Human Development PDF

Chapter 1 introduction to lifespan development LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT Development: the pattern of change beginning at conception and continuing throughout the life span. Life-span perspective: the perspective that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinar...

Chapter 1 introduction to lifespan development LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT Development: the pattern of change beginning at conception and continuing throughout the life span. Life-span perspective: the perspective that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual. Studying life-span development: Prepares the individual to take responsibility for children. Gives insight about individuals' lives and history. Provides knowledge about what individuals' lives will be like as they age into their adult years. LIFE EXPECTANCY -​ The upper boundary of the human lifespan is 122 years. -​ Life expectancy in the United States is about 76 years. -​ People are living longer in part due to better sanitation, nutrition, and medicine. -​ Currently, more people are over 60 than under 18. -​ The rapid increase in life expectancy represents both challenges and opportunities. -​ Society reflects the needs of younger people -​ The focus has been on what older adults lack, not what they can contribute to society DIMENSIONS OF THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE Development has these qualities: Lifelong. Multidimensional. Multidirectional. Plastic. Contextual. It involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss. It is a co-construction of biological, sociocultural, and individual factors. Developmental science is multidisciplinary. TYPES OF CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES All development occurs within a context: a setting influenced by historical, economic, social, and cultural factors. Normative age-graded influences Normative history-graded influences Nonnormative life events CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS IN LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT Health and well-being: Lifestyles and psychological states Clinical psychologists are among the health professionals who help people improve their well-being. Parenting and education: Many questions involve pressures on the contemporary family and conditions impairing the effectiveness of U.S. schools. Sociocultural contexts and diversity: Culture: behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a group passed on from generation to generation. Cross-cultural studies: comparison of one culture with one or more other cultures to gain information about their developmental similarities. Ethnicity: a characteristic based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and language. Socioeconomic status: grouping of people with similar occupational, educational, and economic characteristics. Gender: characteristics of people as males or females. Transgender refers to individuals who adopt a gender identity that differs from the one assigned to them at birth. Social policy: a national government's course of action designed to promote the welfare of its citizens. Values, economics, and politics all shape a nation's social policy. BIOLOGICAL, COGNITIVE, AND SOCIOEMOTIONAL PROCESSES Biological processes: changes in an individual's physical nature Cognitive processes: changes in an individual's thought, intelligence, and language Socioemotional processes: changes in an individual's relationships, emotions, and personality PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT Developmental penoa refers to a time frame in a person's life characterized by certain features. Prenatal period: conception to birth. Infancy: birth to 18 or 24 months. Toddler: 18 months to 3 years of age.  Early childhood: End of Infancy to about 5 years of age. Middle and late childhood: about 6 to 10 or 11 years old. Adolescence: 10 to 12 years old, to 18 to 21 years Emerging adulthood: 18 to 25 years of age. Early adulthood: early twenties through the thirty. Middle adulthood: forties and fifties. Late adulthood: sixties or seventies, until death. Developmental patterns of aging Normal aging Pathological aging Successful aging DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES Nature-nurture issue: the debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture Nature refers to a biological inheritance. Nurture refers to its environmental experiences DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES Stability-change issue: the debate about the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or change. Continuity-discontinuity issue: the debate about the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity), or distinct stages (discontinuity) CONTINUOUS CHANGE VS.DISCONTINUOUS CHANGE In continuous change, development is gradual Discontinuous change occurs in distinct steps or stages THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT Psychoanalytic theories. Cognitive theories. Behavioral and social cognitive theories. Ethological theory. Ecological theory. An eclectic theoretical orientation. THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT The scientific method is a four-step approach that can be used to obtain accurate information: Conceptualize a process or problem. Collect data.  Analyze the data. Draw conclusions. Theory: an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and facilitate predictions. Hypotheses: specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determine their accuracy. The theory may suggest the hypothesis. Psychoanalytic theories: describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES Freud's theory: Through his work with patients, Freud became convinced that their problems were the result of experiences early in life. Five stages of psychosexual development. Adult personality is determined by the way we resolve conflicts between sources of pleasure at each stage and the demands of reality. Erikson's psychosocial theory: The primary motivation for behavior is social in nature. Personality and developmental change occurs throughout the life span. Both early and later experiences are important. Erikson's theory: includes eight stages of human development, each representing a crisis that must be resolved. Trust versus mistrust: first year of infancy. Autonomy versus shame and doubt: 1 to 3 years. Initiative versus guilt: 3 to 5 years. Industry versus inferiority: 6 years to puberty. Identity versus identity confusion: 10 to 20 years. Intimacy versus isolation: twenties and thirties. Generativity versus stagnation: forties and fifties. Integrity versus despair: sixties to death. