Child Development Notes PDF

Reading Notes Object Permanence Notes 1.​ Better attention through shorter looking time - better object permanence test 2.​ Moms with less education are where that association is happening - more education is flat. 3.​ No sex differences 4.​ 58 kids didn’t have a basic object per...

Reading Notes Object Permanence Notes 1.​ Better attention through shorter looking time - better object permanence test 2.​ Moms with less education are where that association is happening - more education is flat. 3.​ No sex differences 4.​ 58 kids didn’t have a basic object permanence test and held the stare for 11.5 seconds 5.​ Tasks were counterbalanced, starting with a-not-b Research Methods The Scientific Method Developing Hypothesis -​ A prediction, often based on theoretical ideas or observations, tested my scientific method. Variables -​ DV: the outcome -​ IV: is what you manipulate or observe, what you expect to influence the DV Levels of variables: -​ There is variance -​ Attention: higher or lower attention Hypothesis -​ tend to have a direction Operationalizing variables -​ Defining a variable in a way that allows it to be measured Sampling and representative samples: -​ Population: everyone in the category we are interested in studying or learning more about -​ Representative sample: A sample of a population is selected to reflect the characteristics of the population of interest Measures -​ Observations -​ Surveys, questionnaires (self-report measures), scales -​ Interviews (structured or clinical) -​ A standard set of questions asked by interviews -​ Standardized tests -​ Physiological measures -​ Blood pressure  -​ Archival records -​ Neighborhood characteristics (crime rate) - Case studies -​ Ethnography -​ Researchers live with the community Research designs Experimental research designs -​ Control as many aspects of the experimental situation as possible to conclude the cause of the outcomes -​ Random assignments of participants to -​ Experimental group and control group -​ The independent variable is whether the individual receives the treatment or not. -​ The dependent variable is the outcome of interest to the experimenter. Correlation research -​ There is no treatment group. -​ The researcher examines whether variables that occur naturally are related to one another. -​ It can’t infer but shows an association, no causality. Development research designs Longitudinal design -​ Tested at six and then again at 8 years old Cross-sectional research -​ 6 and 8 years olds tested at the same time Sequential design -​ A combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs Microgenetic design -​ Intensive observations of a small group of one-year-olds as they learn to say their first words Studies of adopted children and twins Behavioral genetics -​ Established the level of heritability Studies of adopted children Concordance rate -​ The degree to which a trait or an ability or an ability of one individual is similar to that of another -​ Calculate the child's concordance rate with biological parents and adoptive parents. A higher concordance rate between child and birth parents -​ Shows the influence of genes on the characteristics A higher concordance rate between child and adoptive parents -​ Shows the influence of nurture Studies of twins -​ Identical twins have 100% genetic makeup -​ 50% on average of genetics for fraternal twins Interpreting and communicating the results of a study -​ Be careful not to generalize results to populations not found in the representative sample -​ understand d that results are averages and won't apply to all -​ Statistical significance implies that the results were not found by chance, just statistically significant Ethics in research with children and adolescents -​ Minimal risks -​ Informed consent of parent and child -​ Right to withdraw from research -​ Privacy and confidentiality of information Social and Emotional Development Moral Identity -​ The sense of right and wrong -​ How do children have moral values? -​ Environment -​ Cognitive development -​ Emotional development -​ Innate processes The Role of the Environment -​ Behaviorism -​ Reinforcement for moral behaviors  -​ Negative response to destructive behaviors -​ Social cognitive theory -​ Imitation of moral or immoral behaviors -​ Emphasis on cognitive and emotional development as well as innate morality The role of cognitive development -​ Cognitive theories link the development of moral thought to the development of thought in general. -​ Moral knowledge: understanding of principles endorsed by our culture -​ Moral judgment: the way people reason about moral issues -​ Moral judgment will change as children get older Piaget stages -​ Premorality: before the age of 4 -​ Unable to consider moral issues -​ Heteronomous morality: ages 4-7 -​ Subject to external controls and impositions -​ Autonomous morality: ages 7-8 -​ They are aware of rules and must adhere to them to maintain their interactions with others. Kohlberg -​ Built on Piaget ideas -​ The reasons they give for their answers are what is being judged by their morals. 