Infancy and Childhood Chapter 3

Developmental Psychology Developmental psychology is the study of how physical, social, emotional, moral, and intellectual development occur Nature vs. Nurture is a common issue for developmental psychology

Perceptual Development Infants prefer looking at faces and patterns over any other stimulus Infants also greatly benefit from being touched by their parents and several studies have shown newborns have some perceptual abilities

Newborn Capacities Newborns have the ability to see, hear, smell, and respond to their environment at birth Most newborns are capable of reflexes that are triggered by stimulus such as the grasping reflex and the rooting reflex

Physical Development Maturation is internally programmed growth, and children mature at similar rates in most cases Maturational readiness will occur when a child is physiologically ready for a new skill (ex: walking)

Language Development Most children say their first word by one year old By the time children are 2, they have a vocabulary of 500-1500 words Children use telegraphic speech- they leave out words or use the wrong tense, but the meaning is usually clear

Cognitive Development How knowing changes: Schemas- mental representations of the world ---> Assimilation- the process of fitting new information into pre-existing schema ---> Accommodation- the process of changing schema to fit new information

Object Permanence When an infant’s toy is hidden, he or she acts as if it has ceased to exist By the second year of life, this changes and a child begins to realize things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen or touched- called object permanence

Representational Thought Representational thought is the ability of a child to picture something in his or her mind Comes after object permanence

Conservation Between 5 and 7, a child will begin to understand conservation- that a given quantity does not change when its appearance is changed This is because children are egocentric- unable to understand other perspectives

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Emotional Development: Animals Experiments with animals have shown that early in life, attachment occurs Imprinting is an inherited tendency or response displayed by newborn animals when they encounter new stimuli

Emotional Development: Human Infants Infants begin to form attachment around 6 months of age Avoidant attachment: Infants ignore mother when she leaves or returns Resistant attachment: Not upset with mother when she leaves, but ignore when she returns Disorganized attachment: Behave inconsistently Secure attachment: balance need to explore and need to be close

Parenting Styles Authoritarian: Parents attempt to control behavior of children in accordance with a set code of conduct Democratic (authoritative): Children participate in decisions affecting their lives Permissive (laissez-faire): Children have final say, parents have non-punishing attitude

Child Abuse Includes the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, or negligent treatment of children under 18 by an adult Abuse happens for a variety of reasons, and has different effects on each victim

Social Development For children to develop normally, they must learn socialization, or the process of learning behavior in the culture in which you live This includes finding your role and a place in society, as well as learning to live with others

Freud’s Psychosexual Development Identification- the process by which the child adopts the principles of the same-sex parent Sublimation- The process of redirecting sexual impulses into learning tasks

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Erik Erikson took a broader view of human development than Freud He said the need for social approval is the driving force in development

Learning Theory of Development Many psychologists disagree with Freud or Erikson, and believe children learn social rules because they are awarded for conforming, and social development is a matter of conditioning

The Cognitive-Developmental Approach The opposite of Learning Theory, Cognitive- Developmental approach states the child is the instigator of learning socially This is demonstrated by games and play and role taking