Many developmental psychologists maintain that, from a very early age, infants relate to people in a special way, and that this indicates they have a deep understanding of other people. In your view, is this position supported by research studies that have investigated infant’s understanding of the physical and social world?

The main purpose of this essay was to assess whether the research evidence supports the statement that infants have a deep understanding of other people. Although the question related to infants in general, the main emphasis was put on the first year of life as it is believed that this is a period when the most significant changes in infants’ development occur (Super, 1981). Firstly, the writer attempted to define the term “deep understanding” which has been seen as crucial for this debate. Then, the focus moved to the nature of infants’ relationships with other people. Afterwards, the research studies were examined that have investigated infant’s understanding of the physical world. The aim was to check whether children have a knowledge of objects and people’s physical features, and consequently, if they are able to differentiate between them. Finally, the researches which investigated infants’ understanding of social world were analysed in order to check how rich infants’ knowledge of other people is.

The debate of whether infants have a rich knowledge has to be preceded with defining what it means to have a deep understanding. In the case of a physical world deep understanding would be an awareness of physical properties and the permanence of objects, as well as knowledge of how certain actions make an effect on the physical world (Spelke, 1991). However, the definition of the deep understanding of people perceived was more complicated. Surely the ability to recognise that people are different to objects is important as it requires a certain level of understanding. Equally important is also the knowledge of what is going on in other people’s minds and the ability to appreciate that ‘people have emotions, intentions, and perspectives’ (Striano & Rochat, 2000:254).

Nevertheless, it has been believed that deep understanding must also involve something additional. This extra quality has been acknowledged by Tomasello et al. (2005:676), who argued that:

‘(…) deep understanding of other people requires not only an understanding of goals, intentions and perceptions of other persons, but also in addition a motivation to share these things in interaction with others.’

The psychologists who perceive children as having a rich knowledge share the belief that infants relate to people in a special way and engage with them differently than with objects. They argue that infants are more likely to direct their intentional behaviours towards people rather than objects because they anticipate that people will understand their intentions and respond to their actions. Trevarthen (ED841, Unit 3) explained this phenomenon by arguing that infants have an inborn willingness to participate in social relationships with other people.

As Suzanne Zeedyk stated, the everyday intimate in nature interaction with others creates a context in which infants’ understanding can develop. In her opinion, thanks to being an object of other people’s attention, children come to know themselves and others. However, the perception of infants’ as active social partners causes some doubts. Even though Trevarthen seems to be right stating that infants are not just marionettes which can be animated by adults, it is possible that their engagement with people may only create an illusion of spontaneity and understanding (Zeedyk, 2006). Indeed, it has been acknowledged that there is no consensus whether young infants actually differentiate between objects and people and what mechanisms underlay their behaviour. To investigate this issue it was necessary to establish what knowledge about the physical world they hold.