Babies ch 5: Toddlerhood

Insecure-avoidant attachment

These toddlers show little or no interaction with the mother when she is present, and no response to the mother's departure or return. When these toddlers are picked up in the last episode of the Strange Situation, the may immediately seek to get down.

Bowlby: Consequently, the attachment to the primary caregiver established in the first 2 years shapes __ and __ in relationships with others throughout life, from friends to teachers to romantic partners to one's own future children.

expectations ; interactions

In addition to Broca's and Wernicke's areas, many other regions of the brain contribute to language use. In fact, some linguists argue that the extraordinary __ of the human brain in comparison to other species is mainly the result of evolution of language

size

The ability for mental representation of actions also makes possible__ __ , which is the ability to repeat actions observed at an earlier time. This is a crucial ability for learning because it means that when we observe something important to know, we can repeat it later ourselves.

deferred imitation

Only _____ attachment is highly predictive of later problems. Toddlers with this attachment classification exhibit highly hostility and aggression in early and middle childhood, and are likely to have cognitive problems as well. In adolescence and beyond, toddlers who had been classified as ___ are at higher risk for behavior problems and psychopathology. However, this type of attachment is believed to be as a result of underlying ___ based problems in ___ ____ , not to the behavior of the primary caregiver.

disorganized-disoriented; disorganized-disoriented; biologically; neurological development

Piaget proposed that deferred imitation begins at about 18 months, but subsequent research has shown that it develops much__ than he had thought

earlier (Deferred imitation of facial expression has been reported as early as 6 weeks of age, when infants exposed to an unusual facial expression from an unfamiliar adult imitated it when the same adult appeared before them the next day At 6 months of age, infants can imitate a simple sequence of events a day later, such as taking off a puppet's glove and shaking it to ring a bell inside the glove. However, if there is a longer delay, toddlers are more proficient at deferred imitation than infants are)

electroencephalogram (EEG), measures the __ __ of the __ __. Every time a synapse fires it emits a tiny burst of ___, which allows researchers to measure the overall activity of the __ __ as well as activation of specific parts of it.

electrical activity; cerebral cortex; electricity; cerebral cortex;

The peak of synaptic density comes right at the __ of toddlerhood, around the third birthday.

end

Using language, humans can talk about an infinite range of things beyond the __ moment. W/ language, we can also communicate not just about things that exist but about things that might exist, but also things that we imagine.

present

Toddlers also exhibit ____, applying a general word to a specific object This often occurs with a toddler first applying a new word to a specific object, then learning later to apply it to a category of objects

underextension (Ex: When Jeff was a child, his family had a cat named Kitty. Jeff did not realize that kitty was the (slang) name for the larger category, "cats," but mistook it for the proper name of that particular cat.)

You may have heard that some primates have learned how to use language In the earliest attempts, researchers treated baby chimpanzees as closely as possible to how a human infant would be treated, having the chimpanzees live in the researcher's household as part of the family and making daily efforts to teach the chimps how to speak. Years of these efforts yielded nothing but the single word "mama" -- and a badly disordered household It turned out that chimpanzees, like other nonhuman primates, lack the__ ___ that makes human speech possible

vocal apparatus

Development during toddlerhood, from __ to ___ months, rivals development during infancy for events of __ and __ .

12; 36; drama; importance

Toddler's advances in language begin slowly but then rise sharply, so that in less than 2 years they go from speaking a few words to being highly adept language users. Especially notable is the amazing burst of language development that occurs at __ to __ months

18; 24

After learning to speak words at a slow rate for the first half of their second year, toddlers' word production suddenly takes off from __ to ___ months. The pace of learning new words doubles, from one to three words per week to five or six words per week. This is known as the ___ ___.

18; 24; naming explosion

Ainsworth's early research indicated that about __ of toddlers had secure attachments to their mothers, with the remaining __ either insecure-avoidant or insecure-resistant. Many other studies of US and European children since then have found similar results.

