Still Face Experiment

In 1975 Edward Tronick conducted the ‘Still Face Experiment.’ In this experiment mothers of young children were coached to have a ‘still face’ with their child, in other words they were expressionless and unresponsive (facially or emotionally) to their infant. 

Infant’s initial reactions were of distress, confusion and frustration in which they would make attempts to get their mother to interact with them.

After about 3 minutes of this type of interaction, the infant withdraws with a hopeless facial expression. This experiment points to how chronic neglect and lack of attunement have profound, negative impact on children.

This was a brief experiment, and the mothers went right back to normal interacting afterwards.

But if this experience is a way of life for a child, it makes sense that a healthy attachment cannot develop. It makes sense that these children can grow up into adults who struggle with healthy attachments, who struggle to trust or rely on others. 

All parents make mistakes, have periods of illness or preoccupation during which they may be unable to respond to their children in an attuned fashion. This does not doom the child to poor attachment, as long as there are regular attempts to reengage from the caregiver. This information is presented to highlight the impact of chronic misattunement, not to contribute to parent shaming or mom guilt that is out there.