Week 4 Post 2

While reading Chapter 7, I took a real interest in social referencing.  I know in the chapter it talked a lot about social referencing with both the father and the mother (Berger, p.198), but I think social referencing can also occur with a babysitter. When I was younger I use to babysit my younger cousin all the time. I remember watching my little cousin, who was experimenting with walking at the time. I would watch as she stood herself up by using the front of the sofa. She then would walk along the sofa, using the front of the sofa as a rail to steady her. Finally, when she reached the end of the sofa she tried her best to continue walking on her own. She only made about a step or two until she feel on her bottom. I remember her immediately looking up at me after this had occurred. To which I just smiled and said to her “you’re alright”. I then picked her back up and encouraged her to continue walking. At the time I didn’t really realize that what I had just done was social referencing. Looking back on this experience, I now know why she looked at me right after falling; she wanted to know what her reaction should be to falling. Since I had remained calm, I think that’s why she didn’t cry. I feel like after reading this part of the chapter, I was able to make a lot of connections to some of my past experiences when I babysat. Even though I didn’t quite understand the terminology of what I was doing, I did it because I had observed it from how my aunt and uncle had interacted with my cousin.