Editing Infant (section)

== Behaviour ==
===Emotional development===
[[File:Being a twin means you always have a pillow or blanket handy.jpg|thumb|222x222px|Eight-month-old [[Fraternal twin|twin sisters]]]]
Attachment theory is primarily an [[Adaptation|evolutionary]] and [[Ethology|ethological]] theory whereby the infant or child ''seeks proximity'' to a ''specified attachment figure'' in situations of alarm or distress for the purpose of survival.<ref name="Tronick et al.">{{cite journal|doi=10.1037/0012-1649.28.4.568|title=The Efe forager infant and toddler's pattern of social relationships: Multiple and simultaneous|year=1992|last1=Tronick|first1=Edward Z.|last2=Morelli|first2=Gilda A.|last3=Ivey|first3=Paula K.|journal=Developmental Psychology|volume=28|issue=4|pages=568–577 |quote=Until recently, scientific accounts ... of the infant's early social experiences converged on the view that the infant progresses from a primary relationship with one individual... to relationships with a growing number of people... This is an epigenetic, hierarchical view of social development. We have labeled this dominant view the continuous care and contact model (CCC...). The CCC model developed from the writings of Spitz..., Bowlby..., and Provence and Lipton... on institutionalized children and is represented in the psychological views of Bowlby...[and others]. Common to the different conceptual frameworks is the belief that parenting practices and the infant's capacity for social engagement are biologically based and conform to a prototypical form. Supporters of the CCC model generally recognize that the infant and caregiver are able to adjust to a range of conditions, but they consider the adjustments observed to reflect biological variation. However, more extreme views (e.g., maternal bonding) consider certain variants as non adaptive and as compromising the child's psychological development. Bowlby's concept of monotropism is an exemplar of the CCC perspective...}}</ref> The forming of attachments is considered to be the foundation of the infant/child's capacity to form and conduct relationships throughout life. Attachment is not the same as love or affection although they often go together. Attachment and attachment [[behavior]]s tend to develop between the age of six months and 3 years. Infants become [[Attachment in children|attached]] to adults who are sensitive and responsive in [[social interaction]]s with the infant, and who remain as consistent caregivers for some time. Parental responses lead to the development of patterns of attachment, which in turn lead to 'internal working models' which will guide the individual's feelings, thoughts, and expectations in later relationships.<ref name="Bretherton">Bretherton, I. and Munholland, K., A. Internal Working Models in Attachment Relationships: A Construct Revisited. ''Handbook of Attachment:Theory, Research and Clinical Applications'' 1999 eds Cassidy, J. and Shaver, P., R. Guilford press {{ISBN|1-57230-087-6}}{{page needed|date=July 2015}}</ref> There are a number of [[Attachment in children|attachment 'styles']] namely 'secure', 'anxious-ambivalent', 'anxious-avoidant', (all 'organized') and 'disorganized', some of which are more problematic than others. A lack of attachment or a seriously disrupted capacity for attachment could potentially amount to serious disorders.<ref>{{cite book|title=Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect|isbn = 978-0-521-37969-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74gyVSJhg5oC&q=baby+attachment+theory&pg=PA432|access-date=21 December 2018|last1 = Cicchetti|first1 = Dante|last2 = Carlson|first2 = Vicki|date = 30 June 1989| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>

Infants develop distinct relationships to their mothers, fathers, siblings, and non-familial caregivers.<ref>Klitzing K von, Simoni H, Amsler F, Burgin D: The role of the father in early family interactions. Inf Mental Health J 1999; 20: 222–37.</ref> Beside the dyadic attachment relationships also a good quality of the triadic relationships (mother – father – infant) is important for infant mental health development.<ref name="pmid10216817">{{cite journal | vauthors = von Klitzing K, Simoni H, Bürgin D | title = Child development and early triadic relationships | journal = The International Journal of Psychoanalysis | volume = 80 ( Pt 1) | pages = 71–89 | date = February 1999 | pmid = 10216817 | doi = 10.1516/0020757991598576 | doi-broken-date = 6 December 2024 }}</ref><ref name="pmid28682511">{{cite journal | vauthors = von Klitzing K, Bürgin D | title = Parental capacities for triadic relationships during pregnancy: Early predictors of children's behavioral and representational functioning at preschool age | journal = Infant Mental Health Journal | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | pages = 19–39 | date = January 2005 | pmid = 28682511 | doi = 10.1002/imhj.20032 }}</ref>

===Response to sounds===
Infants respond to the sound of snake hissing, angry voices of adults, the crackling sound of a fire, thunder, and the cries of other infants. They have a drop in heart rate, their eyes blinking, increased turning toward the speakers or parent, all of these indicating that they were paying more attention. This is believed to be an evolutionary response to danger. Babies' ability to accurately locate sounds is refined during their first year.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Erlich |first1=Nicole |last2=Lipp |first2=Ottmar V. |last3=Slaughter |first3=Virginia |title=Of hissing snakes and angry voices: human infants are differentially responsive to evolutionary fear-relevant sounds |journal=Developmental Science |year=2013 |volume=16 |issue=6 |pages=894–904 |pmid=24118715 |doi=10.1111/desc.12091 }}</ref>