1. Infancy & Childhood

2. Prenatal Development & the Newborn
Sperm and egg cells fuse into a zygote
Over time, the zygote becomes an embryo, where organs begin to be formed.
-The heart begins to beat during this stage
The X and Y Chromosomes determine the sex of the child
-The mother ALWAYS provides an X chromosome
-The father provides either an X OR Y chromosome
-XX pair results in a female, XY pair results in a male
Then, the unborn child becomes a fetus, which it will remain until birth. They can begin to hear outside voices

3. Prenatal Development & the Newborn
The fetus can be exposed to teratogens
-outside chemicals or viruses
-Alchohol
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
-occurs if the fetus is exposed to alcohol in utero
-light/occasional drinking can be harmful, persistent/heavy drinking is worse
-marked by lifelong physical & brain abnormalities
A smooth philtrum: The divot or groove between the nose and upper lip flattens with increased prenatal alcohol exposure.
Thin vermilion: The upper lip thins with increased prenatal alcohol exposure.
Small palpebral fissures: Eye width decreases with increased prenatal alcohol exposure.

4. The Competent Newborn -week old babies can detect their mother’s scent
Newborns look for faces, as well turn their heads towards sounds
Prefer signts & sounds that lead to social responsiveness’
They can recognize & respond to familiar voices
Smell, too, is an important sense for infants
-week old babies can detect their mother’s scent
-MacFarlene (1978); when an infant is placed between a pad from his mother’s nursing bra & that of another women, he/she usually turns towards his/her mother’s pad
Habituation
-decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation

5. Physical Development
The brain is mostly formed at birth. The frontal lobe develops the most after birth, however
Maturation
-Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by behavior
Babies roll over first, crawl next, then walk (90% of all babies are able to walk by age 15 months)
Due to unfinished development in the hippocampus and frontal lobes, we experience infantile amnesia, which is why we cannot remember much before the age of 5

6. Cognitive Development
Older we get, more schemas we build
-mental concept/framework that organizes & interprets information
Assimilate: interpreting new information with already- existing schemas
Accomodate: adapting old schemas to incorporate new information

7. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Typical Age
Range
Description
of Stage
Developmental
Phenomena
Birth to nearly 2 years
Sensorimotor
Experiencing the world through
senses and actions (looking,
touching, mouthing)
Object permanence
Stranger anxiety
About 2 to 6 years
About 7 to 11 years
About 12 through
adulthood
Preoperational
Representing things
with words and images
but lacking logical reasoning
Pretend play
Egocentrism
Language development
Theory of Mind
Concrete operational
Thinking logically about concrete
events; grasping concrete analogies
and performing arithmetical operations
Conservation
Mathematical transformations
Formal operational
Abstract reasoning
Abstract logic
Potential for moral reasoning
Sensorimotor Stage
>Object Permanence-The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
Preoperational Stage
>Egocentrism-The inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view
>Theory of Mind-People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states
Concrete Operational Stage
>Conservation-the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
Formal Operational Stage
>stage during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. Logic that goes beyond the concrete

8. Cognitive Development
Piaget believed that our minds grow as the result of interaction with our physical environment
Piaget’s emphasis on the cognitive milestones & developmental stages is sequentially accurate, even if timing is not a
-Today’s researchers see developments as more continuous
-The beginnings of each type of thinking has been identified at earlier times than Piaget believed
Studies around the world have confirmed that human cognition unfolds in the sequence that Piaget identified

9. Cognitive Development
Lev Vygotsky
-Believed language was important for social mentoring
-words are the building blocks for thinking
-children’s minds grow by interacting with the social environment
-by mentoring children and giving them new words, parents allow children to step up to higher levels of thinking (scaffolding)
-zone of proximal development
-zone between what a child can & can’t do-what they can do with help

10. Social Development: parent-infant attachment
Stranger Anxiety
The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
Attachment
An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress when separated

11. Social Development: parent-infant attachment
Harry Harlow’s Experiment (1971)
Infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact not because of nourishment.
Critical Period
An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.
E.g. Newborn’s exposure to breastfeeding

12. Imprinting Imprinting Konrad Lorenz
The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
Konrad Lorenz
Discovered imprinting by observing newly
hatched ducklings
-Special type of learning

13. Attachment Differences
Secure Attachment
Caused by careful sensitivity and responsiveness when the infant is very young. They grow up with a sense of basic trust
a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy
Insecure Attachment
Caused by apathetic parenting. Tends to have a worse sense of trust, and avoid attachment.

14. Secure attachment vs. Insecure attachment
60% of infants display secure attachment when placed in unfamiliar environments.
e.g. Infants happily explore environment in the presence of their mother; When mother leaves signs of distress are evident in infants
30% of infants show insecure attachment when placed in same settings.
e.g. Infants cling to their mothers or caregivers and are less likely to explore environment

15. Attachment Deprivation
When deprived from attachment, children tend to grow into more aggressive and abusive adults.
Similarly, when taken from a loved one, children have difficult times eating, sleeping, or getting along with others.

16. Self-Concept
Our thoughts & feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
Based upon self-awareness
>child being aware he/she is distince from everyone else
When does self-awareness begin?
>Darwin proposed it begins when children can recognize themselves in a mirror
>Researchers have dabbed rouge on young children’s noses in order to study the development of self-awareness
-By months, they begin to touch their own nose when they see the rouge in the mirror; apparently they’ve begun to become self-aware of how their face “should” look

17. Stages of Self-Concept
Infancy : attachment to parents/caregivers
School age: more detailed description of self which includes gender, group memberships, psychological traits, similarities/differences to other children
End of childhood (8-12 yrs old) : Awareness of Self Concept-usually quite stable; they see themselves as being skillful in some ways, but not in others; understand what traits they would like to have
>Children's views of themselves affect their action

18. Parenting Styles 1. Authoritarian : Parents impose & expect obedience
2. Permissive: Parents submit to their children's desires; they make few demands and use little punishment
3. Authoritative: Parents are both demanding & responsive; they use control through rules, but also explain the reason for the control; they encourage open discussion when making rules & allow exceptions
**association between certain parenting styles and certain childhood outcomes is CORRELATION. Correlation is not causation**

19. Review With regards to development, what does “maturation” mean?
2) Explain the difference between assimilation & accommodation **EXPLAIN the difference, don’t just define each*
3) How do Piaget and Vygotsky differ with their beliefs about how our minds grow?
4) Explain Self-Concept , & why YOU THINK it’s important
5) Identify & describe the 3 type of Parenting Styles