Boys tend to be more daring than girls. Some differences in temperament are encouraged by cultural beliefs and practices. For example, Japanese mothers do more comforting and American mothers do more stimulating of their babies. Parents often encourage infant sons to be physically active and daughters to seek help and physical closeness. Research indicates that when one child in a family is viewed as easy, another is likely to be perceived as difficult, even though the second child might not be difficult when compared to children in general.
Difficult children are less likely to receive sensitive care.
Attachment is the strong affectional tie that humans feel toward special epople in their lives. Infant attachment behaviors include seeking closeness to the mother, following her about, and crying and calling in her absence. Freud first suggested that the infant's emtional tie with the mother is the foundation for all later relationships. Psychoanalytic theory regards feeding as the primary context in which caregivers and babies build a close emotional bond. Behaviorists believe that infants' attachment behaviors are learned responses.