Childhood & Adolescence Exam 2

Chapter 5 – Physical Development in Infancy

Growth Patterns

• Cephalocaudal: Development that proceeds from the head down to the feet. This principle explains why infants first gain control over head and neck movements before developing coordination in the torso and legs.

• Proximodistal: Development that starts at the central part of the body and progresses outward, leading to arm and hand control before developing finer control over fingers.

Neuron Parts and Purpose

• Dendrites: Branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons, allowing information to flow into the cell.

• Axon: Long projection that carries electrical impulses away from the neuron’s cell body.

• Myelin Sheath: Fatty layer covering the axon, which increases the speed of neural signal transmission, crucial for faster processing and reaction times as the infant grows.

Brain Development

• Perception: Infants begin to process sensory information, which is essential for cognitive and motor skill development.

• Plasticity: The brain’s capacity to adapt and reorganize, particularly strong during infancy, allowing for rapid learning and recovery from injury.

• Pruning: Unnecessary neurons and synaptic connections are eliminated, making room for stronger, more efficient pathways.

Reflexes of Infants

• Rooting Reflex: When an infant’s cheek is stroked, they turn their head toward the stimulus, aiding in feeding.

• Moro Reflex: Also called the startle reflex, infants throw out their arms and legs in response to loud noises or sudden movements.

Sensory Capabilities

• Visual Cliff (Gibson and Walk): An experiment where infants’ depth perception is tested by having them crawl over a visual “cliff.” Most infants hesitate, indicating early depth perception.

Motor Development Milestones

• Fine Motor Skills: Includes small, precise movements, such as grasping or manipulating objects, typically developing between 3-12 months.

• Gross Motor Skills: Large movements like crawling, standing, and walking, typically achieved between 6-12 months​.

Chapter 6 – Cognitive Development in Infancy

Language Development Milestones (Noam Chomsky)

• Language Acquisition Device (LAD): A theoretical innate mechanism proposed by Chomsky that predisposes humans to learn language.

• Milestones:

  • Cooing (~2 months): Producing vowel-like sounds.

  • Babbling (~6 months): Repetition of consonant-vowel sounds like “ba-ba.”

  • First Words (~12 months): Typically simple, meaningful words like “mama.”

  • Two-Word Phrases (~18-24 months): Using short, telegraphic sentences like “want milk.”

Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage

• Object Permanence: Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they’re out of sight. According to Piaget, this milestone typically develops around 8-12 months.

• A-not-B Error: Occurs when an infant searches for an object in a familiar location rather than a new one, indicating incomplete object permanence.

• Schemas: Frameworks for organizing information, starting with reflexes and developing through experience.

• Assimilation and Accommodation: Processes infants use to integrate new information—either by incorporating it into existing schemas (assimilation) or altering schemas to accommodate new experiences (accommodation)​.

Information Processing Approach

• Habituation and Dishabituation: Habituation is the decrease in response to repeated stimuli, and dishabituation is the renewed interest in a new stimulus, indicating memory and attention development​.

Chapter 7 – Social and Personality Development in Infancy

Basic Emotions

• Infants are born with basic emotions like joy, anger, and sadness, which evolve through social interactions.

Attachment Theory (John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth)

• Bowlby: Proposed that attachment is an evolutionary survival mechanism; infants bond with caregivers to ensure their safety.

• Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: A method to assess attachment styles in infants:

  • Secure Attachment: Infants use caregivers as a secure base, distressed when they leave but easily comforted upon return.

  • Avoidant Attachment: Little interest in caregiver’s presence or return.

  • Resistant (Ambivalent) Attachment: Anxiety and difficulty being comforted upon caregiver’s return.

  • Disorganized Attachment: Lack of a clear attachment behavior, often linked to inconsistency in caregiving.

Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

• Oral Stage: Birth to ~1 year; focuses on the mouth for gratification.

Temperament (Thomas & Chess, Mary Rothbart)

• Thomas & Chess: Identified three temperament types: easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up.

• Rothbart: Focused on reactivity and self-regulation, identifying dimensions like effortful control.

• Goodness of Fit: The compatibility of a child’s temperament with their environment and parenting style​.

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust: Infants depend on consistent caregiving to develop trust.

• Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt: Toddlers who are encouraged to explore develop autonomy, while overly critical responses may foster doubt​.

Chapter 8 – Physical Development in Preschool

Motor Skills Milestones

• Gross Motor Skills: Running, climbing, and jumping; essential for physical play and exploration.

• Fine Motor Skills: Cutting with scissors, drawing shapes, which contribute to independence in activities like dressing​(Test 2 Study Guide HD 1…).

Cycle-of-Violence Hypothesis

• States that children exposed to violence may develop aggressive tendencies themselves, possibly perpetuating a cycle of abuse.

Child Safety

• Key methods include supervision, environmental safety (e.g., childproofing), and teaching safety rules to prevent accidents​(Test 2 Study Guide HD 1…).

Chapter 9 – Cognitive Development in Preschool

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The difference between what a child can do independently and with guidance.

• Scaffolding: Temporary support provided to help children perform tasks within their ZPD, gradually removed as the child gains independence.

• Private Speech: Children’s self-directed speech that aids cognitive development and problem-solving​.

Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

• Egocentrism: Difficulty in seeing perspectives other than their own.

• Conservation: Understanding that certain properties (e.g., volume, mass) remain the same despite changes in form or appearance, which children in this stage struggle with.

• Animistic Thinking: Attributing lifelike qualities to inanimate objects.

• Transductive Reasoning: A type of reasoning seen in preschoolers, where they make causal connections based on proximity or similarity, rather than logic​.

Language Development Milestones

• Grammar: Expanding understanding of syntax to form complex sentences.

• Pragmatics: Learning social rules of language, such as turn-taking and adjusting language to context.

• Fast Mapping: Quickly learning new words by associating them with known concepts.

• Telegraphic Speech: Using essential words to convey meaning, common in early language (e.g., “want cookie”)​.

Chapter 10 – Social and Personality Development in Preschool

Psychosocial Development (Erik Erikson)

• Initiative vs. Guilt: Preschoolers begin to take initiative in activities, exploring and asserting control. Encouragement fosters a sense of purpose, while criticism may lead to guilt.

Gender Identity and Stereotypes

• By preschool age, children become more aware of gender roles, influenced by family, peers, and media. They begin to adopt behaviors traditionally associated with their gender, which can be reinforced through social learning.

Parenting Styles (Diana Baumrind)

• Authoritative: High warmth and control; associated with positive social and cognitive outcomes.

• Authoritarian: High control, low warmth; associated with obedience but potential for lower social competence.

• Permissive: High warmth, low control; may lead to impulsivity.

• Uninvolved: Low warmth and control; associated with developmental issues due to lack of guidance and support​.

Types of Play (Mildred Parten)

• Parallel Play: Children play near each other but don’t interact directly.

• Onlooker Play: Watching other children play, which helps social learning.

• Pretend Play: Role-playing and imagination-based activities.

• Associative Play: Playing alongside others and sharing materials but not yet with coordinated goals.

• Constructive Play: Building or creating something, such as blocks or drawings, developing fine motor skills and problem-solving abilities​