Child and Adolescent Development Chapter 4 PDF

10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective CHAPTER FOUR INFANCY Laur...

10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective CHAPTER FOUR INFANCY Lauren Wild CASE STUDY Siyanda and Andile are twin boys. They arrived at an orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal when they were just over a year old. Welfare authorities had found the twins on a single bed together with their mother. They did not have any clothes, were sucking on empty bottles, and were covered with flies. There was no food in the house. The twins’ twelve year old sister was trying to care for herself and her brothers, as well as their mother, who was seriously ill as a result of Aids. When they first came to the institution, Siyanda and Andile were so tiny and skinny that they looked as though they were about three months old. They were malnourished and had not reached the expected developmental milestones for their age. The twins were also covered with sores and smelled bad. They were tense and irritable, and seldom stopped crying. The staff assumed that Siyanda and Andile were HIV-positive and would die within a few weeks. They dealt with the twins’ basic physical and medical needs, but otherwise avoided them. There were also signs that the twins may have been abused by staff or older children. During this period, Siyanda and Andile would spend most of their time rocking back and forth in their cots, hitting their heads with their fists or against a wall. They cried when they were picked up. If someone tried to interact with them, they would either gaze emptily into the distance, or act in a hostile and aggressive way (Sandhei & Richter, 2003). LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this chapter you should be able to: Describe the changes that occur in infants’ bodies, brains, and motor skills as they develop Summarise the major cognitive developments of the sensorimotor stage Identify the main milestones of language development in infancy Understand individual differences in temperament Explain the importance of the early caregiver–child relationship Outline the development of self-awareness, self-control, and independence. Introduction The case study featuring Siyanda and Andile raises difficult questions about how best to care for children who have been affected by HIV and Aids. However, it also raises bigger questions about the experiences that are necessary to https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 1/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective ensure infants’ health and development. What kinds of experiences do you think are important for children’s development during the first two years of life? Why do you think the twins’ development was delayed? Do you think they will be permanently scarred by their experiences, or will they recover? This chapter will provide evidence that will help you to answer these questions. Development occurs more quickly in the first two years after birth than at any other time after birth. During this two-year period, a child develops from a relatively helpless newborn with a few basic reflexes to a toddler who walks, talks and plays an active part in family life. This chapter will explore how an infant’s body and mind grow during this period. The chapter will also examine the important role that interactions with others play in social and personal development. Physical development Enormous changes take place in children’s bodies, brains and motor skills during infancy. Like other aspects of development, these changes result from a complex interaction between genetic influences and environmental influences. Body growth In the first few days after birth, most newborns lose between 5–7% of their body weight. As soon as they adjust to sucking, swallowing and digesting, however, they grow very quickly. By the end of the first year, infants are typically one-and-a-half times taller and three times heavier than they were at birth. By the age of two years, they are typically one-and-three-quarter times taller and four times heavier than they were when they were born. This means that it is possible literally to watch a baby grow in a few weeks. But rather than growing gradually, infants and toddlers grow in little spurts or bursts. In one study, children who researchers followed over the first 21 months of life went for periods of 1–6 weeks with no growth. Then they grew a centimetre or more in a period of 24 hours or less (Lampl, Veldhuis, & Johnson, 1992). So when parents say that their child seems to have grown overnight, they may be right! As the child’s overall size increases, different parts of the body grow at different rates. Two growth patterns describe these changes in body proportions: The first growth pattern is called the cephalocaudal trend. Translated from Latin, it means ‘head to tail’. During the prenatal period, the head develops more rapidly than the lower part of the body. So when a baby is born, the head takes up a quarter of the total body length, the legs only a third. Gradually, the lower portions of the body catch up. Look at Figure 4.1. Notice how as people grow older, the head becomes smaller and the legs become longer in relation to the rest of the body. Cephalocaudal trend tendency for development to proceed from the head downward The second pattern is the proximodistal trend, meaning growth proceeds from ‘near to far’, or from the centre of the body outward. In the prenatal period, the head, chest and trunk grow first, followed by the arms and legs, and finally by the hands and feet. During infancy and childhood, the arms and legs continue to grow somewhat ahead of the hands and feet. Proximodistal trend https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 2/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective tendency for development to proceed from the centre of the body outward Look at Figure 4.1, which illustrates changes in the proportions of the human body during development. Figure 4.1 Changes in the proportions of the human body during development – the fractions listed refer to head size as a proportion of total body length at different ages from the fetal period through adulthood Source: Adapted from Santrock (2005, p. 95) and Cole & Cole (2001, p. 182) Motor development Motor development refers to the sequence of changes in coordination of the muscles that are required for movements or physical activities. Many writers distinguish between two kinds of motor skills: Motor development the sequence of changes in coordination of the muscles that are required for movements or physical activities Gross motor skills: Gross motor development refers to control over large muscle movements that help infants get around in the environment, such as crawling, standing and walking. Gross motor development control over large muscle movements that help infants get around in the environment Fine motor skills: Fine motor development has to do with control over smaller movements, such as reaching and grasping, and later eating with a spoon, tying shoe laces and writing. Fine motor development https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 3/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective control over smaller movements The average age at which half of infants have mastered a particular skill is known as the developmental norm for that skill. Figure 4.2 shows the age norms for important gross motor milestones during infancy. For example, 50% of infants can sit without support by the end of the fifth month, and can walk alone when they are about a year old. By this time they can also pick up small objects using their thumb and fingers and are well coordinated enough to eat with a spoon and drink from a cup. Developmental norm average age at which half of infants have mastered a particular skill Look at Figure 4.2, which illustrates age norms for important milestones in gross motor development. The cephalocaudal trend and proximodistal trend can also be seen in motor development. For example, look at the developmental milestones in Figure 4.2: can you see the cephalocaudal (head-to-foot) trend in the way that control of the head and neck comes before control of the arms and chest, which comes before control of the legs? Can you also see the proximodistal (centre-outward) trend in the way that control of the head and trunk comes before control of the arms and legs, which in turn comes before infants learn to coordinate their hands and fingers? An example of this is the way in which infants initially reach for things by twisting their entire bodies, but gradually they learn to use just their arms. The overall sequence of motor development tends to be similar for most children. However, it is important to note that large individual differences exist in the rate of motor progress; the timing of developmental milestones often varies by several months, especially among older infants. Therefore, a psychologist or paediatrician would be concerned about a child’s development only if the child’s motor skills were seriously delayed. The similarities between the patterns of physical development and motor development suggest that maturation makes an important contribution to motor progress. Recall from Chapter one the definition of maturation: the biological processes underlying development. But motor development is not simply determined by a person’s genes. The world of interesting objects provides motivation for reaching, sitting, crawling, and so on, and infants develop increasingly complex motor skills as they learn through exploring and experimenting with the world around them. Figure 4.2 Age norms for important milestones in gross motor development – the left edge, interior mark and right edge of each bar indicate the age at which 25%, 50% and 90% of infants have mastered each motor skill shown https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 4/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Source: Adapted from Weiten (2004, p. 433) and Santrock (2005, p. 171) In fact, there is evidence that stimulation in the environment, and the opportunities that children are given for physical movement, can have an important impact on their motor skills. For example, mothers in Jamaica and in the Gusii culture of Kenya tend to encourage their infants’ motor development by physically handling them in special ways (such as stroking, massaging, or gently stretching their arms and legs) or by encouraging energetic movement in their babies. These infants often achieve motor milestones earlier than those raised in cultures – such as that of the USA – that do not provide such opportunities for physical activities (Hopkins & Westra, 1988). Brain