Social Referencing Development

Research has shown that attachment avoidance has been related to a mother’s expression. If she was angry or unhappy there is a possibility that the child will have attachment avoidance. Attachment anxiety is related to how the child processes the expression of the parent’s face. Children have an open way of processing the expression on their parent’s face with how they feel attached to the parent. Attachment expectations are connected with how the child processes the expressions that their parents are giving off. The children follow the parent’s eyes in particular to understand the emotional expressions the parent has. Children who feel more safety attached to their parents tend to look at their faces

Because a high percentage of children were spending majority of their time in a childcare setting, and with those programs ranging in quality, Bermuda was chosen as the site to further this research (Phillips, McCartney, & Scarr, 1987). Nine childcare centers that accepted children from infancy through preschool agreed to participate in the study. These centers were chosen in respect to the diversity of the children’s family backgrounds and director’s experiences in childcare (Phillips, McCartney, & Scarr, 1987). A total of 166 families participated in the study, with criteria being that the child must be three years or older, and attending one of the target centers for six months or longer. Of the 166 children, 130 were African American and 36 were Caucasian. Nineteen months was the

At 6 weeks infants develop a social smile, at 3 month laughter and curiosity develop, at 4 months full responsive smiles emerge, from 4-8 months they develop anger, from 9014 months they develop a fear of social events, at 12 months the are fearful of unexpected sights and sounds, and at 18 months they are self-aware, feel pride, shame, and embarrassment. In the first two years, infants develop from reactive pain and pleasure to complex patterns of social awareness. Emotions in infants are produced from their body as opposed to their thoughts. Therefore fast and uncensored reactions are common in infants. During their toddler years, the strength of their emotions will increase.

In David Eagleman’s documentary, “Why Do I Need You?” he describes the importance of social interaction in the development of our brain. It is fundamental to interact with others and work holistically because it helps our brain to grow ultimately benefiting both the individual and society. Understanding people’s facial expressions, something so quick it is almost done unconsciously, is a vital aspect in communication. Eagle man demonstrates how individual from a young age, as early as twelve months, can understand the importance of socialization from their “inborn instincts” and through the observation of others to decide who to play and not play with. We thrive from understanding people’s social signal and without it it can become very hard

Social Development: Child recognises mothers voice and face. They consider others if their needs are met by them.

Gazing plays a central role in the social and cognitive development of a child. It is documented that from the age of 3 months, a child will begin to develop perceptual learning. An example of this hypothesis was tested with an actor holding a stuffed kitten in front a 1 year old. The 1 year old stared at the kitten longer, therefore the infant’s desire for what the actor was holding caused the infant to interpret the actor’s behavior as

Securely attached infants have a good quality of relationship with their parents. In the strange situation, where parents leave their child alone or with a stranger in a room full of toys, these children are upset when their parents leave, but easily comforted when they return. The child uses the parent as a “secure base” from which to explore the environment. In the strange situation, insecure/resistant infants

The physical development of a baby in its first six months of life shows limited range of movement but the beginnings of an ability to respond to stimulus around them. They show their reaction to people, sounds and movement by turning their head toward whatever attracts their attention. They will watch an adult’s face whilst feeding, but have already begun to shows signs of recognition as they will smile when familiar people are around them either because they can see them

Families' reliance on childcare has risen significantly over the past 30 years. In 1993, 9.9 million children under age 5, needed care while their mothers worked (Bureau of the Census, 1995). More than two-thirds of all infants receive nonparental child care during their first year of life, with most enrolled for about 30 hours each week (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1995).

The development of attachment bonds to other biological figures plays an important role in emotional development. Throughout life, an individual will form several relationships, some of which will be sincere and intimate while others will be superficial. However, collectively these relationships provide the foundation of our communities, families, and friendships and become essential to our survival as a species. A secure attachment bond can be classified as the interactive emotional relationship between a caregiver and infant involving the emotional responses of the caregiver to the infant 's cues (Bowlby, 1969). These emotional responses can be expressed in a variety of forms including gestures, sounds, or even movements. Thus, this interactive emotional relationship between the caregiver and infant brings the two closer together creating an environment that allows the infant to feel safe and secure, further developing their ability to communicate and interact with others (Bowlby, 1969).

In both articles, infants’ gazes are crucial to the experiments conducted. Whether reacting to disappearing objects in Baillargeon's article or identifying with someone of the same skin color as said in Spelke and Kinzler’s article.

The relationship between mother and infant is extraordinary. A lot of research has been done to test the social stresses on dyadic synchrony on mothers and infants as well as toddlers and pre-teens. This article extends on previous research on FFSF exposures by observing not only the social interactions of the mother and infant from face-face interactions but also by still face pictures. Also, assessing the infant’s interactive style, the mother’s behavior and dyadic synchrony in observing the responses to the two FFSF exposures 15 minutes apart. This research is relevant to the neuro field, and how the development of an infant’s brain do to social stress.

According to the book, social referencing is where a young child who is faced with an uncertain situation, such as meeting new people and then they will turn to a parent, infant care teacher, preschool teacher, or family child care provider for clues about how they are going to react. It portrays that young children look for a person who is close or significant in order to obtain clarifying information in each situation. For example, a person came in a child’s house and this is the first time when the child meets this person. The child might look for their parents to clarify the new people she sees. Then, child’s parents greet this person and introduce it as their parents’ friend. Then, this is where a child would be comfortable knowing that

At a certain age infants begin to resist the unfamiliar and are very vocal in expressing their feelings (Brazelton, 1992).

Observation of an infant in the family setting 'provides the observer with an opportunity to encounter primitive emotional states in the infant and his family...' (Rustin in Miller, 1989, 7). According to Rustin infant observation allows to 'explore the emotional events between infant and mother' and 'the aim is to describe the development of the relationship between infant and others (...) and try to understand the unconscious aspects of behaviour and patterns of communication' (Rustin in Miller, 1989, 7). Early infant observation plays a vital role in the psychodynamic training and it gives a thesis of how early emotional development is being influenced by subconscious family dynamics.