Still Face Experiment

Edward Tronick, 1975
Demonstrates some understanding of emotion, power of connection.
Have a clear reaction to a lack of emotional connection from their caregivers.
Even very young babies have demonstrated that they can respond to emotions of the adults who care for them.
Reciprocity: babies are also actively engaging and shaping social interaction with the adults in their lives.

Emotional Development in Infancy

Reciprocity: at 2-3 months, babies match the feeling tone of the caregiver.
- At 4-5 months, they gradually discriminate a wider range of emotions
Social referencing (8-10 months): actively seek emotional information from a trusted person in an uncertain situation
- Toddlers use others’ emotional reactions and messages to evaluate the safety of surroundings, to guide actions, and to gather information

Roots of empathy can be seen early on
- 2-3 months old react to others’ emotional expression
- Infants at 1, 3, 6, 9 months of age all found to respond to infant cries with cries of their own or facial expressions of distress
- By 18 – 24 months, offer comfort at the distress of others
Infants prefer helpers over non-helpers
- By 15 months of age, showed expectations of ‘fairness’, unequal distribution of food

Personality: the enduring characteristics of individuals, of which emotions and temperament are key aspects.
Central to personality development is trust and the development of self and independence.
Erikson’s trust versus mistrust stage: infants learn trust when they are cared for consistently and develop a sense of mistrust when not fed and kept warm on a consistent basis.
Independence also becomes more central.
Separation: the infant’s movement away from the mother.
Erikson’s second stage, autonomy versus shame and doubt:
- autonomy builds with mental and motor abilities, and infants feel pride in their new accomplishments
- when caregivers are impatient and do for toddlers what they are capable of doing for themselves, shame and doubt develop.

Little or no eye contact
Frequent and long-lasting fussiness or irritability
Unsmiling or withdrawn behavior
Little or no preference for familiar adults
Extreme, frequent and long-lasting tantrums that impede on learning and relationship building
Lacks curiosity
Sleeping too much or too little
Troubles with eating/feeding- too much or too little
For toddlers and/or preschoolers:
- Often seems sad or worried
- Fails to listen or respond
- Rarely uses words to express feelings
- Seems unable most of the time to control feelings

Edward Tronick, 1975
Demonstrates some understanding of emotion, power of connection.
Have a clear reaction to a lack of emotional connection from their caregivers.
Even very young babies have demonstrated that they can respond to emotions of the adults who care for them.
Reciprocity: babies are also actively engaging and shaping social interaction with the adults in their lives.

Reciprocity: at 2-3 months, babies match the feeling tone of the caregiver.
- At 4-5 months, they gradually discriminate a wider range of emotions
Social referencing (8-10 months): actively seek emotional information from a trusted person in an uncertain situation
- Toddlers use others’ emotional reactions and messages to evaluate the safety of surroundings, to guide actions, and to gather information

Roots of empathy can be seen early on
- 2-3 months old react to others’ emotional expression
- Infants at 1, 3, 6, 9 months of age all found to respond to infant cries with cries of their own or facial expressions of distress
- By 18 – 24 months, offer comfort at the distress of others
Infants prefer helpers over non-helpers
- By 15 months of age, showed expectations of ‘fairness’, unequal distribution of food

Personality: the enduring characteristics of individuals, of which emotions and temperament are key aspects.
Central to personality development is trust and the development of self and independence.
Erikson’s trust versus mistrust stage: infants learn trust when they are cared for consistently and develop a sense of mistrust when not fed and kept warm on a consistent basis.
Independence also becomes more central.
Separation: the infant’s movement away from the mother.
Erikson’s second stage, autonomy versus shame and doubt:
- autonomy builds with mental and motor abilities, and infants feel pride in their new accomplishments
- when caregivers are impatient and do for toddlers what they are capable of doing for themselves, shame and doubt develop.

Little or no eye contact
Frequent and long-lasting fussiness or irritability
Unsmiling or withdrawn behavior
Little or no preference for familiar adults
Extreme, frequent and long-lasting tantrums that impede on learning and relationship building
Lacks curiosity
Sleeping too much or too little
Troubles with eating/feeding- too much or too little
For toddlers and/or preschoolers:
- Often seems sad or worried
- Fails to listen or respond
- Rarely uses words to express feelings
- Seems unable most of the time to control feelings