Infancy

by Bremner, J. Gavin

• ISBN13: 9780631184669
• ISBN10: 063118466X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-12-05
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Assuming little or no prior knowledge of the subject, Infancy presents a complete picture of our current understanding of the development of infants, their knowledge and understanding of the world from birth or before to their second birthday. In dealing in turn with motor development, the development of perception and cognition, and social development, the book follows a conventional pattern. At the same time, the author points to the ways in which the distinctions between perceptual, cognitive and social development are to an extent arbitrary and how they stand in the way of evolving an adequate account of infancy. A number of competing theoretical approaches emerge, and the author presents a framework that aims to capture the best elements of these apparently diverse approaches.This new edition has been considerably expanded and contains discussion of over 260 further studies. Major additions include new sections on self concept theory and theory of mind, on reaching and grasping, on dynamic systems theory, as well as new material on cognitive precursors of language and object knowledge in early infancy.

Author Biography

J. Gavin Bremner is Reader in Developmental Psychology at the University of Lancaster.

Table of Contents

Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction	p. 1
Infancy as a field of study	p. 1
Methods of studying infancy	p. 9
The structure of the book	p. 20
Physical and motor development before and after birth	p. 23
Development before birth	p. 24
Birth and beyond	p. 30
Links with later chapters	p. 51
Perceptual development	p. 52
Visual perception of two-dimensional stimuli	p. 53
Visual perception in three dimensions	p. 84
Auditory perception	p. 102
Intersensory coordination	p. 109
Mechanisms underlying early perception	p. 116
Cognitive development: Piaget and infancy	p. 120
Piaget's sensori-motor theory	p. 122
The construction of space and object concepts	p. 124
Recent studies of infants' knowledge of objects	p. 132
Spatial orientation in infancy	p. 155
Imitation	p. 163
Cognitive precursors of language	p. 171
Conclusion: relations between perception and cognition	p. 175
Social development	p. 177
Person perception	p. 178
Emotional development	p. 187
Knowledge of self and others and the roots of a theory of mind	p. 202
Attachment: the first relationships	p. 210
Early communication: parent-infant interaction	p. 233
Parent-infant interaction as a developmental process	p. 241
The beginnings of language	p. 248
Conclusion	p. 255
Research, theory and images of infancy	p. 257
Major themes	p. 258
Conceptualizing development: direct perception and constructed understanding	p. 262
References	p. 273
Name index	p. 309
Subject index	p. 319
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