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES Criticisms of psychoanalytic theories: Evaluating psychoanalytic theories: Contributions include an emphasis on a developmental framework, family relationships, and unconscious aspects of the mind. Criticisms of psychoanalytic theories: Lack of scientific support. Too much emphasis on sexual underpinnings.  An image of people that is too negative. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES Evaluating psychoanalytic theories: Contributions include an emphasis on a developmental framework, family relationships, and unconscious aspects of the mind. Criticisms of psychoanalytic theories: Lack of scientific support. Too much emphasis on sexual underpinnings. An image of people that is too negative. COGNITIVE THEORIES Focus on processes that allow people to know, understand, and think about the world Internal representation of the world Cognitive abilities change Piaget's cognitive developmental theory: Piaget's theory: children go through four stages of cognitive development as they actively construct their understanding of the world. Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years of age). Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years of age). Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years of age). Formal operational stage (11 years of age through adulthood. Two processes underlie this: organization and adaptation. FIGURE 7: PIAGET'S FOUR STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT According to Piaget, how a child thinks—not how much the child knows— determines the child's stage of cognitive development. Vygotsky's sociocultural cognitive theory: emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide and are inseparable from cognitive development. Reciprocal transaction The environment as Scaffolding Pros: One of the first to recognize importance of culture and social experience Cons: Ignores biological factors Minimizes the individual's role in their own environment The information-processing theory: Emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it.  Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking. Neo-Piagetian Theory Cognition consists of different types of skills Computer metaphor FIGURE 8: COMPARING THE INFORMATION PROCESSING OF HUMANS AND COMPUTERS Psychologists who study cognition often use a computer analogy to explain how humans process information. The brain is analogous to the computer's hardware, and cognition is analogous to the computer's software. Pros Central to understanding Cons Does not capture all aspects of development BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORIES Behavioral and social cognitive theories: development can be described in terms of behaviors learned through interactions with our surroundings. Skinner's operant conditioning: Development consists of the pattern of behavioral changes brought about by rewards and punishments. BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORIES Bandura's social cognitive theory: Emphasizes behavior, environment, and cognition as the key factors in development. Relations are reciprocal ETHOLOGICAL THEORY Ethology: stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by experiences during critical or sensitive periods. Lorenz's research with greylag geese: Konrad Lorenz helped bring ethology to prominence by showing the developmental importance of the imprinting behavior of geese. Critical period: a certain, very early point at which imprinting must take place. John Bowlby determined that attachment to a caregiver over the first year of life has important consequences for optimal social relationship development throughout the lifespan. Sensitive period: the time attachment should optimally occur. Ecological Theory Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory: development reflects the influence of five environmental systems. Microsystem Mesosystem Exosystem Macrosystem Chronosystem All are affected by each other and by events occurring over time. AN ECLECTIC THEORETICAL ORIENTATION An eclectic theoretical orientation does not follow any one theoretical approach. Selects the best features RESEARCH ON LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT Methods for collecting data. Research designs. Time span research Conducting ethical research. METHODS FOR COLLECTING DATA Observation: Laboratory: a controlled setting where many of the complex factors of the "real world" are absent. Naturalistic observation: observing behavior in real-world settings, making no effort to manipulate or control the situation. Survey and interview: Survey: a standard set of clear and unbiased questions used to obtain people's reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic; sometimes referred to as a questionnaire. Interview: individuals are directly asked to self-report. Standardized test: a test administered and scored utilizing uniform procedures to compare performance across individuals. Case study: an in-depth look at a single individual. Physiological measures: Measure of hormones such as cortisol. Neuroimaging or fMRI. Electroencephalography (EEG).  Heart rate. Eye tracking. Gene testing. RESEARCH DESIGNS Descriptive research: a research method designed to observe and record behavior. Correlational research: attempts to determine the strength of the relationship between two or more events or characteristics. Correlation coefficient: a number based on statistical analysis that is used to describe the degree of association between two variables. Ranges from -1.00 to +1.00. The higher the correlation coefficient (whether positive or negative), the stronger the association between the two variables. Correlation DOES NOT equal causation. RESEARCH DESIGNS Experimental research: Experiment: a carefully regulated procedure in which one or more of the factors belleved to influence the behavior being studied are manipulated while all other factors are held constant. Causality The independent variable is a manipulated factor that is a potential cause. The dependent variable is a factor that can change in response to changes in the independent variable. RESEARCH DESIGNS Experiments can involve one or more experimental groups and one or more control groups. A control group is a comparison group that serves as a baseline. Random