CHAPTER 3 Infancy and Childhood

PHYSICAL, PERCEPTUAL, AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT  Developmental Psychologists study main issues:  1. Continuity versus stages of development  2. Stability versus change  3. *Nature versus nurture  *Behavior develops as a result of the interactions of both heredity and environment

NEWBORNS  Before birth some: hiccup, suck thumb  Capacities:  See, hear, smell, and respond at birth  Most have: grasping reflex and rooting reflex  Smile, show signs of surprise or fright  Average: 7.3 pounds at birth ( by first year) and 18 – 22 inches  Space of 2 years: will be able to walk, talk, and feed themselves

MATURATION  Infants grow/develop according to a built in plan:  3 mos. – lift head  4 mos. – true smiling  5-6 mos. – grasp objects  8-10 mos. – crawling and pulling self up  Approx 12 mos. – will begin walking  *Unless underfed, restricted movement or deprivation of human contact or things to look at, will develop more or less to this schedule*

MATURATION  Maturation plan is unique to each child  May vary on time frames (Ex: walking: happen 9 – 18 mos; not walk by about age 2, tests to determine if something is wrong)  Infants also have own temperament:  Active vs quiet, cuddly vs aloof, criers vs hardly whimpering  Infants may not mature according to the same timetable, but progress through same sequential steps

PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT  Prefer looking at human faces and patterned material  Benefit greatly from human (parental) touch  Depth perception:  Very young, little to no depth perception  6 mos and older – gain depth perception (crawling/movement

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT  Reinforced vs Inborn behavior  Ist year: cooing and babble (includes every sound humans can make  Imitate speech of parents and brothers and sisters  First real words usual refers to things they can see and touch  By early 2 nd year beginning to speak more clearly  500 – 1500 words – telegraphic speech  From 18 mos. To 5 years, add approx. 5 to 10 words a day

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  Piaget – intelligence or ability to understand develops gradually  Object permanence = about 7 – 12 mos.  Representational thought = approx. 14 mos.  Conservation = between the ages of 5 and 7

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT  Begins by attaching to specific people  After attachment bond; most infants will experience:  Stranger anxiety  Separation anxiety

4 PATTERNS OF ATTACHMENT  Secure attachment – need to explore, welcomes mother back when returns  Avoidant attachment – avoid/ignore mother when leaves and returns  Resistant attachment – not upset when mother leaves, acts angrily when she returns  Disorganized attachment – behave inconsistently

PARENTING STYLES AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT  Parenting Styles:  1.) Authoritarian – parents boss, children have no say  2.) Democratic (authoritative) - children participate in decision;  but parents have right to veto plans  3.) Permissive (laissez-faire) - children have final say; parents give up their child-rearing responsibilities (no rules) ignoring the young people

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT  Learning the rules of behavior of the culture in which you were born and grow up.  Acceptable vs Unacceptable behavior  What is meaningful and valuable  Learning to live with other people and yourself

THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT  Freud’s Psychosexual Development - (child want immediate gratification and parent restricts it in some way)  Erikson’s Psychosocial Development – individual goal is to satisfy desires with social needs  Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development – stages of importance of being able to see other people’s point of view – deciding what is right and wrong