Final answer:
Infants are born with reflexes like the Moro and grasping reflexes for physical contact, along with senses inclined towards human interaction. They can recognize their mother's voice and scent, aiding in caregiver bonding. Throughout their first year, they master smiling, babbling, and some may start walking.
Step-by-step explanation:
The initial social "skills" that an infant has are reflexive and designed to help them interact with and bond to their caregivers. From birth, infants are equipped with several innate reflexes vital for their development and sustenance. These include the Moro reflex and the grasping reflex, which assist in maintaining close physical contact with their caregiver. Infants have well-developed senses such as touch, hearing, and smell, enabling them to connect with and communicate their needs to those around them.
- Infants display a preference for human faces and can recognize their mother's voice, as shown by their stronger sucking response when hearing it.
- The strong sense of smell allows infants to distinguish their mother's scent, facilitating early bonding.
- Physical development milestones are notable; for instance, by six months, infants improve their vision, can babble, and express wariness of strangers.
Beyond these reflexes, an infant's senses are tailored to foster interactions that are crucial for their psychological and emotional development. For example, even though vision is their least developed sense, newborns prefer faces, and by three weeks, they show a predilection for their mother's voice. Progressing through infancy, they acquire additional skills, such as smiling, vocal babbling, crawling, and eventually, some begin to stand and walk by the end of their first year.