Infancy and Childhood Chapter 8

Beginning of Life When infants are born, they are extremely vulnerable Born with certain reflexes: ◦ Grasping Reflex: an infant’s clinging response to a touch on the palm. Probably stems from when humans had to cling to their mothers ◦ Rooting Reflex: an infant’s response in turning toward the source of touching that occurs anywhere around his or her mouth. Assists in feeding If an infant is not feeding or sleeping, it is staring at the world around them

How do Babies Grow? Maturation: Unless there is something wrong with an infant, they will follow a specific pattern in development: ◦ Lift head at 3 months ◦ Smile at 4 months ◦ Crawling at 8-10 months Maturation: the internally programmed growth of a child Parents should wait until the right stage of development to challenge infants with new skills

How do Babies Grow? Learning: Infants learn at a fast rate. They can: ◦ Make associations ◦ Avoid things that make punishments ◦ Do things that get rewards ◦ Imitate Infants are capable of learning from the day they are born

Intellectual Development Many times, we think of those younger than us as having “less” information in their brains Jean Piaget discovered that it’s not about the information, but how we learn that makes age groups different

Piaget’s 4 Stages of Development Schemes: plans for knowing ◦ Ex: All things with fur are dogs Assimilation: the process of fitting objects and experiences into one’s scheme for understanding an environment ◦ Ex: See a new animal with fur, add it to our scheme. It’s a dog Accommodation: the adjustment of one’s scheme for understanding the world to fit newly observed events and experiences ◦ Ex: Mother tells you that the new animal is actually a cat. You change your scheme

Sensorimotor (ages 0-2) Characteristics: Cognitive development comes through use of body and senses No object permanence: objects just don’t disappear from existence Language absent until end of period Egocentrism: its all about me! Stage 1

Preoperational (ages 2-7) Characteristics: Begins using symbols but cannot manipulate them* Can think of things that aren’t immediately present Others see things through his viewpoint (no empathy) No concrete sense of time Representational Thought: can use pictures to represent something in their minds Stage 2

Concrete Operations (ages 7-11) Characteristics: Can perform mental operations with the use of concrete objects Can make rational judgments Can begin to think abstractly Conservation: a given quantity does not change when its appearance is changed Stage 3

Formal Operations (ages 11 and up) Characteristics: Can think of things that are not concrete/tangible Seperates real from possible Language is no longer restricted to concrete Hypothetical reasoning Deductive Reasoning

4 Stages Video Piaget's Developmental Theory

A Final Note Piaget believed intellectual development involves quantitative (amount) changes as well as qualitative (type) changes The rate at which certain children develop varies While this theory describes what is going on mentally, other things are not mentioned: ◦ Moral development ◦ Social development ◦ Physical development

Development of Language Children can make all the sounds of any human language by the end of their first year By the age of 2, children have over 50 words Learn by imitating Between ages 2-5, children add around 5 to 10 words a day Many young children add grammar rules inconsistently ◦ EX: The past tense of add is added, therefore, the past tense of go is goed.

Socialization Socialization: learning the rules of behavior or the culture in which you are born Some social rules are clear and inflexible and vice versa We have different rules based on our gender, age, job, status and many other criteria A few different theories exist: ◦ Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development ◦ Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Development

Socialization Males Females

Freud’s Theory All children are born with strong sexual and aggressive urges that must be tamed The process of taming these feelings is what causes people to become socialized/civilized Very controversial

Freud’s Theory Oral Stage: Children get pleasure from oral fixation ◦ EX: Breast Feeding/Pacifier Stage goes away after child is weaned from breast feeding Anal Stage: Pleasure comes from becoming trained to use bowels ◦ EX: Toilet training Toilet training gives children social control

Freud’s Theory Phallic Stage: Strong sexual feelings for members of the opposite sex Major conflict comes from fighting for the parent of the opposite sex Oedipal Conflict: a boy’s wish to possess his mother, coupled with hostility toward his father Conflict is reduced when he starts identifying with the parents of the same sex Electra Conflict: a girl’s wish to possess her father, coupled with hostility toward her mother Conflict is reduced when she starts identifying with the parents of the same sex

Freud’s Theory Latency Stage: Sexual desires are pushed into the background Exploring and acquiring new skills becomes key Genital Stage: Adolescence

Erikson’s Theory Socialization is not sudden or emotionally violent (like Freud) Socialization is a lifelong process There are 8 stages, each of which have a crisis How we deal with these crisis will determine how we are in later life We will only talk about the first 3 stages in this chapter Stages build on each other

Erikson’s Theory Trust vs. Mistrust: Age 0-1 If infant is well cared for, it will be trusting If the infant has too much uncertainty, it will look at the world with fear and suspicion Autonomy vs. Doubt: Age 1-2 Learns self-control and assertiveness Too much criticism leads to being ashamed and have doubts about independence

Erikson’s Theory Initiative vs. Guilt: Age 2-5 Lots of encouragement and support leads to someone who takes charge of their life Too much discouragement leads to someone who feels guilty about their actions

Other Ideas on Socialization Many psychologists believe that we learn social norms through a series of normal tasks: Conditioning: when we do something right, we are rewarded. When we do something wrong, we are embarrassed/ashamed Imitation: when learning a new social norm, we normally start by imitating someone Play: children sometimes role play being someone older and more established. They are actually practicing social rules

Moral Development- Kohlberg We all make moral decisions every day How do we develop these morals? Kohlberg provided a stage theory that he replicated in many different cultures There are 3 levels, each with 2 stages. We will only review the first level in this chapter

Moral Development- Kohlberg Level I: Preconventional Morality (ages 4-10) Punishment Avoidance: obediance is based only on the individual’s desire to not get in trouble. Individuals WILL disobey if they can avoid being caught Exchange of Favors: right and wrong are defined in terms of consequences to the individual. Children recognize others have needs too