Argues that there are important individual differences in infant responses to frustrating situations. These different patterns of behavior have important implications for subsequent responses to challenge. Also argues that these different coping responses are in part temperamentally based and that individual differences in temperament help us to…

Examines strategies for studying individual differences in infant behavior from the standpoints of the distinction between individual differences and developmental function and the need to study change with multivariate techniques. These themes are applied to the study of mental development, behavior genetics, temperament, and attachment. (RJC)

Reviews research on the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system in normal infants. Special attention is paid to the environmental stimuli and psychological processes regulating the stress responses of this system. (NH)

Reviews research on, and offers definitions for, play and learning in infancy. Discusses the developmental sequence in early exploratory play and learning, individual differences in exploratory play, and the relationship between rearing environments and quality of exploratory play. Discusses implications for planning and implementing infant care…

Sketches the outlines of a life-span perspective on competence development, which focuses on beliefs about one's potential for producing desirable outcomes. The concern is with the nature and implications of individual differences in perceptions of personal agency and likely origins and development of the perceptions in the early years. (Author/BB)

It is difficult to make progress in the study of emotions and emotional development if the meanings assigned to central constructs vary widely across investigators. This book clarifies and synthesizes the different ways in which emotion researchers approach fundamental questions about the nature of emotion and emotional development. Theorist and…