Life Span Development Psychology Test 2

Infant growth

Weight doubles in first 5 months and triples by end of first year, height increases from 20 to 30 inches in the first year

Cephalocaudal principle

growth begins at the top, with the head, and then proceed downward to the rest of the body

proximodistal principle

growth proceeds from the middle of the body outward

teething

discomfort and pain of first teeth breaking through the gums (first tooth appears between 5-9 months)

teething symptoms

saliva production, coughing, rash, grabbing things to put in mouth

brain development

at birth, brain is ¼th the size of adult’s brain, reaches 70% of size by age 2

exuberance (overproduction)

dendritic connections multiply

myelination

axons become encased in a myelin sheath

synaptic pruning

increases brain efficiency, dendritic connections that are used become stronger and faster and those that are unused whither away

Three major brain regions

hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain

hindbrain and midbrain

mature early and perform basic biological functions

limbic system

part of the forebrain, hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus

cerebral cortex

lobes

lateralization

the specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain

left hemisphere

language and sequential processing

right hemisphere

spatial reasoning and holistic processing

frontal lobe

highest processes including planning for the future, making decisions, spoken language

parietal lobe

processes bodily sensations

occipital lobe

processes visual information

temporal lobe

processes auditory information, including language

plasticity

infant’s brain that is highly responsive to environmental circumstances, makes it more adaptable to overcome damage

Sleep changes

Neonates sleep 16-17 hours/day (50% REM sleep)

3-4 months sleep 6-7 hours at night (40% REM sleep)

6 months - cultural patterns influence sleep patterns

• American (14 hours)

• Dutch (16 hours)

Risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

sleeping on stomach, low birth weight, low APGAR score, parents smoking, soft bedding, too warm

Co-sleeping in the US

Dangers

• excessive dependence

• endangers the emotional health

• SIDS

Co-sleeping in developing countries

infants are highly vulnerable to injury, illness, and death, mother can protect them

custom complex

a distinctive cultural pattern of behavior that is based on underlying cultural beliefs

nutritional needs

• high fat diet (breastmilk)

• solid foods introduced at 4-6 months

  • West - rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula

  • Traditional cultures - mashed, pureed, or pre-chewed

• malnutrition at this time can be severe

marasmus

disease in which the body wastes away from lack of nutrients

Infant mortality

most infant morality is neonatal mortality (1st month)

• birth defects or LBW

• higher in developing countries

Top sources of infant mortality beyond the first month

• malnutrition

• respiratory infections

• diarrhea

  • digestive illnesses - dehydration

  • oral rehydration therapy

• Malaria (blood disease)

• Dysentery

gross motor development

whole body movements like crawling, children develop these in sequence

6 weeks (3 weeks - 4 months)

Holding head up unsupported

4.5 months (2-7 months)

Rolling over

7 months (5-9 months)

sitting without support

7 months (5-11 months)

Crawling

11 months (5-12 months)

Standing

11.5 months (7-12 months)

Walking with support (cruising)

12 months (9-17 months)

Walking

pincer grasp

using opposable thumb (9-12 moths) taht allows feeding of themselves

Fine motor skills

more precise motor abilities like reaching and grasping

binocular vision

helps with depth perception, combine the images of the two eyes into one image (developed at 3 months of age)

intermodal perception

integration and coordination of information from the various senses

maturation

Piaget’s theory that this is the driving force behind development from one stage to the next

schemes

cognitive structure for processing, organizing and interpreting information

assimilation

new information is altered to fit an existing scheme (spoon)

accommodation

changing a scheme to adapt to the new information (raddle)

sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

capable of coordinating the activities of the senses with motor activities

Pre-operational stage (2-7 years)

capable of symbolic representation, such as in language, but with limited ability to use mental operations

Concrete operations (7-11 years)

capable of using mental operations, but only in concrete, immediate experience; difficulty thinking hypothetically

Formal operations (11+ years)

capable of thinking logically and abstractly; capable of formulating hypotheses and testing them systematically; thinking is more complex; and can think about thinking

Sensorimotor substages

1. Simple reflexes (rooting, sucking, grasping)

2. First habits and primary circular reactions (repeating a body sensation first experienced by chance, i.e. sucking thumb), then accommodate that action)

3. Secondary circular reactions (an infant repeats actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results)

4. Coordination of secondary circular reactions (coordination of vision and touch - hand-eye coordination; coordination of schemes and intentionality

object permanence

objects continue to exist even when not in direct sensory or motor contact with them

• under 4 months no understanding

• 4-8 months - some uncertainty about existence

• 8-12 months - developing awareness

  • will still make A not B error

Piaget criticism

• underestimating infants ability especially regarding object permanence

• violation of expectations method: infants look longer at an event that violates their expectations indicating some understanding of object permanence

