Bronfrenbrenner’s Ecological Theory – BioEcological System

1. Microsystem – layer nearest to the child directly interacts with. (one’s family, school and neighborhood)
Bi-directional influences – the child affects the behavior of the parents
2. Mesosystem – connection between the child’s microsystem. Link and interactions between parent and teacher)
3. Exosystem – bigger social system in which the child does not function directly. (city government, mass media and
workplace)
4. Macrosystem – outermost part of the child environment. (cultural values, beliefs, laws and custom)
5. Chronosystem – element of time (pattern of stability and change)
No longer nature vs nurture but nurturing nature

Role of Schools and Teachers – instability and unpredictability of family life is the most destructive force of a child’s
development. This theory helps teacher look into every child’s environmental system in order to understand about the
child. The teacher can contribute stability over long-term relationships but only to support

Stages of Pre-Natal Development – Human life begins from the moment of Conception

1. Germinal Period – (First 2 weeks after conception)

A. Creation of zygote
B. Continued cell division
C. Attachment of the zygote to the uterine wall
2. Embryonic Period (2-8 weeks after conception) – zygote becomes embryo
A. Cell differentiation intensifies
B. Life support systems for the embryo develop
C. Organs appear
Endoderm – inner layer of the cell – digestive & respiratory
Mesoderm – middle layer of the cell – circulatory, skeletal, muscular, excretory and
reproductive systems
Ectoderm – outermost layer – nervous system, sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose) & skin

Organogenesis – the process of organ formation during the first two months of pre-natal development

3. Fetal period – (2-7 months after conception)

3 months – fetus about 3inc long, genitals can now be identified male or female
4 months – fetus about 6inc long, growth spurts occur in the lower part
5months – fetus about 12inc long, structure of the skin like fingernails have formed is more active
6months- 14-inch-long, eyes and eyelids formed, fine layer of head covers, grasping reflex
7months – 16inc long, 3 pounds
8months – 4pounds and longer

Teratology – “tera-monster investigate the causes of congenital birth defects

1. Prescription and nonprescription drugs
2. Psychoactive drugs- nicotine, caffeine, and illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin
(FAS) Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – abnormalities that appears in the children of mothers who drink alcohol
(facial deformities, defective limbs, face, heart) below average intelligence
Smoking Mothers - Fetal and neonatal death, higher incidences of preterm births and lower birthweights
Maternal Heroin – deliver smaller than average size of babies with toxemia
3. Environment Hazards – radiation in jobsites, XRAys, environment pollutants, toxic waist and prolong exposure
to heat and sauna bath tubs
4. Maternal factors such as rubella, German measles, syphilis, genital herpes, AIDS, nutrition, high anxiety and
stress. Age (too early and too late beyond 30)
Spina bifida – neutral tube
5. Paternal Factors – father exposure to lead, radiation, certain pesticides and petrochemicals may cause
abnormalities in sperm that lead to miscarriage or disease such as childhood cancer
Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal Patterns
Cephalocaudal trend – head grows more than the body
Proximodistal trend – 5months to birth when the fetus grows from the inside of the body onwards
 5-10% drops of weight within a couple of weeks- babies adjustment to neonatal feeding. Once they adjust to
sucking, swallowing and digesting they grow rapidly
 Breastfeed babies typically heavier that bottle fed babies trough six months after six months breastfed babies
usually weight less that bottle feed babies
 Infants length increases about 305 at first 5months
 Weight triples during 1st year but slow down during second year of life
Myelination or Myelinization- process of which the axons are covered and insulated by layers of fat cells, begins
prenatally and continues after birth
 Newborn brain is about 25% of its adult brain. By the second birthday the brain is 75% of its adult brain
Motor Development
 Sucking reflex – initiated when something touches the roof of infant’s mouth
 Rooting reflex – infant cheek is stroked baby response turning the head on the direction of touch
 Gripping reflex – grasp anything on their palm
 Curling reflex – foot stroked infant responds by curling his or her toes
 Startle/Moro reflex – infants responds to sudden sound movements
 Gallant Reflex – infant middle or lower back stroked next to the spinal cord
 Tonic Neck Reflex - demonstrated in infants who are placed on their abdomens
Gross Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills – refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand finger and thumbs, eye hand coordination
Sensory and perceptual Development
 Newborn vision is about 10-30 times lower
 Infant look different length of time
 Stimulus must be louder than the adult
Simple Reflex – birth to 6weeks – coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behavior.
 Sucking reflex
 Following moving or interesting objects with the eyes and closing of the hand
 Palmar grasp
First habits and primary circular reaction phase – 6weeks-4months- coordination of sensation of two schemes
 Habits (reflex)
 Primary Circular Reactions
Secondary circular reaction phase – 4-8months – infants become more object-oriented
 Moving beyond self-preoccupation
 Repeat action that more on interesting or pleasurable results
 Development of coordination between vision and prehension
 Intentional grasping, circular reaction, differentiations between ends and means
Language Development (Stages)
 Cooing – largely vowels
 Babbling – consonant as well as vowel sounds
 One-word utterances – limited to vowels and consonant
 Two-word utterances and telegraphic speech
 Basic adult sentence -structure with continuing vocabulary acquisition
Holophrases -the infant uses these one-word utterance termed holophrases to convey intentions desires and demands.
18 months they have 3-100 vocabulary words
Overextension error- overextended the meaning of the words dog-doggie
Telegraphic speech – single word become two word or three-word utterances with rudimentary syntax but with
prepositions missing
LAD Language Acquisition Device – metaphorical organ that is responsible for language acquisition device