development At birth, the brain consists of most of the one billion nerve cells – or neurons – it will have in adulthood; however, it is only about one-quarter of its adult size, and it will continue to grow. This growth of the brain during infancy is crucial to future physical, cognitive and emotional development. Major parts of the brain At birth, the brain stem is one of the most highly developed areas of the nervous system. This is the part of the brain that controls things like breathing, sleeping, and basic reactions such as blinking and sucking. The cerebral cortex is much less developed – this is the outer layer of the brain, which controls a person’s conscious thoughts, feelings, memories and deliberate actions (Zero to Three, 2012). As the cerebral cortex matures and becomes more efficiently connected to the brain stem and spinal cord, so the infant’s abilities expand. Different parts of the cerebral cortex develop at different times during infancy, childhood and adolescence (Gilmore et al., 2011): The primary motor area is the first area of the cerebral cortex to undergo development, allowing infants first to raise their heads while lying on their stomach, then to control their arms and trunk, and finally to control their https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 5/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective legs. Important changes also take place in the first few months after birth in the primary sensory areas of the cortex. These areas, which include the areas responsible for touch, hearing and vision, are relatively mature by three months of age. The frontal cortex, which is important for making mental associations, remembering, planning, and producing deliberate movements, also begins to function during infancy. However, the frontal cortex remains immature for several years and continues to develop throughout childhood (Casey, Tottenham, Liston & Durston, 2005). Brain cells One of the reasons the brain grows in size after birth is that there is an increase in the number of synapses, or connections among neurons. Synapses are tiny gaps between neurons, which are bridged with the help of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Synapses enable neurons to communicate with one another and to store information. Synapses tiny gaps between neurons, which are bridged with the help of chemicals called neurotransmitters At birth, the neurons in the brain are poorly connected. During infancy, there is a tremendous increase or ‘blooming’ in the number of synapses, in what is known as the period of synaptic exuberance. The number of synapses appears to peak at about age two. In fact, the infant brain has twice the number of synapses as it will have in early adolescence, and more than it will ever actually use. Over time, those connections that are used frequently are strengthened; those that prove unnecessary – that are not used – eventually die off (Huttenlocher & Dabkolhar, 1997). This cutting away or ‘pruning’ of unnecessary synapses during childhood and adolescence helps the brain function more quickly and efficiently. Synaptic exuberance the rapid development of connections between brain cells during infancy The brain also becomes larger during infancy because of myelination, a process in which the neurons become covered with myelin (recall that Chapter three defined myelin and described the process of myelination). As chapter three explained, myelin is a fatty coating that insulates the neurons and increases the speed at which they can send messages (in the form of electrical impulses) to other neurons. The lack of myelin is the main reason for the thought processes of babies being so much slower than the thought processes of adults. Myelination begins about halfway through the prenatal period in some parts of the brain, and it continues into adulthood in others. Visual pathways are myelinated between birth and five months of age. Myelination of pathways related to hearing begins during the prenatal period, but is not complete until about age four. The parts of the cerebral cortex that control attention and memory are not fully myelinated until young adulthood (Banich & Compton, 2011). Early experience plays an important role in brain development Until the middle of the twentieth century, scientists believed that brain development is solely the result of genetic factors. However, it is now widely believed – partly on the basis of animal studies – that early experiences can affect the structure and ‘wiring’ of the brain. As Chapter one explained, when it introduced you to the concept, ‘plasticity’ is the https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 6/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective technical term given to this capacity of the brain to change in response to positive and negative influences from the environment. Synaptic connections that are formed in the brain during infancy operate according to a ‘use it or lose it’ principle. Because of this, early experience plays an important role in determining which neural connections will form, which will remain, and which will die off. Positive, enriching experiences may lead to more synaptic connections in children. In contrast, abuse or deprivation – such as that experienced by Siyanda and Andile, who featured in the case study at the start of this chapter – can result in an ‘over-pruning’ of synapses. That over-pruning can leave the child with cognitive and emotional problems (Black, 1998; Nelson, 1999). This does not mean that a child who has a deprived infancy will be incapable of healthy later functioning: sometimes later stimulation can help to make up for early deprivation. Nevertheless, it makes sense to try to prevent problems in the first place by promoting healthy brain development during the first few years of life. Feeding and malnutrition Nutrition refers to the amount and kind of food that people eat. Because infants grow so quickly, adequate nutrition consumed in a loving and supportive environment is one of the most important requirements for healthy early growth of the brain and body. Today, many paediatricians recommend that parents feed their newborn babies as often as every two to three hours. By seven to eight months of age, babies (much like adults) usually feed about four times per day. Most experts agree that breastfeeding is better for the infant’s health than bottle feeding with formula, unless the mother has viral or bacterial infections such as HIV/Aids or tuberculosis (TB) or is taking drugs that can be passed on to the baby. Breast milk is ideally suited to infants’ growth needs and offers protection against disease (Hanson et al., 2002). Early weaning of infants from breast milk to inadequate sources of nutrients (such as a cow’s milk formula) can cause protein deficiency and malnutrition in infants. However, experts believe that malnutrition is not just a matter of insufficient food or nutrients; it is often linked to difficulties in the parent–infant relationship. Children are more likely to become malnourished when their caregivers are emotionally unavailable, insensitive or unresponsive to the baby’s needs. Malnourished children may be more challenging to rear than healthy children, making it even more difficult to establish warm and nurturing parent–child relationships (Richter, 2004). The World Health Organization has estimated that malnutrition is directly or indirectly responsible for approximately half of all deaths of children under the age of five in developing countries. In South Africa, protein- energy malnutrition was responsible for 4,3% of deaths of children under five in 2000. It was the fifth leading cause of death for this age group, resulting in a total of 4 564 deaths (Bradshaw, Bourne & Nannan, 2003). Even if it is not fatal, severe and lengthy malnutrition has a number of negative effects on a young child’s physical, cognitive, and social development. Children who are malnourished during the prenatal period and infancy – as Siyanda and Andile from the opening case study are – do not grow adequately, either physically or mentally. Their brains are smaller than normal, and they have little resistance to infectious diseases. They also lack energy, have poor attention spans, and are less likely to explore their environment. Over time, this can result in lasting behavioural, social, and cognitive deficits, including slower language and fine motor development, lower IQ, and poorer school performance (Zero to Three, 2012; Richter, 2004). It is, however, possible to improve the outcomes for malnourished children. One study, conducted between 1969 and 1989 in rural Guatemala, found that giving malnourished infants or children protein supplements and increased calories had long-term benefits for the children’s knowledge, number skills, reading, and vocabulary (Pollitt, Gorman, Engle, Martorell & Rivera, 1993). These effects were particularly strong for the poorest children, and those who received supplements before they were two years old. Nowadays, health professionals are taught that treatment programmes for malnutrition should also provide physical and psychological stimulation for children and therapeutic interventions for parents and families (World Health Organization, 1999). https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 7/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Sleeping The immaturity of the infant’s brain is thought to be one of the reasons that babies sleep so much – newborn babies usually sleep about 16 to 17 hours a day, although some sleep more than others (Thoman & Whitney, 1989). Sleeping allows infants to take a break from the constant rush of new sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures with which their brain is bombarded when they are awake. Unfortunately for parents, these 16 hours do not come in one lump, but are broken up into many naps that may last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, with periods of wakefulness in between. Thus, newborn infants may be awake at any time of the day or night. As infants develop, the amount of sleep they need gradually decreases. In addition, they begin to sleep for longer periods that begin to coincide more and more with adult day–night schedules. The age at which babies take on adult-like sleep–wake cycles is influenced both by the maturation of the infant’s brain and by the culture in which he or she grows up. Infant sleeping arrangements vary widely from one society to another. Middle-class parents in the USA and many European countries, for example, typically put their infants to bed at set hours – often in a room of their own – and try to get them to adopt an adult routine and to sleep through the night at an early age. However, in most parts of the world – including much of Africa, Asia and Central America – infants usually sleep in the same bed as their mothers (a practice referred to as co-sleeping). Often, these infants are fed on demand whenever they wake up, and they typically take a few months longer to sleep through the night (Super & Harkness, 1982). Co-sleeping the practice of infants sleeping in the same bed as their mothers ACTIVITY 1 When you were a baby, did you sleep in the same room as your parents? 