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258 CHAPTER 7

leaps from the bench, scoops up her daughter, and holds her close in panic. The toddler registers her mother’s alarm, quickly computes that what happened was scary, and breaks into sobs. The toddler has just demonstrated her skill at seeking and using the emotional information in her mother’s face, actions, and voice to guide her own behaviors. Social referencing refers to the seeking and use of social information in ambiguous situations. When do infants exhibit social referencing? During the first year of life, infants remain limited in their social-referencing abilities. They do not yet grasp connections among emotional expressions (such as a fearful voice and face), their causes (the object in front of the child), and behavioral responses (avoid- ance) (Camras & Shuster, 2013). By around 12 months, however, infants avoid objects of another person’s expressed fear. For example, infants cross a visual cliff (see Chapter 4) when their mothers stand at the other side and display joy, but avoid crossing when mothers display fear (Sorce et al., 1985). Similarly, infants approach or avoid toys and strangers based on how other people react (Feinman et al., 1992; Saarni et al., 2007). Donna Mumme and Anne Fernald (2003) examined 10- and 12-month-old infants’ behaviors after an experimenter’s different reactions to novel objects. Infants observed the experimenter’s neutral, positive, or negative reaction toward one of two unfamiliar objects. When later given the opportunity to play with the objects, 12-month-olds, but not 10-month-olds, avoided the object when the experimenter reacted negatively, but showed no avoidance when the experimenter reacted neutrally or positively ( FIGURE 7.11 ).

social referencing The seeking and use of social information in ambiguous situations, such as when a toddler looks at a mother’s face when uncertain about how to react to a strange person

Infant references mother’s face and avoids the novel object

Mother shows fear in her face

Infant references mother’s face and reaches for the novel object FIGURE 7.11 Infants approach or avoid stimuli in line with the emotional reactions of other people. Infants use social information offered by others in ambiguous situ- ations (such as when confronting unfamiliar objects or people), a behavior referred to as “social referencing.” For example, when the mother or an adult expresses fear to a novel object, the infant avoids playing with the object. In contrast, when the mother or adult expresses happiness to a novel object, the infant reaches and approaches. (After D. Mumme et al. 1996. Child Dev 67: 3219–3237.) PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Mother shows happy face