Lifespan Development Units 1-4, Quiz Questions
Which of the following is true of emotional regulation?
Children of secure mothers are more likely to regulate their own emotions in a positive manner
Biological foundation
Chromosomes are made up of DNA We have 23 pairs 22 autosomes and 1 sex chromosomes (XX or XY) Gene is a segment of DNA
Sensory development: Vision Depth perception: ability to judge distance
Cues: -Motion (blink reflex) -Kinetic depth cues (since 3~4 weeks) -Binocular depth cues (since 2~3 mo., rapidly improves before 1 yr.) -Pictorial depth cues (since 3~4 mo., rapidly improves between 5~7 mo.) Develops w/ crawling & walking
Dizygotic (DZ) twins (fraternal twins) runs in
families -If a woman is a twin, if her mother was a twin, or if she has previously borne twins, the chances rise that she will bear twins -Dizygotic twins share 50% of their genes
What usually acts as a negative reinforcer?
fear -it's removal increases the frequency of the behaviors preceding it
Separation anxiety
fear of separation from a target of attachment
Tertiary circular reactions are first witnessed during the _____ substage of sensorimotor stage.
fifth
What usually serves as some positive reinforcers?
food and approval
Chromosomes contain thousands of segments called:
genes
Adaptation
interaction between the organism and the environment -consists of assimilation and accommodation, which occur throughout life
That most infants can remain in a standing position longer when holding an object in their hands is
true, because the object provides balance
Monozygotic (MZ) twins
twins that derive from a single zygote that has split into two; identical twins. Each MZ twin carries the same genetic code. -MZ twins share 100% of their genes
The Critical Period For Language Acquisition: -Language learning is most efficient during the critical period (the period from about 18 months to puberty when the brain is especially capable of learning language. Also called the sensitive period), when children are most sensitive to language. The critical or sensitive period begins at about 18 to 24 months and lasts until puberty. During this period, neural development provides plasticity of the brain. -Evidence for a critical period is found in recovery from brain injuries in some people. Injuries to the hemisphere that controls language (usually the left hemisphere) can impair or destroy the ability to speak. But before puberty, children suffering left-hemisphere injuries frequently recover a good deal of speaking ability. In young children, left-hemisphere damage may encourage the development of language functions in the right hemisphere. But adaptation ability wanes in adolescence, when brain tissue has reached adult levels of differentiation. -The best way to determine whether people are capable of acquiring language once they have passed puberty would be to run an experiment in which one or more children were reared in such severe isolation that they were not exposed to language until puberty. Of course, such an experiment could not be run for ethical reasons. However, the disturbing case history of Genie offers insights into whether there is a critical period for language development. -Genie's father locked her in a small room at the age of 20 months and kept her there until she was 13 years old. Her social contacts during this period were limited to her mother, who entered the room only to feed Genie, and to beatings by her father. When Genie was rescued, she weighed only about 60 pounds, did not speak, was not toilet trained, and could barely stand. She was placed in a foster home, and thereafter her language development followed the normal sequence of much younger children in a number of ways. Five years after her liberation, how-ever, Genie's language remained largely telegraphic. She still showed significant problems with syntax, such as failing to reverse subjects and verbs to phrase questions. -Genie's language development provides support for the critical-period hypothesis, although her language problems might also be partly attributed to her years of malnutrition and abuse. Her efforts to acquire English after puberty were laborious, and the results were substandard compared even with the language of many two- and three-year-olds. -In sum, the development of language in infancy represents the interaction of environmental and biological factors. The child brings a built-in readiness to the task of language acquisition, whereas houseplants and other organisms do not. The child must also have the opportunity to hear spoken language and to interact verbally with others. In the next chapter, we will see how interaction with others affects social development.
"Motherese"—Of "Yummy-Yummy" and "Kitty Cat": -One way that adults attempt to prompt the language development of young children is through the use of baby talk, or "motherese," referred to more technically as infant-directed speech (IDS). Motherese is a limiting term because grandparents, fathers, siblings, and unrelated people have also been observed using IDS. Moreover, women (but usually not men) often talk to their pets as if they were infants. Infant-directed speech is used in languages as diverse as Arabic, English, Comanche, Italian, French, German, Xhosa (an African tongue), Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and even a Thai sign language. Researchers have found that IDS has the following characteristics: -It is spoken more slowly and at a higher pitch than speech addressed to adults. There are distinct pauses between ideas. -Sentences are brief, and adults try to speak in a grammatically correct manner -Sentences are simple in syntax. The focus is on nouns, verbs, and just a few modifiers. -Key words are placed at the ends of sentences and spoken in a higher and louder voice. -The diminutive morpheme y is frequently added to nouns. Dad becomes Daddy, and horse becomes horsey -Adults repeat sentences several times, sometimes using minor variations, as in "Show me your nose." "Where is your nose?" "Can you touch your nose?" Adults also rephrase children's utterances to expand children's awareness of their expressive opportunities. If the child says, "Baby shoe," the mother may reply, "Yes, that's your shoe. Shall Mommy put the shoe on baby's foot?" -It includes duplication. Yummy becomes yummy-yummy. Daddy may alternate with Da-da -Much IDS focuses on naming objects. Vocabulary is concrete and refers to the child's environment. For example, stuffed lions may be called "kitties." -Objects may be overdescribed with compound labels. Rabbits may become "bunny rabbits," and cats may become "kitty cats." Users of IDS try to ensure that they are using at least one label that the child will recognize. -Parents speak for the children, as in "Is baby tired?" "Oh, we're so tired." "We want to take our nap now, don't we?" Parents seem to be helping children express themselves by offering them models of sentences they can use Does IDS encourage communication and foster language development? Research supports its use. Infants as young as two days old prefer IDS to adult talk. The short, simple sentences and high pitch are more likely to produce a response from the child and enhance vocabulary development than complex sentences and those spoken in a lower pitch. Repetition of children's vocalizations appears to encourage vocalizing.
Some traits result from an
"averaging" of the genetic instructions carried by the parents
Several theories of attachment:
-COGNITIVE VIEW OF ATTACHMENT -BEHAVIORAL VIEW OF ATTACHMENT -PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWS OF ATTACHMENT -ETHOLOGICAL VIEW OF ATTACHMENT
Leslie Carver and Brenda Vaccaro suggest that Social referencing requires three components:
(1) looking at another, usually older individual in a novel, ambiguous situation; (2) associating that individual's emotional response with the unfamiliar situation; and (3) regulating their own emotional response in accord with the response of the older individual. -Infants also display social referencing, as early as six months of age. They use caregivers' facial expressions or tone of voice as clues on how to respond. -In one study, eight-month-old infants were friendlier to a stranger when their mothers exhibited a friendly facial expression in the stranger's presence than when she looked worried
On the other hand, aspects of the child's language environment do influence the development of language. Studies show that language growth in young children is enhanced when adults:
- Use "motherese" (technically termed infant-directed speech; see the feature on motherese). - Use questions that engage the child in conversation. - Respond to the child's expressive language efforts in a way that is "attuned"; for example, adults relate their speech to the child's utterance by saying "Yes, your doll is pretty" in response to the child's statement "My doll." - Join the child in paying attention to a particular activity or toy. - Gesture to help the child understand what they are saying. - Describe aspects of the environment occupying the infant's current focus of attention. - Read to the child. - Talk to the child a great deal.
How to gather data? Systematic observation:
-"When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing" - Maria Montessori -Naturalistic & structured -Limitations: -Observer influence -Observer bias
Process
-3~4 mo.: Touching, grabbing -6 mo.: Smiling (& social smile) -~12 mo.: Reciprocal exchange -~24 mo.: Verbal communication; looking for playmates
Sensory development: Hearing
-4~7 mo.: A sense of musical phrasing -6~7 mo.: Distinguish rhythmic patterns (beat & accent); familiar vs. stranger songs -Speech: -Newborns distinguish all phonemes -By 5 mo.: Sensitive to syllable stress patterns in mother tongue; familiar words -7~9 mo.: Tell word-like units from speech
1. Physical neglect examples
-A 2-year-old who was found wandering in the street late at night, naked and alone -An infant who had to be hospitalized for near-drowning after being left alone in a bathtub -Children who were living in a home contaminated with animal feces and rotting food
2. Educational Neglect examples
-An 11-year-old and a 13-year-old who were chronically truant -A 12-year-old whose parents permitted him to decide whether to go to school, how long to stay there, and in which activities to participate -A special education student whose mother refused to believe he needed help in school
There are several variations of ASDs, but autism is the major type. Other forms of ASDs include the following:
-Asperger's disorder: Characterized by social deficits and stereotyped behavior but without the significant cognitive or language delays associated with autism. -Rett's disorder: Characterized by a range of physical, behavioral, motor, and cognitive abnormalities that begin after a few months of normal development. -Childhood disintegrative disorder. Abnormal functioning and loss of previously acquired skills that begins after about two years of apparently normal development.
Treatment of autism part 2
-Because children with autism show behavioral deficits, behavior modification is now used to help children develop behavioral and social skills. -Though autistic children often relate to people as if they were furniture, many can be taught to accept people as reinforcers, rather than objects, by pairing praise with food treats. The most effective treatment programs focus on individualized instruction. -In a classic study conducted by Lovaas, autistic children received more than 40 hours of one-to-one behavior modification a week for at least two years. Significant intellectual and educational gains were reported for 9 of 19 children (47%) in the program
Treatment of Autism part 3
-Biological approaches for the treatment of autism are under study. -Evidence is mixed as to whether drugs that enhance serotonin activity (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) help prevent self-injury, aggressive outbursts, depression, anxiety, and repetitive behavior. -Drugs that are usually used to treat schizophrenia—such as risperidone— are helpful with stereotyped behavior, hyperactivity, and self-injury, but not with cognitive and language problems. -Autistic behavior generally continues into adulthood to one degree or another. Nevertheless, about half of adults who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in childhood go on to function independently.
Basic trust vs. mistrust
-Birth~1 yr. (Freud: oral stage) -Sympathetic, loving, and warm care -Trust provides the basis of exploration, or withdraw
Physical development
-Body size -Brain & neural development -Eating & nutrition -Crying -State of arousal -Sensory & motor development
Language Development: -As children develop language skills, they often begin speaking about the things more closely connected with their environments and their needs. Children enjoy playing with language. In physical development, the most dramatic developments come early—fast and furious—long before the child is born. Language does not come quite as early, and its development may not seem quite so fast and furious. Nevertheless, during the years of infancy, most infants develop from creatures without language to little people who understand nearly all the things that are said to them and who relentlessly sputter words and simple sentences for all the world to hear. Early Vocalizations: -Children develop language according to an invariant sequence of steps, or stages. We begin with the prelinguistic (vocalizations made by the infant before the use of language) vocalizations. True words are symbols of objects and events. Prelinguistic vocalizations, such as cooing and babbling, do not represent objects or actions, so infant crying is not a primitive form of language. -Newborn children, as parents are well aware, have an unlearned but highly effective form of verbal expression: crying and more crying. Crying is about the only sound that infants make during the first month. During the second month, infants begin cooing (prelinguistic vowel-like sounds that reflect feelings of positive excitement). Infants use their tongues when they coo. For this reason, coos are more articulated than cries. Coos are often vowel-like and may resemble extended "oohs" and "ahs." Cooing appears linked to feelings of pleasure or positive excitement. Infants tend not to coo when they are hungry, tired, or in pain. -Cries and coos are innate but can be modified by experience. When parents respond positively to cooing by talking to their infants, smiling at them, and imitating them, cooing increases. Early parent-child "conversations," in which parents respond to coos and then pause as the infant coos, may foster infant awareness of taking turns as a way of verbally relating to other people.
-By about eight months of age, cooing decreases markedly. Somewhere between six and nine months, children begin to babble. Babbling is the first vocalizing that sounds like human speech. In babbling, infants frequently combine consonants and vowels, as in ba, ga, and, sometimes, the much valued dada. At first, dada is purely coincidental (sorry, you dads), despite jubilation over its appearance. -In verbal interactions between infants and adults, the adults frequently repeat the syllables produced by their infants. They are likely to say "dadada" or "bababa" instead of simply "da" or "ba." Such redundancy apparently helps infants discriminate these sounds from others and further encourages them to imitate their parents. -After infants have been babbling for a few months, parents often believe that their children are having conversations with themselves. At 10 to 12 months, infants tend to repeat syllables, showing what linguists refer to as echolalia (the automatic repetition of sounds or words). Parents overhear them going on and on, repeating consonant-vowel combinations ("ah-bah-bah-bah-bah"), pausing, and then switching to other combinations. -Toward the end of the first year, infants are also using patterns of rising and falling intonation (the use of pitches of varying levels to help communicate meaning) that resemble the sounds of adult speech. It may sound as though the infant is trying to speak the parents' language. Parents may think that their children are babbling in English or in whatever tongue is spoken in the home.
Body size
-Cephalocaudal & proximodistal principles -Weight: -By 5 mo.: ~15 lb. (doubled) -1 yr.: ~22 lb. (tripled) -2~3 yr.: 30 lb. (quadrupled) -Height: -By 1 yr.: ~32 in. (50% taller than at birth) -By 2 yr.: ~36 in. (75% taller) -Shapes: "Baby fat" by 6 mo., peaks at 9 mo.; slim down at 2 yr. -Grow in little spurts, not gradual growth -Cephalocaudal: Head grows first, then legs -Proximodistal: Head, chest, trunk first, then arms and legs, then hands and feet -Girls are shorter and lighter; racial differences -Rate of growth varies within age
How to gather data? Interview & Survey: Self-report data
-Clinical interviews -Structured/ semistructured interviews -Case study -Limitations: -Accuracy: verbal ability, distorted memory
Causes of Autism
-Contrary to what some theorists say or some of the public believe, scientific evidence shows that there is no connection between the development of autism and use of vaccines or deficiencies in child rearing -Various lines of evidence suggest a key role for biological factors in autism. Possible prenatal factors include exposure to lead, alcohol, mercury, misoprostol, and maternal rubella. -Very low birth weight and advanced maternal age may heighten the risk of autism. -There is also apparently a role for genetic mechanisms in autism. -The concordance (agreement) rates for autism are about 60% among pairs of identical (MZ) twins, who fully share their genetic heritage, compared with about 10% for pairs of fraternal (DZ) twins, whose genetic codes overlap by half -Biological factors focus on neurological involvement. Many children with autism have abnormal brain wave pat-terns or seizures. -Other researchers have found that the brains of children with autism have abnormal sensitivities to neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine. -Other researchers note unusual activity in the motor region of the cerebral cortex and less activity in some other areas of the brain
Stages of Attachment
-Cross-cultural studies have led to a theory of stages of attachment. In one study, Ainsworth (1967) tracked the behavior of Ugandan infants. Over a nine-month period, she noted their efforts to maintain contact with the mother, their protests when separated, and their use of the mother as a base for exploring the environment. -At first, the Ugandan infants showed indiscriminate attachment—no particular preferences for a familiar care-giver. -Specific attachment to the mother, as evidenced by separation anxiety and other behavior, began to develop at about four months of age and grew intense by about seven months. Fear of strangers developed one or two months later
Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Key Indicators
-Does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by 1 year of age -Does not speak one word by 16 months -Does not combine two words by 2 years -Does not respond to being called by his or her name -Loses language or social skills
Reflexes: -Reflexes are simple, automatic, stereotypical responses that are elicited by certain types of stimulation. They occur without thinking (an unlearned, stereotypical response to a stimulus). Reflexes are the most complicated motor activities displayed by neonates. Of these reflexes, most are exhibited by neonates very shortly after birth, disappear within a few months, and—if the behaviors still serve a purpose—are replaced by corresponding voluntary actions. -Pediatricians learn about a neonate's neural functioning by testing its reflexes. The absence or weakness of a reflex may indicate immaturity (as in prematurity), slowed responsiveness (which can result from anesthetics used during childbirth), brain injury, or intellectual disability. -The rooting and sucking reflexes are basic to survival. In the rooting reflex, the baby turns the head and mouth toward a stimulus that strokes the cheek, chin, or corner of the mouth. The rooting reflex facilitates finding the mother's nipple in preparation for sucking. Babies will suck almost any object that touches their lips. The sucking reflex grows stronger during the first days after birth and can be lost if not stimulated. As the months go on, reflexive sucking becomes replaced by voluntary sucking. -In the startle or Moro reflex, the back arches and the legs and arms are flung out and then brought back toward the chest, with the arms in a hugging motion. The Moro reflex occurs when a baby's position is suddenly changed or when support for the head and neck is suddenly lost. It can also be elicited by loud noises, bumping the baby's crib, or jerking the baby's blanket. The Moro reflex is usually lost within six to seven months after birth. Absence of the Moro reflex can indicate immaturity or brain damage.
-During the first few weeks following birth, babies show an increasing tendency to reflexively grasp fingers or other objects pressed against the palms of their hands. In this grasping reflex (grasping objects that touch the palms), or palmar reflex, they use four fingers only (the thumbs are not included). Absence of the grasping reflex may indicate depressed activity of the nervous system, which can stem from use of anesthetics during childbirth. The grasping reflex is usually lost within three to four months of age, and babies generally show voluntary grasping within five to six months. -Within one or two days after birth, babies show a reflex that mimics walking. When held under the arms and tilted forward so that the feet press against a solid surface, a baby will show a stepping reflex in which the feet advance one after the other. A full-term baby "walks" heel to toe, whereas a preterm infant is more likely to remain on tiptoe. The stepping reflex usually disappears by about three or four months of age. -In the Babinski reflex, the neonate fans or spreads the toes in response to stroking of the underside of the foot from heel to toes. The Babinski reflex normally disappears toward the end of the first year, to be replaced by curling downward of the toes. -The tonic-neck reflex is observed when the baby is lying on its back and turns its head to one side. The arm and leg on that side extend, while the limbs on the opposite side flex. -Some reflexes, such as breathing regularly and blinking the eye in response to a puff of air, remain with us for life. Others, such as the sucking and grasping reflexes, are gradually replaced after a number of months by voluntary sucking and grasping. Still others, such as the Moro and Babinski reflexes, disappear, indicating that the nervous system is maturing as it should.
Behavioral View of Attachment
-Early in the 20th century, behaviorists argued that attachment behaviors are conditioned. -Caregivers feed their infants and tend to their other physiological needs. Thus, infants associate their caregivers with gratification and learn to approach them to meet their needs. From this perspective, a caregiver becomes a conditioned reinforcer.
Emotional and Social Development
-Emotion contagion -Emotional cognition: ~3 mo.: Sensitive to face-to-face interactions when engaging emotions 4~5 mo.: Can distinguish positive and negative emotion in voice, then facial expressions 8~10 mo.: Social referencing
Erikson's Psychosocial Theory
-Erik Erikson (1902-1994) -From "psychosexual" to "psychosocial" development -8-stage, discontinuous theory -"Developmental task" -Quality over quantity
Ethological view of Attachment
-Ethologists (scientist who studies the behavior patterns characteristic of various species) note that for many animals, attachment is an inborn or instinctive response to a specific stimulus. -Some researchers theorize that a baby's cry stimulates caregiving in women. -By two to three months of age, the human face begins to elicit a social smile in infants, helping to ensure survival by eliciting affection -The mother's social response to her infant's face can reliably produce infant smiling by eight months of age. The pattern contributes to a mutual attachment.
Institutionalized children whose material needs are met but who receive little social stimulation from caregivers encounter problems in all areas of development
-Found that many institutionalized children show withdrawal and depression. In one institution, infants were maintained in separate cubicles for most of their first year to ward off infectious diseases -Adults tended to them only to feed them and change their diapers. As a rule, baby bottles were propped up in their cribs. Attendants rarely responded to their cries; they were rarely played with or spoken to. -By the age of four months, the infants showed little interest in adults. A few months later, some of them sat withdrawn in their cribs and rocked back and forth, almost like the Harlows' monkeys. None were speaking at 12 months.
