ABSTRACT
During the second year of life infants become transformed into children. There are many profound ways in which this happens. Developments in motor control allow characteristically human forms of movement. For example, infants take their first steps at about 12 months, and are able to run and jump by the time the next year has passed. The development of a flexibly opposable thumb means that objects can be manipulated more efficiently and a variety of tools used more productively. Another distinguishing feature of human beings—language—also sees its florescence during the second year as children start to use words and then sentences to communicate with others around them. In parallel with early language development, toddlers enter the imaginative world of pretend play (McCune, 1995). Finally, and of most interest for us in this chapter, there are significant social and emotional changes occurring in the second year. Having described the changes in social behavior and the corresponding developments in commonsense psychology, we will turn in chapter 8 to language and the imagination.
