Jealousy in 6‐Month‐Old Infants

Abstract

Background

Jealousy in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

“…Hart and her colleagues defined jealousy as infant disturbance (e.g., negative affect or vocalization) in reaction to a situation where the mother cuddles a lifelike doll (e.g., Hart & Carrington, 2002;Hart, Carrington, Tronick, & Carroll, 2004;Hart, Jones, & Field, 2003). If Hart's results are interpreted as jealousy, then to experience jealousy at even the lowest developmental level infants should possess some degree of intersubjectivity or interpersonal awareness, because jealousy is the result of loss of exclusive attention from a significant other to a rival.…”

What Is Missing in the Study of the Development of Jealousy?

“…Studies consistently report increased distress and sadness by infants in situations where the mother is paying attention to a rival while ignoring her child (e.g. Hart & Carrington, 2002;Hart et al, 2004). Indeed, in a study by Hart et al (2004), heightened sadness was what most clearly differentiated between the 5-montholds' emotional reactions to their mother talking to a rival doll and their reactions to the mother posing a still-face.…”

Is Jealousy a Complex Emotion?

“…One of the important conclusions to be drawn from their survey is that empirical evidence is inconclusive over some commonly held views about the relatively late time in childhood when emotions such as pride, guilt, and jealousy become evident in young children's behavior. For example, there is observational data that emotions such as shyness and coyness may be observed in the first year of an infant's life (Reddy, 2000), and contributors to this volume provide vivid illustration that this is also the case with jealousy (e.g., Hart & Carrington, 2002;Hart, Carrington, Tronick, & Carroll, 2004;Legerstee, Ellenbogen, Nienhuis, & Marsh, this volume, Chapter 9).…”