2/3; 1/3

Toddlers learn to avoid the ___ __ and search for the object where they last saw it hidden However, even though the this error is less common in toddlerhood than in infancy, search errors happen occasionally on this task in toddlerhood and even into early childhood, up to ages 4 and 5.

A-not-B error;

Methods of assessing brain activity provide evidence of the rapid growth of the toddler brain. (2)

EEG, fMRI

human biological characteristics indicate that we are a species built for language

First, humans have a unique vocal apparatus. (We are able to make a much wider range of sounds than the other primates because, for us, the larynx is located lower in the throat, which creates a large sound chamber, the pharynx, above the vocal cords) Second, two areas in the left hemisphere of the human brain are specifically devoted to language functions. Third, genes for language development have recently been identified.

critiques of attachment theory - cultural (2)

However, cultural variations have also been found. Though Ainsworth did not intend for the Strange SItuation to be carried abroad, researchers have used the paradigm outside the US, with mixed results. Specifically, a US and northern European culture emphasis on early independence was deemed to make insecure-avoidant attachment more likely, whereas in Japan mothers are rarely apart from their children and encourage a high degree of dependency in children. In traditional cultures, any kind of insecure attachment is probably rare. In general, the traditional, non-Western norm of maternal care emphasizes interdependence and collectivism to a greater extent than is found in attachment theory. Attachment theorists emphasize that sensitive and responsive maternal care should provide love and care while also encouraging self-expression and independence, but this is not an ideal found in all or even most cultures. Attachment researchers describe how toddlers with secure attachments grow up to be children who are self-reliant, socially assertive, and have high self-esteem, but these traits are not viewed as virtues in all cultures.

The first 50 words tend to be words that are part of toddlers' daily routines and include mostly nouns in many languages

Important people ("Mama", "Dada"), Familiar animals ("dog", "kitty"), Body parts ("hair", "tummy") Moving objects ("car", "truck") Foods ("milk", "cookie") Actions ("eat", "bath") Household items ("cup", "chair") Toys ("ball", "bear") Greetings or farewells ("hi", "bye-bye")

critiques of attachment theory - cultural (1)

In decades of research since Bowlby proposed his theory, some researchers have concluded that children's attachments are "recognizably the same" across cultures. However, other researchers have pointed to possible cultural biases in the theory Some aspects of attachment may be universal. In all cultures, infants and toddlers develop attachments to the people around them who provide loving, protective care. There is evidence that parents in many cultures have a common view of what constitutes a securely attached child.

critiques of attachment theory - The "child effect"

It claims the theory overstates the mother's influence and understates the child's influence on the quality of attachment, in two related ways. First, it fails to recognize that children are born with different temperaments. Second, in attachment theory the direction of influence is one way, from parents to children, but increasingly in recent decades researchers of human development have emphasized that parent-child relations are reciprocal or bidirectional.

critiques of attachment theory - as a way of measurement (2)

It is possible to measure attachment quality without directly involving the toddler at all. The Attachment Q-Set (AQS) can be used to assess attachment quality with children ages 1 to 5. Using a set of cards, a parent or a trained observer sorts 90 descriptions of specific attachment-related behaviors into categories according to how well they describe the child's behavior. The Q-sets can also be used to determine attachment "type,' and results of the Q-set are usually correlated with the results of the Strange Situation paradigm.

Piaget: Sensorimotor substage 6: (18 to 24 months,)

Mental Representations

On the basis of toddler's responses to the Strange Situation, four classifications of attachment were developed. The first 2 were proposed by Ainsworth and the fourth was added by later researchers (list the classifications)

Secure; Insecure-avoidant; Insecure-resistant; Disorganized-disoriented

To evoke children's attachment behavior, Ainsworth devised a laboratory procedure she called the ___ ___. The __ ___ is a series of introductions, separations, and reunions involving the child, the mother, and an unfamiliar person. It was devised for toddlers, ages 12 to 24 months because this is an age by which attachment has developed to a point where it can be assessed.

