Infant social cognition and "second-order" effects

Abstract

Thirty-six one-year-olds were observed interacting with their parents in three contexts: mother present, father present, and both parents present. Results showed that the infants directed substantially more affiliative behaviors, and marginally more attachment behaviors, to their parents in the dyadic than in the triadic situation. The parents, too, were considerably more likely to interact with infants in the dyadic context. There are two processes whereby these "second-order" effects can be explained: Either infants distribute their social bids among the available interactants, or they respond to the increased activity of their parents. Since there was no correlation between the activity levels of the infants and their parents, it was suggested that one-year-olds respond primarily to the former cue. Previous studies have found that older infants and adults employ both cues. The results thus suggest that the social cognition of one-year-olds is more restricted than many theorists claim.