Action in Social Context. Perspectives on Early Development

Transcription

1 Action in Social Context Perspectives on Early Development

2 Perspectives in Developmental Psychology Series Editor: Michael Lewis Rutgers Medical School University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey New Brunswick, New Jersey ACTION IN SOCIAL CONTEXT Perspectives on Early Development Edited by Jeffrey J. Lockman and Nancy L. Hazen ASSESSMENT OF YOUNG DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED CHILDREN Edited by Theodore D. Wachs and Robert Sheehan COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPY Edited by Stephen R. Shirk THE DIFFERENT FACES OF MOTHERHOOD Edited by Beverly Bims and Dale F. Hay FATHERING BEHAVIORS The Dynamics of the Man-Child Bond Wade C. Mackey PSYCHOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORY Edited by Klaus F. Riegel SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT An Evolutionary Synthesis Kevin B. MacDonald

3 Action in Social Context Perspectives on Early Development Edited by JEFFREY J. LOCKMAN Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana and NANCY L. HAZEN University of Texas Austin, Texas Springer Science+ Business Media, ILC

4 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Action in social context: perspectives on early development 1 edited by Jeffrey ). Lockman and Nancy L. Hazen. p. cm.-(perspectives in developmental psychology)!nelu des bibliographies and index. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Ability in infants. 2. Socialization. 1. Lockman, )effrey ). II. Hazen, Nancy Lynn. III. Series. BF720.A24A dc CIP 1989 Springer Science+ Business Media New York Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1989 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st eclition 1989 AII rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

5 Contributors HEIDELISE ALS, Harvard Medical School and The Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts MARJORIE J. BEEGHLY, Child Development Unit, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts JAY BELSKY, Department of Individual and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania JANETTE B. BENSON, Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado INGE BRETHERTON, Department of Child and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin KURT W. FISCHER, Department of Human Development, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts ALAN FOGEL, Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah NANCY L. HAZEN, Department of Home Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas ANNE E. HOGAN, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida JAN C. KRUPER, Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts JEFFREY J. LOCKMAN, Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana JAMES P. McHALE, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California ESTHER THELEN, Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana INA C. UZGIRIS, Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts v

6 vi CONTRIBUTORS MARIE E. VASEK, Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts JOAN VONDRA, Department of Psychology in Education, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

7 Preface This is a book about the development of action and skill in the first years of life. But it differs in an important way from most past treatments of the subject. The present volume explores how the development of action is related to the contexts, especially the social ones, in which actions function. In past work, little attention has focused on this relationship. The prevailing view has been that infants develop skills on their own, independent of contributions from other individuals or the surrounding culture. The present volume is a challenge to that view. It is based on the premise that many early skills are embedded in interpersonal activities or are influenced by the activities of other individuals. It assumes further that by examining how skills function in interpersonal contexts, insights will be gained into their acquisition and structuring. In effect, this volume suggests that the development of cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills needs to be reexamined in relation to the goals and contexts that are inherently associated with these skills. The contributors to the volume have all adopted this general perspective. They seek to understand the development of early action by considering the functioning of action in context. Our motivation for addressing these issues stemmed in part from a growing sense of dissatisfaction as we surveyed the literature on skill development in early childhood. It often seemed that there was little integration across areas of research concerned with cognitive and perceptual skills on the one hand and with social skills on the other, even though some of the very same actions were being studied. In addition, the types of questions being asked in these research areas seemed very different. In the cognitive and perceptual domains investigators were focusing on structural and processing issues largely independent of context. By contrast, in the social domain, investigators were emphasizing the qualities and characteristics of the contexts in which skills function and not the structures underlying the functioning skills. A more unified view of skill development requires integrating both vii

8 viii PREFACE structural and functional approaches. We believe that a full explanation of the structure and mechanisms of skill development cannot be achieved without considering the purposes skills serve over the course of early development. The implication that follows is obvious. To understand the development of many cognitive and perceptuomotor skills, it is also important to consider how they function in social contexts and how their development is socially influenced. The idea that context is an integral aspect of development and not some variable to be ignored has been gaining increasing acceptance in developmental circles (Rogoff, 1984). Western psychologists have reo cently been applying the ideas of the Soviet psychologist Vygotsky to study how children acquire skills through social tutelage. In large measure, though, these efforts have been limited to cognitive abilities appearing in the preschool years and beyond, when children are already capable of symbolic functioning. With the exception of Kaye's (1982) work, there have been few broad attempts to explore how early cognitive and perceptuomotor skills are embedded in social activity. The present volume continues and extends this type of analysis but should not be seen solely or primarily as an attempt to apply Vygotsky's ideas to the infancy period. Rather, it is an effort to understand how actions emerge in context, specifically infant and toddler actions that too often are treated as occurring and developing apart from the contexts in which they naturally reside. The contributors to this volume initially addressed these issues at a Study Group of the Society for Research in Child Development that was convened at Tulane University. The contributors were selected because their work is representative of research on skilled action from the fields of cognitive, motor, perceptual, and social development and because they have all shown a sensitivity to contextual issues in their efforts to understand the ontogeny of action. At the Study Group meeting, participants were asked to consider how the development of the actions of interest to them could be viewed within a contextual framework. Based on the interchange that occurred during the meeting, Study Group members continued to address this problem and develop their positions. The resulting volume is the product of those efforts. We hope that it captures the excitement and promise that we all felt during the Study Group meeting. More importantly we hope that the present volume promotes a conceptualization of action development that is contextually based but not limited to anyone area of development. Finally, to our contributors, to the Society for Research in Child Development, to the Foundation for Child Development which has gen-

