Abstract
This chapter will explore a relatively neglected topic in child development, the process whereby infants establish new social relations. It is important to state at the outset that new relations need not be contrasted with the infant’s attachment to his mother or parents; rather, these relations can be examined as an independent but related aspect of social development. The neglect of this process in the psychological literature of infancy can perhaps be understood in terms of widespread opinions concerning the nature of infants’ social behavior. First, it has often been stated that the infant shows very little interest in his peers, that his play is solitary, that he treats his peers as inanimate objects (yet he happily explores and shows great interest in inanimate objects), or that the principal form of social interaction between peers involves impersonal struggles over toys. For example, in 1943 Gesell and Ilg wrote:
The 18-month-old tends to treat another child as an object rather than as a person. He resorts to experimental poking, pulling, pinching, pushing and sometimes hitting (p. 158).
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© 1977 Plenum Press, New York
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Ross, H.S., Goldman, B.D. (1977). Establishing New Social Relations in Infancy. In: Alloway, T., Pliner, P., Krames, L. (eds) Attachment Behavior. Advances in the Study of Communication and Affect, vol 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4187-1_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4187-1_3
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