Strange Situation

Piaget: Sensorimotor substage 5: (ages 12 - 18 months)

Tertiary Circular Reactions

critiques of attachment theory - as a way of measurement (1)

The Strange Situation is a laboratory paradigm that is contrived to induce stress in the toddler. In the artificial setting of the Strange Situation, the mother-toddler pair may not interact the way they normally would at home, in their familiar ecocultural setting. And, as noted previously, for toddlers in some cultural groups, the stress induced may be more than it is for toddlers in other cultural groups. Some researchers have argued that the four attachment categorical "types" identified by Ainsworth and her colleagues are artificial. Instead of categories, attachment styles might be better viewed on continuous dimensions like overall security with the caregiver, or differences on behavioral measures like proximity seeking to a secure base and resistant to comfort. Lastly, even in cultural settings where it might make sense to employ the Strange Situation, it is only useful during a specific window-- approximately 14 to 24 months of age. After that, many toddlers have become accustomed to separations with caregivers and exposure to strangers.

Insecure-resistant attachment

Toddlers classified as insecure-resistant are less likely than others to explore the toys when the mother is present, and they show greater distress when she leaves the room. When she returns, they show ambivalence, running to greet the mother in seeming relief but then pushing her away when she attempts to comfort or pick them up.

Disorganized-disoriented attachment

Toddlers in this category show extremely unusual behavior in response to the Strange Situation. They may seem dazed and detached when the mother leaves the room, but with outbursts of anger, and when the mother returns they may seem fearful. Some freeze their movements suddenly in odd postures. This kind of attachment is especially shown by toddlers whos how other signs of serious problems, such as autism spectrum disorder or Down syndrome, and also by those who have suffered severe abuse or neglect.

Secure attachment

Toddlers in this category use the mother as a secure base from which to explore, in the first part of the Strange Situation when only the mother and toddler are present. Upon separation, securely attached toddlers usually cry or vocalize in protest. When the mother returns, they greet her happily by smiling and going to her to be hugged and held

Here too, recent experiments seem to indicate that Piaget underestimated children's early abilities However, research has generally confirmed Piaget's insight that categorization becomes more advanced during toddlerhood. By the time they are 2 years old, toddlers can go beyond the __ of objects to categorize them on the basis of their __ or ___ .

appearance ; functions; qualities (Infants and toddlers are able to do more than he had thought. Even infants as young as a few months old have been shown to have a rudimentary understanding of categories.)

Today language researchers generally agree that language development is a __ potential that is then nurtured by__ ___, although there is still a lively debate about the nature of the biological foundation of language and the kinds of social stimulation needed to develop it.

biological ; social interaction

Piaget also believed that mental representation in toddlerhood is the basis of __

categorization (Once we are able to represent an image of a house mentally, for example, we can understand the category "house" and understand that different houses are all apart of that category. These categories, in turn, become the basis for language, because each noun and verb represents a category.)

EEG research on toddlers has found a sharp increase in overall cortical activity from 18 to 24 months, reflecting important advances in __ and __ development that we will examine later in this chapter.

cognitive; language

One reason the Strange Situation is first assessed in toddlerhood rather than infancy is that it is only by toddlerhood that children are ___ ___ __ to have developed an__ __ __ of their primary attachment figure.

cognitively mature enough; internal working model

Toddlers first learn their words when they need to use in practical ways to ___ with the people around them, usually as part of __ __

communicate ; shared activities

After just one time of being told what an object is called, toddlers this age will learn it and remember it, a process called ___ ___. ___ ___ is not just a result of memory but also of toddler's ability to quickly infer the meaning of words based on how the word is used in a sentence and how it seems to be related to words they already know

fast mapping

The fMRI method is not often used with toddlers, perhaps because they are too wiggly and incapable of restraining their movements. It is not until after toddlerhood that most children can lie still long enough to have an fMRI However, one study solved this problem by assessing toddlers (age 21 months) and 3-year-olds as they slept and found that toddlers showed greater __ __ __ in response to __ than the older children did, reflecting the brain's readiness for rapid__ __ during the toddler period.

