ABSTRACT
In the Russian dolls metaphor of Bronfenbrenner's systems of developmental contexts, the smallest but central doll is the child himself or herself. This chapter is about this smallest doll; about the characteristics, states and processes which we attribute to the child itself (although it will become clear that these `intrinsic' attributes are more often than not socially constituted and modi®ed). It includes discussion of things about the child that are generally analysed in terms of biology ± evolved characteristics, brain development, physiological self-regulation; but links these to characteristics where social and cultural pressures are increasingly evident as important determinants ± personality and self-concept, con¯ict with siblings and others, taking on social roles. I begin with what might be evolutionary `givens'; discuss self-regulation at some length; and proceed to ways of looking at the development of personality and of certain social emotions. The smallest doll will turn out to be a highly complex creature with a host of different factors affecting its development, some intrinsic to itself, most interacting with the outer dolls.
