Infancy & Childhood Development Psychology PDF

Infancy & Childhood Dr. Maureen Vincent 2023-94  Developmental Psychology Examines our physical, cognitive and social development across the lifespan Each life stage has different challenges Old Age vs. Adolescence- Physical Challenges Old Age vs. Adolescence- Social Challenges...

Infancy & Childhood Dr. Maureen Vincent 2023-94  Developmental Psychology Examines our physical, cognitive and social development across the lifespan Each life stage has different challenges Old Age vs. Adolescence- Physical Challenges Old Age vs. Adolescence- Social Challenges Lecture Outline Across the lifespan Physical Development Cognitive Development Social Development  Focuses on 3 major issues: Developmental Psychology Nature vs. Nurture Continuity & Stages Stability & Change Nature vs. Nurture- What makes you the person you are today?  Are you a product of your biology or life experiences?  Nature versus Nurture The nature-nurture debate is concerned with the relative contribution that both influences make to human behavior Nature - inherited characteristics (genetics and biological factors) internal factors or Nurture - acquired (learned) characteristics (experience, exposure and learning) external factors Nature versus Nurture Debate (both important) BUT How they interact is also important = Epigenetics Continuity and Stages Is developmental change gradual and continuous? OR Does it proceed through a sequence of separate stages?  Those that emphasize biological maturation see development as a sequence of genetically-predisposed stages Researchers who emphasize learning and experience = Although progress through the stage may be see development as a slow continuous process fast or slow, everyone passes through the stages in the same order  Stage Theorists (propose developmental stages) Today, some researchers question whether life proceeds through neatly defined age-linked stages but acknowledge the stage concept is useful Stability and Change Do our personality traits persist through life or do we change as we change?  PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Brain-------Motor Skills --------Memory Brain Development The brain is immature at birth. As the child matures, the neural networks grow increasingly more complicated. At birth 3 months 15 months Cortical Neurons  Stage Changes to the brain Birth Neuronal growth spurt Synaptic (or axon) pruning – where extra neurons and synaptic connections are eliminated in order to increase the efficiency of neuronal transmissions Brain 3-6 months Rapid frontal lobe growth (“executive functions” such as planning, thinking, planning, decision making, memory) Development continues into adolescence and beyond Early Critical period for some skills e.g. language childhood and vision Throughout Learning changes brain tissue and neural life plasticity Motor Development Infants follow an orderly pattern of motor development Experience has little effect on this sequence  Maturation refers to biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior Maturation is (preprogrammed) relatively uninfluenced by the environment Maturation sets the basic course of development, while experience adjusts it. Maturation: Everyone will go through these stages in the same order Sit ---- Crawl ---- Stand------ Walk But the TIMING may be different Some may be slower or faster to get to a certain stage. This will be individual (based on experience, culture, environment) e.g. Ugandan babies walk a lot earlier than western babies Iceland – 3-5 month old baby can stand  Infantile amnesia: earliest age of conscious memory - 3½ years. Brain Maturation As children mature, by The brain areas underlying memory, and Infant age 7 or so, childhood such as the amnesia decreases - Memory increasingly capable of hippocampus and frontal lobes, continue remembering to mature into experiences adolescence COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  In the 1920’s, Piaget became interested in the wrong answers children give to questions Cognitive Noticed children of Development similar ages gave similar incorrect answers Saw this as intelligence “at work”, not childish mistakes Cognitive Development Piaget believed: Cognitive development or processes: follows a series of stages the order of stages does NOT change But some children may reach certain stages before other children  PIAGET INTRODUCED NEW CONCEPTS Concept Definition Example Cognition All the mental activities associated Cognition: Thinking with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating Schema a concept or framework that e.g. Like a computer, you store information in certain files (keep organizes and interprets information information organized) Assimilation interpreting one’s new experience in e.g. Sue knows she owns a dog –poodle. Sees other dogs, of terms of one’s existing schemas different shapes and sizes- but still recognizes they are dogs. Has established a category – “dog” Accommodation adapting one’s current e.g. Sue points at a cat and says 'dog!' His concept of dog (4 understandings (schemas) to legs, furry etc) is too broad; so she calls anything that has four incorporate new information legs and fur a 'dog.' Her mother explains that this is a 'cat (meows),' and Sue adjusts her concept of 'dog' and creates a new category Because of schemas, assimilation and accommodation, you have developed clear categories or concepts. