There's a really interesting program on PBS tonight about the brain.. Specifically the segment discussing the question: At what age do we develop the "human spark"? It isn't at birth, they observe, but at around 9 or 10 months of age. Basically from birth to this age, a human is much like an animal. Their reactions to communication are similar but they do not understand language per say at such a young age... learning language is when the human spark begins.
Babies will coo and make noises and will seem to understand differences in the sound of their mother's voice, but this behavior is much like a dog's reaction to the same type of communication. Interesting! (So a baby is much like a pet in the beginning, haha.. until it learns... because it's capacity is so much greater than an animal).
Another study showed that at 6-9months, a baby can tell which character traits in others are preferable to them. They were shown puppets interacting with each other. Almost 100% of the time the child preferred the nicer character, based solely on motion behavior, no voice, and were able to identify good versus bad intentions in inanimate objects. Kinda makes you feel the need to be more intentional about the way you act around kids.
Babies can also spot others who are like them and make preferences. In this test there were 2 foods given to the child, who then made his food preference. A puppet was used to prefer one food and another was used to prefer the other. When given the choice the baby chose the puppet who liked the same food he liked.. same results almost 100% of the time as well.
A child by the age of 5 is capable of what they called "theory of mind," where they are able to consider their own intentions, as well as others' intentions.. like considering what other people might be thinking about.
So interesting! I always wondered what babies actually think about. Turns out, before 6-9 months or so, like an animal, they're only able to consider their own intentions for basic necessities.. as they slowly become aware that this thing called communication actually exists and that it can do things for them.
Basically the message behind this show is that language and communication is the "spark" that sets us apart from every other species on this planet. It's what essentially gives us the ability to wonder, to hope, to plan for the future, to make our lives what they are.
