HDE 100A MT 2

psychoanalytic theory

• impacts on early-life (too subjective)

behaviorism

• impacts on association on learning (too mechanistic)

cognitive theory

• understandings of intellectual process (undervalues emotions)

sociocultural theory

• development is embedded in social and cultural contexts (undervalues individual choice)

evolutionary theory

• importance of human impulses (neglects power of culture and social norms)

What does the term “graduated extinction” refer to in the sleep-training literature?

Graduated extinction refers to the spacing out and having a structured response to the child’s waking; sleep training method

Gradisar et al. (2016) found no measurable harm to attachment from sleep training. How many infants were in that study, and why does sample size matter here?

• 43 infants and lower power and gives us moderate differences; it doesn’t mean that there’s no harm possible

• Limited participants also means that there are limits about what we can say about those results

According to the Motherly piece, roughly what share of the families surveyed co-sleep?

88%

What is genetic nurturing?

Parent’s genes impact the environment the child grows up in

Gradisar's finding is often cited as “sleep training doesn't harm attachment.” Is that the same claim as “sleep training is right for every family”? Why or why not?

• Need to consider the values of the family, infant’s temperament, parents’ wellbeing

• Not evidence to support that sleep training is right for every family

sleep training

• Behavioral methods that help an infant fall asleep and resettle without a parent.

• graduated extinction

• bedtime fading

bed time fading

• parents temporarily delay bedtime (in Gradisar, by about 15 minutes a night) so the baby is sleepy and falls asleep faster

co-sleeping

• An umbrella term for sharing a sleep space. The same word covers very different practices.

• Room-sharing: the baby sleeps in the parents' room on a separate surface

• Bed-sharing: the baby sleeps on the same surface as a parent

What did Gradisar et al.’s study show

• Night awakenings: large drop with graduated extinction only

• Stress: infants' afternoon cortisol declined in both treatment groups; mothers' stress fell over the first month; mood did not differ

• 12 months later: no significant differences in attachment or in emotional and behavior problems

What does Motherly article tell us?

• Motherly cites lower SIDS rates where co-sleeping is common, and studies that found no negative effects on later behavior or cognition

experience-expectant

Ordinary experiences the brain “expects” in order to grow normally. They occur early and naturally

experience-dependent

Specific experiences that vary widely across cultures. Rushing early learning can overwhelm young brains

Herd immunity

when enough people are immune, those who can't be vaccinated are also protected

What does Randolph et al.’s (2023) systematic review evaluate: Montessori toys, or something else?

Montessori education and its effect on children along with how they compare with traditional education

Given one finding from Randolph et al. about Montessori education’s academic or nonacademic outcomes

Some advances in academics, creativity, execution function, general academic ability. Evidence shows how Montessori practices could contribute to educational and non-educational outcomes

What is “Sad Beige Parenting,” per the Today’s Parent piece, and what is it a reaction to?

“The idea of less is more”, this has to do with the parent’s aesthetic

Why does Gradisar’s small sample size matter when interpreting the sleep-training finding?

Could not generalized to the population

If a systematic review studies full Montessori classrooms, does that evidence directly support buying wooden toys for a home playroom? Why might the answer be “not necessarily”?

Wooden toys have not been identified independently as beneficial for child development

Montessori education

• A way of running a school or classroom. This is what Randolph et al. studied.

• Designed to foster independence and a love of learning

• Child-centered environments and real-world tasks

• Compared with traditional education in 32 studies

Montessori look

• a social-media style and a product category. This is what Today’s Parent describes

• wooden puzzles, $80 shape sorters, muted earthy colors

• hashtags like #montessoritoys

• the name is not trademarked, so anyone can call anything Montessori

Today’s Parent article

• Montessori toys are simple and screen-free and let kids explore at their own pace. Many featured items aren’t in line with the method, and the label “doesn’t always justify the markup”.

What does Randolph et al. show?

• the author conclude Montessori education has a “meaningful and positive impact” compared with traditional education

• effects are small to moderate, and the quality of evidence varies by outcome

• larger in randomized studies, in preschool and elementary settings, and in private Montessori programs

implicit memory

• begins around 3 months

• stable by 9 months

• relies on older parts of the brain

explicit memory

• takes longer to emerge

• depends on language

• improves throughout childhood

information-processing theory (infant mind)

• the infant mind is programmed for cognitive development

• sights and sounds produce understanding

evolutionary theory (infant mind)

• brain plasticity evolved so babies can learn what the need within their culture

• evolutionary impulses are refined with experience

sensorimotor intelligence

how infants think by using their senses and motor skills. infants are active learners, and adaptation is the core of intelligence

assimiliation

new experiences are interpreted to fit old ideas

accommodation

old ideas are restructured to include new experiences

primary circular reactions

• birth-1 month

  • Reflexes: sucking, grasping

• 1-4 months

  • first acquired habits

The first two stages involve the infant’s responses to its own body

secondary circular reactions

• 4-8 months

  • Make interesting sights last

• 8-12 months

  • means to an end; anticipation

Next two stages involve the infant’s response to objects and people

tertiary circular reactions

• 12-18 months

  • Little scientist: active exploration

• 18-24 months

  • mental combination; deferred imitation

last two stages are the most creative: first with action and then with ideas

underextension

a word used too narrowly

overextension

a word used too broadly

holophrase

one word that carries a whole thought

Per Kozak et al. (2021), paid maternal leave was linked to better outcomes in which two developmental areas?

