PSY C505: Infancy

• Physical development

  • Brain development and motor development
• Brain development during prenatal period

  1. 250,000 neurons produced per minute

  2. Peak of 28 billion neurons at 7 months (prenatal)

  3. Pruned to 23 billion by birth
• By the end of the first year, the brain is about 35% larger than it was at birth
• Maturation


  • The orderly sequence of biological growth processes
  • Relatively uninfluenced by experience
• Cephalocaudal development


  • The head develops before the arms & trunk
  • The arms & trunk develop before the legs
• Proximodistal development


  • The head, trunk and arms develop before the hands & fingers
• Motor milestones

  • Raising head & chest (2-4 months)
  • Rolling over (2-5 months)
  • Sitting up with support (4-6 months)
  • Sitting up without support (6-7 months)
  • Crawling (7-8 months)
  • Walking (8-18 months)
• Cognition


  All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
• Schemas


  • A concept or framework that organizes & interprets information
  • Mental molds into which we pour our experiences so that the maturing brain can continually build upon concepts
• Assimilation


  Interpreting a new experience in terms of an existing schema
• Accommodation


  The process of adjusting/modifying a schema
• Sensorimotor stage (Piaget)


  The use of senses & motor abilities to learn about the world/ interact with objects in the environment
• Developmental phenomena in sensorimotor stage

  • Object permanence
  • Stranger anxiety
  • Separation anxiety
• Piaget believed that children in the sensorimotor stage are incapable of thinking – no abstract concepts or ideas
• Recent research suggests that children in the sensorimotor stage can both think and count
• Preoperational stage (Piaget)


  Children learn to use language as a means of exploring the world; however, they are not yet capable of logical thought
• Developmental phenomena in preoperational stage

  • Pretend play
  • Animism
  • Egocentrism
  • Centration
  • Irreversibility
• Egocentrism


  Children's inability to consider the perspective of others
• Theory of mind


  People's ideas about their own and others' mental states – about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict
• Judy DeLoache (1987) found that children as young as 3 are able to use mental operations & think symbolically
• Concrete operational stage (Piaget)


  Children become capable of logical thought processes; physical, concrete, touchable reality; lack abstract thinking
• Developmental phenomena in concrete operational stage

  • Conservation
  • Reversible thinking
  • Mathematical transformation
• Formal operational stage (Piaget)


  The adolescent becomes capable of abstract thinking
• Developmental phenomena in formal operational stage

  • Abstract logic
  • Hypothetical thinking
• Piaget's theory is globally influential, but today's researchers believe development is a continuous process, children express mental abilities earlier, and formal logic is a smaller part of cognition
• Scaffolding


  Process in which a more skilled learner gives help to a less skilled learner, reducing the amount of help as the less skilled learner becomes more capable
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)


  The difference between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with the help of a teacher
• Language development milestones

  • Cooing: 2 months of age; begin to make vowel-like sounds
  • Babbling: 6 months of age; add consonant sounds to vowels
  • Holographic Speech: 1 year; “Milk!” or “Ball!”
  • Telegraphic Speech: 1 ½ to 2 years; short, simple sentences; “Baby eat” or “Mommy go” or “Where ball?” or “Doggie go bye-bye”

  Whole Sentences: Preschool years
• Temperament


  The behavioral and emotional characteristics that are fairly well-established at birth
• Temperament types

  • Easy
  • Difficult
  • Slow-to-warm-up
  • Shy
• Longitudinal research strongly suggests that temperament styles last well into adulthood, although there is the potential for environmental influence
• Attachment


  The emotional bond between an infant and the primary caregiver
• Attachment styles (Ainsworth)

  • Secure
  • Avoidant
  • Ambivalent
  • Disorganized
• Basic trust (Erikson)


  Securely attached children tend to believe that the world is predictable and trustworthy
• Erikson's stages of psychosocial development

  • Trust vs Mistrust (birth-1 year)
  • Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt (1-3 years)
  • Initiative vs Guilt (3-5 years)
  • Industry vs Inferiority (5-12 years)
• Parenting styles (Baumrind)

  • Authoritarian
  • Permissive
  • Authoritative
• Self-concept


  Understanding of who we are
• Stages of play

  • Solitary play
  • Parallel play
  • Cooperative play
  • Peer group
• ·        “Easy” Babies: Regular, good-natured, easy to care for, adaptable
• ·        “Difficult” Babies: Irregular, moody & loud, react negatively to new situations