infant sociability/babies in groups
In parent infant psychotherapy, developmental psychology and public policy affecting the care of infants and under fives, until relatively recently the focus has been on mother infant communication and mother-infant relationships. There is now increasing interest in babies’ other relationships, both within and outside the family. Recent research indicates that babies can manage several important relationships and may be sensitive to the... more
Infant observation contributes to understanding the richness of infants' relationships, particularly within the family. However, our ability to gain access to infants' experience may be subtly affected by our interpretation of context and the adults' behaviour, especially their language. What kind of interaction is possible between preverbal infants without adults present and how can we understand what is going on between them... more
Introduced in the following way:
What about babies’ ability to participate in Group Processes?In our presentation we aim to push forward the question ‘Do babies show group relatedness?’ presenting material from a study that builds on Selby and Bradley’s babies-in-groups paradigm, as described by Markova and Legerstee. In the first instance the study aims to compare what may happen within infant trios with what may go on in foursomes.... more
An ability to deal with interaction involving more than one other person is essential to participating in group life including family life. Increased interest in interaction outside the mother infant dyad has led to studies of peer relationships and the origins of peer group behaviour. In practice peer interactions are studied on a dyadic model,with an implicit assumption that group competencies
can be derived by extrapolation from it.... more
Although there has been surprisingly little systematic research into language development in blind children, what evidence there is suggests that language problems of various kinds are common amongst the blind child population, and that relative delays and language difficulties are particularly marked in the early stages (see Urwin, 1979). This is in line with what one might expect from the sighted child literature. More specifically, this... more
Presentation at IVth European Conference on Developmenta l Psychology, Stirling , Scotland. 27th - 3l st August 1990 .
At the time, Cathy Urwin was working at the Cambridge University Child Care and Development Group
No slides are available, despite being referred to in the text.
This article explores what it means to know a person as distinct from the self. It uses examples of interactions between pairs of same-aged babies. I hope to illustrate the relevance of psychoanalytic concepts, focusing particularly on defences against anxiety, primitive phantasy and the account of the depressive position put forward by Melanie Klein. This refers to a phase rather than a stage development, or a reorientation in mental life... more