1.​ Preconventinal (under the age of nine) -​ Obeying what an authority figure tells them because of the punishment -​ Fairness and belief in people's self-interest being taken into account 2.​ Conventional (most adolescents and adults) -​ Desire to be seen as good -​ Thinking of society as a whole and maintaining social order 3.​ Post-conventional (some adults older than 20-25 -​ Overarching important value structures -​ You can change rules even if they conflict with society's rules Moral thought vs. moral action -​ Criticism of cognitive theorists is that moral thought is not the same as moral action. -​ Just because we think about morality at a high level does not necessarily mean that we always act in a moral way -​ Everyday constraints influence moral action as much as our ability to think about moral judgments. The Role of Emotional Development  -​ Emotions enter into the development of morality through guilt and our conscience. -​ Prosocial behaviors: actions that help and support other people -​ Empathy and sympathy -​ Guilt -​ Antisocial behaviors: actions that hurt other people physically or emotionally -​ Anger The Role of Innate Processes -​ The role of core knowledge proposes that specific knowledge and understanding of the world are built into the brain prenatally, including morality. Social Cognition: Theory of Mind -​ It’s hard for us to describe someone's behavior without referring to their mental state. -​ We often have theories about what goes on in other people's mind -​ Theory of mind: the ability to understand self and others as agents who act based on their mental states Theory of Mind for Children 1.​ Diverse desires - different people may like and want different things -​ Babies are surprised when something unnatural occurs - they look longer -​ Develops around 8-12 months 2.​ Diverse beliefs - different people can hold different beliefs about the same thing. -​ Develops around 3 years old 3.​ Knowledge access - people who see something also know about it; if you do not see something, they do not know. 4.​ False beliefs- people do things based on what they think, even if mistaken. -​ False belief paradigm: an experimental task used to access a child's understanding of the theory of mind in which the child predicts what someone else knows -​ By age 4, most children can respond based on understanding false beliefs. 5.​ Hidden emotion - people can deliberately conceal emotions through facial expression management. -​ Recursive Thinking: thinking about thinking 6.​ Sarcasm - to be humorous, people sometimes say the opposite of what they mean Development of Self-concept -​ Self-concept - how you describe yourself 1.​ Hard-working 2.​ Resilient 3.​ Adventurous 4.​ Caring  5.​ Self-efficient 6.​ Artistic 7.​ Explorative Self-Concept and Culture -​ Individualist cultures: use nonrelational terms to describe themselves -​ Collectivist cultures: describe themselves with words that are relational to others -​ Rational of personal-to-social statements in self-descriptions in two cultures Development of Self-Concept Infancy and Toddlers -​ Confusion of self and other -​ Mirror self-recognition -​ Culture affects the age at which toddlers develop this understanding and recognize their mirror image. -​ Toddlers in individualistic cultures recognize themselves sooner -​ Use of pronouns:” Daddy, pick you up!” -​ Visual perspective-taking: ability to see from another person's point of view -​ Possessiveness: another component of toddlers' growing sense of self -​ As they develop a clear sense of self, they defend what is theirs The Self in Preschoolers -​ Sense of self is very concrete: what they do, have, or look like -​ Preschoolers overestimate their abilities -​ Erikson stage of initiative vs. guilt -​ They want to do things themselves -​ If they fail, it can lead to guilt → so it is crucial for parents to be patient. -​ Autobiographical memory develops, creating a continuous sense of self over time. -​ Parents help develop autobiographical memory by discussing events in children's lives. The Self in School-Age Children -​ Refine their self-concept to include shades of grey (as opposite to the all-or-nothing way toddlers engage in) -​ Social comparison places them in the context of their peers -​ Self-concept becomes more realistic than at younger ages The Self in Adolescents -​ The physical, cognitive, and social changes that occur during adolescence are reflected in changes in the self-concept.  -​ Erikson’s stage of identity vs. role confusion -​ Positive vs. negative identity -​ Negative identity - direct opposition to an identity that parents or other adults would support -​ Identity development occurs in many different domains -​ People are likely to change at least some aspects of their identity throughout adult life: significant life events such as the birth of a child, a divorce, or a change in health could result in a need to reevaluate identity Crisis (exploration) -​ Identity diffusion - lack of interest in developing an identity -​ Identity foreclosure - commitment to an identity without any exploration of possibilities -​ Identity moratorium - time of exploration in search of identity with no commitment made yet -​ Identity achievement - choice of an identity following exploration of the possibilities Rites of Passage -​ How do we mark the change to physical adulthood? -​ Quinceañera and Bar Mitzvah Development of Self-Esteem -​ Self-esteem: how you feel about characteristics that you associate with yourself -​ Global self-esteem: feeling you have about your general self-worth -​ They may also be domain-specific to self-esteem Self-esteem during Childhood -​ Preschoolers tend to have high self-esteem. -​ They cannot yet engage in social comparison, which emerges later during the school year. -​ The self-esteem movement is driven by the idea that self-esteem is a primary factor affecting how well or poorly an individual functions in society. -​ Many school programs have developed to foster self-esteem -​ No effect found on academic achievement -​ Conclusion: achievement creates self-esteem is not the reverse -​ Help children base their emotions on actual achievement rather than on empty praise Self-Esteem during Adolescence -​ Experience of many changes may relate to low self-esteem in early adolescence. -​ Ideal self: the characteristics one aspires to in the future -​ Self-esteem begins to rebound and increases over the rest of adolescence Media, Self-concept, and Self-Esteem -​ Media is another significant influence on the development of self-concept and self-esteem. -​ This can lead to body dissatisfaction in both girls and boys. Development of Secure Attachment -​ Attachment is an emotional bond central to the well-being of infants and children as they grow. -​ Infant behaviors are designed to keep the parent nearby to satisfy needs -​ When infants and toddlers feel secure, they can explore -​ Secure base for exploration: the child feels safe to explore while the parent is there and returns to the parent for comfort when needed Why do we need attachments? -​ food/physical needs vs. comfort/emotional needs -​ Harry Harlow tested this -​ Monkeys went to their cloth mother no matter what for contact/comfort Measuring security of Attachment -​ Mary Ainsworth Strange situation -​ When the mother returns, the baby is soothed by the mother after being in distress - secure attachment. Styles identifies 1.​ Secured attached -​ Secure (65%) -​ Explore with parent -​ Distress upon separation -​ Enthusiastically approaches parents upon reunion -​ Easily comforted by parent 2.​ Anxious avoidant (20-25%) -​ Distant when mom is present -​ Minimal distress when mom leaves -​ Often ignore her upon her return 3.​ Anxious resistant (10-15%) -​ Do not explore when the mother is present -​ Extremely distressed when mother leaves -​ Not easily comforted upon her return 4.​ Disorganized (5-10%)  -​ Very inconsistent behavior seems confused -​ Distressed when mother leaves -​ May not approach her when she returns Attachment styles: parents as a cause -​ Are the parents available when the threat is present? -​ Do parents allow exploration when no threat is present? -​ Children learn about the availability of parents and act on that knowledge. Parental Sensitivity: Yes! -​ Parents of secure infants -​ Responsive and comforting when infants are distressed -​ Non-intrusive, encourage exploration when no threats -​ Parents of anxious-avoidant infants -​ Minimally responsive/inattentive when infants are distressed -​ May encourage exploration -​ Parents of anxious-avoidant infants -​ Inconsistently responsive -​ Often, there is no encouragement for exploration and intrusive -​ Parents of disorganized infants -​ History of mental health problems or trauma Attachment as a Relationship -​ The role of the mother-responsiveness to the baby's needs -​ What makes her responsive? -​ Positive relationship with their partner -​ Adequate economic resources -​ Good psychological