Still Face Experiment

Still Face Experiment: Dr. Edward Tronick

UMass Boston

Uploaded on Nov 30, 2009

Copyright © 2007 ZERO TO THREE http://www.zerotothree.org
Ed Tronick (http://www.umb.edu/Why_UMass/Ed_Tronick), director of UMass Boston’s Infant-Parent Mental Health Program (http://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/psyc…) and Distinguished Professor of Psychology, discusses the cognitive abilities of infants to read and react to their social surroundings. The video is an excerpt from Lovett Productions’ HELPING BABIES FROM THE BENCH: USING THE SCIENCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD IN COURT.

Using the “Still Face” Experiment, in which a mother denies her baby attention for a short period of time, Tronick describes how prolonged lack of attention can move an infant from good socialization, to periods of bad but repairable socialization. In “ugly” situations the child does not receive any chance to return to the good, and may become stuck.

For more information about Infant-Parent Mental Health, visit http://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/psyc…

To hear about Ed Tronick’s latest work, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmE3Nf…

To support the Infant-Parent Mental Health program, visit https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1355/… and write “Infant-Parent Mental Health Program” in the “Other” field.