The Learning of Social Behavior

The newborn child is neither a social nor an unsocial being. He is a highly complex organism equipped to respond to certain sorts of stimulations, as has been seen throughout the discussion of infant behavior. He also possesses a high degree of modifiability and significant potentialities for future growth and development. How soon after birth, then, does the child first show evidences of social behavior, of responding to the presence or activities of other persons? What are some of his earliest social responses? What particular kinds of stimulations evoke them? How do infants respond to the presence of other infants? What development of social behavior occurs during infancy and the pre-school years? During the years from six to twelve? What are the causes and significance of conflicts between children? What factors influence the child's social development? What is the significance of social approval, self-assertion, language development, gregariousness and other elements upon the development of social behavior during the first dozen years of life? These are some of the important problems whose answers now concern us.

Although the infant is non-social at birth, he cannot remain so for a very long time. He lives in a society and is constantly dependent upon other people for his welfare and comforts. Accordingly, the infant soon learns to make responses to other persons. As he grows from infancy to childhood, these social adjustments become even more evident.

The Learning of Social Behavior

The earliest social behavior of infants arises from the care and handling given to them by, adults. When a baby is fed, dried, kept warm or petted, he responds by behavior that may be taken to indicate satisfaction. If he is restless or crying, this agitated behavior ceases. With a little greater maturity, positive evidences of pleasure are apparent in the forms of smiling, gurgling, cooing, laughing, and reaching with the arms. Fundamentally, all social behavior is based on these responses to the satisfaction of the infant's bodily needs.

During the early months of life, learning takes place by which these reactions come to be made to persons, rather than only to the actual bodily stimulations. This learning is an example of the operation of the conditioned reaction. Since the mother or nurse or some other adult is always present when these ameliorative satisfactions are administered, the sight, sound, or other symbol of these persons becomes capable of evoking the response. The beginning of social behavior in infants is dependent upon the development of their abilities of perception and discrimination and upon the occurrence of experiences through which they may learn.