Developmental Psychology: Prenatal to Preschool

Developmental Psychology (Prenatal Stage - Preschool Stage)

• Developmental psychology studies changes across the lifespan, from conception to death.
• It examines the course and causes of developmental changes throughout a person's life.

Stages of Prenatal Development

• The prenatal period lasts approximately 266 days, divided into three stages.
• Germinal Stage: The first two weeks after conception, focusing on initial cell division and development.
• Embryonic Stage: Weeks 2-8, characterized by the formation of major organs and structures, transforming the embryo into a recognizable human form.
• Fetal Stage: From approximately 9 weeks to birth, involving rapid growth and maturation of existing structures and organs.

Factors Affecting Fetal Development

• Maternal Age: Women under 20 or over 35 have a higher probability of having children with physical defects, and a slightly increased chance of mentally retarded children.
• Maternal Diet: Poor maternal diet increases the risk of complications like toxemia, threatened or actual miscarriages, and premature births.
• Maternal Mental Health: Maternal emotional stress releases hormones that can impact the fetus's nervous system.
• Maternal Physical Health: Infections like German measles during pregnancy can have severe effects on fetal neurological development, leading to possible sensory and neurological disorders.
• Drugs and Environmental Toxins: Cigarette smoking by pregnant mothers is linked to low birth weight babies and later learning difficulties. Heavy drinking can cause premature birth, sensory defects, and behavioral/sleep disturbances.

Infancy Stage (Birth to 15 Months)

Reflexive Behavior

• Sucking Reflex: Infants instinctively suck at anything that touches their lips.
• Rooting Reflex: Turns head towards anything touching their cheeks to search for something to suck.
• Grasping Reflex: Infant grasps any object touching their palms.
• Babinski Reflex: Infant's big toe moves upward when the sole of the foot is touched.
• Tracking Reflex: Infant visually follows a human face.
• Moro Reflex: Infants arch their back and fling arms/legs outwards in response to startle/drop.

Sensory Development

• Sight: Newborns focus on edges of objects; by a few months, they scan the whole object.
• Hearing: Infants differentiate slight sound variations (e.g., 'bah' and 'pah').
• Touch: Infants turn their heads when their cheeks are touched; touch elicits reflexes (e.g., grasping).
• Smell: One-month-old infants can differentiate their mother's scent from a stranger.
• Taste: Infants prefer sweet and salty tastes; dislike bitter tastes.

Infancy: Bonding and Attachment

• Bonding: Physical contact enhances bonding between caregiver and infant.
• Adverse Factors: Low birth weight, illness, or problems in the mother-father relationship can hinder bonding.
• Maternal Preparation: Childbirth preparation classes aid in shorter labor periods, reducing complications.
• Attachment and Depression: Emotional distance from the mother can result in infant depression, poor health, and slowed physical growth.

Attachment Experiments (Harlow)

• Monkeys prefer a cloth surrogate mother over a wire mother providing food.
• This suggests physical affection and comfort are crucial to attachment.

Motor, Verbal, and Cognitive Development (Infancy)

• Motor: Lifts head, turns over, sits, reaches, and begins crawling/walking.
• Verbal/Cognitive: Coos, gurgles, babbles, responds to sounds.
• Social: Smiles in response to human faces, develops attachments, shows stranger anxiety.

Infancy Cognitive Development (Object Permanence)

• Object permanence develops around one year old, indicating awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived directly. Children at this age can maintain a mental image of an object even when it's not visible. 

Infancy Social Development

• Stranger anxiety emerges around 7 months, involving crying and withdrawal from unfamiliar individuals.
• Separation anxiety involves distress when an infant's parents temporarily leave, with crying and agitation. 

Toddler Stage (15 Months - 2 1/2 Years)

Attachment

• Separation: Toddlers begin to separate from their primary caregiver, which typically completes around 3 years old.
• Working Parents/Daycare: No significant negative impact on development due to short or long-term daycare arrangements. Children in daycare might show more aggressiveness though.
• Daycare does not impact the quality of attachment. The quality of bonding is independent of daycare.

Toddler Development (Motor, Verbal, and Cognitive)

• Motor: Throws balls, stacks blocks, climbs stairs, kicks ball, balances.
• Verbal/Cognitive: Uses approximately 10 individual words, 250 words by 2 years old, forms two-word sentences. Naming objects and body parts.
• Social: Moves away and then returns to their mother (rapprochement), negativity, playing alongside other children instead of with them ("parallel play").

Preschool Child (3-6 Years)

Attachment

• Separation: Children should be able to spend a few hours away from their mother in daycare after the age of 3.
• Understanding Death: The preschool-aged child does not yet fully understand death as permanent. They believe people, including pets, may return to life.

Preschool Child Characteristics

• Vocabulary Growth: Rapid vocabulary expansion and developing sentence structure, often reaching 900 words by age 3.
• Toilet Training: Typically achieved around age 3, with delays linked to less mature physiological development related to genetic factors.
• Stress (Regression): Life events (e.g., birth of a sibling, divorce) can cause behavioral regression, making the child act in a more childish or "baby-like" manner.
• Activity Level: Typically active and rarely still for long periods.
• Fantasy vs. Reality: Differentiating fantasy from reality, meaning they understand that imaginary friends aren't real.

Preschool Child (Changes at age 6)

• Understanding Death: Understanding that death is final and that both themselves and others can die.
• Developing Morality: Development of the conscience and the sense of morality (superego).
• Empathy: The ability to put oneself in another person's place, leading to caring and sharing behavior.

Preschool Child Development (Motor, Verbal, and Cognitive)

• Social: Gender identity develops, spending time away from caregivers, and playing with other children in cooperative environments.
• Verbal/Cognitive: Uses approximately 900 words, understands 3500 words, recognizes colors, understands complete sentences.
• Motor: Dresses/undresses independently, climbs stairs using alternate feet, stacks blocks, copies shapes (circles).
• Cognitive: Shows improvement in verbal and cognitive skills; developing the ability to think logically and the first signs of reading.

Explore the crucial stages of development from prenatal to preschool age. This quiz covers key concepts in developmental psychology, focusing on the stages of prenatal development and various factors that influence fetal growth. Gain a deeper understanding of how early influences shape a child's life.