2 Did you share your parents’ bed, or did you sleep in your own cot or bed? 3 Find out why your parents used these sleeping arrangements. 4 Would you use the same sleeping arrangements with your own children? Why (or why not)? There is no firm evidence that either co-sleeping or sleeping alone is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ for infants. However, cultural differences in sleeping arrangements are important because they show how infant-care practices vary in different parts of the world as a result of different beliefs about what babies are, what they can do, and what they will need to do in the future. Separate sleeping arrangements for mothers and infants are common in societies that place strong emphasis on independence, self-reliance, and respect for the individual. The USA is an example of such a society. In contrast, co-sleeping is the norm in societies which place more value on teaching children to be interdependent, cooperative and sensitive to the needs of others (Shweder et al., 1998). In some traditional African infant-care practices, babies are kept close to their mothers (carried on their backs during the day, sharing their beds at night) and fed or soothed quickly when they cry. These practices can be seen in part as a reflection of the value placed on ubuntu – a spirit of community, connectedness, cooperation, and compassion. CHECK YOUR PROGRESS What broad trends or patterns underlie physical development in infancy? Give examples of each trend. What are the main changes that take place with regard to brain cells during infancy? https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 8/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective What are the effects of malnutrition during infancy? How do infant sleeping arrangements reflect cultural beliefs and values? Cognitive development As infants’ brains develop, and as they actively explore the world around them, so their ability to think systematically and to remember their experiences improves. Much of what psychologists know about cognitive development in infancy can be credited to Jean Piaget, who has probably stimulated more research on how children think than anybody else. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Chapter two introduced Piaget’s theory. This chapter will focus on Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development, which covers the age range from birth to two years. ACTIVITY How does a baby think? Imagine that you are a six-month-old infant. How do you think about the people and objects around you, when you don’t yet have words for them and cannot speak? You probably found the exercise of imagining yourself to be a six-month-old infant very difficult. Hardly anyone can remember what it was like to be a baby. However, Piaget’s research has helped psychologists to understand how babies think. Piaget’s sensorimotor stage Piaget called his first stage of cognitive development ‘sensorimotor’ because infants use their senses (vision, touch, taste, hearing, and smell) and physical actions (motor activity) to learn about the world (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). In other words, Piaget believed that babies and toddlers ‘think’ with their eyes, ears, or hands. They cannot yet carry out many activities inside their heads. As Chapter three explained, a reflex is an inborn, automatic response to a particular form of stimulation, and at birth, much of the baby’s behaviour consists of reflexes. The following are some examples of reflexes (Chapter three mentioned some of these): Rooting reflex: Stroke a newborn baby’s cheek (near the corner of the mouth), and the baby will turn his or her head in your direction (the rooting reflex). Palmar grasp reflex: Put your finger in a baby’s palm, and she or he will grab on tightly. Sucking reflex: Place your finger in a baby’s mouth, and he or she will suck it. Newborn babies suck, grasp and look in much the same way, no matter what kind of experiences they have. For example, they will suck a finger or a ball in the same way that they suck the breast. During the sensorimotor period, they gradually learn to coordinate their sensations and perceptions with their physical movements and actions. They also begin to build up mental pictures of objects in their environment, according to what they can do with the objects. By about one month old, infants will open their mouths differently for a nipple than for a spoon. By about four months, they sit up, reach for, and manipulate objects. By about eight months, babies come to recognise that they can https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 9/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective ‘make things happen’ through their actions. They begin to act intentionally – for example, by shaking a rattle to make a noise, or dropping toys out of their cots and watching them fall to the floor. At this age, babies often think that throwing things is a great game. During this period, babies gradually also achieve what is known as object permanence: the realisation that things continue to exist even when they are not being perceived – that is, when they are out of sight or not present to the senses. Object permanence the realisation that things continue to exist when these things cannot be seen, heard, or touched Object permanence Have you played the game of Peek-a-boo with a baby, when you cover your face with your hands or hide it behind an object? Then you suddenly show your face and say ‘Boo!’ Many babies find this hilarious. They love this game, and will play it over and over again. Yet if you tried to play this game with your friends they would probably not be particularly amused. Why is this? It is probably due to the fact that the baby is just starting to understand the idea of object permanence. He or she is therefore surprised and delighted to find that you are still there. Your friends, however, mastered the idea of object permanence a long time ago. They take it for granted that you are still there behind your hands, and are therefore not at all surprised when you reappear. Piaget studied babies’ reactions to objects that they could see, and which were then hidden from them. For example, imagine that a fourmonth-old is looking at a rattle. While the baby watches, you slowly cover the rattle with a pillow. Although the baby has seen the pillow, he or she will probably lose all interest in the rattle. Piaget concluded that infants behave as though they believe that an object that is out of sight no longer exists. By eight to twelve months, babies will look for a hidden object, but they will look for it in the place they first found it after seeing it hidden, even if they later saw it being moved to another place. Piaget called this the A, not B, error. Piaget noticed the A, not B, error when his son Laurent was nine-and-a-half months old. Piaget placed the baby on a sofa, with a small blanket (A) on his right and a woollen jersey (B) on his left. As the baby watched, Piaget hid his watch under the blanket (A). His son lifted the blanket and retrieved the watch. After repeating this game several times, Piaget placed the watch under the jersey (B) instead of under the blanket. The baby watched closely, then again lifted the blanket (A) and searched for the watch there. Piaget reasoned that the baby must believe that the object’s existence is linked to a particular location (the location where the object was first found) and to the infant’s own actions in getting it back from that location. According to Piaget, it is only by about eighteen months of age that the concept of object permanence is fully mastered. The A, not B, error the tendency of infants to search for a hidden object in the location they last found it (A), rather than in a new place to which they saw it being moved (B) https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 10/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Understanding the concept of object permanence is an important milestone in cognitive development: it is the basis for language and thought. Adults don’t have to point at things to get other people to understand them. They use symbols such as words to stand for, or mentally represent, the ideas they have. Consider using a word to stand for something. Before you can use a word to stand for something, you need to be able to separate the idea of something (for example a sandwich) from the actual object. You can think about a sandwich, have a picture of one in your mind, talk about it, without a sandwich actually being anywhere in the room. Object permanence is the very beginning of thought. By the time the sensorimotor stage comes to an end, infants are able to use symbols in their thinking: that is, they are able to think in ideas, and to use words to express those ideas. Does research support Piaget’s theory? Although some research has supported Piaget’s theory, nowadays there is also growing evidence that Piaget may have underestimated infants’ cognitive abilities. For example, some researchers suggest that infants may develop at least some understanding of object permanence much earlier than Piaget claimed. These researchers have used an alternative method known as violation-of-expectations research. This method is based on what infants look at, and for how long. Because it doesn’t require any motor activity, it can be used with infants as young as three months. Violation-of-expectations research a method in which researchers show infants a possible event (one that follows physical laws) and an impossible event (a variation of the first event that conflicts with normal expectations or the laws of physics) In violation-of-expectations research, infants first get used to seeing an event happen as it normally would. This process is known as habituation. Habituation involves learning not to respond to a stimulus that is repeated over and over – or in other words, learning to be bored by the familiar. For example, you might not notice the continual ticking of a clock, because you are so used to it. Once an infant has been habituated to a familiar event, the event is changed in a way that conflicts with (violates) normal expectations or the laws of physics (an impossible event). An