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Lesson 4-Infancy and Toddlerhood
Lesson 4-Infancy and Toddlerhood
Lesson 4-Infancy and Toddlerhood
PSYC 333
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Overview
Physical changes
Body & Brain
Motor development
Sensory development
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Body
Changes in body size and muscle-fat makeup
Cephalocaudal trend: head develops more rapidly than lower part of the body
Proximodistal trend: body grows from the center outward
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Brain
Synaptogenesis: proliferation of neural connections
Myelination: formation of fatty layer encasing axons
Brain
Synaptogenesis: proliferation of neural connections
Myelination: formation of fatty layer encasing axons
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Brain
Brain volume quadruples during first 4 years
Brain circumference increased for first 5 years
https://slideplayer.com/slide/10227726/34/images/3/Brain+Brain+rapi
dly+grows+in+fetus+and+then+during+early+childhood+years.+Growth
+of+the+brain%3A+Neurons+stop+dividing+in+an+infant..jpg
BrainFacts.org
Newborn
Reflexes
Automatic responses or actions programmed by brain centers
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https://i2.wp.com/thescientificparent.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/child-
abused-brain-750x437.jpg?resize=750%2C437&ssl=1
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Brain
Two Hemispheres
Left: verbal, analytic processing
Right: spatial, holistic processing
Brain Lateralization
Certain functions are located on one side of
the brain.
E.g. left side of infants’ brains “light up” when
exposed to language
Brain Plasticity
Brain’s ability to adapt
Sensitive Period
Stimulation contributes to brain growth
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Appropriate stimulation
Experience-expectant brain growth Experience-dependent brain growth
Young brain’s rapidly Refinement of established brain
developing organization, structures as a result of specific
which depends on learning experiences that vary
ordinary experiences widely across individuals and cultures
Sensitive period No sensitive period
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/sensitiveperiodsandexperiencedependentlearning-
vceu4psychaos1-120714050359-phpapp01/95/sensitive-periods-and-experience-
dependent-learning-vce-u4-psych-aos-1-6-728.jpg?cb=1342242280
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Learning
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Motor development
Gross-motor development: crawling, walking
Fine-motor development: reaching, grasping
Sequence is fairly uniform, but individual differences in rate of motor
progress
Dynamic System
Body movement capacity
Child’s goals
Environmental support for the skill
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Auditory development
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/fa/87/93fa876
904d8ee40bb0b44ab2be04c95.png
Visual development
Shortly after birth 20/400 visual acuity
Can fix and follow a light source, face, or toy
1 month Fixation is central, steady, maintained.
Can follow a slow target.
Focuses on complex facial characteristics.
3 months Binocular vision. Eye coordination. Eyes follow a moving light or
a face
6 months Reaches out accurately for toys. Perceives and reacts to emotional
expressions on faces
9 months Looks for hidden toys. Moving while avoiding objects.
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Other senses
Smell:
Turning away and expression of disgust to unpleasant odors
Neonates prefer the odor of milk
Recognize mother by the smell of her breasts
Taste:
Different taste elicit different reactions
Prefers sweet taste
Touch:
Important for bonding
Gentle massaging for inattentive or agitated infants
Used to explore environment
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Infant perception
Gibsons’ Differentiation theory:
Searching for invariant features in the environment
Notice stable relationships between features, detecting patterns
Gradually detect finer and finer features → differentiation
Intermodal perception
Starting associating different senses
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Repetitive habits centering Repetitive habits centering Repetitive habits centering around
around the baby’s body on environmental objects exploring objects’ properties
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvOTu215ZlE
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-JVhjS0
Criticisms
Infants grasp physical reality basics before age 1
Bower and Wishart (1972) “lights out” technique in 1-4 month-olds
Rene Baillargeon’s (1985, 1987) “violation of expectation paradigm” in 3 ½ -5 month-olds
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwgo2O5Vk_g
Information-processing model
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https://tadahgroup.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/untitled.jpg
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Social cognition
Social cognition
Inferences made about people’s inner feelings and goals, based on their actions
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Social cognition
Joint attention
1st sign of getting human intentions
Language
Noam Chomsky’s Nativist theory: biologically-programmed Language
Acquisition Device
Social-interactionist view:
Interactions between baby and caregiver: one encourages the other
Language is dependent on the place where a person is reared
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Language
Psychosocial development
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Attachment
Powerful bond of love between a caregiver and child
STOCKBYTE/GETTY IMAGES
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Behaviorism
John B. Watson
Appeared hostile to the idea of attachment
Crusaded against the dangers of “too much” mother love
B. F. Skinner
Minimized human attachment need
Believed “maternal reinforcement” created infant’s need to be close to caregiver
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Ethology
Konrad Lorenz
Biologically programmed attachment
response
Gooselings “imprinting”
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www.dabase.org
Animal psychology
Harry Harlow
Experiment with monkeys
Isolating babies from mothers at birth
Contact comfort important to bonding
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Donald Willicott
Psychoanalyst
Good enough parent
Importance of the holding environment - foundations of child’s
psychological health
Attachment theory
John Bowlby
Put evidence together from
Lorenz’s ethological studies
Harlow’s research
Winnicott’s research
Own findings on hospitalized children
Children hospitalized and separated from their mothers
Promoted idea: a primary attachment figure is crucial for healthy development
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Attachment theory
John Bowlby’s evolutionary-based theory
1st year ≈ critical period when the attachment response is programmed to emerge
Proximity-seeking behavior: survival response activated by threats occurring at any
age
Attachment theory
Pre-attachment stage (birth-3 months):
Social smile, but does not reflect attachment to
a specific person
Attachment in the making stage (3-7 months):
Transitional period
Clear-cut attachment stage (7 months+):
Needing the primary caregiver close
Reciprocal relationship (≈18-24 months)
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Strange Situation
Mary Ainsworth (1969) – Strange Situation
Attachment response during a clear-cut stage
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Ignored or
frightened
Disorganized
Attachment theory
Synchrony: bidirectional relationship
Caregiver-sensitivity hypothesis: caregiver’s response to baby’s signals are
foundation for secure attachment
Temperament: inborn style of dealing with the world
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Basic emotions
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Maternal deprivation
Can children recover from deprivation, and is there an age at which help
might come too late?
Institutionalization, Reactive attachment disorder
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Attachment theory
Attachment styles
Environmental influences
Under life stress
With responsive caregiving
Stability
Genetics
Mutation in genes involved in production of oxytocin
Psychosocial development
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Helping toddlers
Respond with sensitivity and support
Give advance notice of change in activities
Explain the reasoning behind each behavior
Reinforce self-controlled behavior
Encourage sustained attention
Support language development
Increase rules gradually
Socialization
Socialization: process by which children are taught to obey the norms of
society
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Socialization
Keys to socializing a shy toddler
Do not ”treat them as glass”
Be responsive
Expose them to new situations
Keys to socializing a rambunctious toddler
Foster positive guidance
Arrange child’s environment to suit
temperamental style
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