"口"概念の獲得課程 : 一乳児の食べさせる行動の研究

抄録

This is a study of how an infant develops the concept of "mouth" through interaction with his parents and close relatives in his first year of life. For grown-ups, there is hardly any doubt that their mouths are isomorphic in shape and function to those of others. This type of cognizance develops quite early in an infant's life. At three months, he begins to eagerly watch others' eating while sitting on a parent's lap. At five months, he sits on a high chair at meal time and begins to show interest in the food others are eating. At seven months, he occasionally makes a motion of feeding others. Five different types of feeding behavior appear successively. The fifth type is the behavior of feeding doll, which appears at eleven months. At this stage of development, the infant is assumed to have recognized the isomorphism in shape and function between his mouth and others. It is argued that an infant acquires the concept of "mouth" in such a dynamic social context.