health -​ A history of reasonable care in their childhood -​ An infant who is easy to care for -​ The role of the father -​ They may have different relationships but can still be essential attachment figures. -​ There is little research in this area -​ Infants can form more than one relationship -​ Secure attachment with their father if he is -​ More extraverted -​ Better understanding of the infant's state of mind -​ Believed that they play a critical role in their child's development Culture and Co-Sleeping  -​ Culture -​ In some cultures, co-sleeping is the norm during the first several years of life. -​ Infants are always with their mothers -​ In other cultures, co-sleeping is less common -​ Infants need to learn to put themselves to sleep Culture and Day Care -​ In Asian cultures, mothers rarely leave their infants alone or with strangers during the first year of life. -​ In Israel, some children spend most of their time in a communal Kibbutz where they are cared for by a group of adults. -​ When infants whose parents work attend daycare regularly from the time they are a few months old -​ These cultural differences may affect infant behavior in a strange situation. -​ The situation is extremely strange for some infants, who are never left alone. -​ For other infants, the situation may be odd. Attachment beyond Infancy -​ Long-term outcomes of infant attachment: attachment insecurity and disorganizations in infancy relate to later externalizing behavior problems such as aggression and oppositional problems. Attachment in Childhood and Adolescence -​ Secure base script: child's expectation for how their distress will be met with care, concern, and support -​ A securely attached child expects support, while an insecurely attachment child does not. -​ Teens with secure attachment to parents report more secure relationships with peers. -​ Adolescents must know that their parents are committed to them and their well-being. This forms a secure base that allows the adolescent to explore a widening world of social relationships and experiences. Mother Employment News Article Reading Guide 1.​ What are some benefits children experience when mothers are employed? -​ Improved family income: they contribute to a stimulating and safer environment. They can have better living conditions, nutrition, and reduced family stress. -​ No impact on cognitive skills -​ Long-term stability can help families be effective when tailoring to child-specific needs. 2.​ What could be some negative impacts on children when mothers are employed?  -​ Reduced interaction time: stress can reduce the quality and quantity of interactions that can help develop cognitive skills and language development. -​ Changes in employment status can impact family routines and harm environments that support the child. 3.​ What child outcomes are discussed in the article? What are the findings surrounding those outcomes? -​ Cognitive ability and vocabulary growth: associated with mother's education level and number of siblings rather than employment status -​ Reasoning ability and vocabulary at age 5: this is more influenced by individual traits and environmental conditions that change over time rather than employment history Family Systems Families -​ The primary context for child development is the family -​ What a family looks like may change over time What Constitutes a Family? -​ The definition of family may differ widely from one cultural setting to another and even within cultural setting -​ There is much diversity in family structure -​ Non-exaustive list of families: -​ Single parent families -​ Dual parent families -​ Noncustodial parents -​ Co-parenting -​ Stepfamilies and blended families -​ Grandparents raising grandchildren -​ Adoptive families -​ Foster care Family Systems -​ Two important components of the family system are mothers and fathers -​ Relationships with siblings -​ Roles of Mothers: -​ More mothers are starting work outside the home -​ Graph takeaway: Mothers are likelier to work outside the home over time. Moms are likelier to work outside the home as their children age.  -​ Research has failed to find consistent differences between children with mothers who work outside the home and those whose mothers do not work outside -​ Roles of Fathers: -​ Graph takeaway: of the pool of fathers that are at home, there is a shift from being ill/disabled to taking care of the family -​ Single-parent families are usually headed by mothers, with little or no involvement of the father -​ Married fathers are more involved with their children than in the past -​ Involved fathers with positive parenting skills foster greater cognitive skills, self-control, and empathy and less gender stereotyping -​ Relationships with Siblings: -​ About 80% of children in the U.S. have at least one sibling -​ Contextual factors, such as gender, age, and family structure, may influence the nature of these relationships -​ Nonshared Environments may also have an important role -​ Different expectations from parents -​ Different values we followed -​ Different personalities we were encouraged to indulge in or not -​ Different peer groups and schooling -​ Different school/lack of school activities -​ Different affection and strictness from parents -​ Different work experiences Socialization in Childhood and Adolescence -​ Socialization: the process by which parents and others teach children how to interact and behave in appropriate ways according to the rules and norms of their society -​ How might parents socialize kids? -​ Internalization: the process by which individuals adopt the attitudes, beliefs, and values held by their society -​ The parent effects model assumes that parents cause the characteristics we see in their children. -​ Parents cause children to behave well. -​ The child effects model assumes that the child's characteristics determine the parents' parenting styles. -​ Age, gender, defiance -​ The transactional model assumes that influences move from parent to child and from child to parent in a reciprocal process over time. -​ Most used today Parenting Strategies and Techniques Positive discipline -​ Inductive discipline: setting clear limits for children and explaining the consequences for negative behavior, either for the child or for others, as a result of the child's behavior -​ Self-oriented induction - child thinks about the consequences the child might experience -​ “Put the cookie back, or you will ruin your appetite for dinner.” -​ Other-oriented induction - child focuses on the consequences of the child's behavior for someone else -​ “Look how sad Joey is when you said that means thing.” -​ Command strategy: The child responds to the legitimate authority that the parent has to request the child -​ No threats are made -​ Relationship maintenance: parents create a positive relationship with their child so they will have a more significant influence on the child -​ We are more likely to want to model behavior after thoes we like Negative Discipline -​ Power assertion: control of the child's behavior through physical and nonphysical punishment -​ Psychological control: using psychological or emotional manipulation to get the child to comply with what the parent wants -​ Threatening to withdraw love -​ Making the child feel guilty Positive vs. negative discipline -​ Some negative discipline techniques are needed to get the child's attention. -​ Positive discipline approaches help the child internalize ideas about what is good and bad. -​ Inductive discipline is related to reduced problem behavior and greater empathy. What about Spanking? -​ Two-thirds of parents in the U.S. say that they have spanked their children. -​ Spanking -​ It can be effective in immediately stopping a behavior -​ But it is not an effective way to help children understand how to control themselves in the long run -​ Models aggressive behavior Outcomes associated with physical punishment (based on meta-analysis)  -​ More immediate compliance -​ Lower -​ Levels of moral internalization -​ Quality of parent-child relationships -​ Mental health -​ Higher Aggression antisocial behavior ​ ​ Risk of being a victim of physical abuse Risk of abusing own child or spouse Parenting Styles -​ Can be grouped by responsive and demand of the child, high or low Authoritative parents -​ High levels of control -​ A good deal of warmth and encouragement -​ Reasonable expectations and explanation of the parent's rules -​ Use of inductive discipline -​ Child outcomes -​ Outgoing -​ Leaders -​ More cooperative, empathetic, and altruistic -​ Higher self-esteem Authoritarian parents -​ High levels of control -​ Low levels of warmth -​ Expect compliance from the child -​ Child outcomes -​ Defiant -​ Resentful -​ Lower self0esteem -​ Lower levels of moral reasoning Permissive Parents -​ Provide a great deal of warmth and acceptance -​ But few, if any, rules or restrictions -​ Little monitoring or discipline -​ Child outcomes  -​ At least relf-relient, explorative, and self-controlled -​ Poor social skills Disengaged Parents -​ Do not set limits or rules for their children -​ Are not emotionally connected to them -​ Child outcomes -​ More angry and defiant -​ Lower academic achievement -​ More internalized distress and problem behavior Lee, Altschul, & Gershoff (2015) Reading Guide Introduction 1.