9 PREFACE ix erously supported the Study Group program, and to Tulane University, we offer our heartfelt thanks. Without the support of these individuals and organizations, this volume would not have been possible. Jeffrey J. Lockman Nancy L. Hazen REFERENCES Rogoff, B. (1984). Introduction: Thinking and learning in social context. In B. Rogoff and J. Lave (Eds.), Everyday cognition: Its development in social context (pp. 1-8). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Kaye, K. (1982). The mental and social life of babies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

10 Contents Chapter 1. Skill and Context Nancy L. Hazen and Jeffrey J. Lockman Introduction Toward a Shared Conception of Skill... 2 Context and the Study of Skilled Action... 3 Integrating Skill and Context... 7 References PART I. CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN INFANT MOTOR DEVELOPMENT: EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT Chapter 2. Toward an Action-Based Theory of Infant Development Esther Thelen and Alan Fogel Introduction Puzzles from Motor Development Puzzles from the Development of Communication The Goals of This Chapter Understanding Real-Time Action: Dynamic Motor Theory Coordinative Structures: Functional Constraints on Movement How Are Emergent Organizations both Stable and Flexible? 32 The Process of Emergence in Real Time From Real-Time to Ontogenetic Time: Dynamic Principles of Development Xl

11 xii CONTENTS A Dynamic Perspective on Learning to Walk A Dynamic Perspective on the Ontogeny of Communication.. 46 Cry Point Conclusions: The Role of the Context in the Ontogeny of Communication and Motor Skill References Chapter 3. Self-Regulation and Motor Development in Preterm Infants Heidelise Als Introduction The Full-Term Infant in Developmental Perspective The Developmental Task of the Full-Term Newborn The Social Environment of the Full-Term Human Newborn. 68 The Full-Term Newborn's Attentionalllnteractive Capacity. 70 Parameters to Be Considered in Assessing the Infant's Functioning The Pre term Infant in Developmental Perspective Subsystems of Functioning Description of the Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB) Research with the APIB Environmental and Social Intervention in Support of Preterm Infant Development APIB: One Month Post-EDC Bayley Scales of Infant Development: Three, Six, and Nine Months Post-EDC Kangaroo Box Paradigm: Nine Months Post-EDC Summary References PART II. ESTABLISHING ACTION-ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENCES: CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON INFANT IMITATION AND MANIPULATION Chapter 4. Contextual Influences on Imitative Interactions between Mothers and Infants

12 CONTENTS xiii Ina C. Uigiris, Janette B. Benson, Jan c. Kruper, and Marie E. Vasek Introduction Interpersonal Experience Imitative Interactions Matching in the First Year of Life Matching during Face-to-Face Interaction Matching during Toy Interaction Matching Activity and Development The Contexts for Matching Activity References Chapter 5. Object Manipulation in Infancy: Developmental and Contextual Determinants Jeffrey J. Lockman and James P. McHale Introduction Theoretical Positions on Object Manipulation Pia get' s Theory Research on Object Manipulation Using a Piagetian Perspective The Gibsons' Theory Object-Appropriate Manipulation in the First Year Color Shape/Texture Rigidity/Flexibility Sound Potential Summary Infant and Maternal Manipulation of Objects Infant Behaviors Maternal Behaviors Context Summary and Conclusions References PART III. EXPLORATION AND PLAY IN SOCIAL CONTEXT: DEVELOPMENTS FROM INFANCY TO EARLY CHILDHOOD Chapter 6. Infant Play at One Year: Characteristics and Early Antecedents

13 xiv CONTENTS Joan Vondra and Jay Belsky Introduction The Development of Play Assessing Play Development Playas a Window on Cognition and Motivation Individual Differences in Mastery Motivation Social-Contextual Antecedents of Exploration and Play Familial Antecedents of Infant Play Summary and Conclusions Implications for Future Research References Chapter 7. Individual Differences in Environmental Exploration and Cognitive Mapping Skills: Early Development in Social Contexts Nancy L. Hazen Introduction Parents' Contributions to Children's Individual Styles of Exploration Exploration, Cognitive Mapping, and Attachment Beyond the Early Parent-Child Context How Parents Support Children's Developing Spatial Competencies Scaffolding of Spatial Exploration and Orientation in Visually Impaired Children Conclusions References Chapter 8. Pretense: Acting" As If" Inge Bretherton and Marjorie Beeghly Introduction: Creating Alternative Realities in Pretense Subjunctive Event Representation in Pretense: Developmental Sequences The Development of Roles

14 CONTENTS XV The Development of Plots The Development of Prop Use Subjunctive Event Representation in Pretense: Theoretical Considerations Multiple Conceptual Levels of Representation in Pretense Blurring of Representational Conceptual Levels or Getting Caught in Tangled Hierarchies Concluding Remarks: The Function of Pretense and the Dramatic Arts References PART IV. CONCLUSION Chapter 9. The Big Picture for Infant Development: Levels and Variations Kurt W. Fischer and Anne E. Hogan Introduction Skills Are Characteristics of the Infant in a Context Multiple Levels of Early Development Levels of Reflex Development Levels of Sensorimotor Development From Action to Representation Functional Mechanisms of Short-Term Variations in Level Task Effects and Generalization Optimal Level Functional Level and Environmental Support State of Arousal Emotions and Prototypical Scripts Role of the Body Summary and Conclusion References Index