assignment is an important principle in experimental research. Participants are assigned to experimental and control groups by chance. TIME SPAN OF RESEARCH Cross-sectional approach: a research strategy that compares individuals of different ages simultaneously. Longitudinal approach: a research strategy where the same individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several years or more. Cohort effects: characteristics determined by a person's time of birth, era, or generation rather than the person's actual age. CONDUCTING ETHICAL RESEARCH The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed ethics guidelines to address four issues: Informed consent: participants must know what their participation will involve and must be able to withdraw at will. Confidentiality: data must be kept confidential and, when possible, anonymous. Debriefing: after the study, participants should be informed of its purpose and methods. Deception: when necessary, deception may be used, but the psychologist must ensure it will not harm the participants and that the participants will be debriefed. Chapter 2 Biological beginnings Natural selection: an evolutionary process by which individuals of a species that are best adapted are the ones that survive and leave the most fit offspring. Over the course of many generations, organisms with the characteristics needed for survival make up an increased percentage of the population. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY Evolutionary psychology: emphasizes the importance of adaptation and reproduction to ensure survival. Offspring that adapts, develops behaviors, and possesses self-protective traits survive. Evaluating evolutionary psychology: Criticisms include that it: Does not adequately value social/environmental factors. Does not led itself to empirical study. Evolution does not dictate behavior. An alternative bidirectional view suggests environmental and biological conditions influence each other. People have used their biological capacities to produce diverse cultures. GENETIC FOUNDATIONS Human life begins as a single cell. The nucleus of each cell contains chromosomes. Chromosomes: threadlike structures made up of deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA: a complex double-helix molecule that contains genetic code or information. Genes: units of hereditary information composed of DNA. Help cells to reproduce themselves. Manufacture the proteins that maintain life. has its own designated place on a particular chromosome Whether a gene is expressed— working to assemble proteins—is a matter of collaboration. Genetic expression is affected by environmental factors. Hormones in the blood can turn genes "on" and "off." Stress, exercise, nutrition, radiation, temperature, and lack of sleep can negatively influence gene expression. SOURCES OF VARIABILITY Combining the genes of two parents in offspring increases variability in the population. The chromosomes are brought together in the zygote in a unique combination. Mutated gene: a permanently altered segment of DNA. Genotype vs. Phenotype Susceptibility genes: genes that make the individual more vulnerable to specific diseases or accelerated aging. Longevity genes: genes that make the individual less vulnerable to certain diseases and more likely to live to an older age. Genetic principles determine how a genotype is expressed to create a particular phenotype. Dominant-recessive genes principle: One gene of a pair always exerts its effects, overriding the potential influence of the other gene. GENETIC PRINCIPLES Polygenic inheritance: - Many different genes interacting, plus environmental influences, determine a characteristic or developing disease. - Ex: height, diseases Gene-gene interaction: studies focusing on the interdependence of two or more genes in influencing characteristics, behavior, diseases, and development. BEHAVIOR GENETICS Behavior genetics: the field that seeks to discover the influence of heredity and environment on individual differences in human traits, development, and behavior. Twin study: the behavioral similarity of identical twins is compared with the behavioral similarity of fraternal twins. Adoption study: seeks to discover whether behavioral and psychological characteristics of adopted children are more like those of their adoptive parents or biological parents. Adoptive parents provided the home environment. Biological parents contributed their heredity. Passive genotype-environment correlations Active (niche-picking) genotype-environment correlations Evocative genotype-environment correlations THE EPIGENETIC VIEW AND GENE * ENVIRONMENT (G x E) INTERACTION Epigenetic view: development is the result of an ongoing, bidirectional interchange between heredity and environment. Examples: Infancy - Prenatal development THE EPIGENETIC VIEW AND GENE X ENVIRONMENT (G x E) interaction Gene X environment (G x E) interaction: specific measured variation in the D N A and a specific measured aspect of the environment. The epigenetic mechanisms involve the actual molec modification of the D N A strand as a result of environ inputs in ways that alter gene functioning. 5-HTTLPR gene involving serotonin - Long and short versions * Depression CONCLUSIONS ABOUT HEREDITY-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION The relative contributions of heredity and environment are not additive. Genes produce proteins or not in many different environments throughout the life span. Complex behaviors are influenced by genes and environments in a way that gives people a propensity for a particular developmental trajectory. We also can author a unique developmental path by changing the environment. PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT: TOPICS The Course of Prenatal Development. Prenatal test Infertility and reproductive technology. Hazards to Prenatal Development. Normal Prenatal Development. Prenatal Care. THE COURSE OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT The germinal period: The germinal period of prenatal development occurs in the first 2 weeks after conception. It includes: Creation of the zygote. Continued cell division. Attachment of the zygote to the uterine wall. Major developments in the germinal period: Just one week after conception, cells of the blastocyst have already begun specializing. The germinal period ends when the blastocyst attaches to the uterine wall. THE COURSE OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT The embryonic period: The