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Typical Age Description Developmental Range of Stage Phenomena Birth to nearly 2 years Sensorimotor Object permanence Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing) About 2 to 6 years Preoperational Pretend play Representing things with words and images but Egocentrism lacking logical reasoning Language development About 7 to 11 years Concrete operational Conservation Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping Mathematical concrete analogies and performing arithmetical transformations operations About 12 through Formal operational Abstract logic adulthood Abstract reasoning Potential for moral reasoning Stage 1: Sensorimotor (birth to age 2) Babies take in the world via their 5 senses: Looking (eyes) Hearing (ears) Smell (nose) Touching and grasping (skin) Taste (mouth)  An awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are not perceived. Show a child a toy, then hide it Before 6 months of age: child will not search for it - believes it has disappeared (does not have object permanence) By 8 months of age: child will search for the toy. Begin to exhibit memory for things no longer in Stage 1: Object Permanence sight (has object permanence)  This child does not search for the ball as he believes it has disappeared. The child does NOT have object permanence  Important concepts Stage 2: in this stage Preoperational Language is a major focus of this stage Pretend Play stage (2 to Child learns to use language 6 or 7yrs) Conservation Children MUST have language BEFORE they can Egocentrism attend kindergarten, primary school etc but cannot yet perform the mental operations (e.g. maths) or concrete logic. a. Pretend Play Also called imaginative play, make‐ believe, fantasy etc E.g: being a superhero, playing dress‐ups Pretend play begins anytime from 11 months to 18 months, but it becomes very noticeable when children turn 4 years old because they can play out a play scene over several days and adults start to notice it  b. Conservation the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and In the preoperational stage, number remain the same children CANNOT conserve despite changes in the forms of objects.  Two glasses are placed side by side and the child says that Example: they have the same amount of water Then the water from one glass is poured into a different Conservation by shaped glass and the child is again asked if they have the same amount of water volume A preoperational child will respond incorrectly and say that they have a different amount of water  Example: Conservation by Number In conservation of number tests, two equivalent rows of coins are placed side by side and the child says that there is the same number in each row. Then one row is spread a part and the child is again asked if there is the same number in each. A preoperational child will incorrectly answer NO  Example: Conservation by length In conservation of length tests, two same-length sticks are placed side by side and the child says that they are the same length. Then one is moved, and the child is again asked if they are the same length. The preoperational child will say the one on the top right is longer.  Example: Conservation by Solid quantity In conservation of substance tests, two identical amounts of clay are rolled into similar-appearing balls and the child says that they both have the same amount of clay. Then one ball is rolled out and the child is again asked if they have the same amount. The preoperational child will say the one on the far right has more c. Egocentrism The inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view b. Egocentrism The inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view Standing in front of TV, blocking the view of others Nodding their heads while having a conversation over the phone to indicate agreement Stage 3: Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) Children in this stage are also able to transform mathematical functions So, if 4 + 8 = 12, then a transformation, 12 – 4 = 8, is also easily doable Stage 4: Formal Operational Stage (12 – adulthood) Consider hypothetical propositions “What if” Reasoning ability expands from concrete thinking to abstract thinking (imagined realities and symbols) Deduce consequences (if this, then what?) Think systematically  An Alternative Viewpoint: Vygotsky and the Social Child Vygotsky – also studied how children think and learn By age 7, child are increasingly able to think in words and solve problems with words How? By their interaction with the social world (words, communication) By internalizing the culture’s language and relying on inner speech (e.g. mutter to themselves when trying to solve a math's problem) An Alternative Viewpoint: Vygotsky and the Social Child Vygotsky- when a child talks loud or inaudibly, it helps them: Control their behavior Control their emotions Master new skills  An Alternative Viewpoint: Difference between Vygotsky and Piaget Theory How a child’s mind grows: Piaget: through interaction Vygotsky: through interaction with the social environment (words/communication) with the physical environment Parents mentor children and give them new words and this leads to higher levels of thinking in children Language is an important ingredient of social mentoring – and provides the building blocks for thinking Social