Infancy

Abstract

Research on the psychology of infancy in the 1980s was prolific and diverse. At least four different perspectives have been taken. The first views the infant as information processor, adopts the methods and assumptions of experimental psychology, and focuses on such fundamental processes as attention, perception, emotion, learning and memory, search and exploration, and cognition. The second views the infant as an infant, as part of the natural world, and focuses on the important developmental milestones that uniquely characterize the period of infancy, such as walking, talking, forming relationships, and developing a sense of self. The third perspective views the infant as an eventual adult, emphasizes differences among individuals, and focuses on continuities across age and experiences such as biological risk factors, characteristics of rearing environments, and planned intervention that influence the kinds of adults infants will turn out to be. The fourth perspective focuses not on the infant per se, but on the general process of development; the issues examined concern the description and explanation of development, in terms of the existence of shifts and stages, the relationship of early attainments to later ones, the bidirectional influence of genes and environments, the timing of experience, individuals' contributions to their own experiences, and the reversibility of development. Synthesis across perspectives is difficult, but remains possible. The field of infancy research is a microcosm of psychology, but one that retains a view of the organism as holistic being. As such, the study of infancy produces insights of considerable relevance to psychology as a whole.