Happiness
-From smile (from birth) to laughter (3~4 mo.) -Facilitates caring & responsive parenting -6~10 wk.: Social smile (improves w/ vision; varies w/ culture) -"My son does not do social smile. Is he autistic?"
Basic Emotions
-Happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, & disgust -Earliest emotion: Attraction to pleasant stimuli & withdrawal from unpleasant ones -Recognition of emotions is universal; emotion-behavior linkages are not
Attatchment
-Harry Harlow's monkey: food or comfort? -John Bowlby & Mary Ainsworth -Ethological + psychoanalytic perspective: Infants' emotional tie to the caregiver as an evolved response that promotes survival -Quality matters, not quantity -Internal working model: Expectations about the availability(comfort & support) of attachment figures
The Caregiver as a source of contact comfort
-Harry and Margaret Harlow conducted classic experiments to demonstrate that feeding is not as critical to the attachment -In one study, the Harlows placed rhesus monkey infants in cages with two surrogate mothers. One "mother" was made from wire mesh from which a baby bottle was extended. The other surrogate mother was made of soft, cuddly terry cloth. Infant monkeys spent most of their time clinging to the cloth mother, even though she did not offer food. The Harlows concluded that monkeys—and presumably humans—have a built-in need for contact comfort- the pleasure derived from physical contact with another
Active-Passive Controversy
-Historical views of children as willful and unruly suggest that people have generally seen children as active, even if mischievous (at best) or evil (at worst) -Passive (blank tablets)
The capacity to recover from social deprivation
-Infants also have powerful capacities to recover from deprivation -One study showed how many children may be able to recover fully from 13 or 14 months of deprivation. The natives in an isolated Guatemalan village believe that fresh air and sunshine will sicken children. Children are thus kept in windowless huts until they can walk and are played with infrequently. During their isolation, the infants behave apathetically. They are physically and socially delayed when they start to walk. But by 11 years of age they are as alert and active as their age-mates in the United States.
Piaget's Sensorimotor stage
-Infants/toddlers make sense of the world and experience through senses -Circular reaction: Repetitive action-oriented schemes: 1.Reflexive scheme (birth~1 mo.) 2.Primary circular reaction (1~4 mo.) 3.Secondary circular reaction (4~8 mo.) 4. Coordination of secondary circular reaction (8~12 mo.): Object permanence; A-not-B search error 5. Tertiary circular reaction (12~18 mo.): Little-scientist phase 6. Mental representation (18~24 mo.): Images & concepts; insights Recent revisions: 1. Piaget underestimated toddlers' cognitive capacity 1. Violation-of-expectation method 2. Object permanence & number: As early as 4~5 mo. (cf. 8 mo.) 3. A-not-B search error by 10 mo. (cf. 12 mo.), if motor development catches up 4. Mental representation (memory): as early as 8~10 mo. (cf. 18 mo.)
Characteristics of developmental psychology:
-Interdisciplinary -Focusing on predictable, general human development -Attending to individual/cultural variationsfor
How to evaluate a study?
-Is it good or bad? -Can we trust the results? -Are the findings applicable to my case? -Reliability: Consistency of the findings -Validity: If the researchers get what they really want to have.
An emotion is a state of feeling with physiological, situational, and cognitive components. -Physiologically, when emotions are strong, our hearts may beat more rapidly and our muscles may tense. -Situationally, we may feel anger when frustrated or pleasure or relief when we are being held by a loved one. -Cognitively, anger may be triggered by the idea that someone is purposefully withholding something we need.
-It is unclear how many emotions babies have, and they cannot tell us what they are feeling. -We can only observe how they behave, including their facial expressions. -Facial expressions appear to be universal in that they are recognized in different cultures around the world, so they are considered a reliable index of emotion.
Malnutrition
-Marasmus: Malnutrition -Kwashiorkor: Low protein
Fear of Strangers also called stranger anxiety is normal
-Most infants develop it. -Stranger anxiety appears at about six to nine months of age. By four or five months of age, infants may compare the faces of strangers and their mothers, looking back and forth. Somewhat older infants show distress by crying, whimpering, gazing fearfully, and crawling away. -Fear of strangers often peaks at 9 to 12 months and declines in the second year -Ex: Nanny with the 1 year old that never got used to her -Children with fear of strangers show less anxiety when their mothers are present. -Children also are less fearful when they are in familiar surroundings, such as their homes, rather than in the laboratory
Crying
-Mostly b/c of physical needs -Cry when other babies cry Abnormal crying: colic -Peaks at 2 mo. -Unpredictable -Resistant to soothing -Pain-like expression -Long (30-40 min.) -Evening crying ("witching hours")
Sensory development: Vision Face perception:
-Newborns rely on hairline & chin to recognize faces; prefers photos w/ eyes opened & direct gaze; prefers attractive human & animal faces -By 2 mo.: Able to discriminate complex facial patterns -By 3 mo.: Can tell between 2 strangers' faces, male from female -By 5 mo.: Can tell happiness from sadness -By 7 mo.: Can tell a wider range of emotions (e.g., happiness & surprise), same race from different races (not for babies raised in multiracial environment)
Adult's behavior toward infants: -most adults interact differently with girls and boys -Researchers have presented American adults with an unfamiliar infant who is dressed in boy's clothes and has a boy's name or an infant who is dressed in girl's clothing and has a girl's name. (In reality, it is the same baby who simply is given different names and clothing.) When adults believe they are playing with a girl, they are more likely to offer "her" a doll; when they think the child isa boy, they are more likely to offer a football or a hammer. "Boys" also are encouraged to engage in more physical activity than "girls"
-Parents, especially fathers, are more likely to encourage rough-and-tumble play in sons than daughters -On the other hand, parents talk more to infant daughters than infant sons. They smile more at daughters and are more emotionally expressive toward them -Dress infant girls and boys in different colors as well different bedroom decorations and toys -Parents react favorably when their infant daughters play with "girls' toys" and their sons play with "boys' toys." -Adults, especially fathers, show more negative reactions when girls play with boys' toys and boys play with girls' toys. Parents thus try to shape their children's behavior during infancy and lay the foundation for development in early childhood.
Stability of attachment
-Patterns of attachment tend to persist when caregiving conditions remain constant -Byron Egeland and Alan Sroufe followed infants who were severely neglected and others who received high-quality care from 12 to 18 months of age. -Attachment patterns remained stable (secure) for infants receiving fine care. -But many insecure neglected infants became securely attached over the six-month period, either because of a relationship with a supportive family member or because home life grew less tense. Children can also become less securely attached to caregivers when home life deteriorates -On the positive side, children adopted at various ages can become securely attached to adoptive parents although the formation of attachment between children and parents appears to go more smoothly when children are adopted at earlier ages
Sensory development: Hearing Speech perception: Infants prefer
-Phonemes to noise -Mother to other women -Adult to children -High pitch sound to low pitch sound
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recognizes several types of maltreatment of children:
-Physical abuse: actions causing pain and physical injury -Sexual abuse: sexual molestation, exploitation, and intercourse -Emotional abuse: actions that impair the child's emotional, social, or intellectual functioning -Physical neglect: failure to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, or medical care -Emotional neglect: failure to provide adequate nurturance and emotional support -Educational neglect: for example, permitting or forcing the child to be truant -Although blatant abuse is more horrifying, more injuries, illnesses, and deaths result from neglect
Cognitive development
-Piaget's sensory motor stage -Social cognition -Language development
Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Other Indicators
-Poor eye contact -Doesn't seem to know how to play with toys -Excessively lines up toys or other objects -Is attached to one particular toy or object -Doesn't smile -At times seems to be hearing impaired
Research ethics
-Protection from harm -Examples: Stanford Prison Experiment -Informed consent -Knowledge of result
Make sure that you know these terms in Piaget's theory (see Chapter 1-2c for a review):
-Scheme -Adaptation -Assimilation -Accommodation -Equilibrium (& disequilibrium) Organization
Attachment Styles
-Secure attachment (~65%) -Insecure-avoidant attachment (~20%) -Insecure-resistant attachment (~15%) -Disorganized/ disoriented attachment
Self-Conscious Emotions
-Shame, guilt, envy, pride, etc. -18~24 mo.: First trace of self-conscious emotions -Root: Adult instruction (superego?) + cultural values
3. Emotional Neglect examples
-Siblings who were subjected to repeated incidents of family violence between their mother and father -A 12-year-old whose parents permitted him to drink and use drugs -A child whose mother helped him shoot out the windows of a neighbor's house
Sleeping
-States of arousal: Degrees of sleep and wakefulness Sleeping: -Prenatal: ~3 hr. -Newborn: 16~18 hr./day! More at night -Long REM sleep (8~9 hr./day) -3~5 years: 20% REM Advantages to cognitive development -Alert: Receive social stimulation & opportunities to explore -Sleep: Learning & forming memory -REM: Development of central nervous system Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): -2~4 mo. -Caucasian & poor babies have higher SIDS rate -Cause: impaired brain functioning (brain stem: breathing & arousal area); smoking & second-hand smoking, alcohol -Positions during sleep: Sleep on stomach, soft bedding, wrapped up tightly -Prevention: Pacifier, sleep on back
Emotional Self-Regulation
-Strategies used to adjust the intensity or duration of emotional reactions to a comfortable level (so we can move on); voluntary & effortful management of emotions -4~6 mo.: Self-soothing -12 mo.: Moving/looking away from unpleasant stimuli -18~24 mo.: Verbalize discomfort, self-talk
Various factors contribute to child abuse, including stress, a history of child abuse in at least one parent's family of origin, lack of adequate coping and child-rearing skills, unrealistic expectations of children, and substance abuse
-Stress has many sources, including divorce, loss of a job, moving, and birth of a new family member. -Much of the problem is also cultural. -The great majority of Americans, male and female, agree with the statement that "It is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a 'good hard spanking'". -Ironically, infants who are already in pain of some kind and difficult to soothe are more likely to be abused. -Abusive parents may find the cries of their infants particularly aversive, so infants' crying may precipitate abuse. Children who are irritable, disobedient, inappropriate, or unresponsive are also at greater risk
Social Deprivation
-Studies of children reared in institutions where they receive little social stimulation from caregivers are limited in that they are correlational. In other words, family factors that led to the children's placement in institutions may also have contributed to their developmental problems. -Ethical considerations prevent us from conducting experiments in which we randomly assign children to social deprivation. However, experiments of this kind have been undertaken with rhesus monkeys, and the results are consistent with those of the correlational studies of children.
Experiments with monkeys
-Studies of rhesus monkeys that were "reared by" wire-mesh and terry-cloth surrogate mothers. In later studies, rhesus monkeys were reared without even this questionable "social" support—without seeing any other animal, monkey or human -Found that rhesus infants reared in this most solitary confinement later avoided other monkeys. -Instead, they cowered in the presence of others. Nor did they try to fend off attacks by other monkeys. Rather, they sat in the corner, clutching themselves, and rocking back and forth. Females who later bore children ignored or abused them. -Can the damage from social deprivation be over-come? When monkeys deprived for six months or more are placed with younger, three- to four-month-old females for a couple of hours a day, the younger monkeys attempt to interact with their deprived elders. -Many of the deprived monkeys begin to play with the youngsters after a few weeks, and many eventually expand their social contacts to older monkeys. Socially withdrawn children can similarly make gains in their social and emotional development when provided with younger playmates
When a sperm cell fertilizes an ovum, we receive 23 chromosomes from our father's sperm cell and 23 from our mother's ovum and the combined chromosomes form
23 pairs
Sensory development: Vision
-The least developed sense for newborns, from retina (take months) to optic nerves (take years) -Visual acuity: -Newborns: Can't focus, low discrimination -Rapid development before 12 mo. -Reach adult level by 4 yr. -iPad/tablets or no?
Treatment of Autism
-Treatment for autism is mainly based on principles of learning, although investigation of biological approaches is also under way. In the 1970s, O. Ivar Lovaas controversially used behavior modification in the form of painful but supposedly nondamaging bursts of electric shock to rapidly eliminate self-mutilation. -Lovass justified the electric shock by claiming that failure to eliminate self-injurious behavior would be more harmful.
Freud theorized three parts of the personality?
-id -ego -superego
Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory consisted of what 5 systems?
-microsystem -mesosystem -exosystem -macrosystem -chronosystem
Infant playing with peer, mother and new adult
-older the infant becomes- they play with the peer more, play with the mother less, and consistently not play with the new adult
Infant interacting with peer, contacting mother, and contacting toy
-older the infant gets, the more they contact the toy, the more they interact with peer, and the less they contact the mother
What are the 5 stages of psychosexual development?
-oral -anal -phallic -latency -genital
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
-~toddlerhood (Freud: anal stage) -"No!" -Suitable guidance, reasonable choices -Children become confident and independent, or feel shamed and doubtful of the ability to control impulses and act competently
Temperament: Recent updates 6 dimensions (Rothbart)
1. Activity level 2. Attention span/persistence 3. Fearful distress 4. Irritable distress 5. Positive affect 6. Effortful control
Birth 3 stages
1. Dilation & effacement of cervix + transition 2. Pushing + delivery of the baby 3. Delivery of placenta
How do we study human development?
1. Gathering information: through naturalistic observation and a case study 2. Correlation: Putting things together: positive and negative correlations 3. The Experiment: Trying things out: independent and dependent variables 4. Longitudinal Research: Studying development over time: 5. Ethical Considerations
Prenatal Development is divided into 3 periods:
1. Germinal Stage (first 2 weeks) 2. Embryonic stage (3rd week though the 8th week) 3. Fetal stage (3rd month through birth)
Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual Development
1. Oral (birth~1 yr.) 2. Anal (1~3 yr.) 3. Phallic (3~6 yr.) 4. Latent (6 yr. ~puberty) 5. Genital (puberty~)
Three forms of child neglect
1. Physical neglect 2. Educational neglect 3. Emotional neglect
Infants' initial emotional expressions appear to comprise two basic states of emotional arousal:
1. Positive attraction to pleasant stimulation, such as the caregiver's voice or being held 2. Withdrawal from aversive stimulation, such as a sudden loud noise -Researchers agree that infants show only a few emotions during the first few months. -They agree that emotional development is linked to cognitive development and social experience. -They do not necessarily agree on exactly when specific emotions are first shown or whether discrete emotions are present at birth.
Stages of attachment:
1. Preattachment (birth~2 mo.) 2. "Attachment-in-the-making" (1 mo.~6 mo.) 3. "Clear-cut" attachment (~8 mo. ~ 2 yr.): separation anxiety 4. Formation of reciprocal relationship (afterward)
Three Phases of Attachment:
1. The initial-preattachment phase lasts from birth to about three months and is characterized by indiscriminate attachment. 2. The attachment-in-the-making phase occurs at about three or four months and is characterized by preference for familiar figures. 3. The clear-cut-attachment phase occurs at about six or seven months and is characterized by intensified dependence on the primary caregiver, usually the mother -But most infants have more than one adult caregiver and are likely to form multiple attachments: to the father, day-care providers, grandparents, and other caregivers, as well as the mother.
Prenatal development
2 timelines: -Germinal, embryonic, fetal stage -Trimester 2 principles: -Proximodistal -Cephalocaudal
Fetus (week 9 ~ birth)
2nd trimester: Vernix & lanugo cover the fetus Neurons are all in place; brain keeps growing 7~20 weeks: Mom can feel the movement 3rd trimester: Viability: can survive if born preterm Cerebral cortex enlarges Arousal schedule (11% of time asleep), greater responsiveness Personality emerges
-Early in the last month of pregnancy, the head of the fetus settles in the pelvis. This process is called dropping or lightening. Because lightening decreases pressure on the diaphragm, the mother may, in fact, feel lighter -The first uterine contractions are called Braxton-Hicks contractions, or false labor contractions. They are relatively painless and may be experienced as early as the sixth month of pregnancy. They increase in frequency as the pregnancy progresses and may serve to tone the muscles that will be used in delivery. True labor contractions are more painful and regular, and are usually intensified by walking.
A day or so before labor begins, increased pelvic pressure from the fetus may rupture blood vessels in the birth canal so that blood appears in vaginal secretions. Mucus that had plugged the cervix and protected the uterus from infection becomes dislodged. About one woman in ten has a rush of warm liquid from the vagina at this time. This liquid is amniotic fluid, and its discharge means that the amniotic sac has burst. The sac usually does not burst until the end of the first stage of childbirth, as described later. Other signs that labor is beginning include indigestion, diarrhea, an ache in the small of the back, and cramps.
Phenylketonuria (PKU)
A genetic abnormality in which phenylalanine builds up and causes intellectual disabilities -enzyme disorder transmitted by a recessive gene and affects about 1 child in 8,000 -Children with PKU can-not metabolize an amino acid called phenylalanine, so it builds up in their bodies and impairs the functioning of the central nervous system, resulting in intellectual disabilities, psychological disorders, and physical problems. -There is no cure for PKU, but children with PKU can be placed on diets low in phenylalanine within three to six weeks of birth and develop normally
Causes of infertility for men
A low sperm count—or lack of sperm—is the most common infertility problem in men. -Men's fertility problems have a variety of causes: genetic factors, environmental poisons, diabetes, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), overheating of the testes (which happens now and then among athletes, such as long-distance runners), pressure (as from using narrow bicycle seats), aging, certain prescription and illicit drugs, and obesity -Sometimes the sperm count is adequate, but other factors such as prostate or hormonal problems deform sperm or deprive them of their motility (self-propulsion) -. Motility can also be impaired by the scar tissue from infections, such as STIs.
Many states require helping professionals such as psychologists and physicians to report any suspicion of child abuse. Some legally require anyone who suspects child abuse to report it to authorities.
A number of techniques have been developed to help prevent child abuse: 1. One approach focuses on strengthening parenting skills among the general population. 2. Another approach targets groups at high risk for abuse, such as poor, single, teen mothers. -In some programs, home visitors help new parents develop skills in caregiving and home management 3. A third technique focuses on presenting information about abuse and providing support to families. For instance, many locales have child abuse hotlines. Readers who suspect child abuse may call for advice. Parents having difficulty control-ling aggressive impulses toward their children are also encouraged to call.
Selecting the sex of your child
A reliable method for selecting the sex of a child prior to implantation: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). -PGD was developed to detect genetic disorders, but it also reveals the sex of the embryo.
_____ is the study of development process by taking measures of participants of the same age group at different times
A time lag
Psychoanalytic view of attachment
According to psychoanalytic theorists, the caregiver, usually the mother, becomes not just a "reinforcer" but also a love object who forms the basis for all later attachments. -importance of oral activities, such as eating, in the first year. Freud believed that the infant becomes emotionally attached to the mother during this time because she is the primary satisfier of the infant's needs for food and sucking. -Erik Erikson characterized the first year of life as the stage of trust vs. mistrust: -Erikson believed that the first year is critical for developing a sense of trust in the mother, which fosters attachment. The mother's general sensitivity to the child's needs, not just the need for food, fosters the development of trust and attachment.
Ethology, Ainsworth and Bowlby
Ainsworth and Bowlby wrote ""the distinguishing characteristic of the theory of attachment that we have jointly developed is that it is an ethological approach" -But their ethological approach differs from Lorenz's in a number of ways. -For example, Ainsworth and Bowlby write that caregiving in humans is largely learned and not inborn. Ainsworth and Bowlby also note that the critical period for attachment in humans (if one exists), as opposed to attachment periods for lower mammals, extends to months or years. -Caregiving itself and infant responsiveness, such as smiling, also pro-mote attachment.
In the context of gender differences among children, which of the following is true?
