Infant Mental Health Seminar Series

Presented by:
Marjorie Beeghly, Ph.D.

Since its creation in 1978, the Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm has increasingly become a standard observational assessment for investigating individual differences in infants', parents', and dyads' social-emotional capacities and how infants cope with a brief social stressor—the parental “still-face.” During the still-face, the caregiver adopts a neutral “poker” face and briefly refrains from talking to, smiling at, or touching the infant. Prior research has shown that infants exhibit a specific reaction to the still-face (“the still-face effect”), characterized by a decrease in positive engagement and a concomitant increase in negative engagement, gaze and bodily aversion, and self-regulatory behaviors (e.g., thumb-sucking), as well as a drop in vagal tone. Research using this paradigm demonstrates that even very young infants are active participants in social interactions. They are able to detect changes in their caregiver's affect and behavior and communicate relational intentions to their caregiver. This research also shows that young infants have the capacity to cope with the social stress of the still-face and respond to this stress in stable, yet individual, ways. Moreover, typical parent-infant interactions are not perfectly synchronous, as previously believed, but are characterized by a series of matches and mismatches in dyadic engagement. It is hypothesized that how the dyad repairs these mismatches—the reparation process—is a critical way that infants develop self-regulatory skills and psychosocial resilience. In this workshop, we will review recent research using the FFSF paradigm in different populations of infants and parents. The research will be illustrated with video clips and implications of the findings for clinical practice and public policy will be discussed.

To register and see more information on the Infant Mental Health Seminar Series please view the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute Website and load the PDF Infant and Mental Health: 2008 Training Series Schedule and Registration Form

Questions? Contact Ann Stacks at (313) 872-1790 or
Ann Stacks Email: amstacks@wayne.edu