criteria which are not necessarily correlated with each other and need not all be satisfied. Limitations of everyday concepts of quality are discussed. Our attempts to assess qualities of the mother-infant relationship in rhesus monkeys in a quantitative fashion are described. Special attention is paid to groups of measures which appear to refer to qualities which could be described as 'maternal warmth', 'maternal rejectingness', 'maternal control', and 'meshing/dissonance' (i.e. the extent to which the goals of each partner coincide with those of the other). A type of interaction which could be called 'a game' is described. Th extent to which such assessments have predictive value is discussed.

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