Abstract
The relation between social and cognitive development has been important in several accounts of infant development. Piaget’s theory specifies that social and cognitive development become significant at eight months and are closely linked thereafter. Brazelton and Trevarthen emphasize the role of social development and social interaction from the first months on. Neither theory predominates today, but studies of new topics such as the infant’s discrimination of people and objects may help decide which is correct. In contrast to the question of when infants distinguish the social from the cognitive, it is obvious that the social and physical environments of the child are fundamentally different all along. Adults, and not objects, have expectations for infant development and adjust their behaviour in line with those expectations. The research on developmental outcome preserves this difference. Cognitive development in infancy proceeds normally in a great many environments. Social development, on the other hand, has been found to vary with the characteristics of the caregiver. This difference between social and cognitive development is interpretable in terms of the difference between the social and physical worlds.
Résumé
Les liens entre le développement social et le développement cognitif des nourrissons ont donné lieu à plusieurs interprétations. La théorie piagétienne considère qu’un pas crucial est franchi vers 8 mois, aussi bien dans le domaine social que dans le domaine cognitif, qui sont étroitement liées par la suite. Brazelton et Traverthen soulignent le rôle du développement social et de l’interaction sociale dès les premiers mois. Aucune de cees théories.n’est actuellement dominante, mais des études concernant des aspects nouveaux, comme la discrimination par le nourrisson entre des personnes et des objets, peuvent aider à trancher entre ces théories. En même temps que les capacités des nourrissons à discriminer entre personnes et objets font problème, il est évident que les environments physique et sociaux des enfants sont fondamentalement différents. Les adultes ont des attentes concernant le développement de l’enfant, et ajustent leurs comportements en fonction de ces attentes, ce qui n’est pas le cas obs objets. La recherche sur le développement tient compte de cette différence. Le développement cognitif du nourrisson s’inscrit normalement dans des environments très divers. Par ailleurs, on a montré que le développement social varie avec les caractéristiques de l’adulte. Cette différence entre le développement social et le développement cognitif peut être interprêté en termes de différences entre le monde social et le monde physique.
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Frye, D. Social and cognitive development in infancy. Eur J Psychol Educ 4, 129–139 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172593
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172593