Keep the Baby of the Family Happy!

Humans are social creatures by birth and this is evident by simply observing infant behaviour, as described in a recent study by Kim and Kwak. Conducted on 51 Korean infants, their research involved presenting infants with 6 different toys - positive (yellow airplane), negative (barking bulldog) and ambiguous (laughing flower). The toy presentation was then paired with a parent or experimenter reaction such as a happy reaction, which would be, “Wow, it’s a nice toy!” or a fearful reaction, “Uhh, it’s a scary toy!”

The study was conducted to assess how humans from the onset of infancy, begin to observe social behaviour and respond accordingly. The results of the study indicated that when presented with an ambiguous toy, infants reacted positively to it, when paired with a happy reaction from experimenter or parent holding the ambiguous toy. This leads to the discussion of infants relying on the reactions of others to guide behaviour, especially in ambiguous situations.The research article ends with reference to supporting studies that look into how the social behaviour of infants’ changes with age.

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Source:

• Kim, G., & Kwak, K. (2011). Uncertainty matters: Impact of stimulus ambiguity on infant social referencing. Infant and Child Development, 20(5), 449-463.