​ What does family coercion theory suggest regarding parental aggression? Does family coercion theory predict that spanking will increase or decrease over time? -​ Parental aggression, such as spanking, can lead to a cycle of increasing aggression within the family as children become resistant and parents escalate their disciplinary methods -​.The theory suggests that spanking is likely to increase over time as part of the cycle of increasing aggression between parents and children. 2.​ Which parent is more likely to spank their child? Why? -​ The study indicated that mothers are more likely to spank their kids than fathers. -​ Mothers spend more time with their children and are more involved with disciplining them. 3.​ What is one of the limitations of previous literature on spanking? -​ There is a focus on mothers, which leaves a gap in understanding the full dynamics of parental spanking -​.Limited exploration of fathers' spanking 4.​ In this article, what was the research hypothesis on fathers’ use of spanking? -​ It aimed to explore whether the dynamics observed in mother-child interaction regarding spanking and aggression also apply to father-child interactions.  5.​ Did the researchers expect that the influence of spanking by fathers and mothers would be similar or different? -​ They suspected that both parent's use of spanking would be comparable and have similar effects on the child's aggression. Method 6.​ How did the researchers measure spanking? -​ Initial questioning of speaking: survey questions if they had spanked their kid in the past month -​ Frequency of spanking: if they reported that they spanked their child, they asked how often using a scale system -​ Creation of n ordinal variable: the answers were combined to make an ordinal variable representing spanking frequency using a scale system 7.​ How did the researchers measure aggression? -​ Child behavior checklist: 3-5 years old -​ Each age was asked questions and answered by mothers. 8.​ What study design was used? (i.e., was the design experimental, longitudinal, cross-sectional, sequential, or microgenetic?) -​ A longitudinal design study Results 9.​ Was there more spanking by mothers or fathers? -​ Mothers spanked their kids more. 10.​How did the amount of spanking change with the age of the child? -​ There was an increase in spankings from 1-3 (21.3%) (52.8%)years old, followed by a slight decrease at 5 (45.7%) 11.​Look at Figures 1, 2, and 3. Solid lines indicate a significant association between two variables, while dotted lines indicate a non-significant association between two variables. Give one example of two variables that are significantly associated and one example of two that are not. -​ Significantly associated: mothers' spanking was associated with subsequent child aggression. -​ Non-significant association: fathers spanking was not significantly associated with subsequent child aggression Discussion 12.​What had previous research on fathers’ use of spanking included (or failed to include) that makes this study unique? -​ Simultaneous examination of both parents -​ Transactional nature of parent-child interactions -​ Focused on the father's influence -​ Cross-lagged path models 13.​Were the researchers’ hypotheses concerning father-child transactional processes supported by their results? What were the results of the father-child transactional processes? -​ Lack of predictive association -​ There is no evidence of transactional processes -​ There is little association between the fathers 14.​What were some limitations of this study? -​ Sample generalization: used married or cohabiting parents in urban areas -​ Shared rater variance: The study relied on mother ratings of child aggression -​ Sample bias: favored advantaged families -​ Measurement of parental involvement: parental involvement was limited -​ Missing data: missing data for the child aggression variables, ages 3-5 -​ -​ There is no association with dad spanking leading to more aggression -​ Mother spanking with child being three did lead to more child aggression Stress and Coping -​ Stress is anything that places excessive demands on our ability to cope. -​ Fight or flight responses may be effective for short-term threats but exhausting for long-term stress. -​ Researchers found that as the number of adverse experiences during childhood increases, so does their negative impact on a person's health and well-being. Impact of adverse childhood experiences -​ Normative stress, caused by things that happen to most people, is often something we can prepare for and does not overwhelm our ability to cope.  -​ Starting preschool -​ Learning to drive -​ Non-normative stress: the experience of unusual and unexpected distressing events that overwhelm us -​ Hospitalization -​ Coping: the conscious effort we make to regulate our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors when stressful situations challenge us -​ Problem-focused strategies: focus on solving the stressful problem, efforts to change the source of the stress or one's relationship to it -​ Best for situations when you can change or control the situation 1.​ Active coping - taking action to remove the source of the stress or soften its effects 2.​ Planning - thinking about the best way to handle the situation 3.​ Seeking instrumental social support - seeking advice, assistance, or information from others 4.​ Restraint coping - waiting for the right opportunity to take action -​ Emotion-focused strategies: focus on reducing or managing emotional distress, attempts to manage or regulate the emotions caused by the situation -​ Suitable for situations that are beyond your control 1.​ Expressing or venting feelings - releasing the emotions surrounding the situation 2.​ Seeking emotional support - seeking moral support, sympathy, or understanding 3.​ Accepting the situation - realizing that one must accommodate the situation because it can’t be changed 4.​ Positive reframing or reappraisal - viewing the stressful situation in a more positive way Ways to help children cope with stress -​ Watch for changes in behaviors (e.g., regression to earlier behaviors, aggression, clinginess, behavioral issues, physical symptoms) -​ Help them to think about problem-solving strategies that might work for them or help them use emotion-focused strategy. Three stages of Prenatal development Germinal Stages (conception to 2 weeks) -​ Fertilization- the union of father sperm and mother egg to produce a zygote -​ Cell division begins as the zygote travels through the fallopian tube -​ Creation of the blastocyst-hollow ball of cells  -​ Implantation in the uterine wall -​ Blastocyst has a solid group of cells called the inner cell mass and an outer ring of cells called the trophoblast = hollow ball. -​ Inner cell mass becomes the embryo. -​ Trophoblast becomes placenta Embryonic Stage (2 weeks to 2 months) -​ During this stage, the inner cell mass differentiates into three layers, each developing into different organs and structures. -​ Ectoderm: skin, sense organs, brain, and spinal cord -​ Mesoderm: muscles, blood, bones, and circulatory system -​ Endoderm: respiratory system, digestive system, liver, and pancreas -​ The placenta develops to nourish the embryo -​ Organogenesis: development of internal organs; heart begins to beat -​ Critical period: a period in development during which anything in the prenatal environment that disrupts the process at this point can cause damage that is both severe and irreversible -​ The cephalocaudal direction of development starts from the head region and progresses down through the body Fetal Stage (2 months to birth) -​ Continued growth of the fetus -​ Increase in size and weight -​ Sexual differentiation (transformation of genitalia of the fetus into male or female genitalia) -​ Prenatal “breathing” (breathing movements begin, but there is no air, so they breathe in and expel amniotic fluid) -​ Movement of the fetus -​ Development of the senses (e.g., touch, smell, taste, auditory, visual) Three trimesters of pregnancy -​ 0-3 months: -​ Morning sickness due to hormonal changes -​ Fatigue -​ 4-6 months: -​ A woman feels the baby -​ 7-9 months: -​ Fatigue and discomfort -​ Fetus “drops’ to get into position for Baby Growth -​ Body proportions change from infancy through childhood -​ Bone growth -​ Arms and legs lengthen while the head becomes more in proportion -​ Teeth -​ Babies are usually born toothless, but within the first year, baby teeth emerge. -​ At about age 6, most children lose their first baby tooth. Motor development -​ Permanent reflexes -​ Breathing -​ Blinking -​ Pupillary -​ Swallowing -​ Neonatal reflexes -​ Typically seen during the first year of life but then disappear by the end of the first year. -​ Rooting reflex: if a baby's cheek is gently stroked, it will turn in the direction of the touch and begin to do so with its mouth (disappears around 4 months) -​ Palmar grasp: when the baby's palm is touched with another index finger, they will clench the finger (disappears around 6 months) -​ Moro reflex or startle reflex: hears a loud noise, is startling, or losing support, the babies shoot their legs and arms out and then tuck in (disappears around 3 months) Development of motor skills -​ Gross motor: skills that involve the large muscle groups of the body- for example, the legs and arms -​ Fine motor: skills that involve small movements, mainly of the hands and fingers, but also of the lips