embryonic period of prenatal development occurs 2 to 8 weeks after conception. The rate of cell differentiation intensifies, and the mass of cells is now called embryo. Three layers of cells: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm (inner, middle, and outer layers). Life-support systems for the embryo form, and organs appear. Organogenesis: organ formation that takes place during the first 2 months of prenatal development. THE COURSE OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT As the embryo's three layers form, life-support systems for the embryo develop rapidly. Amnion: a sac that contains a clear fluid in which the developing embryo floats. Umbilical cord: contains two arteries and one vein and connects the baby to the placenta. Placenta: a disk-shaped group of tissues in which small blood vessels from the mother and the fetus intertwine but do not join. - Large molecules cannot pass through - Red blood cells, some harmful substances THE COURSE OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT The fetal period: - The fetal period lasts about seven months - Starts 2 months after conception and lasts until birth. At birth, the average American baby weighs 8 pounds and is about 20 inches long. FIGURE 8: THE THREE TRIMESTERS OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT Prenatal deveopment is also commonly divided into three equal periods of three months, called trimesters. These are not the same as the germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods. Both the germinal and embryonic periods occur during the first trimester. The end of the first trimester as well as the second and third trimesters are part of the fetal period BRAIN DEVELOPMENT Babies are born with 20 to 100 billion neurons-the nerve cells in the brain that handle information processing at the cellular level. Four important phases of the brain's development in the prenatal period involve: Formation of the neural tube; Neurogenesis; Neural migration; and Neural connectivity. BRAIN DEVELOPMENT The pear-shaped neural tube develops out of the ectoderm at about 18 to 24 days after conception. - Failure of the neural tube to close results in birth defects Anencephaly (head end of neural tube) Spina bifida (incomplete development of spinal cord Factors increase or decrease the risk of neural tube defects  Maternal diabetes - Maternal stress - Folic acid BRAIN DEVELOPMENT Neurogenesis is the massive proliferation of new immature neurons, beginning at about week 5 and continuing through the remainder of the prenatal period. Neuronal migration, the process of cells moving outward from their point of origin to their appropriate locations takes place between 6 and 24 weeks. Neural connectivity, at about the 23rd week, is when connections between neurons begin to occur. Continues postnatally PRENATAL TESTS A number of tests can indicate whether a fetus is developing normally: Ultrasound sonography. Chorionic villus sampling. Amniocentesis. Maternal blood screening and cell-free DNA. Fetal MRI Infertility: the inability to conceive a child after 12 months - 10-15% of couples in the United States In vitro fertilization (IVF): a process in which eggs and sperm are combined in a laboratory dish by experts. One or more of the resulting zygotes is transferred into the woman's uterus. Increase in low birth weight and preterm birth Multiples increase the likelihood of complications HAZARDS TO PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT Timing and quantity of exposure are crucial. Probably every fetus is exposed to some level of teratogens. * Timing and quantity of exposure are crucial. Sensitivity depends on periods of prenatal development, racial and cultural background, living in poverty. Severity of damage and type of defect depend on: Dose Genetic susceptibility Time of exposure. Negative effects of exposure during the fetal period include: Stunted growth. Fetal brain development problems. Organ functioning problems. HAZARDS TO PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT Both prescription and nonprescription drugs can have effects on the embryo or fetus. Prescription drugs that can function as teratogens include: Antibiotics, such as streptomycin and tetracycline. Some antidepressants. Certain hormones, such as progestin and synthetic estrogen. Isotretinoin acne medication. Psychoactive drugs act on the nervous system, altering states of consciousness, modifying perceptions, and changing moods. Examples include caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. Caffeine has been linked to lower birth weight and babies being born small for gestational age. Alcohol can be devastating. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are a cluster of abnormalities that appear in the offspring of some mothers who drink alcohol heavily during pregnancy. Effects include facial deformities, limb and heart defects, learning problems, and many other issues. HAZARDS TO PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT Nicotine (cigarette smoking by pregnant women) Infants of mothers addicted to heroin Cocaine Marijuana use Synthetic opioids and opiate-related pain killers Environmental hazards to the embryo or fetus include radiation, toxic wastes, and other chemical pollutants. X-ray radiation can affect the developing embryo or fetus. Maternal diseases: Rubella. Syphilis. Genital herpes. HIV AIDS. Hazards to Prenatal Development Mother's prenatal influence Diet  Age. Prenatal support Health Drug use Use of alcohol and tobacco - Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) - Fetal alcohol effects (FAE) Hazards to Prenatal Development Father's prenatal influence Relatively little research Smoking Use of alcohol and illegal drugs Environmental toxins in father's workplace Physical or emotional abuse PRENATAL CARE CenteringPregnancy Relationship-centered program providing complete prenatal care in a group setting or group prenatal care. Replaces 15 min. doctor's appointment with 90 min. peer group session and self-exam led by physician or midwife Empowering women to play an active role in experiencing a positive pregnancy. Research shows positive outcomes NORMAL PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT Prospective parents should take steps to avoid vulnerabilities to fetal development. Most of the time, however, development occurs along a positive path. BIRTH AND THE POSTPARTUM PERIOD: TOPICS The birth process. The Transition from Fetus to Newborn. The Postpartum Period. Bonding Low Birth Weight and Preterm Infants. The Process of Birth Begins Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) triggers (for some still unknown reason) the release of various hormones, and the process that leads to birth begins. Oxytocin is released by the mother's pituitary gland.  