Research Replication: The Development of Social Referencing
Keely Rodriguez
California State University of Sacramento
Professor Jaeger
Abstract
The development of social referencing Infants could indicate the emotional reactions of other people in order to evaluate situations or objects as safe or risky (Wagner, 2004, p. 309.)
Introduction
Walden and Ogan conducted a study to better understand the way infants engage in social referencing as a means of influencing their interpretations and responses to events, objects, and people. Social referencing was examined on infants as young as 6 months of age and indicated that they reference their parents and other persons by the end of the first year of life (Walden & Ogan,
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There were 18 girls and 22 boys which were observed together with a parent; 32 participated with their mothers while 8 participated were observed with their fathers. The children were selected from several day care centers in Nashville, Tennessee in which the majority of the infants came from middle class families. …show more content…
There were several differences in age related behaviors between the groups. The youngest group did not seek the parent’s face as frequently as did the older grouped children. The older children’s preference for making reference to the parent’s face may reflect their understanding that facial expressions provide a significant source information about events. The youngest children may have lacked such understanding or they may have been more concerned with simply establishing their parents secured presence rather than using them as a resource for appraising the toys. The looking pattern of the youngest children suggest that they may have not detected the fear effect of the parental communication or understood that the message referred specifically to the toy. However, the fact that the youngest group spent less time playing with the toy associated with the fearful message indicated that some communication did occur. By the end of the first year of life, children can be expected to have at least some understanding of the meaning of fearful expressions as well as referential communications, and they appear to have taken their parents negative messages seriously. Infants of about 12 months of age have frequently been the focus of social referencing studies, and the results of the present investigation suggest that social referencing effects may indeed
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
I got an appointment for observation on July 13 at De-Anza Child Development Center. I chose room No. 26 for observation. I observed one child from 3:26 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. There are total 10 children present in room no.26 at the time of my observation. Out of 10 there are 4 girls and 6 boys. They range from 3 to 5 years of age. There are three adults in the room, all are female. One adult for every 3 children- 1:3. When I entered kids are doing free play. I settled myself and started to observe a kid named Aaron. He is around 3 and half years of age.
After watching the documentary, “Babies”, I learned specifically about the social interaction between babies and their mothers. Socialization is a huge part in the younger years of life because it sets a basis of social norms that should be followed in that certain baby’s society throughout their life. There were four families touched on in the documentary from four different countries; Japan, Mongolia, Africa and America. Many similarities and differences were recognized and easily helped illustrate how diverse the world is.
Social Development: Child recognises mothers voice and face. They consider others if their needs are met by them.
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).
At a certain age infants begin to resist the unfamiliar and are very vocal in expressing their feelings (Brazelton, 1992).
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.
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
Stranger wariness: Infant no longer smiles at any friendly face but cries or looks frightened when an unfamiliar person moves too close.
Emotion regulation involves intrinsic and extrinsic processing of monitoring and modifying emotional reactions in both positive or negative situations (Martins, 2012). In order for individuals to have the ability to regulate emotions, they must beware of their emotions. Although infants are unaware and lack the ability to regulate their emotions, it then becomes the role of a primary carer to nurture the infant, thus acting as a model for regulating emotions. Evidently, infants grow to reflect the ways in which their carers control and modify their emotions as well as social boundaries. Furthermore, emotion regulation is considered an important aspect of an individuals life as it 'can moderate emotions and keep them in a manageable range
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
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
Child-care or non-maternal care of a child also has an impact on a child’s development. Research has found that child-care quality is positively correlated with family income indicating that those children living in poverty would be more likely to receive poorer child-care (NICHD, 1997). Studies show that quality early child-care
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), commonly called depression, is almost twice as prevalent in women than it is in men (Cyranowski, Frank, Young, & Shear, 2000). Previously it was thought that this statistic was so because women were more likely to seek help than men were for this disease. However, this has been widely discounted by the gender difference seen across the world (Cyranowski, Frank, Young, & Shear, 2000). With the rising cases of MDD, and the higher likelihood of being diagnosed at younger ages, depression is becoming more accepted and less stigmatized in society. Causes of the disorder are heavily intertwined between social-causation, neurological/genetic disposition and psychological-causation. Treatment ranges from group and single therapy to medication with all sorts of other types in-between. This paper aims to look at the causes and outcomes of MDD in women and the potential treatments.
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.