Abstract
The evidence presented in this chapter suggests that infant communicative action is highly context specific, showing remarkable variability to even subtle alterations of the social and physical settings in which interaction occurs. The chapter includes reviews of research on affective communication during face-to-face interactions between infants and their social partners, gestural communication in adult-infant interaction, differences in mother versus father interactive patterns with infants, and finally, research on how infants interact in group settings in the family and with peers. These areas reflect the research interest and expertise of the authors and are not intended to cover the scope of work in infant social and communicative development. Rather, our purpose is primarily conceptual: To show by example that infant social and communicative action is constituted by the dynamic interplay between individuals and the social contexts and physical settings in which that interaction occurs.
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Walker, H., Messinger, D., Fogel, A., Karns, J. (1992). Social and Communicative Development in Infancy. In: Van Hasselt, V.B., Hersen, M. (eds) Handbook of Social Development. Perspectives in Developmental Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0694-6_7
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