CALALP

• Attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver

  
• Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 study on attachment:

  • Aim: identify stages of attachment / find a pattern in the development of an attachment between infants and parents
  • Participants: 60 babies from Glasgow
  • Procedure: analysed interactions between infants and carers
  • Findings: babies of parents/carers with 'sensitive responsiveness' were more likely to have formed an attachment
• Nature vs. Nurture debate:

  • Nature theories focus on biological processes (maturationist)
  • Nurture theories focus on environmental influences (environmentalist)
• Developmental systems approach: emphasizes continuous interaction between nature and nurture, with the environment's effects on an organism depending on heredity-related characteristics
• Maturation Theory by Arnold Gesell (1925):

  • Gesell emphasized that children develop individually, at their own pace, following the same sequence influenced by environment and genetics
  • He believed in sequential development and letting children indicate when they are ready to learn things
• Gesell's philosophy of child-rearing:

  • Follow the child's cues for feeding, sleeping, and learning
  • Children develop at their own pace, following a sequence influenced by personality and temperament
• The Bioecological Theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1977):

  • A child is affected by everything in their environment, with influences from varied systems shaping development
  • Bioecological theory highlights multiple layers of influence on the child, emphasizing both nature and nurture
• Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model for developmental psychology illustrates different systems that influence child development:

  • Microsystem: immediate environment like family, school, peers
  • Mesosystem: connections between microsystems
  • Exosystem: societal values, customs, laws, resources, economy
  • Macrosystem: broader cultural context
  • Chronosystem: continuous influence of time on development

  
• Biopsychosocial Model by Engel and Romano (1977) explains that life span development is the product of the interaction between biological, psychological, and social forces
• Biological forces include organs, physiology, genetics, genes, hormones, physical health, genetic vulnerabilities, disability, and IQ
• Psychological forces involve cognition, emotion, motivation, coping skills, social skills, and self-esteem
• Social forces encompass family, community, society, school, peers, and work environment among others
• The Model of Probabilistic Epigenesis by Gottlieb (1991) emphasizes bidirectional influences between environment, behavior, neural activity, and genetic activity in individual development
• Epigenesis refers to a change in genetic expression due to environmental influences, affecting genetic potential and gene activation or deactivation
• Social experiences can also affect epigenesis, as seen in experiments with mice and rats showing how parental care influences gene expression and stress management
• Parents' experiences and choices can impact a child's epigenome, affecting characteristics like anxiety, susceptibility to diseases, and mental health
• The physical domain of growth and development includes physical or biological growth, brain development, and motor skills development
• In the infancy stage, which includes newborns and infants:

  • Newborns (birth to one month) have a height of around 20 inches and a weight of 5 to 9 pounds
  • Infants (one to 12 months) experience rapid physical growth, with height increasing by about 10 inches during the first year and weight doubling at four to seven months
• Teething in infants usually begins around six months, with lower central incisors erupting first
• Preschoolers (three to six years) grow at a rate of 3 inches per year and gain about 4.5 to 6.5 pounds per year
• School-age children (6 to 12 years) experience steady and gradual physical growth up until puberty, with a growth spurt during puberty
• Adolescents (13 to 18 years) go through drastic physical, cognitive, and emotional changes, with girls typically starting puberty earlier than boys
• Brain development involves processes like synaptogenesis, myelination, and pruning, where connections are formed between cells that are being used
• The brain undergoes pruning, where unused brain cells retract and die, influenced by the inputs the developing brain receives from the environment
• Enriched environments promote brain development, as different parts of the brain have different roles and need certain inputs to develop normally
• Healthy brain development occurs through interactions like eye contact, touch, sounds, and playing games, while toxic stress can negatively impact brain development
• Attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver

  
• Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 study on attachment:

  • Aim: identify stages of attachment / find a pattern in the development of an attachment between infants and parents
  • Participants: 60 babies from Glasgow
  • Procedure: analysed interactions between infants and carers
  • Findings: babies of parents/carers with 'sensitive responsiveness' were more likely to have formed an attachment
• Freud's superego is the moral component of the psyche, representing internalized societal values and standards
• The brain is the control center of the nervous system, responsible for functions like thought, emotion, memory, and movement

  
• The cerebellum is responsible for coordination and balance, while the brainstem controls basic life functions like breathing and heart rate
• The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body
• Motor development is influenced by the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (nerves branching from the spinal cord)
• The cerebellum plays a crucial role in motor control, and dysfunction in it can affect motor development
• Motor development progresses in a cephalocaudal pattern (from head to foot) and a proximodistal fashion (from the center of the body outward to the extremities)
• In the newborn stage, limited motion is shown, and responses to external stimuli like the grasp reflex and startle reflex are observed
• Variation in movements during motor development is crucial for the developing nervous system, helping develop efficient functional movements
• Infants at three to six months start to move more, control their head, play with hands and legs, respond to their name, sit up without support, and babble
• Toddlers can walk independently, develop language skills, communicate wishes with words, and regulate emotions
• Preschoolers develop gross motor skills (large muscle movements) and fine motor skills (precise movements), showing interest in arts, crafts, drawing, and writing