Answer: Mothers are more likely to encourage rough-and tumble play in sons than daughters (Fathers are more likely to do that than mothers, though here my intention was to ask whether moms do it more often to sons or daughters)
Development of Self-Concept
Assess the development of the self-concept among infants using the mirror technique, which involves the use of a mirror and a dot of rouge. -Before the experiment begins, the researcher observes the infant for baseline data on how frequently the infant touches his or her nose. Then the mother places rouge on the infant's nose, and the infant is placed before a mirror. In Western cultures infants begin to touch their noses upon looking in the mirror at about the age of 18 months -Nose touching suggests that children recognize themselves and that they perceive that the mark is an abnormality. Most two-year-olds can point to pictures of themselves, and they begin to use "I" or their own name spontaneously -Self-awareness affects the infant's social and emotional development -Knowledge of the self permits the infant and child to develop notions of sharing and cooperation -In one study, two-year-olds with a better developed sense of self were more likely to cooperate with other children -Self-awareness also facilitates the development of "self-conscious" emotions such as embarrassment, envy, empathy, pride, guilt, and shame Ex: In another study, Deborah Stipek and her colleagues found that children older than 21 months often seek their mother's attention and approval when they have successfully completed a task, whereas younger toddlers do not.
Bonding: -Bonding—that is, the formation of bonds of attachment between parents and their children—is essential to the survival and well-being of children. Since the publication of controversial research by Marshall Klaus and John Kennell in the 1970s, many have wondered whether extended parent-infant contact is required during the first hours postpartum in order to foster parent-infant bonding -In their study, one group of mothers was randomly assigned to standard hospital procedure in which their babies were whisked away to the nursery shortly after birth. Throughout the remainder of the hospital stay, the babies visited their mothers only long enough to be fed. The other babies stayed after feeding and spent a total of five hours a day with their mothers. The hospital staff encouraged and reassured the group of mothers who had extended contact. Follow-ups over two years found that mothers with extended contact were more likely than control mothers to cuddle their babies, soothe them when they cried, and interact with them. Critics note that the Klaus and Kennell studies did not separate the benefits of extended contact from benefits attributable to parents' knowledge that they were in a special group and from the extra attention of the hospital staff. -Parent-child bonding has been shown to be a complex process involving desire to have the child; parent-child familiarity with one another's sounds, odors, and tastes; and caring. On the other hand, serious maternal depression can delay bonding with newborns, but a Dutch study found that mother-infant attachment appears to be normal by the age of 14 months. A history of rejection by parents can interfere with women's bonding with their own children. -Despite the Klaus and Kennell studies, which made a brief splash in the 1970s, it is not necessary that parents have extended early contact with their newborn children for adequate bonding to occur. Many parents, for instance, adopt children at advanced ages and bond closely with them.
Assessing The Health of Neonates: -The neonate's overall level of health is usually evaluated at birth according to the Apgar scale. Apgar scores are based on five signs of health: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity level, and respiratory effort. The neonate can receive a score of 0, 1, or 2 on each sign. The total Apgar score can therefore vary from 0 to 10. A score of 7 or above usually indicates that the baby is not in danger. A score below 4 suggests that the baby is in critical condition and requires medical attention. By one minute after birth, most normal babies attain scores of 8 to 10. -The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale measures neonates' reflexes and other behavior patterns. This test screens neonates for behavioral and neurological problems by assessing four areas of behavior: motor behavior, response to stress, adaptive behavior, and control over physiological state.
Assessing the health
Assessment: Apgar Scale (0~2 points each, should have 7 points or higher) Activity: muscle tone (strong) Pulse: heart rate (100~140 beats/min.) Grimace: reflex irritability (strong) Appearance: color (completely pink) Respiration: breathing & crying
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Stranger enters room and offers comfort
Attachment Behavior Observed: Ability to be soothed by stranger
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Parent is seated while baby plays with toys:
Attachment Behavior Observed: Parent as a secure base
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Parent returns, greets baby, and offers comfort if necessary. Stranger leaves room
Attachment Behavior Observed: Reaction to reunion
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Parent returns, greets baby, offers comfort if necessary, and tries to reinterest baby in toys
Attachment Behavior Observed: Reaction to reunion
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Stranger enters, is seated, and talks to parent
Attachment Behavior Observed: Reaction to unfamiliar adult
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Parent leaves room
Attachment Behavior Observed: Separation anxiety
Event: Researcher introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves -Parent leaves room. Stranger responds to baby and offers comfort if baby is upset
Attachment Behavior Observed: Separation anxiety
Paul is an 8-month old baby who loves playing with his toy truck. Every time he picks his truck up, he says "booh," and every time he drops it back on the floor he says "baah." In this scenario, Paul is:
Babbling (NOT cooing)
Gender Differences: a child's gender is a key factor in society's efforts to shape her or his personality and behavior
Behavior of Infant Girls an Boys: -Girls tend to advance more rapidly in their motor development in infancy: They sit, crawl, and walk earlier than boys. Although a few studies have found that infant boys are more active and irritable than girls, others have not. -Girls and boys are similar in their social behaviors. They are equally likely to smile at people's faces, for example, and they do not differ in their dependency on adults. -Girls and boys do begin to differ early in their preference for certain toys and play activities. By 12 to 18 months of age, girls prefer to play with dolls, doll furniture, dishes, and toy animals; boys prefer transportation toys (trucks, cars, airplanes, and the like), tools, and sports equipment as early as 9 to 17 months of age -Gender differences that show up later, such as differences in spatial relations skills, are not necessarily evident in infancy -By 24 months, both girls and boys appear to be aware of which behaviors are considered appropriate or inappropriate for their gender, according to cultural stereotypes -Thus it appears girls and boys may show a preference for gender stereotypical toys before they have been socialized or know whether they are male or female.
An example of classical conditioning
Bell and pad method for bed wetting
Maturation
Biological and physical aspects of growth and development -the unfolding of genetically determined traits, structures, and functions
Prepared Childbirth: -In the Lamaze method, or prepared childbirth, women engage in breathing and relaxation exercises that lessen fear and pain and distract them from discomfort. The mother-to-be attends Lamaze classes with a "coach"—most often, her partner—who will aid her in the delivery room by doing things such as massaging her, timing the contractions, offering social support, and coaching her in patterns of breathing and relaxation. Women using the Lamaze method often report less pain and ask for less medication Cesarean Section: -In a cesarean section (C-section) (delivery of a baby by abdominal surgery), the physician delivers the baby by surgery. The physician cuts through the mother's abdomen and uterus and physically removes the baby. -Physicians prefer C-sections to vaginal delivery when they believe that normal delivery may threaten the mother or child or may be more difficult than desired. Nearly one-third (31.9%) of U.S. births are currently by C-section. To gain some perspective, note that C-sections accounted for only 23% of births in 1989. Some of the increase is due to medical advances, but some women request C-sections so they can control the time of the delivery, and some physicians perform them to prevent malpractice suits in case something goes wrong during a vaginal delivery. -C-sections are also performed when the physician wants to prevent the circulatory systems of the mother and baby from mixing, as might occur when there is (normal) bleeding during vaginal delivery. C-sections in such cases help prevent transmission of the viruses that cause genital herpes and AIDS. C-sections have been shown to reduce the risk of hypoxia.
Birth Problems: Oxygen Deprivation: -Researchers use two terms to discuss oxygen deprivation: anoxia and hypoxia. Anoxia derives from roots meaning "without oxygen." Hypoxia (less oxygen than required) derives from roots meaning "under" and "oxygen," the point again being that the baby does not receive enough oxygen in utero to develop properly. Prenatal oxygen deprivation can impair the development of the fetus's central nervous system, leading to cognitive problems, especially in memory and spatial relations; motor problems; and psychological dis-orders. Prolonged cutoff of the baby's oxygen supply during delivery can also cause psychological and physical health problems, such as early-onset schizophrenia and cerebral palsy -Oxygen deprivation can be caused by maternal disorders such as diabetes, by immaturity of the baby's respiratory system, and by accidents, some of which involve pressure against the umbilical cord during birth. Passage through the birth canal is tight, and the umbilical cord is usually squeezed during the process. If the squeezing is temporary, the effect is like holding one's breath for a moment and no problems are likely to ensue. -But if constriction of the umbilical cord is prolonged, problems can result. Prolonged constriction is more likely during a breech (bottom-first) presentation, when the baby's body may press the umbilical cord against the birth canal.
Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) assay
Blood test that assesses the mother's blood level of alpha-fetoprotein, a substance that is linked with fetal neural tube defects such as spina bifida and certain chromosomal abnormalities -Neural tube defects cause an elevation in the AFP level in the mother's blood. Elevated AFP levels also are associated with increased risk of fetal death.
____ refers to the formation of parent-infant attachment
Bonding
Views That Emphasize Nature: -The nativist view of language development holds that inborn factors cause children to attend to and acquire language in certain ways. From this perspective, children bring an inborn tendency in the form of neurological "prewiring" to language learning. According to Steven Pinker (2007), the structures that enable humans to perceive and produce language evolved in bits and pieces. Those individuals who possessed these "bits" and "pieces" were more likely to reach maturity and transmit their genes from generation to generation because communication ability increased their chances of survival. Psycholinguistic Theory: -According to psycholinguistic theory, language acquisition involves an interaction between environmental influences—such as exposure to parental speech and reinforcement—and an inborn tendency to acquire language. Noam Chomsky (1988, 1990) labeled this innate tendency a language acquisition device (LAD) (neural "prewiring" that eases the child's learning of grammar). Evidence for an inborn tendency is found in the universality of human language abilities; in the regularity of the early production of sounds, even among deaf children; and in the invariant sequences of language development among all languages. -The inborn tendency primes the nervous system to learn grammar. On the surface, languages differ much in vocabulary and grammar. Chomsky labels these elements the surface structure (the superficial grammatical construction of a sentence) of language. However, Chomsky believes that the LAD serves children all over the world because languages share a "universal grammar"—an underlying deep structure (the underlying meaning of a sentence) or set of rules for transforming ideas into sentences. From Chomsky's perspective, children are genetically prewired to attend to language and deduce the rules for constructing sentences from ideas. That is, it appears that children are prewired to listen to language in such a way that they come to understand rules of grammar.
Brain Structures Involved In Language: -Many parts of the brain are involved in language development; however, some of the key biological structures that may provide the basis for the functions of the LAD are based in the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex for nearly all right-handed people and for two out of three left-handed people. In the left hemisphere, the two areas most involved in speech are Broca's area and Wernicke's area. Damage to either area is likely to cause an aphasia—a disruption in the ability to understand or produce language. -Broca's area is located near the section of the motor cortex that controls the muscles of the tongue and throat and other areas of the face that are used in speech. When Broca's area is damaged, people speak laboriously in a pattern termed Broca's aphasia (an aphasia caused by damage to Broca's area and characterized by difficulty speak). But they can readily understand speech. Wernicke's area lies near the auditory cortex and is con-nected to Broca's area by nerves. People with damage to Wernicke's area may show Wernicke's aphasia (aphasia caused by damage to Wernicke's area and characterized by impaired com-prehension of speech and difficulty producing the right word), in which they speak freely and with proper syntax but have trouble understanding speech and finding the words to express themselves. -A part of the brain called the angular gyrus lies between the visual cortex and Wernicke's area. The angular gyrus "translates" visual information, such as written words, into auditory information (sounds) and sends it on to Wernicke's area. Problems in the angular gyrus can cause problems in reading because it is difficult for the reader to segment words into sounds.
Information processing theory
Brains are like computers: -Input-CPU-output -Sensory memory -> Working memory -> Long-term memory/Response Central topics: -Attention -Memory -Intelligence -Executive functioning
Eating
Breastfeeding vs. formula? -Breastfed infants get hungry often: Every 1.5~2 hr. Breastfeeding: -77% US moms breastfeed -Better than none! -Saved millions of lives in poverty-stricken regions -WHO guideline: breastfeed until 2 yr. + solid food (since 6 mo.) Malnutrition: -Stunting: < PR5 in height by 5 yr. -Marasmus (low in protein) & kwashiorkor (no food)
Child Abuse and Neglect
By the time a child is two years of age, nine in ten parents have engaged in some sort of psychological or emotional abuse; more than half of parents have slapped or spanked their children; and one-third of parents have pushed, grabbed, or shoved their children. -Nearly three-quarters of victims are neglected, almost 1 in 5 are abused, and 1 in 12 are sexually abused -About one in ten of these children experiences serious injury. Thousands die. But researchers believe that 50% to 60% of cases of child abuse and neglect go unreported, so the actual incidences are likely to be significantly higher -Physical abuse: actions causing pain and physical injury
Adoption
Despite occasional conflicts that pit adoptive parents against biological parents who change their minds about giving up their children, most adoptions result in the formation of loving new families. -Many Americans find it easier to adopt infants from other countries or with special needs.
Sperm cells
Develop through several stages -.They each begin with 46 chromosomes, but after meiosis, each sperm has 23 chromosomes, half with X sex chromosomes and half with Y -Each sperm cell is about 1/500th of an inch long, one of the smallest types of cells in the body. -Sperm with Y sex chromosomes appear to swim faster than sperm with X sex chromosomes. -This difference contributes to the conception of 120 to 150 boys for every 100 girls. -Male fetuses suffer a higher rate of miscarriage than females, however, often during the first month of pregnancy -.At birth, boys outnumber girls by a ratio of only 106 to 100. -Boys also have a higher incidence of infant mortality, which further equalizes the numbers of girls and boys.
Development of Vocabulary: -Vocabulary development refers to the child's learning the meanings of words. In general, children's receptive vocabulary (the number of words one understands) development outpaces their expressive vocabulary (the number of words one can use in the production of language) development. At any given time, they can understand more words than they can use. One study, for example, found that 12-month-olds could speak an average of 13 words but could comprehend the meaning of 84. Infants usually understand much of what others are saying well before they themselves utter any words at all. Their ability to segment speech sounds into meaningful units—or words—before 12 months is a good predictor of their vocabulary at 24 months. -The Child's First Words: -Sad to say, many parents miss it. They are not quite sure when their infants utter their first word, often because the first word is not pronounced clearly or because pronunciation varies from usage to usage.A child's first word typically is spoken between the ages of 11 and 13 months, but a range of 8 to 18 months is considered normal. First words tend to be brief, consisting of one or two syllables. Each syllable is likely to consist of a consonant followed by a vowel. Vocabulary acquisition is slow at first. It may take children three or four months to achieve a vocabulary of 10 to 30 words after the first word is spoken. -By about 18 months of age, children may be producing up to 50 words. Many of them are quite familiar, such as no, cookie, mama, hi, and eat. Others, such as all gone and bye-bye, may not be found in the dictionary, but they function as words. That is, they are used consistently to symbolize the same meaning. -More than half (65%) of children's first words make up "general nominals" and "specific nominals". General nominals are similar to nouns in that they include the names of classes of objects (car, ball), animals (doggy, cat), and people (boy, girl), but they also include both personal and relative pronouns (she, that). Specific nominals are proper nouns, such as Daddy and Rover. Words expressing movement are frequently found in early speech. -At about 18 to 22 months of age, there is a rapid burst in vocabulary. The child's vocabulary may increase from 50 to more than 300 words in only a few months. This vocabulary spurt could also be called a naming explosion because almost 75% of the words added during this time are nouns. The rapid pace of vocabulary growth continues through the pre-school years, with children acquiring an average of nine new words per day. -Overextension: -Young children try to talk about more objects than they have words for. To accomplish their linguistic feats, children often extend the meaning of one word to refer to things and actions for which they do not have words. This process is called overextension (use of words in situations in which their meanings become extended). Eve Clark (1973, 1975) studied diaries of infants' language development and found that overextensions are generally based on perceived similarities in function or form between the original object or action and the new one. She provides the example of the word mooi, which one child originally used to designate the moon. The child then overextended mooi to designate all round objects, including the letter o and cookies and cakes. Overextensions gradually pull back to their proper references as the child's vocabulary and ability to classify objects develop.
Development of Sentences: -The infant's first sentences are typically one-word utterances, but they express complete ideas and therefore can be thought of as sentences. Roger Brown (1973) called brief expressions that have the meanings of sentences telegraphic speech (type of speech in which only the essential words are used). Adults who write telegrams (or, today, text messages) often use principles of syntax to cut out unnecessary words. "Home Tuesday" might stand for "I expect to be home on Tuesday." Similarly, only the essential words are used in children's telegraphic speech—in particular, nouns, verbs, and some modifiers. -Mean Length Of Utterance: -The mean length of utterance (MLU) is the average number of morphemes that communicators use in their sentences. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. A morpheme may be a whole word or part of a word, such as a prefix or suffix. For example, the word walked consists of two morphemes: the verb walk and the suffix ed, which changes the verb to the past tense. In Figure 5.5, we see the relationship between chronological age and MLU for three children tracked by Roger Brown (1973, 1977): Lin, Victor, and Sarah. -The patterns of growth in MLU are similar for each child, showing swift upward movement, broken by intermittent and brief regressions. Figure 5.5 also shows something about individual differences. Lin was precocious compared with Victor and Sarah, extending her MLU at much earlier ages. But as suggested earlier, the receptive language of all three children would have exceeded their expressive language at any given time. Also, Lin's earlier extension of MLU does not guarantee that she will show more complex expressive language than Victor and Sarah at maturity. -Let us now consider the features of two types of telegraphic speech: the holophrase and two-word utterances. -Holophrases: Holophrases are single words that are used to express complex meanings. For example, Mama may be used by the child to signify meanings as varied as "There goes Mama," "Come here, Mama," and "You are Mama." Most children readily teach their parents what they intend by augmenting their holophrases with gestures, intonations, and reinforcers. That is, they act delighted when parents do as requested and howl when they do not. -Two-Word Sentences: - When the child's vocabulary consists of 50 to 100 words (usually somewhere between 18 and 24 months of age), telegraphic two-word sentences begin to appear. 2006). In the sentence "That ball," the words is and a are implied. -Two-word sentences, although brief and telegraphic, show understanding of syntax (the rules in a language for placing words in order to form sentences). The child will say "Sit chair," not "Chair sit," to tell a parent to sit in a chair. The child will say "My shoe," not "Shoe my," to show possession. "Mommy go" means Mommy is leaving, whereas "Go Mommy" expresses the wish for Mommy to go away.
Additional categories of insecure attachment have been proposed, including
Disorganized-disoriented attachment
If a woman produces two ova in the same month and they are each fertilized by different sperm cells, they develop into
Dizygotic (DZ) twins (fraternal twins)
Gross motor development
Dynamic systems theory of motor development -Motor skills work as a system 4 factors: 1. Brain & central nervous system development 2. Body's movement capacities 3. Goals in mind 4. Environmental support Refinement takes place, requiring intense practice
Embryonic (week 3 ~ Week 8): 3 layers of an embryo:
Ectoderm: outer layer for nervous system (brain, spine, & peripheral nerves), tooth enamel, skin, mouth, nostrils, anus, hair, nails, etc. Mesoderm: becomes skeleton, muscle, circulatory system, & reproductive system Endoderm: becomes digestive system, respiratory tract, liver, & urinary tract
Teratogens
Environment agents that causes damage during the prenatal period -Timing -Dosage -Genetic vulnerability Prescription/nonprescription drugs Illegal drugs Marijuana? Tobacco: second-hand smoke? Alcohol: fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) Interferes cell duplication & migration in neural tube: reduced brain size, damages to brain structure, etc. Deprivation of oxygen from mom Radiation: microwave oven? X-ray? Airport screening? Environmental pollution Mercury in fish Lead in paint Maternal diseases Rubella (German measles) HIV Herpes & other STDs Caffeine...???
