Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Learning to Respond Socially. In a few more days, my daughter Abbie will be 5 months old. Watching the video clip below, it amazes me how babies can have such an unrestrained laugh. How did she learn to laugh? Where did she pick it up from? Just a few months ago, her only expression was frowning. Doesn't it amazes you that babies quickly learn that a smile will earn at least as much as a cry? According to Robert Provine, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, "laughter is a message that we send to other people. We know this because we rarely laugh when we are alone." In much of the same way, instinctively we send a message to babies when we smile back to them. So by all means, learn to smile.
