Your friend Jamal has a 12-month-old daughter, Kia. Recently, they ran into one of Jamal's coworkers who Kia did not know

Question

When this "stranger" approached, Jamal thought that Kia looked at him to gauge his reaction to the "stranger" and then smiled after she saw Jamal greet the "stranger" in a friendly manner. When Jamal told this story to his wife, Yolanda, she laughed and told him that he was giving Kia more credit than a 1-year-old should get. Is Jamal or Yolanda correct? Explain your answer.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A good answer will be similar to the following:
You can tell Jamal and Yolanda that Kia was engaging in social referencing. Social referencing occurs when infants encounter unfamiliar or ambiguous situations in the environment and involves looking at a parent to find cues to help interpret the situation. The approach of the coworker who was a stranger to Kia would be an unfamiliar or ambiguous situation. Kia is old enough to use social referencing so she looked at Jamal to see how he reacted to this "stranger." When Jamal was friendly to the "stranger," Kia smiled at the "stranger." In other words, Jamal's ideas about Kia's behavior were correct.