Interdisciplinary Parallels in Studies of Early Human Behavior: From Physical to Cognitive Needs,from Attachment to Dyadic Education

Abstract

Different approaches taken over the past two decades to early behavioral development in humans are discussed with reference to the authors' studies on early learning and social interaction. Regarding infants, the gradual discovery of cognitive competence in infants has also revealed certain conditions necessary for the development of this competence, e.g. appropriate form of stimulation during the infant's optimal behavioral state. Regarding adult caretakers, adaptive behaviors related to timing and kind of stimulation are described and discussed in terms of their role in infant-adult interaction. The set of such adaptive behaviors is viewed as a biological model for the first postnatal childrearing. Some of the potential social consequences of this view are presented briefly.

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