Emotional regulation refers to the ways in which young children control their own emotions
Even infants display certain behaviors to control unpleasant emotional states. -They may look away from a disturbing event or suck their thumbs. -Caregivers help infants learn to regulate their emotions: A two-way communication system develops in which the infant signals the care-giver that help is needed and the caregiver responds. Ex: A 13-month-old, playing with a large plastic bottle, attempted to unscrew the cover, but could not. Fretting for a short time, she initiated eye contact with her mother and held out the jar. As her mother took it to unscrew the cover, the infant ceased fretting. -The children of secure mothers are not only likely to be securely attached themselves but also are likely to regulate their own emotions in a positive manner -Those adolescents who were secure as infants were most capable of regulating their emotions to interact cooperatively with their friends
Development of Object Permanence: -The appearance of object permanence is an important aspect of sensorimotor development. Object permanence is the recognition that an object or person continues to exist when out of sight. For example, your textbook continues to exist when you leave it in the library after studying for the big test, and an infant's mother continues to exist even when she is in another room. The development of object permanence is tied into the development of infants' working memory and reasoning ability. -Neonates show no tendency to respond to objects that are not within their immediate sensory grasp. By the age of two months, infants may show some surprise if an object (such as a toy duck) is placed behind a screen and then taken away so that when the screen is lifted, it is absent. However, they make no effort to search for the missing object. Through the first six months or so, when the screen is placed between the object and the infant, the infant behaves as though the object is no longer there. It is true that "out of sight" is "out of mind" for two-month-old infants. Apparently, they do not yet reliably mentally represent objects they see. -There are some interesting advances in the development of the object concept by about the sixth month (Piaget's substage 3). For example, an infant at this age will tend to look for an object that has been dropped, behavior that suggests some form of object permanence. By this age, there is also reason to believe that the infant perceives a mental representation (image) of an object, such as a favorite toy, in response to sensory impressions of part of the object. This perception is shown by the infant's reaching for an object that is partly hidden. -By 8 to 12 months of age (Piaget's substage 4), infants will seek to retrieve objects that have been completely hidden. But in observing his own children, Piaget noted an interesting error known as the A-not-B error(or made when an infant selects a familiar hiding place (A) for an object rather than a new hiding place, even after the infant has seen it hidden in the new place). Piaget repeatedly hid a toy behind a screen (A), and each time, his infant removed the screen and retrieved the toy. Then, as the infant watched, Piaget hid the toy behind another screen (B) in a different place. Still, the infant tried to recover the toy by pushing aside the first screen (A). It is as though the child had learned that a certain motor activity would reinstate the missing toy. The child's concept of the object did not, at this age, extend to recognition that objects usually remain in the place where they have been most recently mentally represented. -Under certain conditions, nine- to ten-month-old infants do not show the A-not-B error. They apparently need a certain degree of maturation of the front lobes of the cerebral cortex, which fosters the development of working memory and attention. Also, if infants are allowed to search for the object immediately after seeing it hidden, the error often does not occur. But if they are forced to wait five or more seconds before looking, they are likely to commit the A-not-B error.
Evolution of Piaget's Theory: -Piaget's theory remains a comprehensive model of infant cognition. Many of his observations of his own infants have been confirmed by others. The pattern and sequence of events he described have been observed among American, European, African, and Asian infants. Still, research has raised questions about the validity of many of Piaget's claims -First, most researchers now agree that cognitive development is not as tied to discrete stages as Piaget suggested (Flavell et al., 2002; Fuller, 2011). Although later developments seem to build on earlier ones, the process appears to be more gradual than discontinuous. -Second, Piaget emphasized the role of maturation, almost to the point of excluding adult and peer influences on cognitive development. However, these interpersonal influences have been shown to play roles in cognitive development. -Third, Piaget appears to have underestimated infants' competence. For example, infants display object permanence earlier than he believed. Also consider studies on deferred imitation (imitation of an action that may have occurred hours, days, or even weeks earlier). The presence of deferred imitation suggests that children have mentally represented behavior patterns. Piaget believed that deferred imitation appears at about 18 months, but others have found that infants show deferred imitation as early as nine months. In one study, nine-month-old infants watched an adult perform behaviors such as pushing a button to produce a beep. When given a chance to play with the same objects a day later, many infants imitated the actions they had witnessed.
How to gather data? Psychophysiological method
Example: Testing level of cortisol in saliva to measure level of anxiety -EEG, neuro-imaging (MRI, fMRI)
Other Influences
Exercise Nutrition Folic acid: spina bifida Maternal age & previous births Stress Miscarriage, prematurity, low birth weight, respiratory & digestive illnesses, cleft lip & palate, heart deformities, sleep disturbances, irritability Why? Cortisol & reduced blood flow to uterus &
Experimental vs. Control Group
Experimental: receive the treatment Control: do not receive treatment -experimental outcomes reflect the treatments and not chance factors
According to Freud's psychosexual theory, children develop strong sexual attachments to the same-sex parent during the genital stage
False
John Locke believed that children should be treated as property and servants
False
Embryonic (week 3 ~ Week 8)
Fast cell division & differentiation! Development of neural system Ectoderm becomes neural tube Upper part becomes brain In neural tube, 250,000 neurons/minute are created Neurons travel to the outer side of the brain Heartbeat begins (~6 weeks) Produces blood cell Has senses & responses (reflexes)
Sensory Capabilities: -VISION: Neonates can see, but they are nearsighted. They can best see objects that are about seven to nine inches from their eyes. They also do not have the peripheral vision of older children. Neonates can visually detect movement, and many neonates can visually follow, or track, movement the first day after birth. In fact, they appear to prefer (i.e., they spend more time looking at) moving objects to stationary objects -Visual accommodation refers to the self-adjustments made by the eye's lens to bring objects into focus. Neonates show little or no visual accommodation; rather; they see as through a fixed-focus camera. As noted above, objects placed about seven to nine inches away are in clearest focus for most neonates, but visual accommodation improves dramatically during a baby's first two months -Neonates do not have the muscle control to converge their eyes on an object that is close to them. For this reason, one eye may be staring off to the side while the other fixates on an object straight ahead. Convergence (inward movement of the eyes to focus on an object that is drawing nearer) does not occur until seven or eight weeks of age for nearby objects -The degree to which neonates perceive color remains an open question. By four months, however, infants can see most of, if not all, the colors of the visible spectrum -Even at birth, babies do not just passively respond to visual stimuli. Babies placed in absolute darkness open their eyes wide and search around.
HEARING: -Fetuses respond to sound months before they are born. Although the auditory pathways in the brain are not fully developed prior to birth, fetuses' middle and inner ears normally reach their mature shapes and sizes before birth. Normal neonates hear well unless their middle ears are clogged with amniotic fluid. Most neonates turn their heads toward unusual sounds, such as the shaking of a rattle. -Neonates have the capacity to respond to sounds of different amplitude (loudness of sound waves) and pitch (highness or lowness of a sound, as determined by the frequency of sound waves). They are more likely to respond to high-pitched sounds than to low-pitched sounds. By contrast, speaking or singing to infants softly, in a relatively low-pitched voice, can have a soothing effect -The sense of hearing may play a role in the formation of affectional bonds between neonates and mothers that goes well beyond the soothing potential of the mothers' voices. Neonates prefer their mothers' voices to those of other women, but they do not show similar preferences for the voices of their fathers. This preference may reflect prenatal exposure to sounds produced by their mothers. -Neonates are particularly responsive to the sounds and rhythms of speech, although they do not show preferences for specific languages. Neonates can discriminate different speech sounds, and they can discriminate new sounds of speech from those they have heard before
Learning
Habituation: A response declines in the intensity, frequency, or duration because of repeated exposure to the stimulus: -Started in 2nd trimester -Root: prefrontal cortex -Correlated w/ future cognitive development Conditioning: -Classical conditioning: Since birth, but limited to reflex -Operant conditioning: Takes time to form, but improves fast Imitation: since birth -Root: mirror neuron system
Peer Sociability
Helping factors: -Physical development: Movement -Cognitive & language development -Emotion development
Example of clinical interview:
Hub (age 6½): -Is the moon round? - No. - What's it like? - Sometimes a crescent, it is very worn out. - Why? - Because it has done a lot of lighting. - How does it come round again? - Because it is made again. - How? - In the sky. -(Piaget, 1926)
Anesthesia: -Although painful child-birth has historically been seen as the standard for women, today, at least some anesthesia is used in most American deliveries. Two types of anesthetics (agents that lessen pain) are used to lessen the pain associated with child-birth. -General anesthesia achieves its anesthetic effect by putting the woman to sleep by means of an injected barbiturate. Tranquilizers and narcotics can be used to reduce anxiety and the perception of pain without causing sleep. General anesthesia reduces the responsiveness of the baby shortly after birth, but there is mixed evidence as to whether there are long-term negative effects. -Regional or local anesthetics (reduction of pain in an area of the body) deaden pain without putting the mother to sleep. With a pudendal block, the mother's external genitals are numbed by local injection. With an epidural block and a spinal block, anesthesia is injected into the spinal canal or spinal cord, temporarily numbing the body below the waist. Local anesthesia may have minor depressive effects on neonates (an infant from birth through the first four weeks of life) shortly after birth, but the effects have not been shown to linger. -In so-called natural childbirth, a woman uses no anesthesia. Instead, she is educated about the bio-logical aspects of reproduction and delivery, encouraged to maintain physical fitness, and taught relaxation and breathing exercises.
Hypnosis and Biofeedback: -Hypnosis has been used to help clients stick to diets, quit smoking, and undergo dental treatments with less discomfort. It has also been used with some success as an alternative to anesthesia during childbirth. -Biofeedback is a method that provides the woman in labor with continuous information as to what is happening with various bodily functions. Muscle tension and blood pressure are among the functions that can be targeted. Studies suggest that helping women relax muscle tension may have some positive effects early during labor, but greater benefits have not so far been established
TREATMENT OF PRETERM BABIES: -Because of their physical frailty, preterm infants usually remain in the hospital and are placed in incubators (heated, protective containers for premature infants), which maintain a temperature-controlled environment and afford some protection from disease. The babies may be given oxygen, although excessive oxygen can cause permanent eye injury. PARENTS AND PRETERM NEONATES: -Parents often do not treat preterm neonates as well as they treat full-term neonates. For one thing, preterm infants usually do not have the robust, appealing appearance of many full-term babies. Their cries are more high pitched and grating, and they are more irritable. The demands of caring for preterm babies can be depressing to parents. -Mothers of preterm babies frequently report that they feel alienated from their babies and harbor feelings of failure, guilt, and low self-esteem. Fear of hurting preterm babies can further dis-courage parents from handling them, but encouraging mothers to massage their preterm infants can help them cope with this fear. Once they come home from the hospital, preterm infants remain more passive and less sociable than full-term infants. Preterm infants fare better when they have responsive and caring parents.
INTERVENTION PROGRAMS: -Preterm infants profit from early stimulation just as full-term babies do—being cuddled, rocked, talked to, and sung to; being exposed to recordings of their mothers' voices; having mobiles in view; and having live and recorded music in their environment. -Other forms of stimulation include massage and "kangaroo care", in which the baby spends time each day lying skin to skin and chest to chest with a parent. By and large, stimulated preterm infants tend to gain weight more rapidly, show fewer respiratory problems, and make greater advances in motor, intellectual, and neurological development than control infants
Donor IVF
IVF the transfer of a donor's ovum, fertilized in a laboratory dish, to the uterus of another woman. -A variation known as donor IVF can be used when the intended mother does not produce ova. An ovum from another woman is fertilized and injected into the uterus of the mother-to-be.
Information Processing: -The information-processing approach to cognitive development focuses on how children manipulate or process information coming in from the environment or already stored in the mind. Infants' tools for processing information include their memory and imitation. Infant's Memory: -Many of the cognitive capabilities of infants— recognizing the faces of familiar people, developing object permanence, and, in fact, learning in any form—depend on one critical aspect of cognitive development: their memory. Even neonates demonstrate memory for stimuli to which they have been exposed previously. For example, neonates adjust their rate of sucking to hear a recording of their mother reading a story she had read aloud during the last weeks of pregnancy -Memory improves dramatically between two and six months of age and then again by 12 months. The improvement may indicate that older infants are more capable than younger ones of encoding (i.e., storing) information, retrieving information already stored, or both -A fascinating series of studies by Carolyn Rovee-Collier and her colleagues illustrates some of these developmental changes in infant memory. As shown in Figure 5.2, one end of a ribbon was tied to a brightly colored mobile suspended above the infant's crib. The other end was tied to the infant's ankle, so that when the infant kicked, the mobile moved. Infants quickly learned to increase their rate of kicking. To measure memory, the infant's ankle was again fastened to the mobile after a period of one or more days had elapsed. In one study, two-month-olds remembered how to make the mobile move after delays of up to three days, and three-month-olds remembered for more than a week -Infant memory can be improved if infants receive a reminder ("priming") before their memory is tested. -In one study infants were shown the moving mobile on the day before the memory test, but they were not allowed to activate it. Under these conditions, three-month-olds remembered how to move the mobile after a 28-day delay
Imitation: Infant See, Infant Do? -Imitation is the basis for much of human learning. Deferred imitation—that is, the imitation of actions after a time delay—occurs as early as six months of age. To help them remember the imitated act, infants are usu-ally permitted to practice it when they learn it. But in one study, 12-month-old infants were prevented from practicing the behavior they imitated. Yet they were able to demonstrate it four weeks later, suggesting that they had mentally represented the act. -But infants can imitate certain actions at a much earlier age. Neonates only 0.7 to 71 hours old have been found to imitate adults who open their mouths or stick out their tongues -Some studies have not found imitation in early infancy, and one key factor may be the infants' age. The studies that find imitation generally have been done with very young infants—up to two weeks old—whereas the studies that do not find imitation have tended to use older infants. Therefore, the imitation of neonates is likely to be reflexive—and made possible, as we will see, by "mirror neurons." Thus, imitation might disappear when reflexes are "dropping out" and re-emerge when it has a firmer cognitive footing.
Germinal stage (week 1~Week 2)
Implantation: -Amnion & amniotic fluid -Chorion (and villi) -Placenta & umbilical cord (1 umbilical vein & 2 umbilical arteries)
Infertility and alternative ways of becoming parents
In North America and Europe, about 15% of couples have fertility problems -The term infertility usually is not applied until the couple has failed to conceive on their own for one year. -Infertility was once viewed as a problem of the woman, but it turns out that women and men are about equally likely to contribute to infertility
Emotional development has been linked with various histories of attachment.
In a longitudinal study of 112 children at ages 9, 14, 22, and 33 months, Kochanska studied the development of fear, anger, and joy by using laboratory situations designed to evoke these emotions. -Patterns of attachment were assessed using the Strange Situation method. -Differences in emotional development could first be related to attachment at the age of 14 months. -Resistant children were most fearful and they frequently responded with distress even in episodes designed to evoke joy -When they were assessed repeatedly over time, it became apparent that securely attached children were becoming significantly less angry -By contrast, the negative emotions of insecurely attached children rose: Avoidant children grew more fearful, and resistant children became less joyful. At 33 months of age, securely attached children were less likely to show fear and anger, even when they were exposed to situations designed to elicit these emotions.
Abused children show a high incidence of personal and social problems and psychological disorders
In general, abused children are less securely attached to their parents. They are less intimate with peers and more aggressive, angry, and noncompliant than other children. -They have lower self-esteem and perform more poorly in school. -Later on, abused children are at greater risk for delinquency, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and abusing their own children. When they reach adulthood, they are also more likely to act aggressively toward their intimate partners
Approximately 1 male in 500, has
Klinefelter syndrome
A classic longitudinal study of orphanage children also offers evidence of the ability of children to recover from social deprivation
In this study, a group of 19-month-old apparently intellectually disabled children were placed in the care of older institutionalized girls. The girls spent a great deal of time playing with and nurturing them. Four years after being placed with the girls, the "disabled" children made dramatic gains in IQ scores, whereas children who did not receive this stimulation showed declines in IQ.
Mirror Neurons: -Many researchers believe that social organization and human culture are made possible by certain kinds of neurons that are present at birth. And these neurons, like so many other important psychological discoveries, were found by accident -A research team in Parma, Italy, headed by Vittorio Gallese and including Giacomo Rizzolatti, was recording the activity of individual neurons in monkeys' brains as the animals reached for objects. One of the researchers reached for an object that had been handled by a monkey, and quite to his surprise, a neuron in the monkey's brain fired in the same way it had fired when the animal had picked up the object. The research team fol-lowed up the phenomenon and discovered many such neurons in the frontal lobes of their monkeys, just before the motor cortex, which they dubbed mirror neurons. These mirror neurons, also found in humans, are activated when the individual performs a motor act or observes another individual engaging in the same act. -Mirror neurons in humans are also connected with emotions. Certain regions of the brain—particularly in the frontal lobe—are active when people experience emotions such as disgust, happiness, pain, and also when they observe another person experiencing an emotion. It thus appears that there is a neural basis for empathy—that is, the identification or vicarious experiencing of feelings in others based on the observation of visual and other cues. -It has also been suggested that mirror neurons are connected with the built-in human capacity to acquire language. Mirror neurons are also apparently connected with gender differences in empathy
Individual Differences In Cognitive Functioning Among Infants: -Cognitive development does not proceed in the same way or at the same pace for all infants. Efforts to under-stand the development of infant differences in cognitive development have relied on so-called scales of infant development or infant intelligence. -Measuring cognition or intelligence in infants is quite different from measur-ing it in adults. Infants cannot, of course, be assessed by asking them to explain the mean-ings of words, the similarity between concepts, or the rationales for social rules. One of the most important tests of intellectual development among infants—the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, constructed by psychologist Nancy Bayley and currently revised as the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development—contains very different kinds of items. -The Bayley test consists of mental-scale items and motor-scale items. The mental scale assesses verbal communication, perceptual skills, learning and memory, and problem-solving skills. The motor scale assesses gross motor skills, such as standing, walking, and climbing, and fine motor skills, as shown by the ability to manipulate the hands and fingers. A behavior rating scale based on examiner observation of the child during the test is also used. The behavior rating scale assesses attention span, goal directedness, persistence, and aspects of social and emotional development. Table 5.1 contains sample items from the mental and motor scales and shows the ages at which 50% of the infants taking the test passed the items. -Even though psychologists can begin to measure intelligence in infancy, they use items that differ from the kinds of items used with older children and adults. It remains unclear how well results obtained in infancy predict intellectual functioning at later ages.
Which of the following statements is incorrect about breastfeeding?
Infants do not feel hungry that fast after having breastmilk
Which of the following statements is true about cephalocaudal development?
Infants gain control over their hips and arms before over their legs, feet and toes before
John Bowlby adds that attachment is essential to the survival of the infant. He notes that babies are born with behaviors—crying, smiling, clinging—that stimulate caregiving from adults.
Infants try to maintain contact with caregivers to whom they are attached. They engage in eye con-tact, pull and tug at them, and ask to be picked up. When they cannot maintain contact, they show separation anxiety—thrash about, fuss, cry, screech, or whine.
In the context of infants, which of the following is not a correct statement of difference between avoidant attachment and ambivalent/resistant attachment styles?
Infants who show avoidant attachment are more emotional than infants who display ambivalent/resistant attachment
Secure infants and toddlers are happier, more sociable, and more cooperative with caregivers. At ages five and six, they get along better with peers and are better adjusted in school than insecure children
Insecure attachment in infancy predicts psychological disorders during adolescence
Testing Infants: Why and With What? -As you can imagine, it is no easy matter to test an infant. The items must be administered on a one-to-one basis by a patient tester, and it can be difficult to judge whether the infant is showing the targeted response. Why, then, do we test infants? -One reason is to screen infants for handicaps. A tester may be able to detect early signs of sensory or neurological problems, as suggested by development of visual-motor coordination. In addition to the Bayley scales, a number of tests have been developed to screen infants for such difficulties, including the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and the Denver Developmental Screening Test.
