Premium
THE STUDY OF INFANT—ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION: SOME COMMENTS ON TRENDS AND METHODOLOGIES
Author(s) -
Rosenthal Miriam K.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1973.tb01197.x
Subject(s) - psychology , perspective (graphical) , interpretation (philosophy) , meaning (existential) , exposition (narrative) , developmental psychology , isolation (microbiology) , social relation , social environment , social psychology , sociology , computer science , social science , psychotherapist , artificial intelligence , microbiology and biotechnology , art , literature , biology , programming language
SUMMARY This paper has pointed out some of the issues, difficulties and hopes involved in the research into the area of infant–environment interaction. A short exposition of the meaning of basic concepts of “interaction”, “infant” and “environment” was given. Viewing infant–environment research in perspective reveals a basic misunderstanding of the concept of “interaction” in its typical interpretation as the‐impact‐of‐environment‐on‐infant, or the more recent interpretation as the‐impact‐of‐infant‐on‐environment. This misunderstanding holds both for studies investigating the social environment (mother, foster‐parents, caretakers) as well as the non‐social environment (isolation, enrichment, mobiles). Four different research models were reviewed and some of their differences, contributions and limitations pointed out. Finally, some new developments were discussed that seem to indicate a somewhat more sophisticated approach to this area of research. Whether these advances will yield a better understanding of the complexities of infant–environment interaction and its effects on infant (and parental) development is still an open question.