Social dynamics of early human development

Journal ArticleI present the outlines of theory of social dynamics that combines a dynamic systems perspective and a Gibsonian ecological perspective to an understanding of the development of action (Fogel, in press). Different physical and social environments afford different opportunities for action. A rattle affords noise making, for example. To activate this affordance, the individual has to identify the specific microscopic movements necessary to evoke sound from the rattle: the arm and wrist movements related to shaking. How does a baby come to acquire this action? Partly by exploratory play, but at first this play is embedded in social interaction. A social dynamic perspective suggests that during adult-infant interaction, adults identify action affordances that the infant is potentially capable of doing. Then, development occurs by two processes. In the first, the adult engages a child in a joint construction of the action afforded by the situation, helping the child perform the action via a co-regulation of the relevant movement parameters (e. g., demonstrating rattle shaking then placing the object in the infant's hand, or moving the infant's hand. In the second process, the adult transmits or receives information that highlights the relevant parameters of movement related to action affordances