frontal lobe activity; speech; language acquisition

Synaptic connections multiply immensely in the first 3 years, and toddlerhood is when peak production of new synapses is reached in the ___ ___ , the part of our brain that is the location of many of our most distinctively human __ __ , such as __, __, and __. During toddlerhood, new synapses in the __ __ are produced at the mind-boggling rate of 2 million per second, reaching a total by age 2 of more than 100 trillion.

frontal lobes; cognitive qualities; reasoning; planning; creativity; frontal cortex;

Bc Broca's and Wernicke's areas have long been known to be part of normal brain anatomy, the genetic basis of language was clear. However, identifying the specific __ for language strengthens our knowledge of how deeply language is embedded in human species development

genes

By their second birthday, toddlers have an average vocabulary of about 200 words. This rapid pace of learning and remembering words will continue for years, but it is especially striking at 18 to 24 months because this is when it begins. ___' vocab increases faster than ___' vocab during this period initiating a gender difference in verbal abilities that will persist throughout childhood

girls; boys

Two of the most notable words toddlers learn at 18-24 months are "__" and "__"

gone; no

From 12 to 18 months most toddlers use one word at a time, but a single word can have varied meanings Toddler's single words are called ____ , meaning that for them a single word can be used to represent diff forms of whole sentences.

holophrases (Ex: "cup" could mean "Fill my cup with juice" or "I dropped my cup on the floor," and more, depending on when and how and to whom it is said. )

Object permanence is a major advance of cognitive development in toddlerhood, but it is not a distinctly __ achievement.

human (In fact, chimpanzees and human toddlers have equal success on object permanence tasks at age 2. Understanding the permanence of the physical world is crucial to being able to function in that world, so it is not surprising that humans and nonhuman primates would share this fundamental ability)

In the 1960s, researchers hit on the clever idea of teaching apes sign language. These attempts were much more useful Mostly, primates who have learned sign language simply mimic the signs they have been taught by their human teachers. The lack the most important and distinctive features of human language, which is___ ___, which is the ability to take the word symbols of a language and combine them in a virtually infinite number of new ways

infinite generativity

During infancy the primary cognitive advance of the first four stages of sensorimotor development is from simple reflexes to intentional, coordinated behavior Neonates have a wide range of reflexes and little intentional control over their behavior, but by the end of the first year infants have lost most of their reflexes and can perform __ actions that __ __ , such as moving one object aside to reach another. In the second year of life -- during toddlerhood -- the final two stages of sensorimotor development are completed

intentional; combine schemes

In this substage, toddlers __ try out different behaviors to see what the effects will be. In the previous stage, secondary circular reactions, the action first occurs by accident and then is intentionally repeated, but in tertiary circular reactions the action is __ from the beginning. Like secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions are circular because they are performed __. To Piaget, in this stage toddlers become like little scientists, experimenting on the objects around them to learn more about how the world works.

intentionally; intentional; repeatedly

According to attachment theory, based on the degree of their mothers' sensitive and responsive behavior over the first year of life, children develop an __ ___ __ of what to expect about her __and ___ during times of __.

internal working model; availability; supportiveness ; need (Children with secure attachments have developed an internal working model of the mother as someone they can rely on to provide help and protection. Children with insecure attachments are unsure that the mother will come through when they needed her They have an internal working model of her as someone who is unpredictable and cannot always be trusted.)