example of an impossible event would be a person walking through a brick wall. If you were to see a person walk through an open door, you would probably not pay this event much attention. However, if you were to see a person walk through a solid wall, you would probably stare in amazement. Thus, if the infant looks longer at the impossible event, this is interpreted as evidence that the infant recognises it as surprising. Habituation learning not to respond to a stimulus that is repeated over and over In one experiment (Baillargeon & De Vos, 1991), infants who were three-and-a-half months old watched a short carrot and then a tall carrot slide along a track, disappear behind a screen, and then reappear (see Figure 4.3). After the infants became used to seeing these events, the solid screen was replaced by a screen with a large gap or window at the top. The short carrot did not appear in the gap when passing behind the screen. This event is a possible event, because the short carrot was shorter than the bottom edge of the gap. However, the tall carrot, which should have appeared in the gap, also did not. This event is an impossible event, because the tall carrot was taller than the lower edge of the https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 11/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective gap. The babies looked for longer at the tall than at the short carrot event, suggesting that they expected the tall carrot to reappear, and were surprised when it did not. Figure 4.3 An illustration of the short carrot event, tall carrot event, possible event, and impossible event Source: Adapted from Baillargeon, R. & De Vos, J. (2008) Object permanence in young infants: Further evidence. Child Development, 62, 1230. Copyright © 2008, The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley and Sons. How do researchers interpret the findings of Baillargeon & De Vos (1991)? Findings of violation-of-expectations research have led some researchers to believe that infants are born with some understanding of the properties of objects. However, this interpretation is still controversial. Critics of violation-of-expectations research argue that an infant’s responses are not due to innate or inborn knowledge, but rather to processes such as perception, attention, memory, and increasing experience of the world that simply allow the infant to tell that ‘something is different’ or ‘something is familiar’. These critics ask the following questions (Haith & Benson, 1998): Why, if infants as young as three-and-a-half months have a concept of object permanence, does infants’ search for something they have seen hidden begin only several months after they can grasp objects? Why do they make the A, not B, error when they search? Elizabeth Spelke (1998) has suggested one possible answer. She argues that a very basic knowledge of object permanence may exist in early infancy, and may become more sophisticated as infants have more experience in reaching for and handling objects, and translating what they know into a successful search strategy. Early memory In order to master the concept of object permanence, an infant has to be able to remember the location of a hidden object. When do infants become capable of remembering their experiences? Since infants cannot tell researchers what they remember, researchers have had to find ways to let them show it. Researcher Carolyn Rovee-Collier (1999) tied a ribbon to a baby’s ankle, and attached the other end to an attractive mobile (a toy that can be hung over a baby’s cot). Rovee-Collier found that within a few minutes, the infant learnt that kicking her leg made the mobile move. In order to test infant memory, Rovee-Collier showed the baby the mobile again days or weeks later (without the ribbon attached), to see whether he or she would kick again. To succeed at this task, the infant must first recognise the mobile, and then recall that in order to make it move, he or she needs to kick. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 12/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Two-month-old infants can remember how to make the mobile move for up to two days; three-month-olds can remember for about a week; and six-month-olds can remember for more than two weeks. This is clear evidence that infants of two-to-six months old are able to recognise what they have experienced before. However, young infants’ memory of a behaviour seems to depend on specific cues, or reminders of what they have learned. Between two and six months of age, infants will kick only when they see the original mobile: they have trouble remembering what to do when researchers show them a different mobile (for example one that has different toy animals hanging from it). After long delays, infants of this age also have difficulty remembering what to do when they are in a different setting or context from the one in which they originally learned the behaviour. By about six to nine months, infants become capable of moving beyond recognition memory to being able to deliberately recall (‘call to mind’) objects and events, without any clear reminder. Around this age, infants become capable of deferred imitation: remembering and imitating a sequence of behaviours that they learnt through observation alone, and have not practised. An example would be seeing a researcher put a teddy bear in bed, cover him with a blanket, and read him a story. As infants get older, they become capable of remembering and imitating such events for longer. Six-month-olds are capable of deferred imitation for a day at most, thirteen-month-olds can remember and imitate behaviours they learned as long as three months before, and infants aged between sixteen and twenty months are capable of deferred imitation for a whole year after observing a new behaviour (Bauer, Herstgaard, Dropik & Wewerka, 2000). Deferred imitation a child’s ability to remember and copy new actions he or she has previously observed another person perform In summary, there is evidence that infants and toddlers are capable of learning and storing memories over fairly long periods of time. Why, then, do most people remember so little of their first years of life? The next section will explore this issue. ACTIVITY 1 Write down what you think is your first or earliest memory. 2 How old do you think you were when you experienced this event? 3 How much detail can you remember? Infantile amnesia In thinking about your first or earliest memory, you probably found that you could remember little if anything that happened during the first three years of your life. This inability of adults and older children to remember events that occurred before the age of about two or three years is called infantile amnesia. How do psychologists explain infantile amnesia? One suggestion is that infants store memories in a ‘pre-verbal’ form that people find it difficult to access once they become capable of using language to talk about events (Simcock & Hayne, 2002). Alternatively, it may be that what is lacking is a sense of self around which memories of events can be organised as ‘events that happened to me’ (Howe & Courage, 1993). There are a number of other ideas about why infants’ early memories don’t last, but currently there is still no firm explanation of why most people have no recollection of a period of life that is very important to later development. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 13/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Infantile amnesia inability of adults and older children to remember events that occurred before the age of about two or three years Social interaction and cognitive development Piaget viewed children as little scientists, independently exploring the world. Vygotsky (1978), in contrast, believed that cognitive development occurs as a result of children’s social interactions. Chapter two introduced you to a special Vygotskian concept: the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The ZPD is the gap between what a child can accomplish on his or her own and what he or she can accomplish with the help of a more knowledgeable or skilled member of his or her culture. Shared activities with adults and peers on tasks that are in the child’s zone of proximal development allow children to participate in activities that are beyond their capacities when working alone. Over time, children are gradually able to internalise the skills that they practised with adult support: that is, to make those skills their own. Jerome Bruner has built on Vygotsky’s work using the concept of scaffolding. Scaffolding is the metal or wood structure workers stand on when painting a house or doing construction work; the scaffolding doesn’t do the work for them, but it holds them up so they can do it. Bruner pointed out that adults can support children’s thinking in the same way by providing them with the words for an experience they are having, by teaching them strategies for solving problems, and so on. The less able a child is to do a task, the more support and direction – or scaffolding – an adult must give. As children become more skilled, the adult helps less and less until finally the ‘scaffold’ is unnecessary (Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976). Scaffolding Bruner’s term for a form of teaching in which the level of support offered is adjusted to fit the learner’s current level of performance Rogoff (1991) illustrates how learning takes place in the ZPD by describing how an adult and a twelve-month-old worked a jack-in-the-box toy together. First, the adult performed all the actions (turning the handle to get the toy rabbit out of the box, and pushing the toy rabbit back into the box), while the baby watched. In the second episode of play, the baby attempted to push the toy rabbit back into the box, with the help and encouragement of the adult. In the third episode, the baby began to participate in turning the handle. Eventually, the baby participated in winding the handle, pushing the toy rabbit back into the box, and closing the box, while the adult helped by winding the handle to near the end of its cycle and helping to hold the lid down on the springy toy rabbit. Thus, interactions with adults may help to advance infants’ cognitive skills. CHECK YOUR PROGRESS What did Piaget mean by the terms ‘assimilation’, ‘accommodation’ and ‘object permanence’? How has violation-of-expectations research challenged Piaget’s views on the development of object permanence? How did Rovee-Collier assess infant memory? What did she discover about infants’ memory capacities? https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 14/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Using Vygotsky’s and Bruner’s ideas, explain