• object permanence may reflect memory development

• Cultural limitations as well (Swiss and western children)

Information processing in infants

modeled by the computer, brain is more complex, human thinking divided into capacities for attention, processing and memory

Habituation

gradual decrease in attention

Dishabituation

revival of attention with a new stimulus

joint attention

infants directing their attention not just to whatever sensations are most stimulating but to what the people around them are attending to

Arnold Gesell’s 4 subscale assessment tool

• motor skills

• language use

• adaptive behavior

• personal-social behavior

Bayley Scales of Infant Development 3 main scales

• Cognitive (attention and exploration)

• Language (use and understanding of language)

• Motor (fine and gross motor skills)

Development Quotient

overall measure of an infants’ developmental progress, can be used as a screening tool

See slide 44 on Chapter 4 Notes

Infant directed speech

Higher pitch with simplified grammar, exaggerated intonation and phrases repeated, infants seem to prefer this speech

Temperament

innate tendencies that would be shaped to become adult personality, composed of activity level, adaptability, intensity of reactions and quality of mood are judged

• easy

• difficult

• slow to warm up

Goodness of fit

children develop best if there is a good fit between temperament of child and environmental demands (babies with negative temperamental qualities did better with parents who were tolerant)

Primary emotions

basic emotions we share with other animals

Primary emotions in first weeks of life

distress, interest, and pleasure (becomes anger, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, and happiness)

Anger

is expressed early in the form of a distinct anger cry, facial expressions by 4 months, anger responses by 7 months

Fear

develops by 6 months of age, occurs with stranger anxiety

Surprise

evident at about 6 months, usually involves a violation of expectations

Happiness

smile in response to sensory stimulation (2-3 weeks), social smile (2-3 months)

emotional contagion

crying in response to hearing another cry

happy, sad, and angry faces

by 2-3 months, infants’ eyesight has improved substantially and they have begun to be able to discriminate between these faces

Still face paradigm

shows infants quickly learn to expect certain emotional reactions from others

social referencing

the process wherein infants use the affective displays of an adult to regulate their behaviors toward environmental objects, persons, and situations

Cultural themes of infant social life in developing countries

1. Infants are with their mothers constantly for the early months of life.

2. After 6 months, most infant daily care done by older girls rather than the mother.

3. Infants are among many other people in the course of the day.

4. Infants are held or carried almost constantly.

5. Fathers are usually remote or absent during first year.

Trust vs mistrust

• centers around the emotional and social bond and not the biological bond

• developing trust in infancy provides foundation for future social development

Bowlby’s attachment theory

focused on early quality relationships, focused on primary caregiver being sensitive and responsive

synaptic density

density of synaptic connections among neurons

synaptic pruning

connections between neurons become fewer but more efficient

EEG

measures electrical activity of cerebral cortex

fMRI

uses a magnetic field to record changes in blood flow and oxygen

Changes in sleep as a toddler

• 16-18 hours as a newborn to 12-13 hours by second birthday

• Sleep impacted by resurgence of teething and awareness of separate sleeping arrangements

Gross Motor Development timeline

• 11 months - walk without support

• 15 months - stand on one leg and beginning to climb

• 18 months - some running

• 24 months - can kick with more dexterity

Fine motor development in toddlers

• can hold an object in one hand while performing an action on it with the other hand

• 12 months can show left or right preference for eating

• holds cup, scribble, turn pages

substage 5 of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage

Tertiary Circular Reactions - Intentionally try out different behaviors (12-18 months)

substage 6 of Piaget’s sensorimotor theory

Mental representations - think about possibilities and select actions (18-24 months), early problem-solving behaviors

Deferred imitation

the ability to repeat actions observed at an earlier time

Categorization

each noun and verb represents a category (i.e. the word “truck” includes every possible variety of truck)

Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

cognitive development is both social and cultural

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

range of skills child can perform if guided but can’t accomplish alone

scaffolding

degree of assistance provided

guided participation (Barbara Rogoff)

teaching interaction between two people as they participate in a culturally valued activity

infinite generativity

combine symbols in infinite ways

Humans are built for language

• vocal apparatus

• brain specialization

  • broca’s area: sound production

  • Wernicke’s area: ideas in temporal area

• specific genes for language development

• language acquisition device

  • nature/nuture

slow expansion

12-18 months - one to three new words a week, first 50 words part of toddler’s daily routine

holophrases

one word used to represent a whole sentence

overextension

single word to represent a variety of related objects (i.e. calling a fuzzy sock the dog’s name)

underextension

applying a general word to a specific object (i.e. the word “bear” only applies to a girls stuffed animal toy)

fast mapping

learning and remembering a word for an object after just one time of being told

telegraphic speech

two-word phrases that strip away connecting words such as the and and (ex. “see doggie”)