CHAPTER 9
Theories of Social
Development
ANDREW MACARA, Cricket, Sri Lanka (oil on canvas, 1998)
Psychoanalytic Theories
Learning Theories
Theories of Social Cognition
Ecological Theories
, THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
CONTINUITY/DISCONTINUITY
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
RESEARCH AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE
Imagine yourself interacting face-to-face with an infant. What is it
like? You naturally smile and speak in an affectionate tone of voice,
and the infant probably smiles and makes happy sounds back at you.
If for some reason you speak in a loud, harsh voice, the baby
becomes quiet and wary. If you look away, the infant follows your
gaze, as though there is something interesting to see in that direction.
Of course, the baby does not just respond to what you do; the baby
also engages in independent behaviours, examining objects or events
in the room or fussing for no obvious reason. Your interaction with
the baby evokes emotions in you — joy, affection, frustration, and so
on. Over time, through repeated interactions, you and the infant
learn about each other and smile and vocalize more readily to each
other than to someone else.
Now imagine that you are asked to interact with Kismet, the robot
pictured below, just as you would with a human infant. Although the
request might seem strange, Kismet’s facelike features make you
willing to give it a try. So you smile and speak in an affectionate tone
,— “Hi, Kismet, how are you?” Kismet smiles back at you and gurgles
happily. You speak harshly, “Kismet, stop that right now.” The robot
looks surprised — even a bit frightened — and makes a whimpering
sound. You find yourself spontaneously attempting to console
Kismet: “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it.” After just a few moments, you
have lost your feeling of self-consciousness and find the interaction
with your new metallic friend remarkably natural. You may even
start to feel fond of Kismet.
Like interactions between a parent and infant, a face-to-face interaction between
Kismet and its designer involves talking, cooing back and forth, and responding to
each other’s facial expressions.
Kismet was one of the world’s first “social robots.” Unlike robots that
are programmed to perform specific tasks (like a vacuuming
, Roomba), social robots are programmed to learn from their
interactions with humans, just as infants do. Accordingly, Kismet was
designed as a sociable, “cute” robot that could elicit “nurturing” from
humans. Kismet’s behaviour is readily interpretable in human terms,
and the robot even seems to have internal mental and emotional
states and a personality. Kismet learns from its interactions with
people — from their instructions and from their reactions to its
behaviour. Through these interactions, Kismet figures out how to
interpret facial expressions, how to communicate, what behaviours
are acceptable, and so on (Breazeal, 1998). Thus, Kismet develops
over time as a function of the interaction between the “innate”
structure built into it and its subsequent socially mediated
experience. Just like a baby!
The challenge for Kismet’s designers was in many ways like the task
of developmental scientists trying to understand how children’s
development is shaped through their interactions with other people.
Any successful account of social development must include the many
ways we influence one another, starting with the simple fact that no
human infant can survive without intensive, long-term care by other
people. We learn how to behave based on how others respond to our
behaviour; we learn how to interpret ourselves according to how
others treat us; and we interpret other people by analogy to ourselves
— all in the context of social interaction. Pioneers in robotics have
continued to use machines as a way to better understand the role of
social dynamics from infancy onward. In one recent application of
robotics to social development, researchers modeled the
Theories of Social
Development
ANDREW MACARA, Cricket, Sri Lanka (oil on canvas, 1998)
Psychoanalytic Theories
Learning Theories
Theories of Social Cognition
Ecological Theories
, THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
CONTINUITY/DISCONTINUITY
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
RESEARCH AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE
Imagine yourself interacting face-to-face with an infant. What is it
like? You naturally smile and speak in an affectionate tone of voice,
and the infant probably smiles and makes happy sounds back at you.
If for some reason you speak in a loud, harsh voice, the baby
becomes quiet and wary. If you look away, the infant follows your
gaze, as though there is something interesting to see in that direction.
Of course, the baby does not just respond to what you do; the baby
also engages in independent behaviours, examining objects or events
in the room or fussing for no obvious reason. Your interaction with
the baby evokes emotions in you — joy, affection, frustration, and so
on. Over time, through repeated interactions, you and the infant
learn about each other and smile and vocalize more readily to each
other than to someone else.
Now imagine that you are asked to interact with Kismet, the robot
pictured below, just as you would with a human infant. Although the
request might seem strange, Kismet’s facelike features make you
willing to give it a try. So you smile and speak in an affectionate tone
,— “Hi, Kismet, how are you?” Kismet smiles back at you and gurgles
happily. You speak harshly, “Kismet, stop that right now.” The robot
looks surprised — even a bit frightened — and makes a whimpering
sound. You find yourself spontaneously attempting to console
Kismet: “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it.” After just a few moments, you
have lost your feeling of self-consciousness and find the interaction
with your new metallic friend remarkably natural. You may even
start to feel fond of Kismet.
Like interactions between a parent and infant, a face-to-face interaction between
Kismet and its designer involves talking, cooing back and forth, and responding to
each other’s facial expressions.
Kismet was one of the world’s first “social robots.” Unlike robots that
are programmed to perform specific tasks (like a vacuuming
, Roomba), social robots are programmed to learn from their
interactions with humans, just as infants do. Accordingly, Kismet was
designed as a sociable, “cute” robot that could elicit “nurturing” from
humans. Kismet’s behaviour is readily interpretable in human terms,
and the robot even seems to have internal mental and emotional
states and a personality. Kismet learns from its interactions with
people — from their instructions and from their reactions to its
behaviour. Through these interactions, Kismet figures out how to
interpret facial expressions, how to communicate, what behaviours
are acceptable, and so on (Breazeal, 1998). Thus, Kismet develops
over time as a function of the interaction between the “innate”
structure built into it and its subsequent socially mediated
experience. Just like a baby!
The challenge for Kismet’s designers was in many ways like the task
of developmental scientists trying to understand how children’s
development is shaped through their interactions with other people.
Any successful account of social development must include the many
ways we influence one another, starting with the simple fact that no
human infant can survive without intensive, long-term care by other
people. We learn how to behave based on how others respond to our
behaviour; we learn how to interpret ourselves according to how
others treat us; and we interpret other people by analogy to ourselves
— all in the context of social interaction. Pioneers in robotics have
continued to use machines as a way to better understand the role of
social dynamics from infancy onward. In one recent application of
robotics to social development, researchers modeled the
