From social expectations to social cognition in early infancy

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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
06:35

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

T Striano1

  • 1Junior Research Group on Cultural Ontogeny at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. striano@eva.mpg.de

Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic
|September 4, 2001
PubMed

Insights

Around 12 months, infants develop joint attention, crucial for understanding intentions and participating in culture. Early social expectations from face-to-face interactions may drive this significant social-cognitive shift.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Infant Social Cognition

Background:

  • Human infants undergo a significant social-cognitive transition around the end of their first year.
  • This transition is marked by the emergence of joint attentional behaviors.
  • These behaviors are linked to an infant's developing understanding of others' intentions and cultural participation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the origins of infants' social-cognitive repertoire emerging by the end of the first year.
  • To investigate the potential link between early social expectations and later social-cognitive changes.
  • To understand how early face-to-face interactions contribute to developing social understanding.

Main Methods:

  • This study is primarily theoretical, focusing on the synthesis of existing research and developmental observations.
  • It examines the period before the emergence of joint attention.
  • It analyzes the role of early social interactions and expectation formation in infants.

Main Results:

  • Infants are sophisticated social beings even before developing joint attention.
  • They form expectations about others and interact with them differentially from early on.
  • Early social expectations established through face-to-face interactions are proposed as a foundation for later social-cognitive developments.

Conclusions:

  • The development of joint attention and understanding of intentions in infants is potentially rooted in early social expectations.
  • Early social interactions play a critical role in shaping infants' social-cognitive abilities.
  • This research highlights the continuity of social development from infancy through the first year of life.

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