ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the patterns of nonverbal communication between mothers and infants to show that they draw the child into the sphere of social interaction and that the subtle differences in the handling of infants sets that emotional character and tone in the infant that is suited to the expectations of its own culture. It reviews the biologically based characteristics of the infant that make the transferral of cultural attitudes possible and, indeed, inevitable. Influenced by the psychology of Freud, especially his erotic stages in infantile development, they examined childrearing practices with emphasis on toilet training and weaning, on the assumption that the emotional tonus was a product of trauma resulting from traditional practices in these matters. The chapter shows how nonverbal communications sets the background attitudes in different cultures. The capacity to differentiate expressions is itself an indication of a biological preparedness for that emotional discrimination that is so essential to the acquisition of culture.