Instability of Intelligence Scores Attained in Infancy: -Researchers have also tried to use infant scales to predict development, but this effort has had mixed success. One study found that scores obtained during the first year of life correlated moderately at best with scores obtained a year later. Certain items on the Bayley scales appear to predict related intellectual skills later in childhood. For example, Bayley items measuring infant motor skills predict subsequent fine motor and visual-spatial skills at six to eight years of age. Bayley language items also predict language skills at the same age. -Another study found that the Bayley scales and socioeconomic status were able to predict cognitive development among low-birth-weight children from 18 months to four years of age. But overall scores on the Bayley and other infant scales apparently do not predict school grades or IQ scores among school children very well. Predictability of teenage and adult intelligence test scores becomes stronger once children reach the ages of six or seven. Perhaps the sensorimotor test items used during infancy are not that strongly related to the verbal and symbolic items used to assess intelligence at later ages. -The Bayley scales remain widely used and adapted to different cultures. Studies attesting to their utility, reliability, and validity—measured in various ways—are reported from countries as far flung as South Africa, Iran, Ethiopia, and Nepal.
Approaches to childbirth
Instrument delivery: -Forceps, vacuum extraction Induced labor (about 23% of births in the US) Cesarean delivery (C-section) -Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) -Breech position -Rh factor incompatibility
Which of the following is the purpose of having random assignment in an experiment?
It makes sure that the results are caused by the treatment
Researchers have long debated whether the emotional expression of newborns begins in an undifferentiated state of diffuse excitement or whether several emotions are present
It seems clear enough that as infants develop through the first year, their cognitive appraisal of events, including their interaction with their caregivers, becomes a key part of their emotional life and their emotional expression
Cross-sequential research combines the longitudinal and cross-sectional research methods
True
Language
Language acquisition device (LAD; Chomsky, 1957): -Innate system that contains a universal grammar. It enables children to understand & speak in a rule-oriented fashion as soon as they pick up enough words Sensitive period for language development: -Root: brain lateralization -No clear evidence of cutoff age of 1st language -2nd language? Behaviorist perspective Interactionist: -Based on information processing theory & social interaction -Statistical learning Nature + nurture: -Brain lateralization -Synaptogenesis in the cerebellum -Experiences
-The second stage of childbirth begins when the baby appears at the opening of the vagina (now called the birth canal). The second stage is briefer than the first, possibly lasting minutes or a few hours and ending with the birth of the baby. The woman may be taken to a delivery room for the second stage. -The contractions of the second stage stretch the skin surrounding the birth canal farther and propel the baby along. The baby's head is said to have crowned when it begins to emerge from the birth canal. Once crowning has occurred, the baby normally emerges completely within minutes. -The physician or nurse may perform an episiotomy once crowning takes place. The purpose of an episiotomy is to prevent random tearing when the area between the birth canal and the anus becomes severely stretched. Women are unlikely to feel the incision of the episiotomy because the pressure of the crowning head tends to numb the region between the vagina and the anus. The episiotomy, like prepping and the enema, is controversial and is not practiced in Europe. The incision may cause itching and discomfort as it heals. The incidence of the use of episiotomy in the United States has been declining, with some studies suggesting that the procedure causes as many problems as it prevents. Some health professionals argue that an episiotomy is warranted when the baby's shoulders are wide or if the baby's heart rate declines for a long period of time. The strongest predictor of whether a practitioner will choose to use episiotomy is not the condition of the mother or the baby, but rather whether the physician normally performs an episiotomy -To clear the passageway for breathing from any obstructions, mucus is suctioned from the baby's mouth when the head emerges from the birth canal. When the baby is breathing adequately on its own, the umbilical cord is clamped and severed. Mother and infant are now separate beings. The stump of the umbilical cord will dry and fall off on its own in about seven to ten days. -Now the baby is frequently whisked away by a nurse, who will perform various procedures, including footprinting the baby, supplying an ID bracelet, putting antibiotic ointment or drops of silver nitrate into the baby's eyes to prevent bacterial infections, and giving the baby a vitamin K injection to help its blood clot properly if it bleeds (new-born babies do not have enough vitamin K). While these procedures go on, the mother is in the third stage of labor. -The third stage of labor, also called the placental stage, lasts from minutes to an hour or more. During this stage, the placenta separates from the uterine wall and is expelled through the birth canal. Some bleeding is normal. The obstetrician sews the episiotomy, if one has been performed.
METHODS OF CHILDBIRTH: -Childbirth was once a more intimate procedure that usually took place in the woman's home and involved her, perhaps a midwife (an individual who helps women in childbirth), and family. This pattern is followed in many less developed nations today, but only rarely in the United States and other developed nations. -Contemporary American childbirths usually take place in hospitals, where physicians use sophisticated instruments and anesthetics to protect mother and child from complications and discomfort. Modern medicine has saved lives, but childbearing has also become more impersonal. Some argue that modern methods wrest control from women over their own bodies. They even argue that anesthetics have denied many women the experience of giving birth, although many or most women admit that they appreciate having the experience "muted.
MZ twins resemble each other more closely than DZ twins on a number of physical and psychological traits, even when MZ twins are reared apart and the DZ twins are reared together
MZ twins are more likely to look alike and to be similar in height and weight -Heredity even affects their preference for coffee or tea -MZ twins resemble one another more strongly than DZ twins in intelligence and personality traits -The MZ twins reared apart are about as similar as MZ twins reared together on measures of intelligence, personality, temperament, occupational and leisure-time interests, and social attitudes. Moreover, the similarities persist throughout life These traits would thus appear to have a genetic underpinning.
The Postpartum Period: -The postpartum period (the period immediately following childbirth) refers to the weeks following delivery, but there is no specific limit. The "parting" from the baby is frequently a happy experience. The family's long wait is over. Concerns about pregnancy and labor are over, fingers and toes have been counted, and despite some local discomfort, the mother finds her "load" to be lightened, most literally. According to the American Psychiatric Association (2013), however, about 70% of new mothers have periods of tearfulness, sadness, and irritability, which the Association refers to as the "baby blues." Possible Psychological Problems That May Affect The Mother: -So-called "baby blues" may be considered normal in that they are experienced by the majority of new mothers. Researchers believe that they are often due to hormonal changes that accompany pregnancy and follow delivery. They last about 10 days and are generally not severe enough to impair the mother's functioning. -About one woman in seven or eight experiences depression or anxiety postpartum. Major depression with perinatal onset is a serious mood disorder that begins about a month after delivery and may linger for weeks or months. Major depression with perinatal onset is characterized by serious sadness, feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, and major changes in appetite (usually loss of appetite) and sleep patterns (frequently insomnia). Some women show obsessive concern with the well-being of their babies, which is also a sign of anxiety postpartum. -Many researchers suggest that major depression with perinatal onset is caused by a sudden drop in estrogen. The focus is on physiological factors because of the major changes in body chemistry during and after pregnancy and because women around the world seem to experience similar disturbances in mood, even when their life experiences and support systems are radically different from those found in the United States. But it should also be noted that stress can heighten symptoms of major depression with perinatal onset. -According to the American Psychiatric Association (2013), the yet more serious postpartum psychosis affects about 1 woman in 1,000. "Psychosis" may mean a break with reality. Mothers with this disorder may have delusional thoughts about the infant that place the infant at risk of injury or death. Some women experience delusions that the infant is possessed by the devil. A few women have "command hallucinations" and experience a command to kill the infant as though it is coming from the outside. -Women who experience major depression with perinatal onset usually profit from social support and counseling. Drugs that increase estrogen levels or act as antidepressants may also help.
Maternal and Child Mortality Around the World: -Modern medicine has made vast strides in decreasing the rates of maternal and infant mortality, but the advances are not equally spread throughout the world. Save the Children, a nonprofit relief and development organization, tracks the likelihood that a woman will die in childbirth and that an infant will die during its first year. The likelihood of maternal and infant mortality is connected with what Save the Children terms the Mothers' Index, which includes factors such as the lifetime risk of maternal death during pregnancy and delivery, the under-five mortality rate for children, the years of formal schooling of mothers, economic status (as measured by national income per person), and participation of women in national government—a measure of the extent to which a society empowers women. -Number 1 on the Mothers Index is Norway where the chances of the woman dying are about 1 in 14,900 and where only 3 infants in 1,000 die during the first five years. -Women receive an average of 17 years of formal schooling (the same as in the United States), per capita income is $102,610, and 40% of national government seats are held by women (as compared to only 19% in the United States). -In the United States, which ranks number 33 on the list, 1 in 1,800 women stands a lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, and a child has a 6.9 in 1,000 chance of dying under the age of 5. Half the countries in the world have a higher percentage of females in national government than the United States. -The performance of the United States in the rankings is related to the large number of "nations within the nation." For example, there is great disparity in wealth, and richer Americans fare better in the rankings than poorer Americans. High-quality medical intervention is more available in some parts of the country than others. Many mobile Americans base their residence, in part, on the availability of good medicine. -Readers may wonder why the United States ranks so low on this list. One answer is that states with above-average poverty rates, large rural populations, and less-than-average levels of education have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates.
Compared to behaviorism, Arnold Gesell expressed the opposing idea that biological _______ was the main principle of development
Maturation
Sperm and ova (egg cells) are produced through
Meiosis, or reduction division
Which of the following is true of infant memory?
Memory improves dramatically between two and six months of age and then again by 12 months
Causes for infertility for women
Most common in women is irregular ovulation or lack of ovulation - This problem can have many causes, including irregularities among the hormones that govern ovulation, stress, and malnutrition. -So-called fertility drugs (e.g., clomiphene and pergonal) consist of hormones that cause women to ovulate. These drugs may cause multiple births by stimulating more than one ovum to ripen during a month
Approaches to childbirth
Natural/prepared childbirth: reducing pain & medical intervention -Lamaze technique -Social support -Positions of delivery Home delivery: w/ midwife & doula Medication: epidural analgesia
Adoption studies
Nature vs. nurture
Why do more than half the cases of abuse and neglect go unreported?
One answer is that it can be difficult, especially for abusers, to draw the line between "normal discipline" and abuse. -Other reasons include fear of embarrassing a family; fear of legal consequences; and, sometimes, a mother's fear that she will be victimized by the abuser if she reports the crime. -In any event, child neglect is responsible for more injuries and deaths than abuse
Muscular Dystrophy
One form of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, is sex linked -Muscular dystrophy is characterized by a weakening of the muscles, which can lead to wasting away, inability to walk, and some-times death. Other sex-linked abnormalities include diabetes, color blindness, and some types of night blindness.
Language: Other critical abilities
Other critical abilities: -Turn taking (3~4 mo.) -Joint attention (~12 mo.) Impacts on language development: -Physical/brain maturation -Temperament (shyness) -Infant-directed speech (IDS) -SES -Cultures -Characteristics of languages themselves
Autism is four to five times more common among boys than girls. -Autistic children do not show interest in social interaction and may avoid eye contact. Attachment to others is weak or absent.
Other features of autism include communication problems, intolerance of change, and ritualistic or stereotypical behavior. -Parents of autistic children often say they were "good babies," which usually means they made few demands. But as autistic children develop, they tend to shun affectionate contacts such as hugging, cuddling, and kissing. -Development of speech lags. There is little babbling and communicative gesturing during the first year. Autistic children may show mutism (refusal to speak), echolalia (automatic repetition of sounds or words), and pronoun reversal, referring to themselves as "you" or "he." About half use language by middle childhood, but their speech is unusual and troubled.
Many parents wonder whether day care will affect their children's attachment to them. Some researchers suggest that a mother who works full time puts her infant at risk for developing emotional insecurity
Others note that infants whose mothers work may simply become less distressed by her departure and less likely to seek her out when she returns as time goes on, thus providing the appearance of being less attached. However, the likelihood of insecure attachment is not much greater in infants placed in day care than in those cared for in the home. -Most infants in both groups are securely attached -Some studies report that infants with day-care experience are more peer oriented and play at higher developmental levels than do home-reared infants. -Children in high-quality day care are more likely to share their toys. They are more independent, self-confident, outgoing, and affectionate as well as more helpful and cooperative with peers and adults. Participation in day care is also linked with better academic performance in elementary school
The ova, however, are immature in form. In addition to ova, the ovaries also produce the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. At puberty, in response to hormonal command, some ova begin to mature. Each month, an egg (occasionally more than one) is released from its ovarian follicle about midway through the menstrual cycle and enters a nearby fallopian tube It might take three to four days for an egg to be propelled by small, hairlike structures called cilia and, perhaps, by contractions in the wall of the tube, along the few inches of the fallopian tube to the uterus. Unlike sperm, eggs do not propel themselves. If the egg is not fertilized, it is discharged through the uterus and the vagina, along with the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) that had formed to support an embryo, in the menstrual flow
Ova are much larger than sperm. -Human ova are barely visible to the eye, but their bulk is still thousands of times larger than that of sperm cells.
Birth complication
Oxygen deprivation: anoxia Preterm/low-birth-weight babies -Before 35 weeks or < 5.5lb Small-for-date Cure? -Kangaroo care (to provide stimulation) -Can fathers help? Silver lining: Resilience
Blood tests
Parental blood tests can reveal the presence of genetic dis-orders such as sickle cell disease, Tay-Sachs disease, and cystic fibrosis. -Blood tests are also now testing for chromosomal abnormalities, and at three to four months of pregnancy they reveal the sex of the baby.
Erik Erikson's theory was a modified version of Freud's theory that extended through the adult years called
Psychosocial development
Sleeping and Waking: -As adults, we spend about one-third of our time sleeping. Neonates greatly outdo us, spending two-thirds of their time, or about 16 hours per day, in sleep. And, in one of life's basic challenges to parents, neonates do not sleep their 16 hours consecutively -A number of different states of sleep and wakefulness have been identified in neonates and infants, as shown in Table 3.3. Although individual babies differ in the amount of time they spend in each of these states, sleep clearly predominates over wakefulness in the early days and weeks of life. -Different infants require different amounts of sleep and follow different patterns of sleep, but virtually all infants distribute their sleeping throughout the day and night through a series of naps. The typical infant has about six cycles of waking and sleeping in a 24-hour period. The longest nap typically approaches four and a half hours, and the neonate is usually awake for a little more than one hour during each cycle. -After a month or so, the infant has fewer but longer sleep periods and will usually take longer naps during the night. By the ages of about six months to one year, many infants begin to sleep through the night. Some infants start sleeping through the night earlier. A number of infants begin to sleep through the night for a week or so and then revert to their wakeful ways again for a while. -Quiet sleep (non-REM): Regular breathing, eyes closed, no movement -Active sleep (REM): Irregular breathing, eyes closed, rapid eye movement, muscle twitches -Drowsiness: Regular or irregular breathing, eyes open or closed, little movement -Alert inactivity: Regular breathing, eyes open, looking around, little body movement -Alert activity: Irregular breathing, eyes open, active body movement -Crying: Irregular breathing, eyes open or closed, thrashing of arms and legs, crying
REM AND NON-REM SLEEP: -Sleep can be divided into rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid-eye-movement (non-REM) sleep (see Figure 3.6). REM sleep is characterized by rapid eye movements that can be observed beneath closed lids. Adults who are roused during REM sleep report that they have been dreaming about 80% of the time. Is the same true of neonates? -Neonates spend about half their time sleeping in REM sleep. As they develop, the percentage of sleeping time spent in REM sleep declines. By six months or so, REM sleep accounts for only about 30% of the baby's sleep. By two to three years, REM sleep drops off to about 20%-25%. There is a dramatic falling-off in the total number of hours spent in sleep as we develop. -What is the function of REM sleep in neonates? Research with humans and other animals, including kittens and rat pups, suggests that the brain requires a certain amount of stimulation for the creation of proteins that are involved in the development of neurons and synapses. Perhaps neonates create this stimulation by means of REM sleep, which most closely parallels the waking state in terms of brain waves. Preterm babies spend an even greater proportion of their time in REM sleep, perhaps because they need relatively more stimulation of the brain.
The ego is
a conscious sense of self and begins to develop when children learn to obtain gratification consciously, without screaming or crying
Fine motor development
Reaching & grasping -Pre-reaching Prereq: Coordination of head, eye, & shoulder (3~4 mo.) Milestones: -Newborn: pre-reaching -3~4 mo.: Ulnar grasp -4~5 mo.: Transfer object from one hand to the other -9 mo.: Pincer grasp
Ethical Considerations
Researchers adhere to ethical standards that are intended to promote the dignity of the individual, foster human welfare, and maintain scientific integrity
Attachment is related to the quality of infant care. -The parents of secure infants are more affectionate, cooperative, and predictable than parents of insecure infants. They respond more sensitively to their infants' smiles and cries
Researchers have found evidence for the "intergenerational transmission of attachment": -The children of secure mothers show the most secure patterns of attachment themselves. Siblings may form quite different attachment relationships with their mother. Siblings of the same gender are more likely than girl-boy pairs to form similar attachment relationships with their mother
Preterm and Low-Birth-Weight Infants: -A baby is considered premature or preterm when birth occurs at or before 37 weeks of gestation compared with the normal 40 weeks. A baby is considered to have a low birth weight when it weighs less than 5.5 pounds (about 2,500 grams). When a baby is low in birth weight, even though it is born at full term, it is referred to as being small for gestational age. Mothers who smoke, abuse drugs, or are malnourished place their babies at risk of being small for gestational age (descriptive of neonates who are small for their age). Small-for-gestational-age babies tend to remain shorter and lighter than their age-mates and show slight delays in learning and problems in attention when compared with their age-mates. Preterm babies are more likely than small-for-gestational-age babies to achieve normal heights and weights. Prematurity is more common in the case of multiple births—even twins. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PREMATURITY AND LOW BIRTH WEIGHT: -Neonates weighing between 3.25 and 5.5 pounds are seven times more likely to die than infants of normal birth weight, whereas those weighing less than 3.3 pounds are nearly 100 times as likely to die. By and large, the lower a child's birth weight, the more poorly he or she fares on measures of neurological development and cognitive functioning throughout the school years -There are also risks for motor development. One study compared 96 very low birth weight (VLBW) children with normal-term children at 6, 9, 12, and 18 months, correcting for age according to the expected date of delivery. The median age at which the full-term infants began to walk was 12 months, compared with 14 months for the VLBW infants. By 18 months of age, all full-term infants were walking, compared to 89% of the VLBW infants.
SIGNS OF PREMATURITY: -Preterm babies are relatively thin because they have not yet formed the layer of fat that gives full-term children their round, robust appearance. They often have fine, downy hair, referred to as lanugo, and an oily white substance on the skin known as vernix. If the babies are born six weeks or more before term, their nipples will not have emerged. The testicles of boys born this early will not yet have descended into the scrotum. Boys with undescended testes at birth are at higher risk for testicular cancer later in life. -Preterm babies have immature muscles, so their sucking and breathing reflexes are weak. In addition, the walls of the tiny air sacs in their lungs may tend to stick together because the babies do not yet secrete sub-stances that lubricate the walls of the sacs. As a result, babies born more than a month before full term may breathe irregularly or may suddenly stop breathing, evidence of respiratory distress syndrome (weak and irregular breathing, typical of preterm babies). -Preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome show poorer development in cognitive, language, and motor skills over the first two years of development than full-term infants. Injecting pregnant women at risk for delivering preterm babies with corticosteroids increases the babies' chances of survival.
