Is a baby born ready to engage in social relationships or is the baby simply passive? A study called The Still Face Experiment was created to study this question. In the study, mothers were asked to play with their infants, ages three to four months. It was found that if an infant became really excited, a mother also became really excited. But once a mother put on her “still face”, a neutral face with no emotion, her baby instantly noticed that something was wrong and that its mothers had stopped engaging with it. In an attempt to try to get back into relationship with its mother, a baby would try to elicit a response from its mother by smiling and pointing to things; however, if the baby was unsuccessful, the baby would start to experience some of the negative emotions and stress attached to situation and would eventually start to cry in order to get its mothers’ attention. The experiment indicated that babies are born ready to engage in social interactions. At the end of the day, humans are social creatures. Social interaction is something all of us were built for and need in order to develop. If a relationship is disrupted, it leaves a powerful and emotional impression on all those involved.
