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Little Cameron can walk, and life is suddenly very different. At
11 months old he can travel just about anywhere very quickly. The
problem is, he’s often quicker than his mother, so it’s a
challenge keeping Cameron safe while he explores his world. One
day he’s after the stereo controls and next he’s into the kitchen
pantry.
Yesterday it was the stereo knobs, today Cameron has discovered
the pretty red tassels dangling from the edge of the tablecloth.
He can’t see what's on top of the table, and doesn’t realize that
if he pulls on one of the tassels a vase of flowers will come
tumbling down. Across the room, his mother looks with fear and
surprise as she realizes her son’s plan. As Cameron begins to
reach for a tassel he looks back at his mother. The look on his
mother’s face tells Cameron what he needs to know. He stops
reaching for the tassel and moves away from the table. His mother,
having vaulted across the room, quickly removes the tablecloth and
its enticing tassels.
 Cameron
used what researchers call “social referencing” to decide what to
do. In other words, he “read” his mother’s face, recognized the
fearful expression and understood he should not pull the tassel.
Amazingly, Cameron knows what certain facial expressions and tones
of voice mean—from “don’t do that” to “it’s okay to play with
that.” Research has shown that by 12 months of age babies use
visual information from the faces of their caregivers to make
sense of situations that are new or unclear (Sorce, Emde, Campos,
& Klinnert, 1985).
As adults we do this all the time to obtain feedback from the
world around us, but it’s fascinating to learn how early this
skill develops. In fact, by watching adults’ facial expressions
and listening to their tone of voice, babies as young as 10 months
old can use emotional information to decide what to do (Walden &
Ogan, 1988). For example, your child might check the expression on
your face and the emotion it shows before deciding to pick up a
new toy. One study looked at whether babies would play with new
toys depending on how their mothers reacted to them. The results
were clear: one-year-olds were less likely to play with a new toy
if their mothers reacted negatively to it, and more likely to play
with a toy if their mothers expressed positive emotions about it (Hornik,
Risenhoover, & Gunnar, 1987).
Recognizing visual cues.
One study looked at whether babies would play with
new toys depending on how their mothers reacted to
them. The results were clear: one-year-olds were
less likely to play with a new toy if their
mothers reacted negatively to it, and more likely
to play with a toy if their mothers expressed
positive emotions about it (Hornik, Risenhoover, &
Gunnar, 1987).
To see if babies would use social referencing to
make decisions, researchers had to create a
situation that would be new and unclear to young
children. In one experiment, researchers created a
“visual cliff”—a plexiglass-covered table that had
a “deep end” and seemed unsafe to cross. As they
crawled over the table to get a toy, the babies
reached the “deep end” and weren’t sure whether
they should keep going. At this point, the babies
looked at their mothers—and the researchers
studied what the babies did (Sorce et al., 1985).
The mothers and their babies were divided into two
groups. Mothers in the first group encouraged
their babies to come toward the toy at the other
end. As each child approached the visual cliff,
the mother smiled, created a happy face, and using
only her facial expressions, encouraged her baby
to cross the table.
The second group of mothers also placed the toy at
the deep end of the cliff, but as their babies
moved closer to the “edge” these mothers showed a
fearful face, again without talking or using their
hands to add to the communication.
When the mothers posed a fearful expression, not
one of the 17 babies ventured across the deep
side. But almost all the babies who saw their
mother’s happy face—14 out of 19— crossed to the
deep end. These babies recognized their mother's
expression and decided what to do based on what
they “read” in their mother’s face. |
So, what does this mean to you and your baby? It means that your
one-year-old is watching your face and learning from your
expressions all the time. Your baby is developing the important
skill of reading faces and emotions – and you are her first and
most important teacher.
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 Have fun interacting face-to-face with your baby. Let your baby see and learn about a wide range of emotional expressions.
- Sometimes our faces may say one thing while our voices or actions say another. Since your baby is “reading” the emotions you express, try to provide clear examples of these emotions.
- Your face tells your child a lot about how you feel. Share the things you enjoy with your baby along with communicating what to avoid.
- Use positive emotions to introduce new things to your baby—like new people, new pets, and new toys.
Social referencing is something we do every day, whether we
are aware of it or not. It’s an important skill that begins
very early in life. You are teaching your child many important
things as you go through the day. Your baby learns by watching
you. |
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References:
Hornik, R., Risenhoover, N., & Gunnar, M. (1987).
The effects of maternal positive, neutral, and negative affective
communications on infant responses to new toys. Child
Development, 58, 937-944.
Sorce, J. F., Emde, R. N., Campos, J., & Klinnert,
M. D. (1985). Maternal emotional signaling: Its effect on the
visual cliff behavior of 1-year-olds. Developmental Psychology,
21(1), 195-200.
Walden, T. A., & Ogan, T. A. (1988). The development of social
referencing. Child Development, 59(5), 1230-1240. |
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