What interests me about these clips is the effect of stress and depression on the relationship between a baby and caregiver. In class, we have been talking about the achievement gap between children from impoverished homes and those from financially stable homes. Could family stress be one of the links between poverty and school performance? When a child is stressed, they are less able to interact with the outside world. That means, in school, they pay less attention and remember less information. Children who are chronically stressed may perceive aggression where there is none, and may therefore be more likely to get into fights or to be reprimanded, eventually being labeled as 'bad kids'. Stress, it turns out, has a huge impact on performance in social, academic, cognitive, and physical areas. This argument presents evidence against a culture of poverty, and towards a culture of survival under poverty.
Monday, February 28, 2011
The Still Face Experiment
What interests me about these clips is the effect of stress and depression on the relationship between a baby and caregiver. In class, we have been talking about the achievement gap between children from impoverished homes and those from financially stable homes. Could family stress be one of the links between poverty and school performance? When a child is stressed, they are less able to interact with the outside world. That means, in school, they pay less attention and remember less information. Children who are chronically stressed may perceive aggression where there is none, and may therefore be more likely to get into fights or to be reprimanded, eventually being labeled as 'bad kids'. Stress, it turns out, has a huge impact on performance in social, academic, cognitive, and physical areas. This argument presents evidence against a culture of poverty, and towards a culture of survival under poverty.
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The still face experiment was use to demonstrate a babies abiity to communicate without the use of words. How their body language, and other gestures produced is use as some form of communicating with their mothers. However this experiment too me is alittle cruel and negligent. Although the intention is to prove communication styles, I wonder about the resilience of the infants and other young children used in the experiment. If they are capable of handling the emotional aspect of the experiment. This was a hard one to watch.
ReplyDeleteCage,
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you that this video is hard to watch, I don't think it goes outside of the realm of normal experience. All babies are at some point responded to in a less-than-optimal manner. It is through these ruptures, and later repairs (hopefully) in the relationship that resilience is formed. after the experimental part was over, mom did a beautiful job of reestablishing normative interactio. What strikes me, however, is what effect there is on the relationship in the absence of such repair. That is why I think this experiment was so valuable.
Thanks for your comments!
so many stressor impact a child's education or willingness to learn and could ultimately leave the child labeled as a problem child. i just returned from a conference on creating lgbtq inclusive edcuational enviroments in higher education. thankfully there was a session on the impact of bullying on lgbtq or gender non-conforming students in K-12. the presenters outlined the impact of this kind of psychological torture on children in elmentary through high school can have on their ability to learn. as well, their ability to locate and receive support. moreover, theses students, having endured years of repeated bullying, teasing or stimatization, may well act out in violent ways towards others, being labeled bad kids or emotinally disturbed, etc. Worse, they turn the violence on themselves committing suicide. this results in another form of culture of survival.
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