Social referencing in 10-month-old infants

Abstract

In Experiment 1, forty 10-month-old infants participated together with an experimenter and a parent in a social referencing encounter. The experimenter or the parent presented an ambiguous toy. Neither of the adults provided information about the toy in order to examine infant spontaneous looking behaviour. The infants looked more at both adults when the experimenter presented the toy. In Experiment 2, forty-four 10-month-old infants participated. The experimenter or the parent provided positive information about an ambiguous toy. The infants played more with the toy when the experimenter provided information than when the parent did. The results are discussed in terms of seeking information from knowledgeable others in ambiguous situations.

Keywords:

• Social referencing
• Spontaneous looking
• Information-seeking
• Behaviour regulation
• 10-month-olds

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all parents and infants for their participation in this research. Funds were provided by EU Nest project 15636, and from the Swedish Research Council.