Development Attachment Self Concept Parenting Styles What is Attachment? Infant attachment Attachment: emotional tie with another person Young children show attachment by their seeking closeness to the caregiver, and showing distress on separation Social Development: Attachment Infant attachment Powerful survival impulse that keeps children close to their caregivers Children become attached to those (usually parents) – who are: Familiar and Comfortable Social Development: Stranger Anxiety Stranger Anxiety At about 8 months, soon after object permanence develops, children separated from their caregivers display stranger anxiety (fear of strangers) This is a new ability to evaluate people as unfamiliar and possibly threatening Protects babies 8 months and older Social Development Attachment: A number of elements work to create the parent-infant bond - Body contact Familiarity ORIGINS OF ATTACHMENT Responsive Parenting  Social Development: Body Contact In the PAST - Nourishment was seen to be the prime reason why there was a closeness between mother and child Belief: infants attach to those who satisfied their need for nourishment  Social Development: Body Contact Harlow: bred monkeys for research related to how monkeys learn. He accidently discovered that the belief that infants attach to those who satisfied their need for nourishment was incorrect Social Development: Body Contact Harlow: Separated infant monkeys from their mothers shortly after birth Raised infant monkeys in an individual cage with a baby blanket Noticed when the blanket was taken away (to be cleaned) – monkeys became distressed Argued that monkeys were attached to the blanket – which contradicted the the idea that attachment is formed because of nourishment needs Social Development: Body Contact To test this, Harlow created two artificial mothers Bare cylinder with a wooden head with a feeding bottle attached A cylinder wrapped in cloth FOUND: The infant monkey: preferred the cloth mother would cling to the cloth mother when feeding would cling to the cloth mother when anxious or scared would explore their environment - but use the cloth mother as a secure base  Attachments are based on familiarity Social These form during a critical period (optimal period Development: when certain events, stimuli or experiences must Familiarity take place to facilitate normal development) E.g. in animals: called imprinting: Process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life. Social Development: Familiarity For goslings, ducklings, or chicks, that period falls in the hours shortly after hatching, when the first moving object they see is normally their mother. From then on, the young fowl follow her, and her alone. Once formed, this attachment is difficult to reverse.  Social Development: Familiarity Familiarity in humans: Children, unlike ducklings, do NOT imprint Mere exposure effect – exposure to people fosters fondness and familiarity Familiarity is a safety signal Social Development: Studying Attachment To study attachment – we do an experiment called the Strange Situation experiment These have shown that some children are securely-attached and others are insecurely attached.  Social Development: Attachment Differences (Ainsworth, 1979) Secure attachment Insecure attachment Babies play comfortably and Babies are less likely to explore happily explore their environment their environment when mum is present May even cling to mother When mum leaves the room, the When mum leaves, either baby becomes distressed cry loudly and remain upset OR When mum returns, they seek seem indifferent to whether contact with her mum comes or goes  Secure attachment Insecure attachment  Good news: 60% of infants and young children display secure attachment What factors lead to secure and insecure attachment? Infants’ differing attachment styles reflect both their: 1. individual temperament (personality) & 2. the responsiveness of their parents  Social Development: Responsive Parenting Responsive Parenting: Mother’s behavior influences attachment Sensitive and responsive mothers: Notice what babies are Securely attached child doing Respond appropriately Social Development: Responsive Parenting Insensitive and unresponsive mothers Insecurely attached Attend to babies when they feel child like doing so But ignore them at other times Social Development: Attachment Differences Studying attachment Most studies have investigated attachment between mother and child Today: Know that a father’s love and acceptance have been shown to be comparable to a mother’s love in predicting their offspring’s health and well-being Social Development: Attachment Differences Studying attachment Early attachment impacts: 1. on later adult relationships and 2. comfort with affection and intimacy  Erikson - Securely attached children approach life with a sense of basic trust—a sense that the Attachment world is predictable and reliable Styles and Basic trust – is due to parenting (not Later the environment or inborn temperament) Relationships Infants blessed with sensitive, loving caregivers form a lifelong attitude of trust rather than fear Attachment Styles and Later Relationships 01 02 03 Early attachments Secure Those closely form the foundation relationships with attached to parents for our adult also tend to adjust parents - secure relationships and our well to “strange comfort with friendships