Modeling of affectionate behavior in young children

A female experimenter modeled affectionate physical contact in a group of preschool children who imitated the behavior. This induced a significant increase of affectionate behavior during a subsequent free-play period, By contrast, a group which had imitated "neutral" physical contact and another that had imitated "warm" verbal contact did not show a significant increase in affectionate behavior. Aggressive behavior was virtually absent in all groups.