how adults can support infants’ cognitive development. The beginnings of language Language is a form of communication – whether spoken, written or signed – that is based on a system of symbols such as letters or dots and dashes. In order to learn a language, a person must master a number of skills and rules. For example, he or she must learn to recognise and produce the basic sounds of that language, to understand the meaning of words, and to combine these words into grammatical sentences. Whatever language they learn, people all over the world follow a similar path in language development. This section will take a look at some important early milestones in this process. Before the first words Long before babies say their first words, they communicate with their caregivers and other people. Their sounds and gestures go through this sequence during their first year: Crying: Babies cry even at birth. Crying can be a sign of distress, but parents soon learn that there are different types of cries that mean different things, such as hunger, sleepiness or anger. Cooing: Babies first coo at about one to two months. These are vowel-like sounds such as ‘oooh’. These sounds usually occur when the infant is interacting with the caregiver. Babbling: Babbling first occurs between six and ten months of age, and includes strings of consonant–vowel combinations such as ‘ma, ma, ma, ma’. These sounds are the building blocks of true speech. Gestures: Infants start using gestures, such as showing and pointing, at about eight to twelve months of age. They may wave goodbye, nod to mean ‘yes’, or hold up their arms to show that they want to be picked up. Recognising language sounds From birth up to about six months, infants are ‘citizens of the world’; they can recognise when sounds change, no matter what language the sounds come from. But over the next six months, infants get better at perceiving the changes in sounds from the language their caregivers speak, and they gradually lose the ability to recognise sounds that don’t exist in their home language. For example, infants from English-speaking homes can tell the difference between the ‘r’ sound (ra) and the ‘l’ sound (la) when they are six months old, and get better at it by twelve months of age. However, in Japanese there is no ‘r’ or ‘l’. Six-month-old Japanese babies are just as good as babies from English-speaking homes at recognising the ra and la distinction, but by twelve months of age they lose this ability (Kuhl et al., 2006). This process is thought to be due to the ‘blooming’ and ‘pruning’ of brain connections, which you learnt about earlier in this chapter. Read the box headed ‘Bilingual babies’ to see how the brain reacts when infants are exposed to two languages, rather than only one. Bilingual babies In South Africa – with its eleven official languages – being able to speak more than one language is an advantage, and often even a necessity. In households where two different languages are spoken, children have an excellent opportunity to become bilingual. But what are the effects of learning two languages at the same time? Some people worry that growing up bilingual will confuse a baby and delay language development. However, the research evidence suggests that babies are just as prepared to learn two languages from birth as one. Bilingual children reach the main language milestones (such as babbling and speaking the first https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 15/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective word) at the same age as monolingual children (Grosjean, 2010). Bilingual babies may take a little longer than monolingual children to distinguish sounds in different languages. However, the brains of bilingual babies remain flexible to language for a longer period of time. Adrian Garcia-Sierra et al. (2011) found that babies growing up in monolingual English homes could detect changes in sounds in both English and Spanish at six to nine months of age. But at ten to twelve months of age, these babies could distinguish only changes in English sounds. Babies growing up in bilingual English and Spanish homes showed a different pattern. At six to nine months, the bilingual babies did not respond when sounds changed in either language. But at ten to twelve months, they could detect when sounds changed in both English and Spanish. This ability to switch between languages may help bilingual children to develop particularly flexible ways of thinking and learning (Kovács & Mehler, 2009). Researchers agree that the best way for infants to learn a second language is through social interaction and daily exposure to each language. Another important task for infants is to pick out individual words from the non-stop stream of sound that makes up ordinary speech. To do so, they must find the boundaries between words. This is very difficult, because adults don’t usually pause between words when they speak. Still, infants begin to spot word boundaries by eight months of age. In one experiment (Saffran, Aslin & Newport, 1996), eight-month-old infants listened to two minutes of speech consisting entirely of random combinations of syllables that were run together in the following way: Dapikutiladotupirogolabu … dapikutupirotiladogolabu … tupirodapikutiladogolabu. At the end of the two-minute period, the experimenters played some made-up three-syllable ‘words’ for the infants. Some of these ‘words’ were new, but some – like ‘tupiro’ – had been in the original passage (three times, in fact). Surprisingly, the children were more likely to turn their heads in response to items that had been in the passage than to ones that hadn’t. Since head-turning in infants is a sign of noticing, it is clear that the children were somehow able to recognise the syllable combinations that were in the two minutes of nonsense to which they had been listening. The first words At about eight to twelve months of age, infants often show their first understanding of words. On average, infants understand about 50 words at about thirteen months of age, but they can’t say this many words until about eighteen months. So, an infant’s receptive vocabulary (words the child understands) is much larger than his or her spoken vocabulary (words the child uses). The infant’s first word usually occurs at about ten to fifteen months of age, and on average at about thirteen months. An English-speaking child’s first words usually include those that name important people (for example ‘daddy’), familiar animals (for example ‘doggie’), vehicles (‘car’), toys (‘ball’), food (‘milk’), body parts (‘eye’), clothes (‘hat’), household items (‘clock’), and greeting terms (‘bye-bye’) (Nelson, 1973). These first words are closely linked to objects the child can act on and to those objects that get the child’s attention by moving or changing. For example, the words ‘shoes’, ‘socks’, ‘toys’ and ‘cars’ are more common than words referring to objects that are ‘just there’, such as tables or houses. Once infants start to speak, their spoken vocabulary quickly increases from about 50 words at the age of eighteen months, to about 200 words by the age of two years. This rapid increase in vocabulary that begins at approximately eighteen months is called the vocabulary spurt (Dapretto & Bjork, 2000). Vocabulary spurt rapid increase in learning new words that begins at approximately https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 16/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective eighteen months of age Children sometimes overextend or underextend the meanings of the words they use (Kay & Anglin, 1982). Overextension is the tendency to apply a word to objects that are not related to the word’s meaning, or are inappropriate for it. For example, when children learn to say ‘dog’, they often also apply the word to other four-legged animals. With time, overextensions decrease and eventually disappear. Underextension is the tendency to apply a word too narrowly; it occurs when children fail to use a word to name a relevant event or object. For example, a child might use the word ‘bottle’ to describe the plastic bottle he or she drinks from, but not to describe other kinds of bottle. Overextension applying a word too broadly Underextension applying a word too narrowly Telegraphic speech By the time they are eighteen to twenty-four months of age, toddlers start to put two or more words together to express one idea (for example ‘See doggie’, ‘More milk’). At first, children typically use telegraphic speech, which uses only a few words that are essential to get the child’s meaning across. The phrase ‘telegraphic speech’ comes from telegraphs, machines that were used to transmit written messages (telegrams) quickly over long distances before email and faxes were available. Telegrams were generally charged by the word, so people using this method of communication would leave out any words that were not absolutely necessary. Telegraphic speech simplified speech in which only the most important words are used to express ideas Explaining language development: Biological and environmental influences Although language is vitally important in everyday life, most people take it for granted – at least until they have to learn a new language. Adults who learn a new language often find that they struggle to tell the difference between similar sounds and to pronounce words correctly. They find it difficult to remember all the new words they are learning, and cannot understand what other people are saying, as they talk too fast. Yet by the time toddlers reach their second birthday, they already know the meaning of approximately 200 words, can pronounce them correctly, and are able to put them together in the proper order. When you think about it, this is really an amazing achievement. How do infants actually learn language, and how do they do it so quickly? Theorists have provided a variety of different answers to this question, but nowadays most researchers believe that both biology and the environment influence language development. Biological influences Some language scholars believe that language learning is innate and biologically based. One such linguist is Noam Chomsky, whose work was first discussed in Chapter one. Chomsky (2002) believes that children are born into the https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 17/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective world with a language acquisition device (LAD), which is an inborn biological system that prepares the child to detect and learn the sounds and rules of language. Language acquisition device an inborn biological system that helps children learn language There is some evidence that supports the idea of a biologically based