Since the 1970s researchers in the communicative development of infants and small children had rejected traditional models and began to explore the complex, dynamic properties of communicative exchanges. This title, originally published in 1993, proposed a new and advanced frame of reference to account for the growing body of empirical work on the emergence of communication processes at the time. Communication development in the early years of life undergoes universal processes of change and variations linked to the characteristics and qualities of different social contexts. The first section of the book presents key issues in communication research which were either revisited (intentional communication, imitation, symbolic play) or newly introduced (co-regulation, the role of emotions, shared meaning) in recent years. The second section provides an account of communication as a context-bound process partly inspired by theoretical accounts such as those of Vygotsky and Wallon. Included here are new studies showing differences in communication between infants compared with those between infants and adults, which also have important methodological implications. With perspectives from developmental psychology, psycholinguistics and educational psychology, the international contributors give a multi-disciplinary account of the expansion, variety and richness of current research on early communication. This title will be of particular interest to those involved in child development and communication research, as well as for social, educational and clinical psychologists.

Since the 1970s researchers in the communicative development of infants and small children had rejected traditional models and began to explore the complex, dynamic properties of communicative exchanges. This title, originally published in 1993, proposed a new and advanced frame of reference to account for the growing body of empirical work on the emergence of communication processes at the time. Communication development in the early years of life undergoes universal processes of change and variations linked to the characteristics and qualities of different social contexts. The first section of the book presents key issues in communication research which were either revisited (intentional communication, imitation, symbolic play) or newly introduced (co-regulation, the role of emotions, shared meaning) in recent years. The second section provides an account of communication as a context-bound process partly inspired by theoretical accounts such as those of Vygotsky and Wallon. Included here are new studies showing differences in communication between infants compared with those between infants and adults, which also have important methodological implications. With perspectives from developmental psychology, psycholinguistics and educational psychology, the international contributors give a multi-disciplinary account of the expansion, variety and richness of current research on early communication. This title will be of particular interest to those involved in child development and communication research, as well as for social, educational and clinical psychologists.

What determines the focus of a researcher's interest, the sources of inspiration for a study, or the variables scrutinized? If we were to examine the antecedents of these decisions, they would surely emerge as accidents of circumstance--the personal experiences of the researcher, the inspiration of early mentors, the influence of contemporary colleagues--all tempered by the intellectual currents that nurture the researcher's hypotheses. Among the accidents that mold the careers of researchers is geographic location. The culture in which a research program emerges helps determine both its very subject and its method. The primary purpose of this book is to assist those interested in the scientific study of children's social competence in transcending the boundaries imposed both by geography and by selective exposure to the highly diverse schools of thought that have led to interest in this field. Most of these ideas were presented and exchanged at an Advanced Study Institute entitled "Social Competence in Developmental Perspective" held in Savoie, France, in July 1988. This Institute was attended by scholars from France, England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Canada, the United States and Brazil. Those who participated will recognize that the metamorphosis from lecture to chapter has necessitated many changes. In order to accommodate the reader who may be unfamiliar with the field, more attention has been paid here to identifying the theoretical contexts of the research described.

What determines the focus of a researcher's interest, the sources of inspiration for a study, or the variables scrutinized? If we were to examine the antecedents of these decisions, they would surely emerge as accidents of circumstance--the personal experiences of the researcher, the inspiration of early mentors, the influence of contemporary colleagues--all tempered by the intellectual currents that nurture the researcher's hypotheses. Among the accidents that mold the careers of researchers is geographic location. The culture in which a research program emerges helps determine both its very subject and its method. The primary purpose of this book is to assist those interested in the scientific study of children's social competence in transcending the boundaries imposed both by geography and by selective exposure to the highly diverse schools of thought that have led to interest in this field. Most of these ideas were presented and exchanged at an Advanced Study Institute entitled "Social Competence in Developmental Perspective" held in Savoie, France, in July 1988. This Institute was attended by scholars from France, England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Canada, the United States and Brazil. Those who participated will recognize that the metamorphosis from lecture to chapter has necessitated many changes. In order to accommodate the reader who may be unfamiliar with the field, more attention has been paid here to identifying the theoretical contexts of the research described.

First published in 1999, this book brings together the extensive modern evidence for innate imitation in babies. Modern research has shown imitation to be a natural mechanism of learning and communication which deserves to be at centre stage in developmental psychology. Yet the very possibility of imitation in newborn humans has had a controversial history. Defining imitation has proved to be far from straightforward and scientific evidence for its existence in neonates is only now becoming accepted, despite more than a century of enquiry. In this book, some of the world's foremost researchers on imitation and intellectual development review evidence for imitation in newborn babies. They discuss the development of imitation in infancy, in both normal and atypical populations and in comparison with other primate species, stressing the fundamental importance of imitation in human development, as a foundation of communication and a precursor to symbolic processes.

From prenatal life onwards, our emotions play a central role in our development. Exactly how emotions shape our lives is less clear. We know that emotional impairments can have a disastrous effect on development. We know that emotions play a key role in adaptation. We know that traumatic emotional events can scar individuals. The processes through which these emotional changes occur are complex however, and have recently become the subject of considerable interest in the cognitive sciences. In this volume an outstanding group of scientists considers emotional development from fetal life onwards. The book includes views from neuroscience, primatology, robotics, psychopathology, and prenatal development. It also includes studies of emotional development in both normal and clinical populations. The first of its kind, this book will be of major interest to all those studying emotion, from the fields of social, developmental, and clinical psychology, to psychiatry, and neuroscience.