Chromosomal abnormalities
Sex chromosomes Autosomes: -Down syndrome: 21st pair of chromosome got 3 chromosomes, instead of 2; OR, a broken piece of the 21st chromosome is attached to another chromosome
Psychoanalytic Perspective originated with the work of
Sigmund Freud -a number of theories fall within this perspective
Eugenics was greatly advocated by
Sir Francis Galton, and was widely studied in the U.S. -Hitler seemed to take this perspective to endorse his Jew holocaust action. Nevertheless, the legacy of eugenics is huge
How to do Research in developmental psychology: Why we need this? Reason 3
So that you know how to do research by yourself
Crying: -No discussion of the sleeping and waking states of neonates would be complete without mentioning crying, a comment that parents will view as an understatement. The main reason babies cry seems to be simple enough. Studies suggest a one-word answer: pain. Whether crying is healthful remains an open question, but some crying among babies seems to be universal. -Before parenthood, many people wonder whether they will be able to recognize the meaning of their babies' cries, but it usually does not take them long. Parents typically learn to distinguish cries that signify hunger, anger, and pain. The pitch of an infant's cries appears to provide information. Adults perceive high-pitched crying to be more urgent, distressing, and sick sounding than low-pitched crying. A sudden, loud, insistent cry associated with flexing and kicking of the legs may indicate colic, that is, pain resulting from gas or other sources of distress in the digestive tract. Crying from colic can be severe and persistent; it may last for hours. Much to the relief of parents, colic tends to disappear by the third to sixth month, as a baby's digestive system matures. -Certain high-pitched cries, when prolonged, may signify health problems. The cries of chronically distressed infants differ from those of nondistressed infants in both rhythm and pitch. Patterns of crying may be indicative of chromosomal abnormalities, infections, fetal malnutrition, and exposure to narcotics. -Peaks of crying appear to be concentrated in the late afternoon and early evening. Although some cries may seem extreme and random at first, they tend to settle into a recognizable pattern. Infants seem to produce about the same number of crying bouts during the first nine months or so, but the duration of the bouts lessens during this period. The response of the caregiver influences crying. It turns out that the more frequently mothers ignore their infants' crying bouts in the first nine weeks, the less frequently their infants cry in the following nine-week period. This finding should certainly not be interpreted to mean that infant crying is best ignored. At least at first, crying communicates pain and hunger, and these are conditions that it is advisable to correct. Persistent crying can strain the mother-infant relationship.
Soothing: -Sucking seems to be a built-in tranquilizer. Sucking on a pacifier (a device such as an artificial nipple or teething ring that soothes babies when suck) decreases crying and agitated movement in hungry neonates but there are concerns that pacifiers may harm facial structures. Functional/orthodontic pacifiers are preferable to conventional pacifiers. Sucking (drinking) a sweet solution also appears to have a soothing effect. -Parents soothe infants by picking them up, patting them, caressing and rocking them, swaddling them (wrapping them in a blanket, reminiscent of the womb), and speaking to them in a low voice. Parents then usually try to find the specific cause of the distress by offering a bottle or pacifier or checking the diaper. Parents learn by trial and error what types of embraces and movements are likely to soothe their child, and infants learn quickly that crying is followed by being picked up or other interventions. Parents sometimes worry that if they pick up a crying baby quickly, they are reinforcing the baby for crying. In this way, they believe, the child may become spoiled and find it progressively more difficult to engage in self-soothing to get to sleep. -Fortunately, as infants mature and learn, crying tends to become replaced by less upsetting verbal requests for intervention. Among adults, of course, soothing techniques take very different forms—such admissions that one started the argument.
Measuring attachment
Strange situation
Extinction results from repeated performance of operant behavior without reinforcement
True
Surrogate Mothers
Surrogate mothers bring babies to term for other women who are infertile. -Surrogate mothers may be artificially inseminated by the partners of infertile women, in which case the baby carries the genes of the father. -But sometimes—as with 60-year-old singer-songwriter James Taylor and his 54-year-old wife—ova are surgically extracted from the biological mother, fertilized in vitro by the biological father, and then implanted in another woman's uterus, where the baby is brought to term. -Surrogate mothers are usually paid and sign agreements to surrender the baby
Smell: The Nose Knows-Early -Neonates can discriminate distinct odors, such as those of onions and licorice. They show more rapid breathing patterns and increased bodily movement in response to powerful odors. They also turn away from unpleasant odors, such as ammonia and vinegar, as early as the first day after birth. The nasal preferences of neonates are similar to those of older children and adults -The sense of smell, like hearing, may provide a vehicle for mother-infant recognition and attachment. Neonates may be sensitive to the smell of milk because, when held by the mother, they tend to turn toward her nipple before they have had a chance to see or touch it. In one experiment, Macfarlane (1975, 1977) placed nursing pads above and to the sides of neonates' heads. One pad had absorbed milk from the mother, the other was clean. Neonates less than one week old spent more time turning to look at their mothers' pads than at the new pads. -Breast-fed 15-day-old infants also prefer their mother's underarm odor to odors produced by other milk-producing women and by other women. Bottle-fed infants do not show this preference. Underarm odor, along with odors from breast secretions, might contribute to the early development of recognition and attachment.
TASTE: -Neonates are sensitive to different tastes, and their preferences, as suggested by their facial expressions in response to various fluids, are like those of adults. Neonates swallow without showing any facial expression suggestive of a positive or negative response when distilled water is placed on their tongues. Sweet solutions are met with smiles, licking, and eager sucking. Neonates discriminate among solutions with salty, sour, and bitter tastes, as suggested by reactions in the lower part of the face. Sour fluids elicit pursing of the lips, nose wrinkling, and eye blinking. Bitter solutions stimulate spit-ting, gagging, and sticking out the tongue. -Sweet solutions have a calming effect on neonates. One study found that sweeter solutions increase the heart rate, suggesting heightened arousal, but also slow down the rate of sucking. Researchers interpret this finding to suggest an effort to savor the sweeter solution, to make the flavor last.
The fetus may actually signal the mother when it is "ready" to be born by secreting hormones that stimulate the placenta and uterus to secrete prostaglandins -Prostaglandins not only cause the cramping that women may feel before or during menstruation, they also excite the muscles of the uterus to engage in labor contractions. As labor progresses, the pituitary gland releases the hormone oxytocin, which stimulates contractions powerful enough to expel the baby.
THE STAGES OF CHILDBIRTH: Regular uterine contractions signal the beginning of childbirth. Childbirth occurs in three stages. In the first stage, uterine contractions efface and dilate the cervix, which needs to widen to about four inches (ten centimeters) to allow the baby to pass. Dilation of the cervix causes most of the pain of childbirth. -The first stage is the longest stage. Among women undergo-ing their first deliveries, this stage may last from a few hours to more than a day. -Subsequent pregnancies take less time. The first contractions are not usually all that painful and are spaced 10 to 20 minutes apart. They may last from 20 to 40 seconds each. As the process continues, the contractions become more powerful, frequent, and regular. Women are usually advised to go to the hospital or birthing center when the contractions are four to five minutes apart. Until the end of the first stage of labor, the mother is usually in a labor room. -If the woman is to be "prepped"—that is, if her pubic hair is to be shaved—it takes place now. The prep is intended to lower the chances of infection during delivery and to facilitate the performance of an episiotomy (a surgical incision between the birth canal and anus that widens the vaginal opening). A woman may be given an enema to prevent an involuntary bowel movement during labor. But many women find prep-ping and enemas degrading and seek obstetricians (physicians who treat women during pregnancy, labor, and recovery from child-birth) who do not perform them routinely -During the first stage of childbirth, fetal monitoring may be used. One kind of monitor is an electronic device strapped around the woman's abdomen that measures the fetal heart rate as well as the mother's contractions. An abnormal heart rate alerts the medical staff to possible fetal distress so that appropriate steps can be taken, such as speeding up the delivery. When the cervix is nearly fully dilated, the head of the fetus begins to move into the vagina. This process is called transition (movement of the head of the fetus into the vagina) -During transition, which lasts about 30 minutes or less, contractions are usually frequent and strong.
_____ are environmental agents that can harm the embryo or fetus.
Teratogens
Ejaculate
The 150 million or so sperm in the ejaculate may seem to be a wasteful investment because only one sperm can fertilize an ovum, but only 1 in 1,000 sperm will ever approach an ovum. -Millions deposited in the vagina flow out of the woman's body because of gravity -Normal vaginal acidity kills many more sperm. -Many surviving sperm then have to swim against the current of fluid coming from the cervix -Sperm that survive these initial obstacles may reach the fallopian tubes 60 to 90 minutes after ejaculation. -About half the sperm enter the fallopian tube that does not contain the egg -Perhaps 2,000 enter the correct tube. Fewer still manage to swim the final two inches against the currents generated by the cilia that line the tube. It is not true that sperm travel about at random inside the woman's reproductive tract. Sperm cells are apparently "egged on" by a change in calcium ions that occurs when an ovum is released -Of all the sperm swarming around the egg, only one enters. -Ova are surrounded by a gelatinous layer that must be penetrated if fertilization is to occur. -Many of the sperm that have completed their journey to the ovum secrete an enzyme that briefly thins the layer, but it enables only one sperm to penetrate. -Once a sperm cell cell has entered, the layer thickens, locking other sperm out. -The chromosomes from the sperm cell line up across from the corresponding chromosomes in the egg cell. They form 23 new pairs with a unique set of genetic instructions. -. It is believed that sperm locate the ovum through a rudimentary sense of smell
Boy or girl?
The 23rd pair: sex chromosomes XX or XY Disorders: XXX: Triple X syndrome (verbal ability problem) X?: Turner syndrome (spatial ability problem, incomplete development of sex characteristics) XXY: Klinefelter syndrome (verbal ability problem, incomplete development of sex characteristics) XYY: Quite normal
SUID AND SIDS: -Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) describes the sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant during the first year. SUID includes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), in which the child suffocates during sleep (seemingly healthy baby). And more children do die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than die from cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, child abuse, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy combined. SIDS—also known as crib death—is a disorder of infancy that apparently strikes while a baby is sleeping. In the typical case, a baby goes to sleep, apparently in perfect health, and is found dead the next morning. There is no sign that the baby struggled or was in pain. -SIDS is more common among the following: babies aged two to five months, babies who are put to sleep on their stomachs or their sides (sleeping prone decreases the oxygen supply to the brain), premature and low-birth-weight infants, male babies, babies in families of lower socioeconomic status, bottle-fed babies, African American babies, babies of teenage mothers, babies whose mothers smoked during or after pregnancy or whose mothers used narcotics during pregnancy, and babies who have respiratory infections. -The incidence of SIDS has been declining, in part because some cases of SIDS have been reattributed to accidental suffocation. Even so, some 3,500 infants in the United States still die each year of SIDS. It is the most common cause of death during the first year, and most of these deaths occur between two and five months of age. New parents frequently live in dread of SIDS and check regularly through the night to see if their babies are breathing. It is not abnormal, by the way, for babies occasionally to suspend breathing for a moment.
The Children's Hospital Boston Study: -Perhaps the most compelling study to date about the causes of SIDS was led by health professionals at the Children's Hospital Boston. The study focused on an area in the brain stem called the medulla (part of the brain stem that regulates vital and automatic functions such as breathing and the sleep-wake cycle), which is involved in basic functions such as breathing and sleep-wake cycles. The medulla causes us to breathe if we are in need of oxygen. Researchers compared the medullas of babies who had died from SIDS with those of babies who had died at the same ages from other causes. They found that the medullas of the babies who died from SIDS were less sensitive to the brain chemical serotonin, a chemical that helps keep the medulla responsive. The problem was particularly striking in the brains of the boys, which could account for the sex difference in the incidence of SIDS.
Theories Of Language Development: -Billions of children have learned the languages spoken by their parents and have passed them down, with minor changes, from generation to generation. But how do they do so? In discussing this question—and so many others—we refer to the possible roles of nature and nurture. Learning theorists have come down on the side of nurture, and those who point to a basic role for nature are said to hold a nativist view. Views that Emphasize Nurture: -Learning plays an obvious role in language development. Children who are reared in English-speaking homes learn English, not Japanese or Russian. Learning theorists usually explain language development in terms of imitation and reinforcement. -THE ROLE OF IMITATION: From a social cognitive perspective, parents serve as models (in learning theory, those whose behaviors are imitated by others). Children learn language, at least in part, by observation and imitation. Many vocabulary words, especially nouns and verbs, learned by imitation. But imitative learning does not explain why children spontaneously utter phrases and sentences that they have not observed. Parents, for example, are unlikely to model utterances such as "Bye bye sock" and "All gone Daddy" but children say them. And children sometimes steadfastly avoid imitating certain language forms suggested by adults, even when the adults are insistent. Note the following exchange between two-year-old Ben and a (very frustrated) adult: -Ben: I like these candy. I like they. -Adult: You like them? -Ben: Yes, I like they. -Adult: Say them. -Ben: Them. -Adult: Say "I like them." -Ben: I like them. -Adult: Good. -Ben: I'm good. These candy good too. -Adult: Are they good? -Ben: Yes. I like they. You like they? -Ben is not resisting the adult because of obstinacy. He does repeat "I like them" when asked to do so. But when given the opportunity afterward to construct the object them, he reverts to using the subjective form they. Ben is likely at this period in his development to use his (erroneous) understanding of syntax spontaneously to actively produce his own language, rather than just imitate a model.
The Role Of Reinforcement: -B. F. Skinner (1957) allowed that prelinguistic vocalizations such as cooing and babbling may be inborn. But parents rein-force children for babbling that approximates the form of real words, such as da, which, in English, resembles dog or daddy. Children, in fact, do increase their babbling when it results in adults smiling at them, stroking them, and talking back to them. As the first year progresses, children babble the sounds of their native tongues with increasing frequency; foreign sounds tend to drop out. The behaviorist explains this pattern of changing frequencies in terms of reinforcement of the sounds of the adults' language and extinction (decrease in frequency of a response due to absence of reinforcement) of foreign sounds. Another (non-behavioral) explanation is that children actively attend to the sounds in their linguistic environments and are intrinsically motivated to utter them. -From Skinner's perspective, children acquire their early vocabularies through shaping (gradual building of complex behavior through reinforcement of successive approximations to the target behavior). That is, parents require that children's utterances be progressively closer to actual words before they are reinforced. In support of Skinner's position, research has shown that reinforcement can accelerate the growth of vocabulary in children. -But recall Ben's refusal to be shaped into correct syn-tax. If the reinforcement explanation of language development were sufficient, parents' reinforcement would facilitate children's learning of syntax and pronunciation. However, parents are more likely to reinforce their children for the accuracy, or "truth value," of their utter-ances than for their grammatical correctness (Brown, 1973). The child who points down and says "The grass is purple" is not likely to be reinforced, despite correct syntax. But the enthusiastic child who shows her empty plate and blurts out "I eated it all up" is likely to be rein-forced, despite the grammatical incorrectness of "eated". -Selective reinforcement of children's pronunciation can also backfire. Children whose parents reward proper pronunciation but correct poor pronunciation develop vocabulary more slowly than children whose parents are more tolerant about pronunciation. -Learning theory also cannot account for the invariant sequences of language development and for children's spurts in acquisition. The types of questions used, passive versus active sentences and so on, all emerge in the same order.
Cognitive Development: Jean Piaget -Cognitive development focuses on the development of children's ways of perceiving and mentally representing the world. Piaget labeled children's concepts of the world schemes. He hypothesized that children try to use assimilation to absorb new events into existing schemes. When assimilation does not allow the child to make sense of novel events, children try to modify existing schemes through accommodation. -Piaget (1936, 1963) hypothesized that cognitive processes develop in an orderly sequence of stages. Some children may advance more quickly than others, but the sequence remains constant. Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
The Sensoimotor Stage: -Piaget's sensorimotor stage refers to the first two years of cognitive development, a time during which infants progress from responding to events with reflexes, or ready-made schemes, to goal-oriented behavior. Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six substages. In each substage, earlier forms of behavior are repeated, varied, and coordinated. 1. Simple Reflexes: -The first substage covers the first month after birth. It is dominated by the assimilation of sources of stimulation into inborn reflexes such as grasping or visual tracking. At birth, reflexes seem stereotypical and inflexible. But even within the first few hours, neonates begin to modify reflexes as a result of experience. For example, infants will adapt pat-terns of sucking to the shape of the nipple and the rate of flow of fluid. During the first month or so, however, infants apparently make no connection between stimulation perceived through different sensory modalities. They make no effort to grasp objects that they visually track. 2. Primary Circular Reactions: -The second sub-stage, primary circular reactions, lasts from about one to four months of age and is characterized by the beginnings of the ability to coordinate various sensorimotor schemes. Infants tend to repeat stimulating actions that first occurred by chance. They may lift an arm repeatedly to bring it into view. Primary circular reactions (the repetition of actions that first occurred by chance and that focus on the infant's own body rather than on the external environment). Piaget noticed the following primary circular reaction in his son Laurent: At 2 months 4 days, Laurent by chance discovers his right index finger and looks at it briefly. At 2 months 11 days, he inspects for a moment his open right hand, perceived by chance. At 2 months 17 days, he follows its spontaneous movement for a moment, then examines it several times while it searches for his nose or rubs his eye. -Thus, Laurent, early in the third month, visually tracks the behavior of his hands, but his visual observations do not affect their movement. In terms of assimilation and accommodation, the child is attempting to assimilate the motor scheme (moving the hand) into the sensory scheme (looking at it). But the schemes do not automatically fit. Several days of apparent trial and error pass, during which the infant seems to be trying to make accommodations so that they will fit. By the third month, infants may examine objects repeatedly and intensely. It seems that the infant is no longer simply looking and seeing but is now "looking in order to see." -Because Laurent (and other infants) will repeat actions that allow them to see, cognitive-developmental psychologists consider sensorimotor coordination self-reinforcing. Laurent is acting on his hands to keep them in his field of vision. Piaget considers the desire to prolong stimulation to be as "basic" as the drives of hunger or thirst. 3. Secondary Circular Reactions: - The third substage lasts from about four to eight months and is characterized by secondary circular reactions, in which patterns of activity are repeated because of their effect on the environment. In the second substage (primary circular reactions), infants are focused on their own bodies, as in the example given with Laurent. In the third substage (secondary circular reactions), the focus shifts to objects and environmental events. Infants may now learn to pull strings in order to make a plastic face appear or to shake an object in order to hear it rattle. 4. Coordination of Secondary Schemes: - In the fourth substage, which lasts from about 8 to 12 months of age, infants no longer act simply to prolong interesting occurrences. Now they can coordinate schemes to attain specific goals. Infants begin to show intentional, goal-directed behavior in which they differentiate between the means of achieving a goal and the goal or end itself. For example, they may lift a piece of cloth to reach a toy that they had seen a parent place under the cloth earlier. In this example, the scheme of picking up the cloth (the means) is coordinated with the scheme of reaching for the toy the (goal or end). This example indicates that the infant has mentally represented the toy placed under the cloth. -During the fourth substage, infants also gain the capacity to imitate gestures and sounds that they had previously ignored. The imitation of a facial gesture implies that infants have mentally represented their own faces and can tell what parts of their faces they are moving through feedback from facial muscles. 5. Tertiary Circular Reactions: -In the fifth sub-stage, which lasts from about 12 to 18 months of age, Piaget looked on the behavior of infants as characteristic of budding scientists. Infants now engage in tertiary circular reactions, or purposeful adaptations of established schemes to specific situations. Behavior takes on a new experimental quality, and infants may vary their actions dozens of times in a deliberate trial-and-error fashion to learn how things work. -Piaget reported an example of tertiary circular reactions by his daughter Jacqueline. The episode was an experiment in which Piaget placed a stick outside Jacqueline's playpen, which had wooden bars (Piaget, 1963 [1936]). At first, Jacqueline grasped the stick and tried to pull it sideways into the playpen. The stick was too long and could not fit through the bars. After days of overt trial and error, however, Jacqueline discovered that she could bring the stick between the bars by turning it upright. In the sixth substage, described next, infants apparently engage in mental trial and error before displaying the correct overt response. 6. Invention of New Means Through Mental Combinations: -The sixth substage lasts from about 18 to 24 months of age. It serves as a transition between sensorimotor development and the development of symbolic thought. External exploration is replaced by mental exploration. At about 18 months, children may also use imitation to symbolize or stand for a plan of action. -Piaget presented his other children, Lucienne and Laurent, with the playpen and stick problem at the age of 18 months. Rather than engage in overt trial and error, the 18-month-old children sat and studied the situation for a few moments. Then they grasped the stick, turned it upright, and brought it into the playpen with little overt effort. Lucienne and Laurent apparently mentally rep-resented the stick and the bars of the playpen and perceived that the stick would not fit through as it was. They must then have rotated the mental image of the stick until they perceived a position that would allow the stick to pass between the bars.