capacity to learn language. For example, there are certain areas of the brain that are specialised for language functions: Broca’s area – in the left frontal lobe of the brain – controls speaking, whereas Wernicke’s area – a region of the brain’s left hemisphere – is involved in understanding language (Papathanassiou et al., 2000). In addition, there is evidence that children all over the world learn language in the same stages. These stages occur in the same order and around the same ages, regardless of what language children learn to speak. Does this mean that the environment doesn’t matter? No! It seems that learning also plays a role in language acquisition, if only because children acquire the languages they hear around them. Environmental influences Learning theorists argue that language develops through imitation and reinforcement. Children listen to others and imitate what they hear. They are also praised by parents and other adults for meaningful speech, and corrected when they make mistakes. Imitation and reinforcement alone cannot explain how children learn grammatical rules and create sentences they have never heard before. Nevertheless, many theorists nowadays believe that interactions with older companions help children to learn the rules of language and communication. What is important in the environment to promote language development? First, there is evidence that children need to hear live language. Children cannot learn language solely from listening to the radio or watching television (Ervin-Tripp, 1973). In order to work out what a sentence means, they need to be able to link it with what they can see happening around them. Second, not only do children need to hear lots of live language, but they also learn better if they are actively involved in social interactions, and people talk to them (Locke, 1997). Children like Siyanda and Andile, from the case study that opened this chapter, who have been neglected often show delays in both their receptive and spoken vocabulary (Allen & Oliver, 1982). Although children do not need any special teaching to learn language, there are several strategies that caregivers can use to help their infants learn language. Caregivers use most of these techniques automatically, and are often not even aware of what they are doing. One example of such a strategy is child-directed speech (‘baby talk’), language spoken in a higher, more sing-song voice than normal, with simple words and sentences and a lot of repetition. To appreciate the notion of child-directed speech, imagine that you are taking a baby for a walk, and you pass a family of ducks. You probably wouldn’t say, ‘Look at that mother duck taking her ducklings for a walk.’ Instead, you’d probably say something more like, ‘Ducks! Look at the ducks. See? Mommy duck and baby ducks!’ Child-directed speech helps to attract the infant’s attention (Cooper & Aslin, 1990). It is hard to use child-directed speech when there are no babies around. As soon as you start talking to a baby though, you probably shift automatically into child-directed speech. Child-directed speech ‘baby talk’; language spoken in a higher, more sing-song voice than normal, with simple words and sentences and a lot of repetition https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 18/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Other strategies that adults use to enhance the child’s language include the following: Labelling: Labelling is identifying the names of objects. Expanding: Expanding is restating, in a grammatically complete form, what a child has said. For example, if the child says, ‘Doggie bark’, the adult might say, ‘Yes, the dog is barking at the person delivering the post.’ Labelling identifying the names of objects – a strategy that adults use to enhance the child’s language Expanding restating, in a grammatically complete form, what a child has said – a strategy that adults use to enhance the child’s language Note that adults use these strategies naturally and in meaningful conversations with children. Even children who are slow in learning language do not need to be ‘taught’ to talk; turning language into work can do more harm than good. Instead, children usually benefit when parents or caregivers talk, read and sing to them, respond to and encourage the children’s interest in language, and make the children feel that language is fun. CHECK YOUR PROGRESS What is the typical course of language development before the first words? What are the major milestones of language development from birth to age two? What is the Language Acquisition Device (LAD)? Outline three strategies that parents or caregivers use to help babies learn to talk. Psychosocial development The physical, cognitive, and language changes that this chapter has looked at are shared by all typically developing children. Yet, even though all infants have certain things in common, each infant is a unique individual right from the start. Infants are also social beings who seem to be biologically prepared to interact with others and form relationships with them. During the course of the first year, infants usually develop close emotional ties to their caregivers. The nature and quality of these early attachments may have important implications for later social and emotional development. This section will consider several aspects of psychosocial development: Temperament Early capacities Attachment Self-awareness and independence. Temperament https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 19/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Almost any parent who has had more than one child will be able to tell you that some babies just seem to be born more active, less irritable, or more sociable than others. One infant might be cheerful much of the time; another might cry a lot. These behaviours reflect differences in temperament, an individual’s behavioural style and characteristic way of emotionally responding to events. Many psychologists believe that temperament is already present at birth. Temperament an individual’s behavioural style and characteristic way of emotionally responding to events Categories and dimensions of temperament Temperament has been defined and measured in a number of different ways. Alexander Thomas, Stella Chess and their colleagues (Chess & Thomas, 1996) found that many babies could be classified into one of three temperamental categories: Easy: Easy infants are cheerful and even-tempered. They adapt easily to new experiences such as new foods or routines. They quickly develop regular sleeping and feeding schedules. Difficult: Difficult infants, in contrast, are active, intense and irritable. They are negative towards new experiences. They show irregular sleep and feeding schedules. Slow to warm up: Slow-to-warm-up infants are much less active and intense, but they take some time to adapt to new experiences. Chess and Thomas (1996) also found that there was a fourth group of children who did not fit into any of these temperamental categories. Other researchers feel that giving children a negative label like ‘difficult’ can be damaging. These researchers prefer to see temperament as dimensional. For example, Mary Rothbart (2007) has proposed that there are the following three basic dimensions of temperament, which interact with one another: Surgency, or extraversion: This involves the infant’s tendency to approach new experiences actively and energetically. Negative affectivity: This refers to the tendency to be sad, easily frustrated, and irritable. Intense children who seem to be easily angered or upset would be described as having greater negative affectivity than those who are more laid back. Effortful control: This refers to the extent to which children are able to sustain their attention, control their behaviour and regulate their emotions. For example, some children are more effective than others at reducing feelings such as anger and fear, and at waiting for something they want. Jerome Kagan (2003) has identified another temperamental dimension that he believes is very important: behavioural inhibition. Uninhibited children approach the world around them with confidence, eagerness, and a positive attitude. In contrast, inhibited children are shy, timid, and cautious. Is temperament genetic? There is evidence that early temperamental differences in sociability, shyness, and emotionality are rooted in inherited differences in the chemistry and functioning of the brain (Kagan, 2003). In other words, some of the temperamental differences between people can be traced to their genes. However, a child’s experiences (which include parenting styles https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 20/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective and broader cultural values) also seem to play an important role in shaping temperament-based behaviours (Sturm, 2004). Does temperament remain the same over time? There is some stability over time in measures of children’s temperament; for example, inhibited infants are more likely than uninhibited infants to be shy and quiet in unfamiliar situations at the age of eleven (Kagan, 2003). However, not all inhibited infants become shy children or shy adults. Whether temperament will remain stable over time seems to depend on the way in which an infant’s temperament interacts over time with his or her caregivers’ parenting behaviours (Sanson, Hemphill & Smart, 2004). Thus, the personality of the adult is by no means set in stone in infancy. ACTIVITY Ask your childhood caregivers how they would describe your own temperament as an infant or toddler. Is your personality today similar to the temperament you displayed in early childhood? Infants’ early capacities Human infants need the support and protection of their parents or caregivers in order to survive. Although babies are physically helpless, they are born with basic sensory and behavioural skills. These early capacities help infants and their caregivers to form close relationships with one another. Newborn reflexes Earlier in this chapter and in chapter three, you learnt that much of a newborn baby’s behaviour consists of reflexes such as rooting, sucking, and grasping. Many of these inborn behaviours are important for the newborn’s survival. For example, the sucking and swallowing reflexes are necessary for feeding. However, some reflexes also help parents and infants to interact with one another and strengthen the relationship between them. For instance, a baby who searches for and successfully finds the nipple, sucks easily during feeding, and grabs when the hand is touched encourages parents to respond lovingly and feel competent as caregivers. Sensory abilities Newborn babies respond to touch, especially