ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the available evidence that the Euro-American–derived model of social interaction is not universally applicable. In Euro-American middle-class culture, infants are most often raised in nuclear families with few siblings and with primary care being given by the mother. Caregivers look and talk to their infants often, holding the infant away from their bodies to allow them to look at the infant face to face. Caregivers are particularly good at understanding the source of the negative expression and therefore can quickly fix whatever is wrong. Their adeptness at reading body cues means that often infants’ problems are addressed before they escalate into overt negative expression of experience. The Euro-American interaction rules transmitted to infants are quite complex. Caregivers mediate infants’ actions in the world only out of concern for the infant’s well-being and safety. A different pattern of social interaction is found with young infants in a rural African American community in the southern United States.