Ainsworth: To be sensitive means to be good at _____(sentence)____

judging what the child needs at any given time

Undoubtedly, the development of ___ gave humans a substantial evolutionary advantage ___ would have made it easier to communicate about the location of food sources and about how to make tools, which would in turn enhance survival.

language

Although modern humans are biologically equipped for language, our earliest ancestors were not. Early hominids had a ___ similar in placement to modern nonhuman primates, and so must have been incapable of language. The placement of the ___ became notably lower beginning nearly 2 million years ago, and the earliest Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago had a __ ___ that was not much different from yours

larynx ; larynx; vocal apparatus

Broca's area in the__ ___ lobe is specialized for __ ___

left frontal ; language production

Wernicke's area in the __ __ lobe is specialized for ___ __

left temporal; language comprehension

Bowlby: Securely attached children are able to love and trust others because they could __ and __ their primary caregiver in their early years. Insecurely attached children display hostility, indifference, or overdependence on others in later relationships because they find it difficult to believe others will be worthy of their love and trusts.

love; trust;

Another common method, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), requires a person to lie still inside a machine that uses a __ __ to record changes in the __ __ and __ __ in the brain in response to different kinds of stimulation, such as music. Unlike EEG, an fMRI can detect activity in any parts of the brain, not just the cerebral cortex.

magnetic field; blood flow; oxygen use

Other studies have shown that better deferred imitation among toddlers than among infants may be principally because of advances in the __ __ __ __ . Specifically, the __, that part of the brain especially important in __ memory __and __, is still in a highly immature state of development during infancy but matures substantially during toddlerhood

maturity of the brain ; hippocampus; long-term; encoding; recall

The current view is that attachment quality in infancy and toddlerhood establishes tendencies and expectations that may then be __- by later experiences in childhood, adolescence, and beyond. To put this in terms of the theory, the internal working model established early may be ___ substantially by later experiences.

modified

Toddler's first words are influenced by the language they are learning In English, __ are primary, and toddler learning English produce a lot of __ among their first words In languages that emphasize ___ , however, like Korean, ___ are more prominent among first words. Korean toddlers hear more ___ and produce more ____ in their early language development

nouns ; verbs;

(18-24 months) Using "gone" reflects their growing awareness of __ ___ because it signifies that something has disappeared from view but still exists somewhere.

object permanence

But we can say with some confidence that toddlers have attained __ __ once they generally avoid the A-not-B error

object permanence

According to Bowlby, the internal working model of the primary caregiver formed in infancy and toddlerhood is later applied to __ __

other relationships

Another way toddlers make the most of their limited vocabulary is to have a single word represent a variety of related objects. This is called ___.

overextension (For example, when the son of two language researchers learned the same name of the furry family dog, Nunu, he applied it not only to the original Nunu but to all dogs, as well as to other fuzzy objects such as slippers, and even to a salad with a large black olive that apparently reminded him of Nunu's nose)

Toddler's language mastery is evident not only in how well they use the rules of their language, but in the mistakes they make As they learn the grammar of their language, they make mistakes that reflect ___ , which means applying grammatical rules even to words that are exceptions to this rule.

overregularization (First, the plural of most English nouns can be obtained by adding s to the singular form, but there are irregular exceptions such as "mice" as the plural of "mouses" Second, the rule for the past tense of an English verb is to add "-ed" to the end, but there are irregular exceptions, such as "went" as the past tense of "go" and "threw" as the past tense of "throw")

Bowlby's claim is bold and intriguing A number of longitudinal studies on attachment have by now followed samples from toddlerhood through adolescence or emerging adulthood, and they provide mixed support for the ___ of attachment theory.

predictions

Verbal ___ is the most striking advance of 18- to 24-month period, but ___ also advances notably as toddlers become faster and more efficient in processing words.

production ; comprehension

Here (12-18 months), as in all ages, ___(speaking) lags behind ____ (understanding) in language development. During toddlerhood, __ is a better predictor of late verbal intelligence than _____ is

production ; comprehension ; comprehension; production

Ainsworth: To be responsive means to be ___ (sentence)___

quick to assist or soothe the child when they need it

This is the stage of in which toddlers first think about the __ __ __ and then select the action most likely to achieve the __ __ __ __ is a crucial milestone in __ development because it is the basis of the most important and most distinctly human __ abilities, including __ . The words we use are __ __ of objects, people, actions, and ideas

range of possibilities; desired outcome; Mental representation; cognitive; cognitive; language; mental representations

