Infancy & Childhood

Chapter 10

Section 1: The Study of Development

Prenatal Care

• Must get enough to eat• Take folic acid• Best to be under age 40• No smoking, alcohol, or drugs

• STDs can be detrimental

Prenatal Development• Zygote

• Embryo

• Fetus

Infants

• APGAR Test (1-10 Score range)

Developmental Psychology

• Study of growth and change of people throughout the life span

• Longitudinal Studies vs. Cross-Sectional Studies

Nature vs. Nurture

• Nature –

– Maturation –

– Critical period – time when human / animal is best suited to learn a particular skill or behavior pattern

Nature vs. Nurture

• Nurture – environment– Tabula Rosa – John

Locke believed the mind of the infant is a blank slate

Stages vs. Continuity

• Does development occur in stages or as one continuous process?

• Both, depending on the situation– Sit / crawl / stand / walk in stages– Growth in weight and height from ages 2-11 is

continuous

Section 2: Physical Development

Height and Weight

• Slows down throughout rest of childhood

• Most dramatic gains in height and weight occur before infant is born

Motor Development

• Purposeful movement that usually occurs in stages

Reflexes

• Involuntary reaction or response (inborn)– Examples: breathing,

blinking, swallowing, sucking, etc.

– Rooting Reflex

– Moro Reflex

– Babinski Reflex

Perceptual Development

• Vision– At first, prefer pictures with complex patterns– Eventually prefer pictures of human faces

• Depth Perception – the visual cliff experiment

Perceptual Development (cont’d)

• Hearing– Respond more to high-pitched sounds &

mother’s voice

• Smell and Taste– Respond immediately to strong odors

Section 3: Social Development

Development of Attachment

• Attachment – emotional ties that form between people

• Stranger Anxiety –

• Separation Anxiety –

Contact Comfort

• Used to believe we became attached to those that fed us

• Harlow’s monkey experiments proved we have a basic need to touch and be touched by something soft (skin or fur)– Stronger than need for food

Imprinting

• Attachment can be instinctual• Some animals attach during a critical period

just after birth• First moving object is imprinted on young

animal

Secure vs. Insecure Attachment

• When parents are affectionate and reliable, infants become securely attached

• Unresponsive and unreliable parents cause insecure attachment

Styles of Parenting

•Permissive

• Cold• Warm

•Strict

DemandingPossessiveControllingDictatorial

Antagonistic

SupportiveProtective

AffectionateFlexibleCaring

LenientDemocraticInconsistent

Overindulgent

NeglectingIndifferent

CarelessNegligentDetached

Styles of Parenting

Warm Parents• Lots of affection• Enjoy kid’s company –show

it• Better off with warm

parents• Better adjusted• Develop a conscious

Cold Parents• More interested in escaping

punishment than doing the right thing

Styles of Parenting (continued)

Authoritative• Warmth and positive

strictness• Expect a lot, but explain

why and offer help

Authoritarian• Obedience for the sake of

obedience• Strict without questions• Cold and rejecting

Styles of Parenting (continued)

Uninvolved• Tend to leave their children

on their own• Make few demands, show

little warmth or encouragement

Permissive Parents• Easygoing• Less rules and let kids do

what they want• Warm and supportive, but

poor communicators

Childcare

• More than half of mothers work outside home• Effects of day-care– Quality important: learning resources,

individualized attention, many caregivers important

• Effects on parent-child attachment

• Can be positive and negative

Child Abuse and Neglect

• Abuse –

• Neglect – failure to give kid adequate food, shelter, emotional support, clothing, etc.– Usually causes more

problems

• Seriously underreported

• Effects:

Why does abuse happen?

1. Stress2. History of abuse3. Substance abuse4. Lack of attachment

Abuse runs in families

• Kids imitate behavior

• See it as normal• Pattern usually doesn’t continue

Self-Esteem

• Value or worth that people attach to themselves

• Unconditional positive regard– Accept kids for who they are, kids know they’re

not terrible people if they do something wrong • Conditional positive regard– Parents show love only when behaving in

accepted ways– Kids will seek approval from others as adults

Other factors that effect Self-Esteem

• Feeling competent about a skill / task

• Gender• Age

Section 4: Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor Stage

• Preoperational Stage

• Concrete Operational Stage

• Formal Operational Stage

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

• Pre-conventional Level (stages 1 & 2)– base judgments on consequences of behavior

• Conventional Level (stages 3-4)–

• Post-conventional Level (stages 5-6) – Reasoning based on a person’s own moral standards of goodness