Maternal task assignment promotes infants’ socio-cognitive development

Maternal task assignment is a crucial context for early prosocial development. Yet, how maternal task assignment may influence socio-cognitive development more generally has not been investigated. In 53 mother-infant dyads, with 16-month-old’s (M = 16.27, SD = .65; 30 boys) from urban Germany we assessed maternal task assignment and key socio-cognitive developments of the second year, namely infants’ joint attention, social interaction, social learning, helping and self-recognition. Maternal assertiveness, assigning tasks in a serious and persistent way, was associated with their infants’ socio-cognitive development across tasks. This association was mediated by infants’ responsiveness to their mothers’ request. Maternal deliberate task assignment, a culturally common scaffolding style in urban German contexts, was not associated with infants’ socio-cognitive development at this early age. Thus, involving infants in a serious and persistent manner may be essential for scaffolding their emerging socio-cognitive skills in this developmentally critical period, likely by promoting their novel role in social interactions and the motivation to engage with others.