Colwyn Trevarthen (2 March 1931 – 1 July 2024) was a New Zealand-British academic who was Professor of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Edinburgh.
He believed that very young babies rapidly develop proto-cultural intelligence through interacting with other people, including in teasing fun play.
[8] He believes babies are looking for companionship (including the sense of fun and playfulness), engagement and relationship (rather than using the term attachment), and that companions can include mothers, fathers, other adults, peers and siblings; he has said "I think the ideal companion – and it can be a practitioner or not – is a familiar person who really treats the baby with playful human respect.
[6][7] Stephen Seligman[14] said Trevarthen "has distinguished himself for more than four decades as one of the most inventive and rigorous explorers of infant development and its implications.
Among the infant research cognoscenti, he ranks... in breaking misleading assumptions of the varied disciplines to see what mothers and babies really do.