Offers psychologist Baldwin's theory as an approach to the development of social understanding emphasizing gradual differentiation of self and other and rooting this process in embodied activity within a social context. Argues that Baldwin's account provides a stronger starting point for conceptualizing the infant's discovery of other, self, and…

Examines development of representational thought from the perspective of Jean Mandler's image-schema theory and an action-theoretical approach derived from Piaget's theory. Concludes that empirical findings fail to support hypotheses of early onset, and that representational development is more adequately interpreted within the context of an…