situations” e.g. affection and leaving home, intimacy attending university Attachment Styles (Bowlby) and Later Relationships Adult styles of romantic love tend to exhibit: 1. secure, trusting Healthy adult relationships (good self-worth, emotional balance, seek support and comfort attachment from partner, manage conflict well) 2. Insecure attachment constantly crave acceptance but remain vigilant to signs of possible rejection, struggle to fully Ambivalent or Anxious trust or rely on another person, lack in self esteem, crave intimacy but don’t want others to be attachment type with them Future relationships: an anxious attachment style diminishes social connections and support 3. Insecure attachment: Opposite to ambivalent/anxious – rather than crave acceptance – you experience discomfort Avoidance –dismissive getting close to others and use avoidant strategies to maintain distance from others of attachment Future relationships: an avoidance attachment style decreases commitment, increases openness to infidelity, and increases conflict 4. Disorganized or Intense fear, often a result of childhood trauma. Cannot self soothe emotions, relationships disoriented attachment and the world around you are frightening and unsafe. May replicate same abusive patterns style when an adult Future relationships: intimate relationships are confusing and unsettling, may love then hate partner, selfish, controlling, untrusting which can lead to abusive behavior, feel unworthy of love and terrified of getting hurt again Deprivation of Attachment What happens when circumstances prevent a child forming any attachments?  Deprivation of Attachment Children locked away at home under conditions of abuse or extreme neglect are often withdrawn, frightened, even speechless  Romania orphanages 1970-1980’s Caregiver to child ratio: 1:15 Neglect, disability, mental Health concerns DEPRIVATION OF ATTACHMENT GOOD NEWS Many abused children are resilient, they withstand the trauma and become well-adjusted adults However, many who are prevented from forming attachments at an early age, and have survived severe or prolonged physical and/or psychological abuse may be at risk for other problems such as: increased risk for health problems, psychological disorders, substance abuse, and criminality Without a break from Greater the abuse – greater chance of an abusive past, depression, anxiety, substance abuse children do not readily disorder and attempted suicide recover Early trauma may leave footprints on the brain: Abused children respond to angry faces with heightened activity in threat detecting areas of the brain Sleeping infants’ brains show heightened reactivity to hearing angry speech Sluggish serotonin response has been found in abused children who later become aggressive teens and adults (serotonin) calms aggressive impulses DEPRIVATION OF ATTACHMENT The unloved often become the unloving Most abusive parents report being neglected or battered as children 30% of being who have been abused, abuse their own children  SELF CONCEPT Beliefs we have about ourselves Self Concept Major social achievement in childhood is a positive sense of self. Children’s view of themselves – affect their actions Children who have a positive self concept are more: Confident Independent Optimistic Assertive Sociable  Self-Concept Self-concept, an understanding and evaluation of who we are, emerges gradually Age Self-concept 6 months Self-awareness begins when we recognize ourselves. But, at 6 months, children touch the mirror image as if it is another child 15-18 months The child recognizes that the image in the mirror “is me” School age Self concept develops into more detailed descriptions of gender, group membership, psychological traits, and similarities and differences with other children By 8-10 years Self-image is quite stable and by age 12, about the end of childhood, most children have developed a positive self concept  Parenting Styles 4 Main Styles  Type of Description Will have children parenting style 1. Authoritarian Parents impose rules and expect obedience. With less social skills and self- “Don’t leave you room in a mess”. esteem and a brain that (Coercive) Don’t stay out late or you will be grounded”. overacts when they make When child asks why, “Because I told you so” mistakes. 2. Permissive They make few demands and use little punishment. Who are more aggressive and They may be indifferent, unresponsive, or unwilling immature (Unrestraining) to set limits Parents submit to their children’s desires 3. Negligent Parents are uninvolved. They are neither demanding With poor academic and social more responsive. They are careless, inattentive, and outcomes (are more distant, do not seek a close relationship with their children feel unloved, may engage in (Uninvolved) criminal activity and have psychological problems) 4. Authoritative Parents are both demanding and responsive. With the highest self-esteem, Parents set and enforce rules, but explain them self-reliance, and social Encourage open discussion competence (Confrontative) Allow exceptions to rules Negotiate rules, rather than imposed Best Parenting style? For parents that value unquestioning obedience, or whose children live in a dangerous environment, an authoritarian style may have the desired effect For those who value children’s sociability and self-reliance, authoritative firm but open parenting is advisable THE END