Psychology Exam 2

Physical development in infancy/toddlerhood

-birth to 2 years

-skull not fully fused for easier birth

-vision is blurry (18in. away from face

-spend 70% of time asleep

Growth in infancy

-growth is uneven

-grow about 1 inch per month for the first year

Cephalocaudal Development

growth from head down

Proximodistal Development

growth from center of body outwards

Food in infancy

-At about 6 months, food can be incorporated with formula

-typically, do not like new foods

-water also can be introduced at 6 months

Malnutrition

-over ¼ of children are underweight which can lead to:

• stunted growth

• impaired learning

Failure to thrive

condition where child is less than 80% of the norm for their age without medical reason

common causes include:

• inadequate nutrition

• eating too few calories

• psychosocial and contextual factors

Glial cells

support structures for neurons

-outnumber neurons 10:1

Synaptogenesis

formation of new synapses/connections

-peaks in different brain regions at different ages

Transient exuberance

the explosion in connections in early years of life

Synaptic pruning

Loss of unused connections

-this makes connections that are being used become stronger and more efficient

Myelination

Glial cells produce and coat axons of neurons with a fatty substance called myelin

-this makes signals transmit quicker

Cerebral cortex

-85% of brain mass

-The right and left hemispheres of it do NOT have identical functions

-Lateralization begins in the womb

Experience-expectant development

The brain depends on experiencing certain basic events and stimuli at key points in time to develop normally

Experience-dependent development

Growth that occurs in response to learning experiences

Habituation

when repeated exposure to a stimulus, results in the gradual decline in the intensity, frequency, or duration, of a response

Novelty Preference

infants prefer to look at new stimuli

-example in class of colored slides

Imitation

-newborns learn through imitating what they see, they do not understand it

-mirror neurons- fire in response to actions observed in others

Deferred imitation

the ability to imitate and absent model

-relies on memory

-infants can’t tend to do this till about 6 months

Sensation

when senses detect a stimulus

ex.) sound waves hitting the ear drum

Perception

the sense our brain makes of a stimulus/ awareness of it

ex.) Interpreting the sound as your alarm clock

Vision

-least developed sense at birth

-can see color but have difficulty discriminating between them until after 7 months

visual acuity- the sharpness of vision or the ability to see. reach fully acuity around 6 months to 1 year

Perceptual Narrowing

after 9 months, show difficulty discriminating among unfamiliar faces

Depth Perception

-ability to perceive distance

-starts at birth

Hearing

-most well-developed sense at birth

Touch

-highly developed at birth

-skin to skin contact has an analgesic effect

-touch can reduce stress in neonates

Smell and Taste

-well developed at birth

-infants can show preference for some tastes:

• human milk

• sugar

• what mother ate during pregnancy

Intermodal Perception

process of combining info from more than one sensory system

• infants are able to match things they’ve seen with things they have touched

Reflexes

involuntary and automatic responses to stimuli such as touch, light, and sound

• genetically determined

• social and survival function

• examples.) rooting, Babinski, swimming, Moro, stepping, palmar grasping

Why do reflexes disappear?

Maturation of the cerebral cortex- this allows more voluntary control of behavior; this includes ones that were controlled by reflexes

Gross Motor development

The ability to control large movements of the body

• first one is ability to roll over at 3 months old

Fine Motor development

The ability to control small movements of the fingers such as grasping and reaching

Dynamic systems theory

describes how motor behaviors are assembled. places emphasis on child’s own motivation.

• Motor skills do not develop in vacuum
• As motor skills develop, so do non-motoric skills
• Separate abilities are blended together to provide more
complex and effective ways of exploring and controlling the
environment

Piaget’s cognitive-development theory

In order to understand children, we must understand how they think because thinking influences all of behavior

• children/adults learn by interacting with the world

Schemas

Concepts, ideas, and ways of interacting on the world

• behavioral and mental

Assimilation

Integrating a new experience into a preexisting schema

Accommodation

Changing a schema by adapting and modifying it in light of the new information

Cognitive equilibrium

A balance between the processes of assimilation and accommodation

• individuals are neither incorporating new information into their schemas nor changing their schemas

Cognitive Disequilibrium

A mismatch between schemas and the world

• more frequent than cognitive equilibrium

• leads to cognitive growth

Piaget’s stages: Sensorimotor Reasoning

Infants learn about the world through their senses and motor skills

• 6 substages

A not B Error

Infants lack of understanding of object permanence

ex.) place ball under one blanket and move it to under another blanket in front of the child but they will still look for the ball under the first blanket because they do not understand that it is no longer there.