Uterus begins periodic contractions. - Braxton-Hicks contractions: false labor Approaches to Childbirth A variety of strategies No single procedure effective for all mothers and fathers No conclusive research evidence A wide variety of different issues and options involved - One's culture plays a role. Approaches to childbirth Childbirth setting and attendants: Who Delivers? In the United States, Most births take place in hospitals - Obstetrician - Of the few births outside of hospitals 63% are at home 31% at birthing centers. Midwives provide healthcare to women during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Very few births in the U.S. are attended by a midwife. A Doula is a caregiver who provides continuous the smother botione, daring, na tier support for Typically functions as part of a "birthing team." Use of Anesthesia and Pain-Reducing Drugs Types Analgesia Anesthesia Epidural anesthesia Walking epidural or dual spinal-epidural Avtarin/Pitocin Effects Anesthetics may temporarily depress the flow of oxygen to the fetus and slow labor. Newborns may be less physiologically responsive, show poorer motor control during the first days after birth, cry more, and may have more difficulty initiating breastfeeding. As they are typically used, have minimal risk to fetus The birth process Methods of childbirth: Three basic kinds of drugs used for labor are analgesia, anesthesia, and oxytocin/Pitocin. Natural childbirth: attempts to reduce the mother's pain by decreasing her fear through information and instruction in relaxation techniques. Prepared childbirth: the Lamaze method. Includes a special breathing technique to control pushing, along with a more detailed anatomy and physiology course. Newer non medicated techniques include waterbirth, massage, and acupuncture. The birth process Cesarean delivery: * In a cesarean delivery, the baby is surgically removed from the mother's uterus through an abdominal incision. Indicated in cases of breech position, fetal distress, maternal vaginal bleeding, and a natural birth hindered by an epidural. Breech position: the baby's position in the uterus causes the buttocks to be the first part to emerge. The benefits and risks of cesarean delivery continue to be debated. High percentage in the U.S. THE TRANSITION FROM FETUS TO NEWBORN Birth involves considerable stress for the baby but the baby has considerable capacity to withstand that stress. Apgar scale: a method for assessing the health of newborns at one and five minutes after birth. Infant's heart rate. Respiratory effort. Muscle tone. Body color. Reflex irritability. Low Apgar scores are associated with long-term educational support, ADHD, and developmental risks. LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND PRETERM INFANTS Preterm infants are born before the full term is completed— 35 or fewer weeks after conception. Not enough time to fully develop as fetuses At risk for illness and death Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) In 2018, 10% of U.S. infants were born preterm. The chances of a fetus surviving greatly improve from 22 weeks to births, and lilastrate oro wee ents in survival rates 1993 through 2015 LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND PRETERM INFANTS Low birth weight infants weigh less than 5 pounds 8 ounces. Very low birth weight: less than 3 pounds 4 ounces. Extremely low birth weight: less than 2 pounds 3 ounces. Small for date infants (or small for gestational age infants) are infants with birth weights below normal considering the length of pregnancy. May be full term or preterm. EFFECTS OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND PRETERM BIRTH Although most are healthy, as a group they have more health problems and developmental delays. The number and severity increase when they are born very early and very small. Preterm Higher rates of developmental delay, intellectual disability, speech/language disorder, learning disability, and ADHD Low Birth Weight Increased risk of brain damage, lower levels of executive function, lower intelligence, learning disability, ADHD, and breathing problems LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND PRETERM INFANTS Nurturing low birth weight and preterm infants: Kangaroo care: skin-to-skin contact with the baby upright against the parent's bare chest. Massage therapy has been linked to increased infant weight, reduced stress, and a reduced hospital stay. BONDING Bonding - the formation of a connection, especially a physical bond between parents and their newborn shortly after birth. Critical period? Rooming-in arrangement the baby remains in the mother's room most of the time during its hospital stay. Postpartum period: the period after childbirth that lasts until the mother's body has completed its adjustment and has returned to a nearly prepregnant state. Adjustments needed are: Physical Emotional Psychological Physical adjustments Fatigue Loss of sleep Hormonal changes estrogen and progesterone levels dropping steeply when the placenta is delivered remaining low until the ovaries start producing hormones again Involution the process by which the uterus returns to its prepregnant size five or six weeks after birth. EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENTS Postpartum Blues Postpartum depression: a condition experienced by women that have trouble coping with daily tasks during the postpartum period. - Risk factors include depression and anxiety during pregnancy, low self-esteem, postpartum blues, poor marital relationship, lack of social support, and history of depression. - Can have a long-term impact on the child's emotions and behaviors. A spouse or partner experiencing depression also affects the infant; and both parents experiencing depression negatively impacts infant bonding. Chapter 3 Physical and Cognitive in infancy PATTERNS OF GROWTH Cephalocaudal pattern: developmental sequence in which the earliest growth always occurs at the top—the head. Physical growth and differentiation of features gradually work their way down from top to bottom. Proximodistal pattern: sequence in which growth starts at the center of the body and moves toward the extremities. FIGURE 1: CHANGES IN PROPORTIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY DURING GROWTH As individuals develop from infancy through adulthood, one of the most noticeable physical changes is that the head becomes smaller in relation to the rest of the body. The fractions listed refer to head size as a proportion of total body length at different ages. Height and weight The average American newborn is 20 inches long and weighs 7.6 pounds. Most newborns are 18 to 22 inches long and weigh between 5 and 10 pounds. Babies grow about 1 inch per month during the first year. Infants weigh approximately 26 to 32 pounds. By 2 years of age: They average 32 to 35 inches in height. Growth is Episodic The Brain The brain is still developing rapidly in infancy. Shaken baby syndrome includes brain swelling and hemorrhaging and affects hundreds of babies in the U.S. each year. Noninvasive tools that measure brain activity: - Electroencephalogram (EE G). - Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (F N R I S). Mapping the brain: The forebrain-the portion farthest from the spinal cord-includes the cerebral cortex and the structures beneath it. The brain has two hemispheres, each with four lobes. Lateralization: specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other; both, however, are needed for complex functions. Changes in neurons: Myelination-the pace of which varies. Changes in regions of the brain: The age at which "blooming" and "pruning" of synapses occurs varies by brain region. Both heredity and environment are thought to influence the timing and course. Figure 5: The Neuron (a) The dendrites of the cell body receive information from other neurons, muscles, or glands through the axon. (b) Axons transmit information away from the cell body. (c) A myelin sheath covers most axons and speeds information transmission. (d) As the axon ends, it branches out into terminal buttons. FIGURE 6: SYNAPTIC DENSITY IN THE HUMAN BRAIN FROM INFANCY TO ADULTHOOD The graph shows the dramatic increase and then pruning in synaptic density for three regions of the brain: visual cortex, auditory cortex, and prefrontal cortex. Synaptic density is believed to be an important indication of the extent of connectivity between neurons. The brain Children in a deprived environment may have depressed brain activity. For some individuals, the effects of deprived environments are reversible. - The brain demonstrates both flexibility and resilience. - Example: the case of Michael Rehbein FIGURE 7: PLASTICITY IN THE BRAIN'S HEMISPHERES  (a) Michael Rehbein at 14 years of age. (b) Brain scans of an intact brain (left) and Michael's right hemisphere (right). Michael's right hemisphere has reorganized to take over the language functions normally carried out by corresponding areas in the left hemisphere of an intact brain (left). However, the right hemisphere is not as efficient as the left, and more areas of the brain are recruited to process speech. The brain The infant's brain depends on experiences to determine how connections are made. Neuroconstructivist view: Biological processes and environmental conditi the brain's development. The brain has plasticity and is context depender The child's cognitive development is closely link development of the brain. Sleep The typical newborn sleeps 16 to 17 hours a day. Sleep-related problems affect 20 to 30% of infants. Especially night-time waking. Factors include bedtime routines, maternal depression, and screen time. REM sleep: Half of an infant's sleep is REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the most in the life span. REM sleep may provide added self-stimulation and might promote the brain's development in infancy SIDS: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): a condition that occurs when infants stop breathing and die without any apparent reason. Risk is highest at 2 to 4 months of age. The incidence of SIDS decreases when infants are placed to sleep on their backs. The two factors that best predict SIDS: Maternal smoking. Bed sharing Sleep and cognitive development: Sleep may be positively linked to cognitive development. Likely occurs because of sleep's role in brain maturation and memory consolidation. Better memory, language, and executive function. Shorter sleep duration has been linked to inattentiveness and hyperactivity. Nutrition  From birth to 1 year of age, infants nearly triple their weight and increase their length by 40 percent. Human milk or an alternative formula is the baby's source of nutrients and energy. The benefits of breastfeeding for both the baby and the mother are significant. - Exclusive breast feeding is recommended for the first six months, followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced. - Note that breastfeeding versus bottle feeding studies are correlational; none of the findings imply causality. Nutrition - When infected with AIDS or any other infectious disease that can be transmitted through her milk. - If she has active tuberculosis. - If she is taking a drug that may not be safe for the infant. Additional issues: - Breast feeding can be physically difficult. - Not all studies imply causality between health benefits and breast feeding; most studies are correlational. - Evidence of psychological differences between breast-fed and bottle-fed infants is inconclusive. Nutritional needs: - Nutritionists recommend that infants consume approximately 50 calories per day for each pound they weigh. - A national study documented that U.S. parents feed their babies too few fruits and vegetables and too much junk food. - Caregivers play very important roles in infants' early development of eating patterns. DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY Dynamic systems theory: the perspective on motor development that seeks to explain how motor behaviors are assembled for perceiving and acting. Reflexes Reflexes-which are automatic and involuntary—are built-in reactions to stimuli that govern the newborn's movements. Rooting reflex: occurs when the infant's cheek is stroked, or the side of the mouth is touched. Sucking reflex: occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in their mouth. Moro reflex: a neonatal startle response that occurs in reaction to a sudden, intense noise or movement. Grasping reflex: occurs when something touches the infant's palms. Gross motor skills Gross motor skills: involve large-muscle activities, such as walking. - As a foundation, these skills depend on the development of posture. - Locomotion and postural control