Infant and Child Development Exam 1

Child Development

the scientific study of processes of change and stability in human children (how is your child changing and is it stable?)

What are the three domains of child development?

Physical, cognitive, and psychosocial

Physical Development

Growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health.

Cognitive Development

the development of learning, attention, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity

Psychosocial Development

includes emotions, personality, and social relationships

Early Efforts in Child Development Fields

Baby biographies by Charles Darwin (he was just watching his infant son)

Normative Influences

Biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in a similar way

Normative Age-Graded Influences

Highly similar influences for people in a certain age group (like puberty or menopause)

Normative History-Graded Influences

Significant events that shape behaviors attitudes (like (9/11 and COVID)

Nonnormative Influences

Unusual events that majorly impact individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle (like plane crash or house fire)

Nonnormative influences affect...

...certain individuals

Historical Generations

Groups of people who experience a major historical event at a formative time in their lives (can contain more than one cohort, so like multiple age groups experiencing COVID)

Sensitive Period

times in development when a person is particularly responsive to certain kinds of experiences

Maturation

the unfolding of a universal, natural sequence of physical changes and behavior patterns (acts with other influences, for example, puberty)

Influences of Development =

Nature + Nurture + Maturation + Timing + Normative + Nonnormative

Heredity refers to...

...nature, the inborn traits or characteristics inherited from parent

Mechanistic/Passive Model of Development

People are like machines that react to environmental input (Hot Room = Sweat)

Organismic/Active Model of Development

People set their own development in motion, reacting and initiating events (Hot Room = Open window and sweat)

The consensuses around child development say that...

...domains are interrelated, influences are bidirectional, children are resilient, and historical/cultural contexts matter

The Two Psychoanalytic Theories

Freud's Psychosexual and Erikson's Psychosocial

The Two Learning Theories

Behaviorism (Classical Pavlov/Operant Skinner) and Social Learning (Bandura)

Three Cognitive Theories

Piaget's Cognitive-Stage, Vygotsky's Sociocultural, and Information-Processing

Cognitive Stages (Piaget)

Sensorimotor stage, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations

Sensimotor Stage (Piaget)

0-2, Baby learns about the environment through sensory and motor activity

Preoperational Stage (Piaget)

2-7, Child develops representation and uses symbols to represent things, but still not logical thinking

Concrete Operations (Piaget)

7-11, Child can solve problems logically if they are concrete but cannot think abstractly

Formal Operations (Piaget)

11-adulthood, Person can think abstractly, deal with hypothetical situations, and think about possibilities

Bioecological Theory

Brofenbrenner's levels of bioecological theory, stating we exist in levels (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, etc)

Conception/Fertilization

Occurs when sperm cell penetrates egg cell resulting in zygote

Cephalocadual

Head to tail (head down)

Proximodistal

Inside to out (spine and out)

Prenatal Development Stages

Germinal (0-2 wks), embryonic (3-8 wks), and fetal (9 wks- birth)

Multifactorial transmission

combination of genetic and environmental factors involved in producing certain complex traits

Epigeneisis

A mechanism that turns genes on or off and determines the functions of body cells

Blastocyst

A fluid-filled ball formed about 5 days after fertilization of an ovum that is made up of an outer ring of cells and inner cell mass. This is the structure that implants in the endometrium of the uterus.

Embryonic Disk

in the blastocyst, the inner layer of cells, which will go on to form the embryo

Placenta

a temporary organ that forms within the uterus to allow the exchange of nutrients, oxygen, and waste products between the mother and fetus without allowing maternal blood and fetal blood to mix

Amniotic sac

a fluid-filled membrane that encases the developing embryo protecting it and giving it room to move

Umbilical cord

a flexible cordlike structure containing blood vessels and attaching a fetus to the placenta during gestation.

VBAC

vaginal birth after cesarean section, risks from having them

Germinal Stage

first 2 weeks of prenatal development after fertilization characterized by rapid cell division, increasing complexity/differentiation, and implantation in the wall of the uterus

Embryonic Stage

Second stage from 2-8 wks characterized by rapid growth and development of major body systems and organs

Spontaneous Abortion

Also called miscarriage, the expulsion from uterus of an embryo or fetus that is unable to survive outside of womb

Stillbirth

Miscarriage after 20 weeks

Fetal Stage

Final stage at 8 wks - birth, characterized by increased differentation of body parts, greatly enlarged body size, and triggered by appearance of first bone cells

Ultrasound

high-frequency sound waves to make shape of baby

Maternal Blood Test

tests mother's blood for hormone levels associated with fetal abnormalities

Prenatal Cell-Free DNA Scan

fetal DNA is extracted from mother's blood and tested

Other invasive techniques of monitoring prental development include...

...amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, embryoscopy, and umbilical cord sampling

Labor takes place in...

...three overlapping stages

First Stage of Childbirth

Dilation of the cervix, longest stage, lasts roughly 12 to 14 hours for a woman having her first child

Pitocin

The synthetic oxytocin drug given to induce labor

Second Stage of Childbirth

Descent and emergence of baby typically lasting 1-2 hours beginning when baby's head starts to move through the cervix into vaginal canal and ending when baby emerges completely

Third Stage of Childbirth

Expulsion of the placenta lasting between 10 to 60 minutes

Episiotomy

Surgical cut between vagina and anus to speed up delivery and prevent vaginial tearing but now research says this does more harm than good, limit use

Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM)

Mechanical monitoring of fetal heartbeat during labor and delivery, often used in high-risk pregnancies to detect issues (but increases risk if used in a healthy, low-risk pregnancy because of false positives)

Cesareans are warrented in medical emergencies such as...

...breeched baby, Rh incompatiability, premature separation of placenta from uterus, and infection

C-Sections accuont for about....

....37% of births (many unnecessary)

Local Anesthetic

Vaginal and also called pudendal block

Analgesic

Painkiller acting on CNS (but slows labor and makes baby less alert)

Regional Anesthesia

Also called an epidural/spinal injection, safer in lower doses

Artificial Insemination

Injecting semen into the uterus by artificial means

In vitro fertilization

fertilization of an egg done in a test tube (means in glass), most common

intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)

a treatment to overcome defects in sperm count or motility; an egg is fertilized by microinjection of a single sperm

Canalization

the tendency of heredity to restrict the development of some characteristics to just one or a few outcomes (highly canalized traits = necessary for survival and strongly genetically programed)

Colostrum

a specialized form of milk that delivers essential nutrients and antibodies in a form that the newborn can digest (high-protein but low-calorie)

Neonatal Period

first 4 weeks of life, a time of transition from intrauterine dependency to independent existence

Infant Reflexes

Rooting, sucking, grasping, tonic neck/fencing reflex, and moro/startle reflex

Anoxia

lack of oxygen that may cause brain damage

Meconium

first stool of the newborn

Neonatal Jaundice

Immaturity of liver causing yellowish appearance in newborn babies

Fontanels

Soft spot on the head where skull bones are not yet fused

Lanugo

Fuzzy prenatal hair

Vernix caseosa

Cheeselike substance that covers the neonate and protects against infection

Agpar Scale

appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, respiration (higher scores the better)

NBAS (Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale)

Assesses infants up to 2 months old and looks specifically at their responsiveness to their environment identifiying strengths and vulnerabilities in neurological functioning

Shoulder Dystocia

delayed or difficult birth of the fetal shoulders after the head is born

Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Babies born early lack adequate lung-coating substance called surfactant which keeps air sacs from collapsing

Isolette

incubator for premature babies that is antiseptic, temperature controlled, and allows for tube feeding

Incomplete/Partial Dominance

Trait is not fully expressed (middle-ground expression)

Klinefelter Syndrome

XXY found only in males

Turner Syndrome

X_ found only in females

Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21)

Chromosomal disorder characterized by moderate to severe intellectual disability and a variety of physical signs

Heretiability

Statistical estimate of how much heredity contributes to variations (0.0-1.0 scale, 1.0 is greater heritability)

Reaction Range

A conventional term for a range of potential expressions of a hereditary trait

Active Correlations

Children actively select experiences that are consistent with genetic tendencies (genetic tendency to be sportsy = put me in a sport dad)

Passive correlations

Children inherit genes from their parents and their environments (the surrounding household is musical and parents are genetically musical)

Reactive/Evocative correlations

Children with differing genetic makeup evoke different responses from adults

Gametes

sex cells (sperm and egg)

Polygenic traits

traits controlled by two or more genes

Codominance

A condition in which both alleles for a gene are fully expressed

Autosomes

Any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome

Chromosomes

threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes

How many chromosomes do we have?

46 (23 pairs)

Concordance

the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic, given that one of the pair has the characteristic

Multifactorial Transmission

combination of genetic and environmental factors to produce certain complex traits