1. Module 4 Prenatal and Childhood Development

2.  Zygote: The fertilized egg; it enters a two- week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.  Embryo: the developing human organism from about two weeks after fertilization through the end of the eighth week.  Fetus: the developing human organism from nine weeks after conception to birth.

3.  Substances that cross the placental barrier and prevent the fetus from developing normally.  Radiation  Toxic chemicals in water or air  Viruses  nicotine  Alcohol  STDs

4.  Nerve growth begins when a sheet of cells on the back of the embryo folds in the middle to form the future spinal cord. At one end, the tube enlarges to form the brain’s major sections.  First responses are reflexes, some of which occur before the sense of touch is developed. The fetus will flex its head away from stimulation around the mouth as early as 7 ½ weeks. By month’s end, the ear begins to take shape.  Touch receptors around the mouth are developed by the twelfth week and elsewhere by the fifteenth week. Touching the palms makes the fingers close, touching the soles of the feet make the toes curl down, touching the eyelids make the eye muscles clench. Nerve cells have multiplied; synapses are being formed.

5.  At 15 weeks the fetus can grasp, frown, squint, and grimace. It may suck its thumb and swallow. These movements correspond to the development of synapses in the brain.  At 20 weeks, nerve-cell production slows as the existing cells serving each of the senses are developing into specialized areas of the brain.  The fetus can feel movement and may respond to sound as early as 24 weeks.  At 25 weeks, some babies born prematurely can survive. Nerve supply to the ear is complete. Brain scans show response to touch at 26 weeks and to light at 27 weeks. A Light shone on the mother’s abdomen will make the fetus turn its head, indication some functioning of the optic nerve.

6.  The eyes open in the womb, and the fetus may see its hand and environment. Some researchers put the start of awareness at the 32 nd week, at which time neural circuits are as advanced as a newborn’s. Brain scans show periods of deep sleep.  The fetus begins to develop daily activity cycles. At 35 weeks, hearing is mature. At birth the baby can see shapes and colors within 13 inches of it face; can distinguish loudness, pitch, and tone; and may even show preference for sweets and for the sent of its mother’s skin.

7.  Rooting Reflexes: a baby’s tendency, when touched on the cheek, to open the mouth and search for the nipple; this is an automatic; unlearned response.  Other Reflexes  Sucking  Swallowing  Grasping

8.  A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.  Three Areas  Emotionality refers to the intensity of emotional reactions. Children who are high in this disposition become frightened and angry very quickly; as adults, they easily become upset and display a “quick temper.”  Activity represents a person’s general level of energy output. Children who are high in the disposition do not sit still long and prefer games of action; high- scoring adults keep busy most of the time and prefer active to quiet past times.  Sociability relates to a person’s tendency to affiliate and interact with others. Both children and adults who score high on this disposition seek out others and generally enjoy their company.

9. WomenMen Activity13.4012.80 Sociability15.2414.60 Emotionality Distress10.089.72 Fearfulness10.608.92 Anger10.2810.80

10.  Infancy: birth to 1 year of age  Toddler: 1 year to 3 years of age  Childhood: span between toddler and teenager

11. Maturation: Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

14.  Pioneer in the study of developmental psychology who introduced a stage theory of cognitive development that led to a better understanding of children’s thought processes.  Cognition: All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering.  Children know less than you and I know, but they also think differently.  Schemas: concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information

15. Assimilation: Interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas. Accommodation: Adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.

17.  Experiencing the world through senses and actions (Iooking, touching, mouthing, and grasping)  Birth to nearly 2 years  Object Permanence: awareness that things continue to exist even when you cannot see or hear them.

19.  Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning.  About 2 to 6 or 7years  Key Developmental Events  Pretend play  Egocentrism: In Piaget’s theory, the inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view  Language development

20.  Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations.  About 7 to 11 years  Key developmental Events:  Conservation: the principle that properties such as mass,volume, and numbers remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.  Mathematical transformation

22.  Abstract reasoning  About 12 through adulthood  Key Developmental Events:  Abstract Logic  Potential for mature moral reasoning

23.  Piaget underestimated children’s abilities in virtually every stage of his theory.  Developmental psychologist now believe development is fairly continuous  Piaget’s work did not reflect the effects of culture on cognitive development  Piaget taught us that we learn best when the lesson builds on what we already know.  Piaget showed that new reasoning abilities require the stepping stones of previous abilities  Piaget taught us that children cannot reason using adult logic

25.  The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, begging by about 8 months of age.  Around the age of 8 months, children have established schemas for familiar faces.

26. An emotional tie with another person, young children demonstrate attachment by seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.

27.  Which is more important to fostering attachment: being fed or being held?  Are you more likely to become attached to the person who nourishes you or to the person who provides you contact comfort? Human infants become attached to warm, soft parents who cuddle, rock, and feed.

28.  Critical Period: An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.  Imprinting: The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.

29.  Responsive parents are very aware of what their children are doing, and they respond appropriately.  Unresponsive parents often ignore their babies, helping them only when they feel like it.  Securely attached children happily explore their environment when the primary caregiver is around. If that caregiver leaves, they appear distressed, and they go to their caregiver as soon as he or she returns.  Insecurely attached children are often “clingy” and are less likely to explore and learn about the environment. When their caregiver leaves, they either cry loudly or show indifference to the caregiver’s departure or return.

30.  Secure attachment predicts social competence.  Deprivation of attachment is linked to negative outcomes.  A responsive environment helps infants recover from attachment disruption. Attachment is a direct result of the parenting children receive.

31.  Authoritarian parenting: Style of parenting marked by imposing rules and expecting obedience.  Authoritative parenting: A style of parenting marked by making demands on the child, being responsive, and setting and enforcing rules, and discussing the reasons behind the rules.  Produce children high in self-esteem, self-reliance, and social competence. These children are usually more successful, happy, and generous to others.  Permissive parenting: Style of parenting marked by submitting to children’s desires, making few demands, and using little punishment.