Better language outcomes and fewer infant behavioral problems; more physical time between caregiver and infant, eliminates stressors that family might be experiencing

For which specific group of mothers was the effect on toddler behavior problems strongest?

High school education or less

How many weeks of paid leave does the US guarantee federally, per the Washington Post piece?

0 weeks

What is one finding from the Montessori systematic review?

• Some advances in academics, creativity, execution function, and general academic ability. Evidence shows how Montessori practices could contribute to educational and non-educational outcomes

Kozak’s study is correlational, not experimental. What is one alternative explanation, besides “leave caused better outcomes,”for the pattern they found

higher paying jobs → longer maternal leave

What does Kozak et al. study's show

• language: higher language scores with paid leave, regardless of socioeconomic status

• behavior problems: fewer problems with paid leave, only for mothers with a high school degree or less

• no link found: cognitive scores, overall socioemotional scores, and length of leave were not related to outcomes

The Rouge Test

• babies aged 9-12 months looked in a mirror after rouge was dabbed on their noses

• none younger than 12 months reacted as if the mark was on them

• 15-to-24-month olds touched their own noses, with curiosity

• shows self-awareness

temperament

the biologically based core of individual differences in how a child approaches and responds to situations. Traits of temperament arise from genes; personality traits are also shaped by parents and culture

• effortful control:regulating attention and emotion; self-soothing

• negative mood: fearful, angry, unhappy

• exuberance: active, social, not shy

synchrony

• a coordinated, smooth exchange of responses between caregiver and infant

• becomes more frequent and elaborate in the first months

• usually begins with parents imitating infants

• helps infants learn to read others’ emotions

social referencing

toddlers watch a trusted person’s expression to decide whether something unfamilar is safe, unsafe, or exciting

shaken baby syndrome

a life-threatening injury that occurs when an infant is forcefully shaken back and forth, a motion that ruptures blood vessels in the brain and breaks neural connections

self-righting

an inborn drive to compensate and overcome problems

binocular vision

the ability to focus the two eyes in a coordinated manner in order to see one image

motor skill

learned abilities to move some part of the body, in actions ranging from a large leap to a flicker of the eyelid

gross motor skills

physical abilities involving large body movements, such as walking or jumping

fine motor skills

physical abilities involving small body movements, especially of the hands and fingers, such as drawing or picking up a coin

protein-calorie malnutrition

occurs when a person does not consume enough food to sustain normal growth

wasting

the tendency for children to severely underweight for their age as a result of malnutrition

affordance

an opportunity for perception and interaction that is offered by a person, place, or object in the environment

visual cliff

an experimental apparatus that give the illusion of a sudden drop-off between one horizontal surface and another

reminder session

a perceptual experience that helps a person recollect an idea, a thing or an experience

habituation

process of becoming accustomed to an object or even through repeated exposure to it, and thus becoming less interested in it

mean length of utterance (MLU)

the average number of words in a typical sentence

social smile

a smile evoked by a human face, normally first evident in infants about 6 weeks after birth

Two kinds of social fear

Separation anxiety: clinging and crying when a familiar caregiver is about to leave. Separation anxiety is normal at age 1, intensifies at age 3, and usually subsides after that

Stranger wariness: fear of unfamiliar people, especially when they move too close, too quickly

Still-face

an experimental practice in which an adult keeps his or her face unmoving and expressionless in face-to-face interaction with an infant

Trust vs. mistrust

Erikson’s first crisis of psychosocial development. Infants learn basic trust if the world is a secure place where their basic needs (for food, comfort, attention, and so on) are met

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

Erikson’s second crisis of psychosocial development. Toddlers either succeed or fail in gaining a sense of self-rule over their actions and their bodies

Working model

a set of assumptions that the individual uses to organize perceptions and experiences. For example, a person might assume that other people are trustworthy and be surprised by an incident in which this working model of human behavior is erroneous

critical period

The book defines a crucial period as a particular type of developmental growth in body or behavior) for normal development to occur or when harm (ex. Some destructive event) can occur

sensitive period

a time when certain type of development is most likely, although it may still happen later with more difficulty

Five Marks of High-Quality Infant Care

1. Adequate attention to each infant

2. Encouragement of language and sensorimotor development

3. Attention to health and safety

4. Professional caregivers

5. Warm and responsive caregivers