Teamwork from the start: Children, parents, and human nature

ABSTRACT

Humans are inherently social beings. Our ability to communicate and collaborate with others is essential for survival and success in society. As adults, we often take these skills for granted. However, when you consider it, our capacity to communicate and coordinate our actions with others in diverse ways is quite remarkable. We can generally communicate with strangers almost as easy as with long-term acquaintances. We recognise when someone needs help or is struggling with a problem and adjust our actions accordingly. How do we achieve this? Are we born with these capacities, or do we develop them over time through our experiences with the social world?

With a toolkit of diverse methods, developmental psychology has revealed that the answers to these questions lie in infancy and early childhood. In this talk, I will share my journey as a developmental scientist, exploring what infants and young children understand about the shared nature of human behaviour and how this understanding shapes their ability to communicate and coordinate with others. I will discuss the crucial role of social interactions in this development and reveal how a digital baby might help us unlock the mystery of how infant behaviour fosters responsive and coordinated social interactions. While many questions remain unclear, what is evident is that although infants are just starting their own journey into human society, they are prepared to be part of the team from the start.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Annette, originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, earned her BA (First Class Hons, 1999) and MSc (2002) from the University of Calgary. She completed her PhD in Developmental Psychology at Queen’s University (2007) and a post-doc at the University of Maryland. Her early research focused on children’s word learning and cooperation.

Since joining Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland in 2009 and founding the Early Learning Lab (ELLA), Annette has explored how biological and experiential factors influence cooperation and prosocial behaviours in early childhood. Annette’s work also focuses on identifying the factors that support or hinder responsiveness and coordination in parent-child interactions.

Annette values her enduring collaborations that have opened new research directions and enjoys science communication through media. Career highlights include serving as President of the Australasian Human Development Association (AHDA), being a Rutherford Discovery Fellow, and becoming the Inaugural Director of the School of Psychology’s new Centre of Developmental Science (2025).