Phenotypes
The actual sets of traits that we exhibit -Our phenotypes reflect both genetic and environmental influences.
Why do children whose material needs are met show such dramatic deficiencies?
The answer may depend, in part, on the age of the child. -Research by Leon Yarrow and his colleagues suggests that deficiencies in sensory stimulation and social interaction may cause more problems than lack of love in infants who are too young to have developed specific attachments. But once infants have developed specific attachments, separation from their primary caregivers can lead to problems.
Brain & neural development
The brain grows: -Because of the synaptogenesis and myelination -Birth: 25% of adult weight -2 yr.: 70% Synaptic pruning: -The brain trims the synapses -Who stays and who goes? Brain plasticity: -Lateralization: starting at prenatal stage -Peak: 4 yr.
How involved is the average father with his children?
The brief answer, in developed nations, is more so than in the past. But mothers engage in more interactions with their infants. -Most fathers are more likely to play with their children than to feed or clean them. -Fathers more often than mothers engage in rough-and-tumble play, whereas mothers are more likely to play games involving toys, and patty-cake and peek-a-boo
Goodness of Fit (agreement between the parent's expectations of a child and the child's temperament): The Role of the Environment
The environment also affects the development of temperament -An initial biological predisposition to a certain temperament may be strengthened or weakened by the parents' reaction to the child. -Parents may react to a difficult child by imposing rigid caregiving schedules, which in turn can cause the child to become even more difficult. This example illustrates a poor fit between the child's behavior style and the parents' response. -On the other hand, parents may try to modify a child's initial temperament in a more positive direction to achieve a goodness of fit between child and parent. Realization that their youngster's behavior does not mean that the child is weak or deliberately disobedient, or that they are bad parents, helps parents modify their attitudes and behavior toward the child, whose behavior may then improve
Which of the following events occurs early in the last month of pregnancy?
The head of the fetus settles in the pelvis
How strongly, then, do infants become attached to their fathers?
The more sensitive the father is to the infant's needs, the stronger the attachment
Security is also connected with the infant's temperament
The mothers of "difficult" children are less responsive to them and report feeling more distant from them
Which of the following events signals the beginning of childbirth?
The occurrence of regular uterine contractions
"high-quality" day care can result in scores on tests of cognitive skills that rival or exceed those of the children reared in the home by their mothers
The quality of the day care was defined in terms of the richness of the learning environment (availability of toys, books, and other materials), the ratio of caregivers to children (high quality meant more caregivers), the amount of individual attention received by the child, and the extent to which caregivers talked to the children and asked them questions. -However, the researchers also found that children placed in day care may be more aggressive toward peers and adults than children who are reared in the home. The more time spent away from their mothers, the more likely these children were to be rated as defiant, aggressive, and disobedient once they got to kindergarten. -Teacher ratings found that once children who were in day care are in school, they are significantly more likely than children cared for in the home to interrupt in class and tease or bully other children. The degree of disturbance generally remained "within normal limits." That is, the children who had been in day care could not be labeled criminals and were not being expelled. The quality of the day-care center made no difference. -Children from high-quality day-care centers were also more likely to be disruptive than children cared for in the home. Moreover, the behavioral difference persisted through the sixth grade.
Genotypes
The sets of traits that we inherit from our parents -the genetic form or constitution of a person as determined by heredity
Stage theories consider development as a discontinuous process
True
TOUCH: -Sense of touch is an extremely important avenue of learning and communication for babies. Not only do the skin senses provide information about the external world, but the sensations of skin against skin also appear to provide feelings of comfort and security that may be major factors in the formation of bonds of attachment between infants and their caregivers. Many reflexes—including the rooting, sucking, Babinski, and grasping reflexes, to name a few—are activated by pres-sure against the skin.
The somewhat limited sensory capabilities of neonates suggest that they may not learn as rapidly as older children do. After all, we must sense clearly those things we are to learn about. Neonates do, however, seem capable of conditioning. -CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OF NEONATES: -In classical conditioning of neonates, involuntary responses are conditioned to new stimuli. In a typical study, neonates were taught to blink in response to a tone. Blinking (the unconditioned response) was elicited by a puff of air directed toward the infant's eye (the unconditioned stimulus). A tone was sounded (the conditioned stimulus) as the puff of air was delivered. After repeated pairings, sounding the tone caused the neonate to blink (the conditioned response) -OPERANT CONDITIONING OF NEONATES: -Operant conditioning, like classical conditioning, can take place in neonates. The experiment from Chapter 2 in which neonates learned to suck on a pacifier in such a way as to activate a recording of their mothers reading The Cat in the Hat is a prime example of operant conditioning.
Autistic children become bound by ritual. Even slight changes in routines or the environment may cause distress.
The teacher of a five-year-old autistic girl would greet her each morning with, "Good morning, Lily, I am very, very glad to see you." Lily would ignore the greeting, but she would shriek if the teacher omitted even one of the verys. This feature of autism is termed "preservation of sameness." When familiar objects are moved from their usual places, children with autism may throw tantrums or cry until they are restored. They may insist on eating the same food every day. Autistic children show deficits in peer play, imaginative play, imitation, and emotional expression. Many sleep less than their age-mates. -Some autistic children mutilate themselves, even as they cry out in pain. They may bang their heads, slap their faces, bite their hands and shoulders, or pull out their hair
Which of the following is true of secure infants participating in the Strange Situation method of assessing attachment?
They are somewhat distressed by their mother's departure
Which of the following is not true of children with fear of strangers?
They develop the fear around one to three months of age
Which of the following is true of difficult children?
They have irregular sleep and feeding schedules and approach new situations with anxiety and fear
Although most sexually abused children are girls, one-quarter to one-third are boys. When we sample the population at large rather than rely on cases of abuse that are reported to authorities, it appears that the prevalence of sexual abuse among children is about 2% each year, but the rate for girls aged 14 to 17 is above 10% in a given year.
This chapter is about infants, but many boys in middle childhood and adolescence have been sexually abused by religious leaders and by athletic coaches—as made all too clear in news reports in recent years.
Stability of Temperament
Though not all children are born with the same temperament, as Thomas and Chess found, there is at least moderate consistency in the development of temperament from infancy onward -The infant who is highly active and cries in novel situations often becomes a fearful toddler. -Difficult children in general are at greater risk for developing psychological disorders and adjustment problems later in life
How to do Research in developmental psychology: Why we need this? Reason 2
To understand (and not to be fooled by) what news, lectures delivered by so-called big names, articles distributed by the principal/supervisor that you are asked to read mean -ex: vaccination makes your child autistic
How to do Research in developmental psychology: Why we need this?
To understand what these scientists and researchers want to say -ex: Dinner-table conversations of three-year-old children from intact family were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed in CLAN. As a result, the number of utterances is correlated with parenting style. The transcript is shared on CHILDES
Approximately 1 girl in 1,000 has an XXX sex chromosomal structure called
Triple X syndrome -Such girls are normal in appearance but tend to show lower-than-average language skills and poorer memory for recent events. Development of external sexual organs appears normal enough, although there is increased incidence of infertility
Instability of Intelligence Scores Attained In Infancy: -Researchers have also tried to use infant scales to predict development, but this effort has had mixed success. One study found that scores obtained during the first year of life correlated moderately at best with scores obtained a year later. Certain items on the Bayley scales appear to predict related intellectual skills later in childhood. For example, Bayley items measuring infant motor skills predict subsequent fine motor and visual-spatial skills at six to eight years of age Bayley language items also predict language skills at the same age. -Another study found that the Bayley scales and socioeconomic status were able to predict cognitive development among low-birth-weight children from 18 months to four years of age. But overall scores on the Bayley and other infant scales apparently do not predict school grades or IQ scores among school children very well. Predictability of teenage and adult intelligence test scores becomes stronger once children reach the ages of six or seven. Perhaps the sensorimotor test items used during infancy are not that strongly related to the verbal and symbolic items used to assess intelligence at later ages. -The Bayley scales remain widely used and adapted to different cultures. Studies attesting to their utility, reliability, and validity—measured in various ways—are reported from countries as far flung as South Africa, Iran, Ethiopia, and Nepal.
Use Of Visual Recognition Memory: -In a continuing effort to find aspects of intelligence and cognition that might remain consistent from infancy through later childhood, a number of researchers have recently focused on visual recognition memory. Visual recognition memory is the ability to discriminate previously seen objects from novel objects. This procedure is based on habituation. -Let us consider longitudinal studies of this type. Susan Rose and her colleagues showed seven-month-old infants pictures of two identical faces. After 20 seconds, the pictures were replaced with one picture of a new face and a second picture of the familiar face. The amount of time the infants spent looking at each face in the second set of pictures was recorded. Some infants spent more time looking at the new face than at the older face, suggesting that they had better memory for visual stimulation. The children were given standard IQ tests yearly from ages one through six. It was found that the children with greater visual recognition memory later attained higher IQ scores. -Rose and her colleagues also showed that, from age to age, individual differences in capacity for visual recognition memory are stable. This finding is important because intelligence—the quality that many researchers seek to predict from visual recognition memory—is also theorized to be a reasonably stable trait. Similarly, items on intelligence tests are age graded; that is, older children perform better than younger children, even as developing intelligence remains constant. So, too, with visual recognition memory. Capacity for visual recognition memory increases over the first year after birth -A number of other studies have examined the relationship between either infant visual recognition memory or preference for novel stimulation (which is a related measure) and later IQ scores. In general, they show good predictive validity for broad cognitive abilities throughout childhood, including measures of intelligence and language ability. -In sum, scales of infant development may provide useful data as screening devices, as research instruments, or simply as a way to describe the things that infants do and do not do, but their predictive power as intelligence tests has been disappointing. Tests of visual recognition hold better promise as predictors of intelligence at older ages.Now let us turn our attention to a fascinating aspect of cognitive development, the development of language.
How stable is one's attachment style?
Very stable -Hard to change maybe therapy would help -Related to SES or Socioeconomic status
Language: Vocabulary & Imperfection
Vocabulary: -~5 mo.: Responding to their own name -~6 mo.: Basic word-image matching -~12 mo.: First real word used -18~24 mo.: Spurt in vocabulary; telegraphic speech -Verbs take more time to learn Imperfection: -Underextension -Overextension -Declines with age
Scaffolding
Vygotsky's term for temporary cognitive structures or methods of solving problems that help the child as he or she learns to function independently -ex: child is offered scaffolding that enables them to use their fingers or their toes to do simple calculations. Eventually, the scaffolding is removed and the cognitive structures stand alone
In many nonhumans, attachment occurs during a critical period of life:
Waterfowl become attached during this period to the first moving object they encounter. Because the image of the moving object seems to become "imprinted" on the young animal, the process is termed imprinting -ex: Konrad Lorenz "family" of goslings
Behaviorism is
Watson's view that science must study observable behavior only and investigate relationships between stimuli and responses -founded by John B. Watson
The typical sex chromosome pattern for females is ____.
XX
Gynecomastia
XXY males who have enlarged breasts (usually mildly intellectually disabled, particularly in language skills)
We receive an X sex chromosome from our mothers. The father however supplies either a
Y or an X sex chromosome
Does attachment style predict later psychosocial adjustment?
Yes
Can we attach to multiple people?
Yes, best friends, teachers etc.
Case study
a carefully drawn account of the behavior of an individual -ex: parents who keep diaries of their children's activities are involved in informal case studies
Turner Syndrome
a chromosomal disorder found among females that is caused by having a single X sex chromosome and is characterized by infertility. (1 in 2,500 girls has a single X sex chromosome) -The external genitals of such girls are normal, but their ovaries are poorly developed and they produce little estrogen -Girls with this problem are shorter than average and infertile. Researchers have connected a specific pattern of cognitive deficits with low estrogen levels: problems in visual-spatial skills, mathematics, and nonverbal memory -women with Turner syndrome were more likely to have a bachelor's degree and be employed than their age-mates in the general population
Klinefelter syndrome
a chromosomal disorder found among males that is caused by an extra X sex chromosome and that is characterized by infertility and mild intellectual disabilities. (XXY)
Sex chromosome
a chromosome in the shape of a Y (male) or an X (female) that deter-mines the anatomic sex of the child.
Independent variable
a condition in a scientific study that is manipulated so that its effects can be observed
Autism
a developmental disorder characterized by failure to relate to others, communication problems, intolerance of change, and ritualistic behavior. -(a disorder characterized by extreme aloneness, communication problems, preservation of sameness, and ritualistic behavior)
Cystic Fibrosis
a fatal genetic disorder in which mucus obstructs the lungs and pancreas caused by a recessive gene (the most common fatal hereditary disease among European Americans -Children with the disease suffer from excessive production of thick mucus that clogs the pancreas and lungs. Most victims die of respiratory infections in their 20s
Tay-Sachs disease
a fatal genetic neurological disorder caused by a recessive gene -It causes the central nervous system to degenerate, resulting in death -Most commonly found among children in Jewish families of Eastern European background. -Children with the disorder progressively lose control over their muscles, experience sensory losses, develop intellectual disabilities, become paralyzed, and usually die by about the age of five.
Huntington's disease (HD)
a fatal, progressive degenerative disorder and a dominant trait (a fatal genetic neurological disorder whose onset is in middle age) -Physical symptoms include uncontrollable muscle movements. Psychological symptoms include loss of intellectual functioning and personality change -Because the onset of HD is delayed until middle adulthood, many individuals with the defect have borne children only to dis-cover years later that they and possibly half their offspring will inevitably develop it. Medicines can help deal with some symptoms.
Estrogen
a female sex hormone produced mainly by the ovaries
Sickle cell disease
a genetic disorder that decreases the blood's capacity to carry oxygen caused by a recessive gene -Most common amount African Americans 1 in 10 -Red blood cells take on the shape of a sickle and clump together, obstructing small blood vessels and decreasing the oxygen supply. The lessened oxygen supply can impair cognitive skills and academic performance -Physical problems include painful and swollen joints, jaundice, and potentially fatal conditions such as pneumonia, stroke, and heart and kidney failure.
Testosterone
a male sex hormone produced mainly by the testes -XXY males produce less of the males sex hormone testosterone than normal males -As a result, male primary and secondary sex characteristics—such as the testes, deepening of the voice, musculature, and the male pattern of body hair—do not develop properly. -XXY males are typically treated with testosterone replacement therapy, which can foster growth of sex characteristics and elevate the mood, but they remain infertile
Autosome
a member of a pair of chromosomes (with the exception of sex chromosomes).
Allele
a member of a pair of genes
Experiment
a method of scientific investigation that seeks to discover cause-and-effect relationships by introducing independent variables and observing their effects on dependent variables
Scheme
a pattern of action or mental structure that is involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge
Carrier
a person who carries and transmits characteristics but does not exhibit them -people who bear one dominant gene and one recessive gene for a trait
Amniocentesis
a procedure for drawing and examining fetal cells sloughed off into amniotic fluid to determine the presence of various disorders -usually per-formed on the mother at 14-16 weeks after conception -although many physicians now perform the procedure earlier ("early amniocentesis"). In this fetal-screening method, the health professional uses a syringe (needle) to withdraw fluid from the amniotic sac. The fluid contains cells that are sloughed off by the fetus. The cells are separated from the amniotic fluid, grown in a culture, and then examined microscopically for genetic and chromosomal abnormalities. -Recommended for women over 35 (greater chance of down's syndrome) -Amniocentesis carries some risk of miscarriage, although the extent is unclear
Hypothesis
a proposition to be tested
Down's syndrome characteristics include
a rounded face, a protruding tongue, a broad, flat nose, and a sloping fold of skin over the inner corners of the eyes -They show deficits in cognitive development and motor development and usually die from cardiovascular problems by middle age, although modern medicine has extended life appreciably.
Classical conditioning is
a simple form of learning in which one stimulus comes to bring forth the response usually brought forth by a second stimulus by being paired repeatedly with the second stimulus
Chanel is a six-month-old baby. Her mother shows her a teddy bear and she giggles. However, when her mother hides the teddy bear behind her back. Chanel just starts to search for it. From the given information, it can be concluded that Chanel has not yet developed:
a solution for the A-not-B search error
Standardized test
a test in which an individual's score is compared to the scores of a group of similar individuals -in addition to direct observation, case studies include standardized tests and interviews
Dominant trait
a trait that is expressed Ex: the offspring from the crossing of brown eyes with blue eyes have brown eyes, suggesting that brown eyes are a dominant trait, and blue eyes are a recessive trait
Recessive trait
a trait that is not expressed when the gene or genes involved have been paired with dominant genes
Secure attachment
a type of attachment characterized by mild distress at leave-takings and being readily soothed by reunion.
Avoidant attachment
a type of insecure attachment characterized by apparent indifference to leave-takings by and reunions with an attachment figure. -are least distressed by their mothers' departure & they play without fuss when alone and ignore their mothers upon reunion.
Disorganized-disoriented attachment
a type of insecure attachment characterized by dazed and contradictory behaviors toward an attachment figure -Babies showing this pattern seem dazed, confused, or disoriented. They may show contradictory behaviors, such as moving toward the mother while looking away from her.
Ambivalent-Resistant Attachment
a type of insecure attachment characterized by severe distress at leave-takings and ambivalent behavior at reunions. -The most emotional & show severe signs of distress when their mothers leave and show ambivalence upon reunion by alternately clinging to their mothers and pushing them away.
Sex-Linked Genetic Abnormalities
abnormalities resulting from genes that are found on the X sex chromosome. They are more likely to be shown by male offspring (who do not have an opposing gene from a second X chromosome) than by female offspring. Ex: Hemophilia Ex: Muscular Dystrophy -INVOLVE RECESSIVE GENES -Sex-linked diseases are more likely to afflict sons of female carriers because males have only one X sex chromosome, which they inherit from their mothers.
Sex-linked chromosomal abnormalities
abnormalities that are transmitted from generation to generation and carried by a sex chromosome
According to the first substage of the sensorimotor stage, object permanence is _____ at birth.
absent
Attachment
an affectional bond characterized by seeking closeness with another (animal or person) and distress upon separation
Cross-Sequential Research
an approach that combines the longitudinal and cross-sectional methods by following individuals of different ages for abbreviated periods of time -this creates a time-lag comparison - the study of developmental processes by taking measures of participants of the same age group at different times
Down's syndrome is caused by:
an extra chromosome on the 21st pair
Down Syndrome is usually caused by
an extra chromosome on the 21st pair, resulting in 47 chromosomes -The probability of having a child with Down's syndrome increases with the age of the parents.
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
an infection of the abdominal region that may have various causes and that may impair fertility (may scar the fallopian tubes and other organs, impeding the passage of sperm or ova) -PID can result from bacterial or viral infections, including the STIs gonorrhea and chlamydia. -Antibiotics are usually helpful in treating bacterial infections, but infertility may be irreversible.
Life crisis is
an internal conflict that attends each stage of psychosocial development
When experiments cannot ethically be performed on humans, researchers sometimes carry them out with
animals and try to generalize the findings to humans -ex: won't separate a child from its mom but will separate a monkey of early social experience to study the effects of isolation on development
Theories are formulations of
apparent relationships among observed events -allow us to derive explanations and predictions -a satisfactory theory allows us to predict behavior (reflex example)
Positive reinforcers increase the frequency of behaviors when they are ______
applied
Random Assignment
assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups
Insecure attachment
attachment behavior characterized by avoiding caregiver, excessive clinging, or inconsistency -Two major types of "insecure attachment": Avoidant attachment and Ambivalent/resistant attachment.
