The Naive Theory of the Infant and Some Maternal Attitudes

Abstract

Attitudes and beliefs are regarded as guides to action in early childhood socialization. Since the cultural specifity of those attitudes is commonly stressed, two countries are analyzed in this study. The cross-cultural design is aimed at clarifying socialization concepts. Pregnant women of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Costa Rica were asked about their expectancies, timetable of care-giving activities, child rearing, and sources of information on child development. The results indicate different lay or "naive" theories of child development, mostly concerning the onset of cognitive abilities and prolonged bodily dependency. The experience, as expressed in differences in parity, does not seem to have a substantial influence.