around the mouth, on the palms, and on the soles of the feet. They can distinguish several basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter) and smells. By four to ten days of age, breastfed babies prefer the smell of their own mother’s breast milk to that of another woman (Porter, Makin, Davis & Christensen, 1992). As Chapter three mentioned, newborn infants can also hear a variety of sounds. They can tell sounds of the human voice apart from other kinds of sound. Newborn infants can recognise their mother’s voice, and apparently prefer it to those of other women. DeCasper and Fifer (1980) found that, in order to hear their mother’s voice rather than that of another female, newborns learnt to suck faster or slower on a special dummy connected to a tape recorder. This probably happens because the infant can hear the mother’s voice in the uterus before being born, and is therefore familiar with it. Vision is the least developed of the senses at birth. Newborn babies cannot focus their eyes as well as an adult can, and images such as the parent’s face, even from close up, look quite blurred. Newborns are also very shortsighted. Nevertheless, they are able to see objects about 30 cm away – more-or-less the distance of the parent’s face when an infant is feeding – which allows them to make eye contact. A newborn baby’s eyes are particularly attracted to moving objects. Newborns also seem to prefer to look at forms that resemble human faces rather than at other patterns https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 21/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective (Mondloch et al., 1999). Within the first few hours after birth, infants can mimic certain facial expressions (Meltzoff & Moore, 1977). They don’t do this consciously, but they are able to translate what they see into similar actions of their own. Imitation is one of the best learning strategies babies have. The baby’s appearance Babies are usually physically appealing; they look ‘cute’. ‘Babyish’ features – a large head, a prominent forehead, large eyes, and round cheeks – seem to appeal to adults (especially women) and to bring out caregiving behaviours in them (Fullard & Reiling, 1976). Fullard and Reiling (1976) found that adults prefer photographs of infant humans to photographs of adult humans, and also prefer photographs of infant animals to photographs of adult animals (see Figure 4.4). Crying Crying also helps to ensure that infants soon become the centre of family life, and is the key to their survival. Crying triggers increases in adults’ heart rate and blood pressure, which are physiological signs of anxiety (Bleichfeld & Moely, 1984). Most adults find it almost impossible to ignore a baby’s cry. Smiling Regardless of the culture in which they are raised, infants all over the world begin to smile in response to stimulation from the outside when they are about one month old. When an infant is about two-and-a-half to three months of age, these smiles become truly social: infants smile in response to others’ smiles, and in turn draw smiles from other people. This helps to strengthen an infant’s relationship with his or her caregiver. If a baby smiles in response to a caregiver’s face, voice or touch, this suggests to the caregiver that the infant recognises and loves him or her. An infant’s smiles also encourage caregivers to be more affectionate and stimulating in response. Figure 4.4 Look at the two pictures below. Which do you like best? https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 22/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Thus, it seems that human beings have evolved in ways that help to ensure that infants will receive the care, protection, and stimulation they need to survive and thrive. Contrary to what many people believe, however, close attachments between infants and their caregivers do not happen immediately or automatically when an infant is born. Attachment John Bowlby (1974) used the term ‘attachment’ to refer to the close, affectionate relationship that develops between the infant and one or a few specific caregivers such as mothers, fathers, grandparents, and child-minders. Attachment also refers to the realisation that one person in the world is special among all others. Attachment develops during the first year of life. Newborn babies are not particularly choosy about people. However, they soon come to show preferences for some people over others. By the age of six to eight months, infants typically show a clear attachment to one, or a few, familiar caregivers. At this age, they may also show stranger https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 23/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective anxiety – expressions of fear or discomfort, such as clinging to the mother in the presence of strangers. How can you know that a baby is attached to someone? A baby who is attached to a caregiver will try to remain near to the caregiver, will become upset if separated from the caregiver (separation anxiety), and will be happy or comforted when reunited with the person to whom he or she is attached. Stranger anxiety the distress that infants experience in the presence of strangers Separation anxiety the distress that infants experience when they are separated from a primary caregiver The formation of attachment depends partly on cognitive development (including memory development), and particularly on the understanding of person permanence. Person permanence is a special form of object permanence – the understanding that a person exists even when he or she can’t be perceived. Before infants can develop attachment, they must have some understanding that people are permanent, that their caregivers exist even when they leave the room and can’t be seen. Person permanence a special form of object permanence – the understanding that a person exists even when he or she can’t be perceived Although attachment depends on cognitive development, attachments don’t form automatically. According to Bowlby, whether an attachment forms and how secure it is will be influenced by the ongoing interaction between infant and caregiver, and by the ability of each partner to respond to the other’s signals. It is only in rare circumstances (for example in an overcrowded and understaffed orphanage) that a child will fail to develop an attachment relationship. If there is somebody to attach to, the infant will become attached to that person. However, some attachment relationships are more secure than others. Patterns of attachment Mary Ainsworth, an American developmental psychologist, took up and extended Bowlby’s work. On the basis of work with infants in Uganda and the USA, Ainsworth developed a way to assess differences in the quality of the attachments between parents and their twelve- to twenty-four-month-old infants (Ainsworth, 1979). This is known as the strange-situation test. Strange-situation test test assessing the quality of an infant’s attachment to a parent In this test, the infant and caregiver are brought to a playroom, and an observer notes how the infant reacts to a series of mildly stressful events, including the approaches of an adult stranger and the departures and returns of their https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 24/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective parent. Depending on these reactions, the quality of an infant’s attachment to a parent can be placed in one of four categories: Securely attached: These babies use the parent as a secure base and are comfortable exploring when he or she is present. They often become upset when the parent leaves the room, but greet the parent when he or she returns, are quickly comforted by the parent, and then continue playing. In all cultures that have been studied, most infants show secure attachments to their caregivers. Insecurely attached – resistant: Resistant infants are fearful of the stranger and don’t explore the environment, even when the parent is present. Resistant infants get very upset if the parent leaves the room but are not comforted by the parent’s return. They seem to resent the parent for having left, and may resist the parent if he or she tries to make physical contact. Insecurely attached – avoidant: Avoidant infants seem fairly uninterested in the stranger and the environment of the playroom. These infants are not distressed by their parent’s departure. They often ignore the parent when he or she returns. Insecurely attached – disorganised/disoriented: A small number of infants appear dazed and confused in the strange-situation procedure. These infants show strange behaviours when the parent returns after having left the room, such as moving away from the parent (instead of towards him or her), or freezing all movement. Because these children seem to lack any organised strategy for dealing with the stress they experience in the strange situation, Mary Main and her colleagues (Main & Solomon, 1990) described these children’s attachment relationships as disorganised or disoriented. Influences on the attachment relationship The work of Ainsworth and others has helped to identify the factors that determine into which of the above four categories a particular attachment relationship will fall. These factors include: Quality of caregiving Infant characteristics The broader context. Quality of caregiving Although specific child-care practices vary from one culture to another, a secure attachment relationship in all societies seems to depend on two types of caregiving (Ainsworth, 1979): Sensitive: Sensitive caregivers treat the infant as a separate person with feelings and wishes, and are able to see things from the baby’s point of view. A sensitive caregiver is able to read an infant’s signals (for example facial expressions, body language, and crying). A sensitive caregiver is also able to use these cues to judge what the infant wants or needs – for example that the infant is hungry or tired, or has hurting teeth, or has found something interesting. Responsive: A responsive caregiver is quick, effective, and reliable at providing what the baby wants and needs (for example food, comfort, rest, and cuddles). Insensitive, inconsistent, and rejecting caregiving tends to be associated with insecure attachments in children. More specifically, resistant attachments tend to be associated with inconsistent, unresponsive care; avoidant attachments tend to be associated with either rejection or overstimulation (for example talking energetically to infants while they are falling asleep) (Isabella, 1993). Disorganised/disoriented attachments are associated with frightened (anxious and withdrawn) or frightening (intrusive and abusive) behaviour in parents (Hesse & Main, 