UC Merced

Prohibition is an important tool a caregiver uses to teach their child how to behave in a public setting and is usually brought upon during a transgression. To date, the extent to which caregivers prohibit children younger than 14-months and how that is related to compliance behaviors is not well understood. We do know from previous research (e.g., Dahl, 2016) that the type of transgression influences how a caregiver chooses to respond. The present study examined how caregivers prohibited their 12- and 13- month-olds’ behaviors during a transgression that occurred during a 10-minute free play session in a laboratory setting. We had three predictions: 1. caregivers would prohibit with physical intervention over other forms of prohibitions (e.g., verbal), 2. softening responses from caregivers would lead to more compliance behaviors in infants, 3. valence would be predictive of compliance/non-compliance. Results found that caregivers prohibited with physical intervention over verbal commands. Frequency of softening behaviors from the caregivers resulted in more compliance. Valence was not a predictor of compliance/noncompliance. These findings add to our understanding on how prohibitions during a transgression are related to compliance in children younger than 14-months.