Infants respond differentially, and at times with fearlike behavior, to unfamiliar persons. This study was designed to see how infants discriminate among strangers. Since it has been shown that infants respond differently to children and adults, the physical characteristics of persons used to make such differentiations were of interest. Facial configuration and height were systematically varied as 4 different strangers--a male and female child, a female adults, and a small female adult the same height as the children (midget)--each approached 40 different infants. The infants responded as if there were 3 classes of persons--adult, child, and small adult, suggesting that both size and facial configuration cues were used. Infants as young as 7 months of age reacted to the size-facial configuration discrepancy of the small-adult condition.

The present study examined college women's expectations, attitudes, and knowledge about menstrual-related changes in order to provide a more complete picture of how women perceive the experience of menstruation and to explore the interrelationships of these variables. The women responded to the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire as if they were premenstrual and as if they were intermenstrual in order to examine expectations about symptom changes for themselves. They also responded to a series of agree/disagree items, which yielded five dimensions of attitudes or styles of coping with menstruation. In general, the results suggested that these college women accepted menstruation rather routinely and did not perceive it as overly disruptive. Furthermore, it appears that beliefs about menstruation are more complex than previously thought, involving differential perceptions of physical versus psychological symptoms and a variety of dimensions of menstrual-related attitudes.

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The concept of attachment is reviewed and is found to be somewhat confusing and restrictive. An alternative to this concept, a social network approach, is offered to clarify the issues central to the study of social relationships. First, the following definition features of attachment are critically examined: (1) the affectionate quality of the relationship; (2) the role of proximity-seeking and maintaining behaviors; (3) the enduring quality of the relationship; (4) the uniqueness of the relationship and differentiality of behavioral expression; (5) attachment as an all-or-none phenomenon, and (6) attachment as a ‘tie’, ‘bond’, or ‘behavioral system’. Second, a social network approach is presented and specific propositions concerning this approach outlined.