Adults' interpretation of infants' acts.

Adults are often viewed as skilled interpreters who understand infants' acts even when they are unconventional and diffuse. The first step in interpretation—the selection of acts from the stream of behavior—is examined here. One hundred forty adults (mothers and fathers and other men and women) viewed videotapes of 9-, 15-, and 21-month-old infants. One half of the subjects were asked to note times when they thought the baby performed a meaningful act; the other half of the subjects were asked to note an intentionally communicative act. Times were recorded by a microcomputer. Parents selected more meaningful acts than nonparents and agreed more about selection of all acts. All subjects agreed more about intentionally communicative than about meaningful acts, at least for older infants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)