MZ twins are also more likely to share psychological disorders such as
autism, depression, schizophrenia, and vulnerability to alcoholism
22 of the pairs of chromosomes are called
autosomes- pairs that look alike and possess genetic information concerning the same set of traits
Fixed Action Patterns (FAP)
behaviors that are built in or instinctive (stereotyped pattern of behaviors that are evoked by a "releasing stimulus") -ex: bird in isolation builds a nest but has never been around other birds to learn this trait
Ethology is the study of
behaviors that are specific to a species -instinctive or inborn behavior patterns
Genes are the
biochemical materials that regulate the development of traits. Some traits, such as blood type, appear to be transmitted by a single pair of genes, one of which is derived from each parent. -the basic unit of heredity
The id represents
biological drives and demands instant gratification -ex: baby wailing
Genetics
branch of biology that studies heredity
Endometriosis
can obstruct the fallopian tubes, where conception normally takes place. Endometriosis has become fairly common among women who delay childbearing. Each month, tissue develops to line the uterus in case the woman conceives. This tissue—the endometrium—is then sloughed off during menstruation. But some of it backs up into the abdomen through the fallopian tubes. It then collects in the abdomen, where it can cause abdominal pain and lessen the chances of conception. -inflammation of endometrial tissue sloughed off into the abdominal cavity rather than out of the body during menstruation; the condition is characterized by abdominal pain and sometimes infertility
The experiment is the preferred method for investigating questions of
cause and effect
Mitosis is the form of
cell division in which each chromosome splits lengthwise to double in number. Half of each chromosome combines with chemicals to retake its original form and then moves to the new cell.
Meiosis is the form of
cell division in which each pair of chromosomes splits so that one member of each pair moves to the new cell. As a result, each new cell has 23 chromosomes (not 46)
Chronosystem considers the
changes that occur over time -ex: effects of divorce peak about a year after the event, and then children begin to recover
Microsystem involves the interactions of the
child and other people in the immediate setting, such as home, school, or peer group -microsystem starts out small but grows as the child gets older and they do more with more people in more places
Ecological systems theory is the view that explains
child development in terms of the reciprocal influences between children and environmental settings.
G. Stanley Hall founded
childhood development as an academic discipline and bringing scientific attention to focus on the period of adolescence
Freud and Erikson's theory's are both stage theories which means
children develop through distinct periods of life -suggesting that child's experiences during early stages affect the child's emotional and social life at the time and through the lifespan
Cross-sectional research
children of different ages are observed and compared. -It is assumed that when a large number of children are chosen at random, the differences found in the older age groups are a reflection of how the younger children will develop, given time.
Macrosystem involves the interaction of
children with beliefs, values, expectations, and lifestyles of their cultural settings -macrosystems exist within a particular culture -ex: dual-earner family, low-income single-parent household, and the family with father as sole breadwinner describe 3 different macrosystems; each has its lifestyle, set of values, and expectations
Traits are transmitted by
chromosomes and genes
Many cognitive skills may develop gradually and not in distinct stages. Nevertheless, Piaget has provided a strong theoretical foundation for researchers concerned with sequences in
cognitive development
A major challenge to cross-sectional research is the
cohort effect
"Cognitive healthy" adult is more willing than the egocentric adolescent to
compromise and cope with the world as it is, not as she or he would like it to be
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
conception in which ripened ova are removed surgically from the mother and placed in a laboratory dish. The father's sperm are also placed in the dish. One or more ova are fertilized and then injected into the mother's uterus to become implanted.
Continuity-Discontinuity Controversy
concerns whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression over time (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity)
Freud views children and adults as caught in
conflict
Genes are segments of strands of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)
developmental disorders characterized by impairment in communication and social skills, and by repetitive, stereotyped behavior -ASDs tend to become evident by the age of three and sometimes before the end of the first year -A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of 407,578 children from 14 parts of the United States identified 1 in every 152 children as having an ASD. Other researchers place the number as high as 1 in 70 to 90 children
Graham is slow to accept new people and situations and takes a long time to adjust to new routines. Graham is a(n) _____ child.
difficult or slow-to-warm-up -Slow-to-warm-up and difficult children share the same characteristic as the item states. The difference happens when they encounter new (and particularly unpleasant) stimuli: difficult children react with negativity (throwing tantrum, kicking, crying) whereas slow-to-warm-up children tend to have a much milder and slower reaction
DNA takes the form of a
double spiral, or helix, similar to a twisting ladder -"rungs" of the ladder consist of one of 2 pairs of bases: Adenine with Thymine (A with T); or Cytosine with Guanine (C with G) -the sequence of the rungs is the genetic code that will cause the developing organism to grow arms or wings, skin or scales
Types of Temperament
easy, difficult, slow to warm up, based on 9 criteria -Easy child (40%): has regular sleep and feeding schedules, approaches new situations (such as a new food or a new school) with enthusiasm and adapts to them easily, and is generally cheerful. Some children are more inconsistent and show a mixture of temperament traits. For example, a toddler may have a pleasant disposition but be frightened of new situations. -Easy & quick to establish routines, cheerful -Difficult child (10%): irregular sleep and feeding schedules, is slow to accept new people and situations, takes a long time to adjust to new routines, and responds to frustrations with tantrums and crying. -Irregular in routines, negative reaction -Slow-to-warm-up child (15%): falls between easy and difficult -Inactive, mild reactions -What about the rest 35%? -Goodness-of-fit model
Erikson places greater emphasis on the
ego, or the sense of self -he extended Freud's 5 stages to 8 to include adulthood
Locke focused on the role of the ________ and believed that
environment (or of experience), social approval and disapproval are powerful shapers of behavior
The only thing that never changes is that
everything changes
Learning theories allow us to
explain, predict, and influence many aspects of behavior -ex: bell and pad method -many of the teaching approaches used in educational TV shows are based on learning theory
It is possible to detect
genetic abnormalities that are responsible for many diseases
Hemophilia
genetic defect/disorder carried only on the X sex chromosome, in which blood does not clot properly -involve recessive genes
When children who are reared by adoptive parents are nonetheless more similar to their natural parents in a trait, it can be concluded that:
genetics play a role in the development of those characteristics
In the palmar reflex, a child:
grasps objects that are kept on his or her palms
Heterozygous
having two different alleles for a trait
Homozygous
having two identical alleles for a trait
Chromosomal or genetic abnormalities can cause
health problems -some chromosomal disorders reflect abnormalities in the 22 pairs of autosomes (such as Down's syndrome); others reflect abnormalities in the sex chromosomes (XYY syndrome)
Genetic Counselors
health workers who compile information about a couple's genetic heritage to advise them as to whether their children might develop genetic abnormalities. -Couples who face a high risk of passing along genetic defects to their children sometimes elect to adopt or not have children rather than conceive their own -In addition, prenatal (before birth) testing can indicate whether the embryo or fetus is carrying genetic abnormalities.
Approximately 1 male in 700-1,000 has an extra Y chromosome -The Y chromosome is associated with maleness and the extra Y sex chromosome apparently
heightens male secondary sex characteristics Ex: XYY males are somewhat taller than average and develop heavier beards. For these kinds of reasons, males with XYY sex chromosomal structure were once called "supermales." -BUT XYY "supermales" tend to have more problems than XY males. For example, they are often mildly delayed in language development.
Ultrasound
high-frequency sound waves that are reflected off a fetus or an internal organ to provide information to generate a computer image -This image/picture is called a sonogram -Ultrasound is used to guide the syringe in amnio-centesis and CVS by determining the position of the fetus. -Ultrasound also is used to track the growth of the fetus, to determine fetal age and sex, and to detect multiple pregnancies and structural abnormalities. In the 4th and 5th months, its used to perform complete anatomical scans of the fetus
When both of the alleles for a trait, such as hair color, are the same, the person is said to be
homozygous for that trait
Evolutionary Psychology studies the ways in which
humans' historical adaptations to the environment influence behavior and mental processes, with special focus on aggressive behavior and mating strategies
Erikso's views about an adolescent ______ _____ have entered the popular culture and have affected the way many parents and teachers deal with teenagers
identity crisis
Erikson was particularly concerned with the development of adolescents' sense of
identity- how they discover or invent who they are and what they stand for
When the effects of both alleles are shown, there is said to be
incomplete dominance or codominance
Temperament
individual difference in style of reaction that is present early in life -Each child has a characteristic temperament, a stable way of reacting and adapting to the world that is present early in life. -Many researchers believe that temperament involves a genetic component. -The child's temperament includes many aspects of behavior, including activity level, smiling and laughter, regularity in eating and sleep habits, approach or withdrawal, adaptability to new situations, intensity of responsiveness, general cheerfulness or unpleasantness, distractibility or persistence, and soothability -
Developmental Pyschology is a science of how
individuals normally develop in all aspects of physical & mental abilities & interact with the environment, and differences in these processes between individuals
The superego develops throughout
infancy and early childhood
Most individuals with an abnormal number of sex chromosomes are
infertile -Beyond that common finding, there are many dif-ferences, some of them associated with "maleness" or "femaleness."
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory is concerned with the transmission of
information and cognitive skills from generation to generation
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss-French philosopher, however argued that children are
inherently good and that if allowed to express their natural impulses, they will develop into generous and moral individuals
Artificial insemination
injection of sperm into the uterus to fertilize an ovum. -Multiple ejaculations of men with low sperm counts can be collected and quick-frozen. -The sperm can then be injected into the woman's uterus at the time of ovulation. -Some women who want a baby but do not have a partner also use artificial insemination.
In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, children were often viewed as ____
innately evil
Exosystem involves the
institutions in which the child does not directly participate but which exert an indirect influence on the child -ex: school board choosing hat textbooks are acceptable and child's programs which affect the kid
Albert Bandura was a
leading social cognitive theorist and emphasized the role of social learning - learning by observing others - as a key element in learning theory
As women reach the end of their childbearing years, ovulation becomes
less regular, resulting in a number of months when more than one ovum is released
In _____, the same people are observed repeatedly over time, and changes in development, such as gains in height or changes in mental abilities, are recorded
longitudinal research
Though young adulthood is the time of peak physical development, people perform at their best on some intellectual tasks during
midlife, and many people are most well-adjusted during late adulthood
The two types of cell division are
mitosis and meiosis
In social cognitive theory, the people after whom we pattern our own behavior are termed
models
Freud's emphasis on the emotional need of children has influences educators to be
more sensitive to the possible emotional reasons behind a child's misbehavior -However, his work is criticized since he mainly had adult women patients rather than observing children directly
Fertility drugs also enhance the chances of
multiple births by causing more than one ovum to ripen and be released during a woman's cycle
Correlation coefficient
number ranging from +1.00 to -1.00 that expresses the direction (positive or negative) and strength of the relationship between two variables
In addition to inheritance, the development of our traits is also influenced by
nutrition, learning, exercise, and—unfortunately—accident and illness. Ex: A potential Shakespeare who is reared in poverty and never taught to read or write will not create a Hamlet -Our traits and behaviors therefore represent the interaction of heredity and environment.
Behaviorism: John Watson argued that a scientific approach to development must focus on
observable behavior only and not on things like thoughts, fantasies, and other mental images
Social cognitive theory emphasizes
observational learning
When a dominant allele is paired with a recessive allele, the trait determined by the dominant allele appears in the
offspring
At birth, women have 300,000 to 400,000 ova in each ovary, although she will only ovulate some 500 of these during her lifetime. Women are born with all of the
ova they will have in their lifetime (some studies show different but majority from birth)
Traits are determined by
pairs of genes
The chances of twins increase with
parental age
The risk of chromosomal abnormalities rises with the age of the
parents
Life-span perspective is
perspective in which psychologists view human development as occurring throughout the individual's lifetime
The id is
present at birth and is unconscious
Mutifactorial problems
problems that stem from the interaction of heredity and environmental factors Ex: diabetes, mellitus, epilepsy, & peptic ulcers
Assimilation
process by which someone responds to new objects or events according to existing schemes or ways of organizing knowledge
Equilibration
process of restoring equilibrium -the balance between assimilation and accommodation -Piaget believed that the attempt to restore equilibrium lies at the heart of the natural curiosity of the child
Reinforcement is the process of
providing stimuli following responses that increase the frequency of the responses
In the Agpar scale, the criteria of grimace evaluates the ____ of babies
reflex irritability
Negative correlation
relationship between two variables in which one variable increases as the other decreases
Positive correlation
relationship between two variables in which one variable increases as the other increases (+.60 to +.70)
Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the
relationships between living organisms and their environment
Negative reinforcers increase the frequency of behaviors when they are ________
removed
Extinction results from
repeated performance of operant behavior without reinforcement -leaving the child to cry, will go away
The sociocultural perspective asserts that we cannot understand individuals without awareness of the
richness of their diversity
Chromosomes are
rod-shaped structures composed of genes that are found within the nuclei of cells. Typical human cells contain 46 chromosomes orga-nized into 23 pairs -Each chromosome contains thousands of segments called genes.
Jean Piaget was a Swiss biologist who advanced Cognitive-developmental theory and used concepts such as
schemes, adaptation, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration to describe and explain cognitive development
Social referencing
seeking out of another person's perception of a situation to help us form our own view of it.
Limitations of correlation information includes
selection factor
Piaget identified four major stages of cognitive development. In order, they are
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
The ecological system approach addresses the joint effect of two or more
settings on the child
The 23rd pair of chromosomes are the
sex chromosomes - which look different from other chromosomes and determine our sex
Information-processing theory
short or long-term memory storage
Chorionic villus sampling (CVS)
similar to Amniocentesis but is carried out between the 9th and 12th week of pregnancy -a method for the prenatal detection of genetic abnormalities that samples the membrane enveloping the amniotic sac and fetus. -A small syringe is inserted through the vagina into the uterus and sucks out some threadlike projections (villi) from the outer membrane that envelops the amniotic sac and fetus. Results are available within days. -CVS has not been used as frequently as amniocentesis because CVS carries a slightly greater risk of miscarriage (controversy as to how much amniocentesis and CVS increase this risk)
Cohort effect
similarities in behavior among a group of peers that stem from the fact that group members were born at the same time in history
Operant conditioning is a
simple form of learning in which an organism learns to engage in behavior that is reinforced -can be harmful and restrictive when it counters the child's personal desires -ex: a boy has to ignore other boys when they play with dolls but play with boys when they use transportation toys
Like Piaget, Vygotsky see's the child's functioning as adaptive, and the child adapts to his or her
social and cultural interactions
The ego curbs the appetites of the ______ and makes plans that are in keeping with
social conventions so that a person can find gratification but avoid social disapproval
Vygotsky does not view learning in terms of conditioning. Rather, he focuses on how the child's
social interaction with adults, largely in the home, organizes a child's learning experiences in such a way that the child can obtain cognitive skills - such as computation or reading skills - and uses them to acquire information
Compared to Freud's theory focusing on sexual and aggressive instincts, Erikson focused on
social relationships
Selection factor
source of research bias that may occur when subjects can choose to participate and are not chosen at random
Unlike parents of insecure infants, parents of secure infants:
spend more time tending to their children
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the first
standardized intelligence test near the beginning of the 20th century -Binet's purpose was to identify public school children who were at risk of falling behind their peers in academic achievement
Later in the 20th century, laws were passed to protect children from
strenuous labor, attend school until a certain age, & to prevent them from getting married or being sexually exploited -no longer seen as property of their parents and are protected from abuse from parents or other adults -Children who break the law receive age appropriate treatment by the criminal justice system
Naturalistic observation are
studied in the field, that is, in the natural or real-life, settings where the target behavior occurs -researchers try not to interfere
Mutation is a
sudden variation in a heritable characteristic, as by an accident that affects the composition of genes -occurs through radiation or other environmental influences (drinking, smoking) -can also occur by chance, but not often
Cognitive View of Attachment
suggests that an infant must develop the concept of object permanence before specific attachment becomes possible -If caregivers are to be missed when absent, the infant must perceive that they continue to exist. We have seen that infants tend to develop specific attachments at about the age of six to seven months. -Basic object permanence concerning objects develops somewhat earlier
Throughout the remainder of the child's life, the ______ will monitor the intentions and behavior of the _____, hand down judgements of right and wrong and attempt to influence behavior through flooding the person with feelings of guilt and shame when the judgement is in the negative
superego, ego
Englishman philosopher, John Locke believed that the child came into the world as a
tabula rasa - a "blank tablet" or clean slate- that was written on by experience
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Vygotsky) refers to a range of
tasks that a child can carry out with the help of someone who is more skilled, as in an apprenticeship
Sociocultural perspective teaches
that people are social beings who are affected by the cultures in which they live -the effect of human diversity on people, including ethnicity and gender
Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation method as a way of measuring
the development of attachment -In this method, an infant is exposed to a series of sep-arations and reunions with a caregiver (usually the mother) and a stranger who is a confederate of the researchers. In the test, secure infants mildly protest their mother's departure, seek interaction upon reunion, and are readily comforted by her
Indiscriminate attachment
the display of attachment behaviors toward any person -In another study, Scottish infants showed indiscriminate attachment during the first six months or so after birth. Then, indiscriminate attachment waned. Specific attachments to the mother and other familiar caregivers intensified, as demonstrated by the appearance of separation anxiety, and remained at high levels through the age of 18 months. Fear of strangers occurred a month or so after the intensity of specific attachments began to mushroom. In both this and the Ugandan study, fear of strangers followed separation anxiety and the development of specific attachments by weeks.
According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, an infant's attachment to his or her mother in the first year is primarily a result of:
the fulfillment of oral needs
Dependent variable
the measured result of an assumed effect of an independent variable
Accommodation
the modification of existing schemes to permit the incorporation of new events or knowledge -ex: sucking reflex, Infants accommodate by rejecting objects that are too large, that taste bad, or that are of the wrong texture or temperature.
Psychosexual development
the process by which libidinal energy is expressed through different erogenous zones during stages of development
The nature-nurture debate is concerned with:
the relationship between heredity and environmental influences on human development
Ovulation
the releasing of an ovum from an ovary
Longitudinal research
the same people are observed repeatedly over time, and changes in development, such as gains in height or changes in mental abilities, are recorded -drawbacks since some studies have last almost 50 years
Cognitive-developmental theory
the stage theory that holds that the child's abilities to mentally represent the world and solve problems unfold as a result of the interaction of experience and the maturation of neurological structures
Conception
the union of a sperm cell and an ovum that occurs when the chromosomes of each of these cells combine to form 23 new pairs
Mesosystem involves the interactions of
the various settings within the microsystem -ex: home and school interact during parent-teacher conferences
Polygenic
traits determined by several pairs of genes
Infants who display social referencing:
use caregivers' words as clues on how to respond
Life-span perspective where psychologists began to
view human development as occurring throughout the individual's lifetime
After the Industrial revolution, where machine based production replaced much manual labor - children became more
visible, fostering awareness of childhood as a special time of life
Nature-Nurture Controversy
what is the extent to which human behavior is the result of nature (heredity) and of nurture (environmental influences)
The superego brings inward the
wishes and morals the child's caregivers and other members of the community
Recapitulation
• [Biology] the repetition of an evolutionary or other process during development or growth.
Major Debates:
•Nature or nurture? •Continuous or discontinuous? •Critical period vs. sensitive period? •General trend vs. individual differences? •Throughout this semester, we will also revisit these topics
Major Topics:
•Physical •Cognitive/language •Emotional •Self & identity •Social
Major Theories:
•Psychoanalysis •Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory •Cognition •Social/cultural perspective •Ethology & Evolutionary perspective •Behavioral genetics & epigenetics •Brain/neuroscience