Developmental Psychology Infancy and Childhood Physical & Cognitive Development

Infancy and Childhood Infancy and childhood span from birth to the teenage years. During these years, the individual grows physically, cognitively, and socially. Stage Span Infancy Newborn to toddler Childhood Toddler to teenager

How do brain and motor skills develop? Good News While in the womb, you produce almost ¼ million brain cells per minute. Bad News That is basically all you are ever going to develop.

The Brain and Infancy Although the brain does not develop many new cells, the existing cells begin to work more efficiently- forming more complex neural networks.

The Brain and Infancy lack of neuron connections reason why earliest memories rarely earlier than third birthday (experiences help develop neural connections) For optimum development, early years critical –use it or lose it; but development exists through life as neural tissues changes –experiences nurture nature plasticity: brain ability to reoganize pathways to compensate damage; children brains most “plastic” –surplus of neurons when neurons are destroyed, nearby ones may partly compensate by making new connections experience influences motor behavior

Maturation Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. To a certain extent we all maturate similarly, but the time can vary depending on the person.

Motor Development Sequence is the same- but once again timing varies. First learn to roll over, sit up unsupported, crawl, walk etc…

Motor Development Babies only 3 months old can learn that kicking moves a mobile--and can retain that learning for a month

Walking Walking- in US 25% learn by 11 months, 50% within a week of 1st birthday, 90% by 15 months. Varies by culture- if the culture emphasizes walking then babies can walk at younger ages (NURTURE). But identical twins tend to learn to walk on the same day (NATURE).

Toilet Training NO MATTER WHAT, THE BABY NEEDS THE PHYSICAL MATURATION TO HOLD HIS OR HER BLADDER OR BOWEL MOVEMENTS BEFORE TOILET TRAINING. NO TRAINING WILL WORK IF THE CHILD IS NOT PHYSICALLY READY.

Cognitive Development This field is dominated by a man named Jean Piaget. He was developing IQ tests and noticed that many children got the same answers wrong. Thought to himself, “maybe these kids are not stupid, but instead think differently than adults.”

Piaget’s important concepts Children are active thinkers, always trying to make sense of the world. To make sense of the world, they develop schemas. Schema- a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information; Organized units of knowledge about objects, events, and actions

Piaget’s important concepts Assimilation- interpreting one’s new experiences into one’s existing schemas. Accommodation- adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.

Schemas For example, a child may call all four-legged creatures “doggie” The child learns he needs to accommodate (i.e., change) his schemas, as only one type of four-legged creature is “dog” It is through accommodation that the number and complexity of a child’s schemes increase and learning occurs

Cognition All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing and remembering.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Birth - age 2 Preoperational 2 - 6 years Concrete Operational 6 - 12 years Formal Operational 12+ years

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Stage The Sensorimotor Stage is from approximately birth to 2 years of age. Babies take in the world purely through their senses- looking, hearing, touching, tasting and grasping.

Sensorimotor Stage At 4 to 8 months of age, your child will learn that she can make things move by banging them and shaking them. (Example--shaking a rattle, banging on toys, banging on tray of high chair)

Sensorimotor Stage 0-2 Infant learns about the world through their sensory and motor interactions (including reflexes) Early on, kids lack object permanence, the knowledge than an object exists independent of perceptual contact. Before Object Permanence- what is out of sight, is gone from the universe forever. Symbolic representation of objects and events starts to develop during the latter part of the sensorimotor stage (e.g., use of telegraphic speech) Click for video

Object Permanence the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

21 month old tries to slide down a miniature slide Scale Errors 21 month old tries to slide down a miniature slide 24 month old opens a door to a miniature care and tries to step inside

The Preoperational Stage is from approximately 2 to 7 years of age.

Preoperational Stage At the early part of this stage, a child will develop the ability to use symbols.

Preoperational Stage Between the ages of 3 and 4, your child will be able to apply this ability to symbolize with objects, to people (names represent people). they learn to use symbols (know the meaning of the word “ball” w/o having it right in front of them) Representational Thought

Preoperational Stage By the end of this stage, the child will understand the concept of conservation.

Conservation

Tests of Conservation

Preoperational Stage Children in the preoperational stage are egocentric - the inability to distinguish one’s own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings from those of others Cannot perceive the world from another person’s perspective Click here for video

Theory of Mind people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict Diagram illustrates how researchers explore children’s presumptions about other’s mental states

Concrete Operational Stage About 7-11 years old Understand concept of conservation. Can think logically, use analogies, and perform mathematical transformations (5+9 is the same as 9+5) also known as reversibility. lacks abstract thinking ability Video

Formal Operational Stage We can reason abstractly. Reasoning expands from concrete (involving actual experiences) to abstract thinking (involving imagined realities and symbols) Children able to solve hypothetical situations and its consequences If John is in school, then Mary is in school. John is in school. What can you say about Mary? God is love. Love is Blind Stevie Wonder is Blind. Stevie Wonder is god. video

Formal Operational Stage In one scientific thinking task, the child is shown several flasks of what appear to be the same clear liquid and is told one combination of two of these liquids would produce a clear liquid The task is to determine which combination would produce the blue liquid The concrete operational child just starts mixing different clear liquids together haphazardly The formal operational child develops a systematic plan for deducing what the correct combination must be by determining all of the possible combinations and then systematically testing each one

Criticisms of Piaget Not all people reach formal operational thought The theory may be biased in favor of Western culture There is no real theory of what occurs after the onset of adolescence Despite refinements, recent research has indeed shown that cognitive development seems to proceed in the general sequence of stages that Piaget proposed