Abstract
The human infant has been reportayed in recent infancy research in relation to genetic vs. environmental determinants of development, significance of early integrative processes, didactic interventions (discovered in intuitive forms of parenting), and the role of preverbal parent-infant communication. The new interpretation of early didactic supports to social integration and speech acquisition may interest educational psychologists in particular. It explains the seeming contradiction between early learning and infantile amnesia, and reveals a parental preadaptedness which has evolved to mach both the needs and the constraints of infants in mastering the most significant means of human adaptation — speech. It seems plausible that in addition to the evolution of an advantageous vocal tract and necessary brain circuits for perception and production of vocal symbols, speech evolution has also been influenced by coevolution of supportive tendencies in social environment. Moreover, didactical features of intuitive interventions suggest that rational academic didactics may have deep biological roots in the evolution of human prosocial tendencies.
Résumé
Les recherches récentes considèrent, pour rendre compte du développement du nourrison, différents aspects cruciaux: les déterminants génétiques et environmentaux, l’importance des processes précoces d’intégration, les interventions didactiques (telles qu’elles apparaissent sous des formes intuitives chez les parents), et le rôle de la communication pré-verbale entre parents et nourrissons. Les psychologues de l’éducation sont particulièrement concernés par l’interprétation nouvelle des supports didactiques précoces à l’intégration sociale et à l’acquisition du langage. Cette interprétation rend compte de la contradiction apparente entre les apprentissages précoces et l’amnésie infantile, et met en évidence une préadaptation parentale, qui s’est développée pour tenir compte à la fois des besoins et des limitations de l’enfant pour maîtriser le moyen le plus important de l’adaptation humaine que constitue le langage. Il paraît plausible qu’en plus de l’évolution du tractus vocal et des voies nerveuses nécessaire pour la perception et la production de symboles langagiers, l’évolution du langage a été influenciée par l’évolution conjointe des soutiens fournis par l’environment. De plus, les caractéristiques didactiques des interventions intuitives suggèrent que les comportements didactiques rationnels peuvent avoir des racines biologiques profondes dans l’évolution des tendances prosociales humaines.
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The authors’ research has been kindly supported by Die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant Pa 208/4-2).
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Papouŝek, H., Papouŝek, M. Intuitive parenting: Aspects related to educational psychology. Eur J Psychol Educ 4, 201–210 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172602
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172602