are closely linked, especially in walking upright. Babies can stand by 10 to 12 months and can: - Alternate leg movements and balance on one leg without falling. - Learn safe places and surfaces to walk on and avoid unsafe places. - Utilize perceptual-motor coupling in the development of new motor skills. - Practice their new motor skills. FIGURE 9: ROLES OF EXPERIENCE IN CRAWLING AND WALKING INFANTS’ JUDGMENT OF WHETHER TO GO DOWN A SLOPE Karen Adolph (1997) found that locomotor experience rather than age was the primary predictor of adaptive responding on slopes of varying steepness. Newly crawling and walking infants could not judge the safety of the various slopes. With experience, they learned to avoid slopes where they would fall. When expert crawlers began to walk, they again made mistakes and fell, even though they had judged the same slope accurately when crawling. Adolph referred to this as the specificity of learning because it does not transfer across crawling and walking. FIGURE 10: MILESTONE IN GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT The horizontal red bars indicate the range of ages at which most infants reach various milestones in gross motor development Fine motor skills Fine motor skills: involve more finely tuned movements, such as finger dexterity. During the first two years, infants refine how they reach and grasp. Experience plays a role. Many infants develop a pincer grip and begin to crawl at about the same time. EXPLORING SENSORY AND PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT Sensation: the product of the interaction between information and the sensory receptors—-the eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, and skin. Perception: the interpretation of what is sensed. The ecological view: - In Eleanor and James Gibsons' ecological view, perception brings us into contact with the environment so we can interact with and adapt to it. - Perception is designed for action-that is, it gives people information, such as when to put your hands up to catch something. Studying the infant's perception:  Visual preference method: measuring the length of time infants attend to different stimuli; developed by Robert Fantz. Habituation: decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations. Dishabituation: recovery of a habituated response after a change in stimulation. Eye tracking: measuring eye movements that follow a moving object FIGURE 12: FANTZ'S EXPERIMENT ON INFANTS' VISUAL PERCEPTION (a) Infants 2 to 3 weeks old preferred to look at some stimuli more than others. In Fantz's experiment infants preferred to look at patterns rather than at color or brightness. For example, they looked long at a face, a piece of printed matter, or a bull's-eye than at red, yellow, or white discs. (b) Fantz used "looking chamber" to study infants' perception of stimuli. VISUAL PERCEPTION Visual acuity and color: - The newborn's vision is estimated to be 20/600; but by 6 months of age, an average infant's vision is 20/40. - Faces are possibly the most important visual stimuli. - By 8 weeks, infants can discriminate between some colors. FIGURE 14: VISUAL ACUITY DURING THE FIRST MONTHS OF LIFE The four photographs represent a computer estimation of what a picture of a face looks like to a 1-month-old, 2-month-old, 3-month-old, and 1-year-old (which approximates the visual acuity of an adult). Visual perception Perception of occluded objects: - In their first months, infants don't perceive objects that are occluded by other objects in front of them as complete; instead, they perceive only what is visible. - Beginning at about 2 months of age, infants develop the ability to perceive that occluded objects are whole. Depth perception: - The "visual cliff experiments by Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk FIGURE 15: INFANTS' PREDICTIVE TRACKING OF A BRIEFLY OCCLUDED MOVING BALL The top picture shows the visual scene that infants experienced. At the beginning of each event, a multicolored ball bounced up and down with an accompanying bouncing sound, and then rolled across the floor until it disappeared behind the partition. The bottom three pictures show the three stimulus events that the 5- to 9-month-old infants experienced: (a) gradual occlusion-the ball gradually disappears behind the right side of the occluding partition located in the center of the display: (b) abrupt occlusion-the ball abruptly disappears when it reaches the location of the white circle and then abruptly reappears two seconds later at the location of the second white circle on the other side of the occluding partition; (c) implosion the rolling ball quickly decreases in size as it approaches the occluding partition and rapidly increases in size as it reappears on the other side of the occluding partition. FIGURE 16: EXAMINING INFANTS' DEPTH PERCEPTION ON THE VISUAL CLIFF Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk (1960) found that most infants would not crawl out on the according to Gibson and Walk, indicating that they had depth perception. However, critics pe visual cliff is a better indication of the infant's social referencing and fear of heights than of the perception of depth Other senses Hearing: - The fetus can hear sounds in the mother's womb during the last two months of pregnancy. Changes in hearing during infancy involve perception of: - Loudness; - Pitch; and - Localization. Newborns respond to touch. Newborns can also feel pain. - A brain activity network, the "pain network," underlies pain. Newborns can differentiate among odors. Sensitivity to taste is present even before birth. Intermodal perception Intermodal perception: the ability to relate and integrate information from two or more sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing. PERCEPTUAL MOTOR COUPLING Action can guide perception, and perception can guide action. Children perceive in order to move, and they move in order to perceive. PIAGET'S THEORY Jean Piaget stressed that children actively construct their own cognitive worlds. Schemes: the actions or mental representations, in Piaget's theory, that organize knowledge. Assimilation: occurs when using existing schemes to deal with new information or experiences. Sensorimotor stage: infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences. Object permanence: an understanding that objects and events continue to exist. FIGURE 17: OBJECT PERMANE Piaget argued that object permanence is one of infancy's landmark cognitive accomplishments. For this 