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Philosophers since Plato had speculated about the importance of infancy, but it was not until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that scientific observations of infants and theoretical speculations about infants began in earnest. Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud were largely responsible for these initiatives. Not until the middle of the twentieth century did the scientific study of infancy elicit widespread attention, although infancy has since become one of the most stimulating areas of research in the biological, behavioral, and social sciences. Researchers have come to appreciate how much the study of infancy
contributes to our knowledge of developmental processes and the role early experience plays in shaping those processes. Scientific interest in infant development has also expanded during this time, in part because of the emergence of some remarkably influential theories and in part because technological advances
rendered infants accessible to empirical inquiry. As a result of this intensified scrutiny, our understanding of infancy itself has increased dramatically in the last 3 decades.
