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Human Development · Chapter 6

Reading the Caregiver's Face

Around 8–10 months babies begin to social-reference: in an uncertain moment they glance at a trusted adult's face and borrow that emotion to decide what to do. To measure it, Sorce, Emde, Campos & Klinnert (1985) placed 12-month-olds at the edge of a visual cliff and had the mother pose one emotion. Tap a face and watch the baby check it, then decide whether to cross.

The visual cliff

Infants who cross the deep side —
Cliff apparatus: Gibson & Walk (1960). Crossing rates: Sorce, Emde, Campos & Klinnert, Developmental Psychology (1985).
Pose the caregiver's facetap an emotion to begin
One face, one decision The baby cannot tell if the clear glass over the "deep" side is safe. Unsure, it looks up to the caregiver — and treats that emotion as information about the drop.
Only when it's ambiguous. On an obviously shallow surface babies cross no matter the face; over an obviously deep one they refuse regardless. The caregiver's expression steers the decision only in the uncertain middle — that is the signature of true social referencing.