5-month-old boy, "out of sight" is literally out of mind. The infant looks at the toy monkey (top), but, when his view of the toy is blocked (bottom), he does not search for it. Several months later, he will search for the hidden toy monkey, an action reflecting the presence of object permanence. PIAGET'S THEORY Evaluating Piaget's sensorimotor stage: - Much of the newer research suggests that Piaget's view of sensorimotor development needs to be modified. A-not-B error: an error that occurs when infants make the mistake of selecting the familiar hiding place (A) rather than the new hiding place (B). PIAGET'S THEORY Researchers also suggests that infants develop the ability to understand how the world works at a very early age. Core knowledge approach: theory that infants are born with domain-specific innate knowledge systems. Some researchers argue morality is innate; while others suggest it emerges through infants' early interaction with others. LEARNING, REMEMBERING, AND CONCEPTUALIZING Conditioning: According to Skinner's theory of operant conditioning, the consequences of a behavior produce changes in the probability of the behavior's occurrence. If an infant's behavior is followed by a rewarding stimulus, the behavior is likely to recur. Example: the baby kicks, and the mobile moves the movement is the reinforcing stimulus. FIGURE 18: THE TECHNIQUE USED IN ROVEE-COLLIER'S INVESTIGATION OF INFANT MEMORY In Rovee-Collier's experiment, operant conditioning was used to demonstrate that infants as young as 2½ months of age can retain information from the experience of being conditioned. ATTENTION Attention: the focusing of mental resources on select information. By 4 months, infants can selectively attend to an object. Closely linked with attention are habituation and dishabituation. Joint attention: two or more individuals focus on the same object or event. By the end of the first year, joint attention is frequently observed. Joint attention considerably increases infants' ability to learn from other people. IMITATION  Andrew Meltzoff and colleagues see infants' imitative abilities as biologically based but not hardwired. Deferred imitation: occurs after a delay of hours or days.. Piaget held this doesn't occur until about 18 months of age. Meltzoff finds it occurs much earlier. MEMORY Memory: retention of information over time. Implicit memory: memory without conscious recollection. Memories of skills and routine procedures that are performed automatically. Explicit memory: conscious remembering of facts and experiences. Infantile or childhood amnesia: the inability to remember much if anything from our first three years of life. FIGURE 20: AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE LENGTH OF TIMEOVER WHICH MEMORY OCCURS Researchers have documented that 6-month-olds can retain information for 24 hours, but by 20 months of age infants can remember information they encountered 12 months earlier. CONCEPT FORMATION AND CATEGORIZATION Concepts: cognitive groupings of similar objects, events, people, or ideas. Infants as young as 3 months of age can group together objects with similar appearances. Further advances occur in the second year of life. Learning to put things into the correct categories is an important aspect of learning. FIGURE 21: CATEGORIZATION IN 9- TO 11- MONTH-OLDS These are the type of stimuli used in a study that indicated 9- to 11-month-old infants categorized birds as animals and airplanes as vehicles even though the objects were perceptually similar. DEFINING LANGUAGE Language: a form of communication. - Spoken, written, or signed. - Based on a system of symbols. - Lets us pass down information. Consists of the words used by a community and the rules for varying and combining them. Infinite generativity: the ability to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules. HOW LANGUAGE DEVELOPS  Babbling and other vocalizations: Crying can signal distress; different types of cries signal different things. Cooing, emerging at 2 to 4 months, is gurgling sounds that usually express pleasure. Babbling, such as "ba, ba, ba, ba," allows for social interaction. Gestures, such as showing and pointing, emerge at about 7 to 15 months of age. First words: Infants understand their first words earlier than they speak them. Receptive vocabulary considerably exceeds spoken (or expressive) vocabulary. A vocabulary spurt begins at approximately 18 months. Two-word utterances: To convey meaning, the child relies on gesture, tone, and context. Identification: "See doggie." Location: "Book there." Repetition: "More milk." Negation: "Not wolf." Possession: "My candy." Attribution: "Big car." Question: "Where ball?" Telegraphic speech: the use of short and precise words without grammatical markers such as articles. auxiliary verbs. and other FIGURE 24: SOME LANGUAGE MILESTONES IN INFANCY Despite great variations in the language input received by infants, around the world they follow a similar path in learning to speak. BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES Biological influences: Broca's area: the region in the brain's left frontal lobe that is involved in speech production. Wernicke's area: the region in the brain's left hemisphere that is involved in language comprehension. Damage to either of these areas produces types of aphasia— a loss or impairment of language processing. Language acquisition device (LAD): Noam Chomsky's term for a biological endowment enabling a child to detect the features and rules of language, including phonology, syntax, and semantics. A theoretical construct, not a physical part of the brain. Critics argue that even if a LAD exists, it cannot explain the whole story of language acquisition. BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES  Environmental influences: - Social cues play an important role in infant language learning. - Children cannot effectively learn language from videos. One intriguing environmental component is child-directed speech, which parents shift into when they talk to a baby. Other strategies also enhance the child's acquisition of language: Recasting: rephrasing something the child has said, in the form of a fully grammatical sentence. Expanding: restating something with additional information. Labeling: naming objects that the child is interested in. Infants, toddlers, and children benefit when adults read to and with them-shared reading. Especially, when parents extend the meaning of the text by discussing it and encouraging questions.