Reflection-Impulsivity Kagan

Articles Infant Antecedents of Cognitive Fimctioning: A Longitudinal Study
Jerome Kagan and Deborah H. Lapidus
Harvard Universtiy

Michael Moore
Boston College

KAGAN, ]EF.o^^^l: LAPIDUS, DEBORAH R.; and MOOBE, MICHAEL. Infant Antecedents of Cognitive Functioning: A Longitudinal Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 1005-1023. A follow-up investigation of 35 boys and .33 girls 10 years oldwho had been assessed originally at 4, 8, 13, and 27 months old did not reveal strong relations between infant variables such as attentiveness, vocal excitabilitj', irritabilitv or activity, on the one hand, and reflection-implusi\'ity, intelligence quotient, or reading ability at £ge 10. A suggestive relation was found between assimilative smiling during infancy and a reflective attitude on theMatching Familiar Figures Test and between a slo\v tempo of play during infancy and longer response time on a specially constructed Embedded Figures Test at'age 10. Although attentiveness during infancy predi'eted IQ and reading ab-Jity at age 10, both infancy anc? childhood variables v.-ere positively correlated with social class, suggesting that experiences associated with the social class of theparents, rather than particularlnfant "qualities, were the more lmpoitant predictors of the cognitive variables at age 10. Children with high EMG levels from the flexor forearm tended to be slightly more impulsive Rt age 10 and less attentive at 27 months, even when the effect of social class was

¥^estem scientists have always shown curiosity about origins, and psychologists have implementedthat concern through an interest in the early antecedents of behavioral pattems displayed during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Many have supposed tbat the Intellectual, affective, and social profiles of the older chiid could be previewed, albeit in subtle or disguised form, in the infant. However, research during the past 15-20 years has failed to find firm support for the hypothesis thatbehaviors displayed during the first 2 or 3 years of Me are predictive of later beha^dor (Bayley 1964; Bell, Weller, & Waldrop 1971; Jones, Macfarlane, & Eichorn 1959; Kagan 1971-, Kagan, Kearsley, & Zelazo 1978; Kagan & Moss 1962; Macfariane, Allen, & Honzik 1954, Rutter 1970; Thomas & Chess 1977). Despite these Laitial findings, those who still believe in a psychoiogical connec-tion betweeninfancy and later child-

hood are not forced to give up their faith, because the majority of published studies have been atheoretical and broad gauged in their sampling of variables. ITie investigators typically correlated a set of molar behaviors during infancy with another set in childhood and explored'the large matrix of coefficients, trying to rationalize, after the fact, the few significantcorrelations that emerged. Those who maintain that there is a meaningful relation between the behaviors of infancy and those of later childhood can argue, legitimately, that the predictive threads are likely to be selective and subtle rather than broad and obvious. Hence, it is still reasonable to argue for limited studies that explore specific hypotheses, Although the doctrine of infant deterrninismis weaker" today than it vvas 40 years ago, it is still hardy, and additional empirical information is of value. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate one major

This researcli was supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corpcretion of New York. We wish to tliank Garj' Sch%vartz, Ruth Gallagher, Cheryl Minton, Robert Berwick, Sarah Stent, Carole Lavvton, anJi Kim Panushka. MichaelMexjre is now at the Department of Psychology, Boston CoUege. Deborah Lapidus is in San Diego. Tiie authors aie listed alphabetically and not by extent of contribation.
)G5-iO23 (c) 1978 by the Society for Research in Child Development Inc

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Child Development
they do not know how to solve the problem. The children in these two groups may or may not be concerned with error. Block,...