2006). https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 25/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective The caregiver’s age, knowledge about child development, and mental health can all affect his or her parenting abilities. For example, there is evidence that caregivers who are depressed often find it more difficult to be sensitive and responsive to infants. Infants of depressed mothers, in turn, are more likely than children of non-depressed caregivers to be insecurely attached (Murray, Fiori-Cowley, Hooper & Cooper, 1996). Infant characteristics Characteristics of the infant can also influence the sensitivity and responsiveness of the caregiver’s behaviour and the quality of the attachment relationship. Sensitive and responsive caregiving can be more difficult if a baby has a difficult temperament, or is premature, disabled, or ill. The ‘signals’ of these babies may be more difficult to read, and they may be fussier, cry more, and be more difficult to soothe than other infants. These behaviours can make a caregiver feel incompetent and rejected. Read the box headed ‘Case study: Autism’ which explains how the development of a secure attachment may be delayed when a child has autism. Figure 4.5 Sensitive and responsive caregiving can help to foster a secure attachment relationship between infants and caregivers However, parental treatment does seem to be more important than child characteristics in influencing the quality of the attachment relationship. Even infants who are temperamentally difficult or have special needs are likely to form secure attachments with caregivers who are patient and sensitive to their babies’ particular characteristics (Mangelsdorf, Gunnar, Kestenbaum, Lang & Andreas, 1990). Case study: Autism by Lea-Ann Pileggi Peter lives with his older brother and parents. He will be turning three years old in a month’s time, and his parents have recently become increasingly concerned about his behaviour. Initially his parents thought that he was just slower to develop than his brother was, but as he grew older certain behaviours prompted Peter’s parents to seek advice. According to his parents, Peter has never slept well, and has a difficult temperament. He does not seem to like being held, and pulls away when being held or hugged. He does not make eye contact with anyone, https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 26/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective does not smile when he is smiled at, and does not look at his mother when being fed. He also does not respond to his name. Peter’s parents are particularly concerned about his language development, as he started using single words around the age of twelve months, but then around the age of two years this stopped. He now only makes sounds and no longer uses words. Peter’s clinician diagnosed him with autism. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with onset before age three years. The main diagnostic criteria include persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction, as well as what is referred to as restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Examples of deficits in social communication and social interaction include abnormalities in eye contact and not responding to social interactions such as not responding to one’s name as in the case of Peter. These deficits must be present in multiple settings. Restricted and repetitive patterns can manifest in many ways including repetitive motor movements or repeating the same sounds, lining up toys, and preoccupation with unusual objects. In many cases development of social and language skills are delayed from the start. However, it is possible, as with Peter, that regression is seen. If so, regression usually occurs around the age of two years and is a big warning sign. Although the underlying causes of autism are unclear, we know that they are neurobiological in origin (i.e., due to a variety of impairments in the development and functioning of the brain). Several suspected factors include genetics, early environmental influences such as prenatal exposure to teratogens, abnormalities in brain structure, and certain types of infections and complications occurring at and around birth (e.g., Chaste & Leboyer, 2012; Dufour-Rainfray et al., 2011) This condition does not discriminate across any populations except in that the incidence is much higher in males. In terms of attachment, autism is associated with a delay in attachment development. As a result of the lack of social and emotional reciprocity, as illustrated with the case of Peter, we expect the development of a secure attachment to be unlikely. However, as the child develops, attachments can and do form, and they are as likely to be secure as in typically developing children (albeit delayed). The causes of this delay are not linked to the usual factors influencing the caregiver-infant attachment; they are neurobiological in origin. Children with autism benefit most from a highly structured environment and daily routines. Although there is no cure for autism, several intervention strategies, often used in combination, have been associated with the best prognosis. These include behaviour modification, social skills therapies/training, as well as speech, physical and/or occupational therapy, which are designed to improve the child’s individual functional abilities (Howlin, Magiati, & Charman, 2009; Myers & Johnson, 2007). Medication is also used to treat certain comorbid conditions or symptoms such as anxiety, hyperactivity, and sleep disturbances. REFERENCES American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Chaste, P., & Leboyer, M. (2012). Autism risk factors: genes, environment and gene-environment interactions. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 14(3), 281-292. Dufour-Rainfray, D., Vourc’h, P., Tourlet, S., Guilloteau, D., Chalon, S., & Andres, C. R. (2011). Fetal exposure to teratogens: evidence of genes involved in autism. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 35, (5), 1254-1265. Doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiorev.2010.12.013. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 27/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Howlin, P., Magiati, I., & Charman, T. (2009). Systematic review of early intensive behavioural interventions for children with autism. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 114 (1), 23-41. Doi: 10.1352/2009.114:23;nd41. Myers, S. M., & Johnson, C. P. (2007). Management of children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 120 (5), 1162-1182. Doi: 10.1542/ peds.2007-2362. The broader context Characteristics of the broader context can also influence the sensitivity and responsiveness of the caregiver’s behaviour and the quality of the attachment relationship. Infants are more likely to be securely attached when their parents have a positive, supportive relationship with each other, whereas marital difficulties are associated with insecure attachments (Howes & Markman, 1989). Stressful living conditions associated with poverty can also undermine attachment by making sensitive and responsive caregiving more difficult (Diener, Nievar & Wright, 2003). These findings are particularly relevant for South Africa and other developing countries where poverty and unemployment is widespread. In South Africa, 54% of children live in poverty (Hall & Sambu, 2015). Many people living in poor communities also face associated stressors, such as family and community violence, single parenthood, and high rates of HIV and Aids. Read the box headed ‘South African research on attachment’, which explores how parenting and attachment are affected in these conditions. South African research on attachment Mark Tomlinson, Peter Cooper and their colleagues studied attachment in 147 mother–infant pairs living in Khayelitsha, near Cape Town (Cooper et al., 1999; Tomlinson, Cooper & Murray, 2005; Tomlinson, Swartz, Cooper & Molteno, 2004). They assessed the mother’s mood and observed her interactions with her two-month-old infant. They were able to track down 98 of these original mother–infant pairs when the infants were eighteen months old, and again assessed the mother’s mood and the quality of her interactions with the infant. They also assessed the infants’ attachment security, using Ainsworth’s strange-situation procedure. The researchers found that nearly 35% of mothers were clinically depressed 2 months after the birth of their baby. This is about three times as many as researchers would expect based on international figures for postnatal depression. The high rate of postnatal depression in Khayelitsha is probably related to the fact that all of the women in this study came from a very poor community, and many of these mothers were experiencing other life stresses on top of the stresses of becoming a mother. Mothers were more likely to be depressed when their infants were two months old under the following conditions: If the baby was unplanned or unwanted If the father had a negative attitude toward the baby If the father was not financially supporting the mother If the mother lacked social support from others. Depressed mothers, in turn, were more likely to be insensitive in interacting with their babies than mothers who were not depressed. Yet despite the high rate of maternal depression, the researchers found that most infants (62%) were securely attached to their mothers at eighteen months. They suggest that local childrearing practices (involving a lot of close physical contact between mothers and infants, co-sleeping, and breastfeeding on demand for at least the first year), together with support and compassion from the broader community https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 28/32 10/28/24, 12:34 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective (ubuntu), may have helped mothers and infants to form secure attachments, despite living in adverse conditions. Of the infants who were classified as insecurely attached, only 4% were classified as avoidant and 8% as resistant. A fairly large group (26%), however, were classified as disorganised. Attachments were more likely to be insecure if mothers had been intrusive (pushy and controlling) or remote (distant and withdrawn) in face-to-face interactions with their infants at two months, and were insensitive in playing with them at eighteen months. Maternal depression was associated with insecure attachments only if mothers were insensitive in interacting with their toddlers at eighteen months. Infants were more likely to be classified as disorganised if their caregivers had been either extremely remote (‘frightened’) or extremely intrusive (‘frightening’) in interacting with them