Although attachment classification is based on behavior throughout the Strange Situation, Ainsworth viewed the toddler's ___ behavior as the best indicator of the ___ of attachment. Toddlers with secure attachments seemed delighted to see their mothers gain after a separation and often sought physical contact with her, whereas toddlers with insecure attachments either responded little to her return (avoidant) or seemed both relieved and angry at her (resistant)

reunion ; quality;

The marvelous ability that young children have to learn the ___ of their language is one more indication of the biological, evolutionary basis of language A half-century ago, at a time when many psychologists were arguing that language has no biological origin and children learn it solely through imitation and parents' reinforcement, linguist Noam Chomsky protested that language is too complex to be learned in this way. Observing that all children learn the basic rules of grammar of their language at about the same age, 2 to 3 years old, Chomsky proposed that children are born with a __ __ __ that enables them to perceive and grasp quickly the grammatical rules in the language around them.

rules; language acquisition device (LAD)

(18-24 months) Using "no" reflects their budding sense of ___ ("me," "my," and "mine" also begin to be used at this age) Saying "no" can be short for "You may want me to do that, but I don't want to do it!" Of course, they also begin to hear "No!" more often around this age because their mobility and curiosity leads them to behavior that the adults around them may regard as dangerous or destructive

self

But what determines the quality of toddlers' attachments to their mothers? When considering the mother-child interactions in the home in relation to their behavior as observed in the Strange Situation, Ainsworth concluded that the quality of attachment was based mainly on how __ and __ the mother was.

sensitive ; responsive

Research on attachment was pioneered by Mary Ainsworth Ainsworth followed Bowlby's theory in viewing the child's attachment as being most evident in the response to __ from the primary attachment figure.

separation

Many evolutionary biologists believe that language also conferred an evolutionary advantage because of its ___ function During the course of human evolution, the size of human groups gradually increased, leading to an increased need for ___ that would allow them to function effectively. Bc language abilities improved the efficiency of group functioning, groups that excelled in language would have been more likely than other groups to survive and reproduce. Within groups, too, using language effectively would never have conferred an advantage in obtaining mates, food, and status, so natural selection would have favored language abilities in the course of human evolutionary history

social; communication

What most distinguishes early brain development is the steep increase in ___ ___, the number of synaptic connections among neurons.

synaptic density

After the peak of the synaptic density, a long process of __ __ begins. In this process, the connections between neurons become __ but more __., with the synapses that are used becoming more developed, whereas unused synapses wither away

synaptic pruning; fewer; efficient; synaptic pruning

An interesting feature of telegraphic speech is that it already shows an initial knowledge of ___ (word order) Similar to one-word holophrases used previously, telegraphic speech implies more understanding of language than it states explicitly: "Big car" means "look at the big car" and "my ball" means "this is m ball," and so on.

syntax (word order)

Toward the end of the 18- to 24- month period, toddlers begin to combine spoken words for the first time. Their first word combinations are usually two words, in what is called __ __ __ __ takes similar forms in a variety of languages: "See doggie," "Big car," "My ball" ___ ___ strips away connecting words like "the" and "and," getting right to the point with nouns, verbs, and modifiers

telegraphic speech

Language

the most important quality that distinguishes humans from other animals

By the end of the ___ year most toddlers are remarkably skilled language users They can communicate with others about a wide range of topics They can speak about events that are happening in the present as well as about past and future events Although pronunciation of words is not as precise as it will become later, by the time they reach age __ most toddlers can speak clearly enough to make themselves understood about nearly anything they wish

third ; 3

The brain continues its rapid growth during toddler years, although it is not the production of new brain cells that marks the early brain development. In fact, the brain has only about __ as many neurons at age 2 as it did at birth.

½

synaptic pruning will remove about __of the synapses in the ___ ___ from early childhood to adolescence, and after a new burst of synaptic density in early adolescence the process of synaptic pruning will continue at a slower rate through adolescence and into adulthood.

⅓; frontal cortex;