Because human infants are unable to fend for themselves, they
are wholly dependent upon caretakers for much of their early lives. In general, newborns are not
capable of (nor interested in) communicating much beyond whatever it takes to get their
immediate personal needs met. In fact, from birth until around three months of age, infants are
not terribly discriminating about who cares for them.
Once they are about
three months old, however, babies not only begin to recognize people, they can also start to
discern the differences between the faces and voices of individuals. It is only when babies have
reached the age of about nine months that they begin to form lasting connections with specific
caretakers. The very fact that newborns rely so wholeheartedly on adults to fulfill their needs
demonstrates that babies may be more social than we initially thought.
In
fact, I would argue that most infants are not truly asocial; they just haven't learned how to
communicate effectively with us yet. And yet babies are skilled at getting
our attention when they need care of some sort; they simply cry, which is the only option
available to them in infancy. Once babies grow are older and more capable of abstract thought,
they naturally learn how to operate effectively in social settings.
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