Violation of expectation method

• A task in which a stimulus appears to violate physical laws

• demonstrates object permanence

• observes infants’ reactions to unexpected events

Piaget’s stages: Information Possessing

Cognition is a set of interrelated components that permit people to process information

• 3 mental stores: sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory

Sensory Memory

• Holds incoming information in its original form

• Information fades from memory quickly if it is not processed

Working Memory

• Holds and processes information that is being “worked on” in some way

• information is manipulated

• Responsible for maintaining and processing information used in many complex cognitive tasks

• NOT the same as short-term memory

Long-Term Memory

• An unlimited store that holds information indefinitely

• Information is not manipulated or processed; it is simply stored until it is retrieved to manipulate in working memory

Attention

The ability to direct one’s awareness

Phonological Perception

Recognizing language sounds

Holophrase

single words to communicate a thought

fast mapping

applying previous word-learning strategies to new words

telegraphic speech

short and precise phrases without grammatical markers

Overextension of early language

too broad

• ex. Dog = dog, cat, horse

Under extension of early language

Too narrow

• ex. Dog = only a poodle

Learning Theory

language is learned through operant conditioning (reinforcement and punishment)

Nativist theory and language acquisition

We are born with a language acquisition device

• such as universal grammar

Interactionist perspective

language development is a complex process that is influenced by both maturation and context

Canonical babbling

a type of babbling with well-formed syllables that sounds like language

expansions to language acquisition

parents enrich versions of the child’s statement

recast to language acquisition

children’s sentences are restated into new grammatical forms

Socioemotional development

The process of children learning to understand and manage their own emotions and develop relationships with others

Erikson: Trust vs. Mistrust

• 1st developmental task

• Infants must develop a view of the world as a safe place where their basic needs will be met

• Trust: Caregivers attend to the infant’s physical and emotional needs and consistently fulfill them

• Mistrust: Caregivers are neglectful or inconsistent in meeting the infant’s needs

Erikson: Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

• 2nd developmental task

• Infants must develop a feeling that one can make choices and direct oneself

• Autonomy: Caregivers encourage the toddler’s initiative and allow
  them to explore, experiment, make mistakes, and test limits

• Shame/Doubt: Caregivers are overprotective or disapprove of their struggle for independence

Reflexive smile

Smile that does not occur in response to external stimuli (present at birth)

Social smile

In response to an external stimulus (emerges between 6-10 weeks)

Separation protest

distressed crying when the caregiver leaves

Social referencing

“reading” emotional cues in others to help determine how to act in a particular situation

self-conscious emotions

• secondary emotions

• emerge at 15 to 18 months

• ex. pride embarrassment, shame, guilt

emotion regulation

ability to control emotions

infants demonstrate this by:

• sucking on objects (self-soothing)

• distraction (moving away, playing, talking)

dyadic regulation

parents helping regulate children’s emotions

• direct intervention, modeling, selective reinforcement, control of the environment, verbal instruction

easy temperament

• 40% of children

• positive mood

• even-tempered

• adaptable

difficult temperament

• 10% of children

• active

• irritable

• irregular in biological rhythms

• react bad to change/ slow to adapt

slow-to-warm-up temperament

• 15% of children

• inactive

• moody

• slow to adapt

• adjust more quickly that difficult temperament

goodness of fit

the match between the child’s temperament and the environment around them especially the parent’s temperament and child-rearing methods

Freud’s theory of infant attachment

mothers are source of food and drive reduction

Erikson’s theory of infant attachment

• first year of life is critical time for attachment
  development

• Sense of trust or mistrust sets later expectations

• Physical comfort plays a role in development

John Bowlby’s theory of infant attachment

• Attachment is an adaptive behavior that evolved because it
  contributed to the survival of the human species.

• An attachment bond between caregivers and infants ensures
  that the two will remain in close proximity.

• Infants have innate characteristics that promote attachments

  
  

Attachment formation phases

1. indiscriminate social responsiveness

2. discriminating sociability

3. attachments

4. reciprocal relationships

Mary Ainsworth’s Infant attachment theory

• infants need proximity to caregiver for security

• Infants need parents to survive BUT they also need to venture into the environment to learn and develop

Secure Attachment

• 66% of infants

• mother is sensitive and responsive to child’s signals

• stranger anxiety

• separation protest

• enthusiastic greeting

Insecure-Avoidant attachment

• 20% of infants

• parental rejection

• minimal interest in mother

• busily explores room

• little distress

• resists attempt to be comforted

Insecure-Resistant Attachment

• 15% of infants

• inconsistent and unresponsive parenting

• preoccupied with primary caregiver

• highly upset when caregiver leaves

• minimal exploration

• difficulty calming down when reunited

Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment

• inconsistent, contradictory behaviors

• my cling while crying hard with an averted gave or may hit parents face or eyes while in an apparently good mood

• abuse or poor caregiving environments and is associated with infant fear

Outcomes of secure attachment

Sociability, successful peer interactions, better able to read others’ emotions, more positive self-concept, curious, empathetic, self-confident, socially competent

Outcomes of secure attachment

Higher rates of antisocial behavior, depression, and anxiety