Stranger Situation Video Discussion Essay Project
“Infants seek social bonds, which they develop with one or several people as long as the caregivers are responsive and familiar. In the early month, synchrony begins: infants and caregiver interact face to face, making split-second adjustments in their emotional responses to each other. The still-face situation mentioned in the book reveals the importance of facial expression to infants.
Early responsiveness evolves into attachment, an emotional bond that encourages toddlers to explore. Secure attachment allows learning to progress; insecure infants are less confident and may develop emotional impairments. As infants become more curious and as they encounter new toys, people, and events, they use social referencing to learn whether such new things are fearsome or fun.
Although mothers are infants’ usual, and most social partners, the emotional connections evident in synchrony, attachment, and social referencing, can also occur with fathers, other relatives, and day-care providers. Instead of harming infants, as was once feared, non-maternal care can enhance infants’ psychosocial development”.
Watch this Stranger Situation Video (Links to an external site.) and post your thoughts on what you watched.
The Strange Situation – Mary Ainsworth (Links to an external site.)