Características temperamentales y diferenciación entre objetos físicos y sociales en niños de tres y seis meses de edad

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the links between temperament features and the distinction between the social object and the physical object. A sample of 60 full-term infants, without pre and post-natal complications, from middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds was studied. The infants, at three and six months of age, were exposed to diferent situations involving both social and physical objects in which they could express their temperament features. The results indicated that the infants' reactions to physical objects and social objects were different in the dimensions of attention, activity, emtional tone and vocalizations, while the differences were not significant at 3 months in the dimensions of attention and emtional tone. These results are discussed in the light of present theoretical research in the area.