Formative years – the first three years of human development

Attachment
Social phenomenon of attachment - infant needs to establish an enduring emotional bond characterized by a tendency
to seek and maintain closeness to specific figure particularly during stressful situation
Dr. John Bowly the father of attachment theory – beginning of attachment occur in 6months of baby’s life
Responsive Interaction – the key to a good start in the social development of the baby
Consistent Involvement – absolutely central to babies emotional well being, close nurturing that matters in early
relationships
Attachment theory – beginning the attachment occurs with in the first 6months of a baby’s life
Responsive interaction – key to a good start of social development of the baby
Temperament – captures the ways that people doffer even at birth in such things as their emotional reactions, activity
level, attention span, persistence and ability to regulate their emotions
Temperament by Thomas, Chess and Birch
 Activity level – some babies are placid or inactive. Other thrash about a lot
 The mood – some babies are very smiley and cheerful
 Child’s threshold for distress – some babies are very sensitive. They become upset very easily when stressed
 The rhythmicity of children – some babies get hungry or sleepy on a fairly regular and predictable basis
 The intensity of the response in each baby – some babies acts restless other act cranky
 Approach to a new situation – some infants are very cautious
 Distractions – some children can concentrate on a toy regardless of surrounding bustle or noise
 Adaptability of each child – some child reacts to strange or different situation with distress but recover fairly
rapidly
 Child Attention span – long attention span. They continue with an activity for a fairly long time
Based on the temperament traits psychiatrist Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess studied babies temperament and
clustered temperaments into 3 basic types
1. Easy child – easily readily establish regular routines, generally cheerful and adapts readily to new experience
2. Difficult child – irregular in daily routines, slow to accept new experiences and tend to react negatively
3. Slow to warn up child – shows mild, low key reactions to environmental changes, negative in mood and
adjust slowly to new experiences
The Emergence of the Moral Self
- A sense of morality presupposes awareness of the existence of moral standards and the ability to evaluate
oneself against standards
- Professor Deborah Stipek and her colleges University of California LA
- 50% of the 19-24 months old
- 80% of the 25-29 months old and almost 30-40 months old are capable of self-evaluation
- Children who aren’t capable of self-evaluation and self-description don’t have the capacity to experience a sense
of shame and remorse
The development of emotions – toddlers emotional and social development
Early Infancy – birth-6months – cognitive development because it demonstrates that the child incongruity
Later Infancy months (7-12) – expressing fear, disgust and anger because of maturation of cognitive abilities
1. Elicit fear response – children being able to compare an unfamiliar event with what they know
2. Separation anxiety – if a mother or caregiver leaves them in unfamiliar place
Social referencing – infant recognize the emotion of others

Toddlerhood years (1-2) – infants expresses emotions of shame or embarrassment and pride
Emotional Understanding –
- Learning to verbally express their feelings
- Regulate their emotions with the emergence of language
- Empathy – a complex emotional response to a situation also appears in toddlerhood

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Hope: Trust vs Mistrust (0-1 year), Virtue: hope
Will: Autonomy vs shame and doubt (2-3) Virtue: will
Main questions: can I do things myself or must I always rely on others>