The Beginnings of Social Understanding

Judy Dunn

Published by Harvard University Press 1988

The Beginnings of Social Understanding

Judy Dunn

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674330610

Overview
Contents

About this book

When does our acknowledgment of the social contract really begin? When do young children first display an understanding of their social world? When and why do they begin to grasp that other people have feelings and thoughts like their own, yet different? In this pathbreaking work Judy Dunn explores several aspects of the early process of social discovery: children's recognition of the feelings of others, their ability to interpret and anticipate the behavior and relationships of others, and their comprehension of the prohibitions and accepted practices of their world.

Dunn's work brings into focus an apparent paradox in our current view of the very young child's social understanding. Whereas research on infancy reveals that babies are born with a predisposition to learn about other people, and appear sensitive to the emotions and behavior of others, experimental studies suggest that children of three, four, and five years of age have difficulty gauging the feelings, intentions, and perceptions of others. Why should this social intelligence--which might be expected to be high on the developmental agenda--proceed so slowly? Is the social understanding of young children really so limited? Dunn pursues answers to these questions through close observation of children in their homes, in the complex social world of the family; her findings suggest a sophistication that has not yet been appreciated or documented.

The Beginnings of Social Understanding draws upon observations and analyses from three longitudinal studies of children during the transition from infancy to childhood, examining children's disputes, jokes, play, their questions and narratives about others. The book demonstrates children's increasing subtlety as members of a cultural world, and argues that emotional relationships and family discourse play crucial roles in the development of this understanding. Dunn breaks through traditional notions of child development as she sets forth a refreshingly original perspective from which to view the social potential of children.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	v
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
1. Understanding Others? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Confronting the Mother Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
3. Confronting the Sibling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
4. Understanding, Self-Interest, and Family Relationships Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
5. Benevolent Babies? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
6. Cooperation between Siblings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
7. Talking about Others: Questions, Interventions, Narrative Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
8. Jokes and Humor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
9. Implications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Appendix 1: Participants and Methods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Appendix 2: Narrative Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Edition: Reprint 2013
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 212
Illustrations
- Other: illustrations
Keywords: Social perception in children.; Social interaction in children.; Families.

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674330610

Hardcover

Published: February 5, 1988
ISBN: 9780674330603