In 1975, a psychologist by the name of Edward Tronick and some of his colleagues presented an experiment at the Society for Research in Child Development. This was known as the “still-face” experiment. The premise was simple: A mother and her baby would be playing in a room, with the baby cooing and babbling while the mother instills positive reactions towards the baby. In a recording of the experiment, her baby points to different stimuli in the room, and the mother engages with her baby, acknowledging where the baby’s pointing to, etc.
Then, the mother would turn away momentarily before looking back at her baby, expressionless.
As Dr. Tronick himself says, “The baby very quickly picks up on this, and then she uses all of her abilities to try and get the mother back.” The baby then proceeds to attempt to reengage with the mother, smiling and pointing at things, because the baby knows that this is what usually gets the mother to reengage. When the baby realizes that her attempts at reengaging are futile, she throws up her hands, almost in frustration, and lets out a cry. As the video progresses, one can see the baby losing her posture, reacting negatively, etc. Dr. Tronick notes that the baby feels the stress. The mother eventually reengages with the baby, and all is well.
But to all those watching this video right now, what do they think about it? How do they feel about it?
Unsurprisingly, many people found the footage hard to watch, and for good reason. Parents are supposed to protect and look out for their children. It’s always difficult to see parents who refuse to engage with their children and seeing these children in distress. Some may even think that this experiment is cruel. I surely did when I first came across this video, until I continued reading more and more articles pertaining to Tronick’s experiment. There may or may not be much debate in regards to this experiment, but I would like to get my point across, nevertheless.
This experiment, while questionable in nature, has proven to be a very important experiment in child development. This is because the experiment has demonstrated that babies, to a degree, are socially cognitive. Babies are able to associate human expression and emotions, and that they have some level of control of their own feelings. The footage of the experiment also proves that the baby’s attempts to reengage with the mother could also mean that the baby can create and execute very, very simple plans.
This goes to prove that babies aren’t all that people might assume they are.
Another reason why this experiment has yielded beneficial results is because this can be compared to experiments done to babies exposed to other stimuli, such as parents who are addicted to substances such as alcohol. Researchers are able to construct data from these types of experiments to benefit and help children who are unfortunate enough to be exposed to less than ideal conditions.
I wonder how everyone else feels about this, and would like to know your thoughts in the comments.
I have researched this experiment in the past and also found it to be very disturbing. I find it amazing how quickly the baby reacts, and it is painful to imagine that there are children who deal with this dilemma on a daily basis. I find the results of this experiment thought-provoking. I wonder at what point babies develop the ability to be socially cognitive. Is this trait present at birth, or is it developed in few months time?
Hearing this experiment at first, I had a similar reaction to what you described in your post. It was sad to see that the baby would get so upset and then defeated once the mother stopped engaging. It also instills a greater sense of sympathy for babies that actually have to grow up in neglectful environments; not just in an experiment. The social cognition that you refer to that babies have is similar to many concepts that I learned when I took AP Psychology in high school. Once the baby gives up and is upset after realizing they can not get the mother to engage again, learned helplessness occurs. And it is saddening to think that if they grow up constantly being neglected, then they will not even have the effort left to try because they will just assume that nothing they do matters and will work. This is why I also think that it is very important for parents to be attentive and loving towards their children to support their growth and health because of the many negative effects that neglect can have on a child’s mental state.
It’s pretty crazy to think that this happens outside of an experiment all of the time. I wonder at what point does the baby become able to realize and value human interaction that does not advance its survival like being fed, but just being shown attention. Why does the baby enjoy attention? I also wonder what happens to the baby in the long run if they aren’t shown attention eventually. I also wonder if the reaction would be the same if it was the father instead of the mother or perhaps even a stranger. Would the reaction be the same or do you think it would be different?