Study of the association between children getting free from diapers and the use of the pronoun in first person (I)

• Grant number: 15/26475-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2016
• End date: November 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Rogerio Lerner
• Grantee: Anna Victória Pandjarjian Mekhitarian Moraes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

It is notorious the confluence of the period of life in which babies get free from diapers and in which starts, in the speech, the use of the pronoun in the first person (I). Babies get free from diapers, in most of the cultures, between 24 and 36 months (Mota, 2008; Mota & Barros, 2008), occurring the same for the use of the personal pronoun I in speech (Johns Hopkins Medicine website, accessed in May 2016). In spite of this clear temporal approach, very little research is dedicated to investigate a possible association between those milestones in the human development. Because of this fact, from a Winnicott's theoretical perspective, this project aims to investigate the relationship between changes in the way of dealing with the own body and changes in the use of language. To do so, the following behavior regarding will be taken: steps involved in the process in which babies get free from diapers and the use of first person pronouns to refer to the person who speaks. Methodologically, it will be a case study with three children followed over for a period of ten months each. There will be age overlapping periods with the intention of making a comparative study (the early ages will be 18, 22 and 26 months). Every month playing sessions will be done to investigate the use, by the children, of speech markers that show the self-consciousness. The development of the body's own control will be investigated by monthly semi-structured interviews with the main caretakers of the children. The playing sessions will be filmed and the interviews will be recorded by the researcher in a field diary. The collected data will be analyzed qualitatively. (AU)