and tongue -​ Motor skills interact with others' areas of development -​ Babies learn to perceive the environment with their bodies (visual cliff) Motor development -​ Cephalocaudal direction of motor skills -​ Hold up head, roll over, sit up, crawling -​ Proximodistal direction-center to outside -​ Control core than control arms and legs  -​ Control of arms, then control of hands Development of senses -​ Vision -​ Visual acuity 20/400 at birth -​ In one month, it has improved to 20/200 -​ By six months, it’s 20/25 to 20/30 -​ Infant visual preferences: high contrast and faces -​ Hearing -​ Begins prenatally -​ A fetus becomes attuned to the mother's voice -​ Smell and Taste -​ Preference for the mother smell -​ Babies taste what their mother eats prenatally in the amniotic fluid and after birth through breast milk, and they prefer those tastes. -​ Touch -​ Massage improves growth and effectively soothes babies -​ Babies feel pain. They can be helpful by being held -​ In one study, babies who were held skin-to-skin contact with their mothers cried less when given a slightly painful medical procedure (heel prick to extract a small amount of blood) Sensitive and Critical periods -​ Sensitive periods: -begins and ends gradually- period of maximal sensitivity -​ Hiegnted sensitivity to external stimuli that are compulsory for the development of a particular skill -​ After the window closes, the skill cannot develop or will be highly Tampere with -​ Language: sensitive period: around 7 years of age -​ Sensitive to environmental stimuli essential for language development -​ Note: begins and ends gradually -​ After the sensitive period, we can still learn -​ But, the learning process is less efficient -​ Critical period: -begins and ends abruptly-period beyond which a phenomenon will not appear -​ Vision -​ Certain areas of the visual cortex are only capable of synapse formation during the early stages of development. -​ Once the critical period passes, the individual will have the same vision impairment if not exposed to visual stimuli.  -​ Note: finite period -​ Vision Study: -​ Hubel and Wiesel -​ Temperaryarily blindfolded one eye of a kitten during a critical period of visual development. -​ One eye was covered from birth to 3 months. -​ When the blindfold was removed, the kitten never fully developed a vision in the blindfolded eye. -​ This resulted in redacted and reduced deduced dendritic branching at the end of the neuron. Structures of the Brain -​ The corpus callosum connects the left and right hemispheres -​ Corpus callosum allows the two sides to communicate with each other Parts of the Brain -​ Cerebrum: made up of different lobes. -​ Cerebellum: balance and equilibrium, coordination of voluntary movement, fine muscle control -​ Brain stem: breathing, heart rate, body temperature, alertness, and ability to sleep, digest, and swallow. -​ Amygdala - responsible for emotions and mood -​ Hypocampus - processes and stores long-term information -​ The amygdala and hippocampus lie deep inside the brain Developmental Processes -​ The brain develops and changes from infancy through adolescence 1.​ Development of the connections between nerve cells called synapses (Synapotogenesis) 2.​ Development of myelin sheath that coats the nerve cells (myelination) Neurons and synaptic connections -​ The human brain is made of approximately 86 billion neurons -​ Neurons send messages via neurotransmitters through axons and receive them through dendrites -​ The place where the axon from one neuron meets the dendrites of another neuron is called the synapse -​ Neurons and their synaptic connections make up the grey matter of the brain -​ Infants are born with almost all the neurons they will ever have; however, they have relatively few synaptic connections between them -​ This makes babies more open to learning from their environment  -​ The experiences babies have shaped their development of synaptic connections -​ After the production of synapses in infancy, unused synapses are pruned away (synaptic pruning) Myelination of neurons -​ For neurons to work efficiently, they must be coated with a fatty substance called myelin. -​ Myelinaton-process of laying down a fatty sheath of myelin on the neurons -​ Myelination continues throughout childhood and adolescence Brain development throughout childhood and adolescence -​ The brain continues to develop during childhood and adolescence -​ Myelination of speech centers and motor centers, particularly fine motor skills -​ Development is still occurring in the prefrontal cortex ( reasoning, judgment, and impulse control) -​ The connections between reasoning centers and emotion centers(amygdala) are still developing