Human Behavior And The Social Environment (I) Lecture Notes PDF

1 HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT (I) Lecture two: Infant years 1 Stages of Prenatal Development Stage Duration Conception to 2 Germinal...

1 HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT (I) Lecture two: Infant years 1 Stages of Prenatal Development Stage Duration Conception to 2 Germinal weeks Embryonic 2 to 8 weeks Fetal 8 weeks to birth First/Second/Third trimester: 3 months each (Both maternal and paternal factors can affect the development) 2 Prenatal Care ◦ Includes:  Education  Social services  Nutritional services  Emotion of mothers  Helps protect the life and health of the infant and mother 3  Genotype-Environment (G x E) Correlations ◦ Environment reflects or reinforces genetic differences  Passive: Parents provide environment that fosters trait (G with E) (parents are musicians and they play music)  Reactive or Evocative: Based on their traits, children evoke different responses from others (G provokes E) (parents are musicians, but they don’t play music at home. The child show interest in music and so parents start play music CD at home afterwards(mutually reinforced))  Active or Niche Picking: choosing an environment that suits your traits (G and seeks E) [I learn music by myself according to my genes, listen to CD myself…… regardless of parents’ status] 4 Traits Influenced by Heredity & Environment ◦ Obesity ◦ Intelligence, school achievement ◦ Personality ◦ Schizophrenia ◦ Autism 5 Motor development 6 Milestone ◦ 50-75% of the infants/children can perform the task by that age ◦ Cultural differences exist ◦ Some infant/children may skip certain milestone ◦ E.g., some babies move directly from sitting to walking, skipping crawling 7 Piaget’s cognitive growth ◦ Cognitive structures = ‘schemes’, organized patterns of behaviours used to think and act in a situation ◦ E.g., infants have a “sucking schema” includes sucking on both bottles AND thumbs ◦ Assimilation: when new information is incorporated into existing schemes ◦ Accommodation: changing structures to include new information ◦ E.g., before: animals=dogs=4 legs, but learned about fish=animals=not always 4 legs ◦ Equilibration: inner sense of balance between new and existing knowledge ◦ When schemas no longer explain our perception, disequilibrium motivates learning 8 Piaget’s cognitive explorations 9 Piagetian Sensorimotor Stage (0-2yo) Age in Substage Description Mons Reflexes Up to 1 Gain control over reflexes Repeat pleasurable chance Primary Circular 1-4 behaviors (thumb sucking) Repeat interesting actions/ other Secondary Circular 4-8 responses Coordinate 8-12 Purposeful & deliberate behavior Secondary Circular Tertiary 12-18 Curiosity and experimentations Mental 18-24 Symbolic thought; insight Combinations Video on p.45 of textbook (3.43mins) 10 Key developments in sensorimotor stage ◦ Imitation ◦ Object permanence ◦ e.g., peekaboo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCdLNuP7OA8 ◦ Symbols ◦ e.g., picture of a ball represents a ball, but is not the actual object ◦ Categorization ◦ e.g., some animals are pets -> include dogs & cats -> ◦ Causality ◦ A toy duck quacks because I squeezed it ◦ Number 11 12 Social Contextual Approach: Learning from Caregivers ◦Interactions with adults during activities ◦Helps bridge level of knowledge between adult and child ◦Cultural Differences – US children engage in more play activities – Japanese children are quieter 13 Home observation for measurement of the Environment (HOME) ◦Home Observation of the Environment -> parental responsiveness and learning stimulation Among other things, assesses: – Parental responsiveness – Learning stimulation – Number of books in home – Presence of educational playthings 14 Parental responsiveness vs. learning stimulation ◦Parental responsiveness predicts: ◦ IQ ◦ Achievement scores ◦ Classroom behavior through the age 13 ◦Learning stimulation predicts: ◦ Kindergarten achievement scores ◦ Language competence ◦ Motor and social development 15 Good home environment for cognitive development ◦Encourage to explore ◦Help basic cognitive and social skills ◦Praise for success ◦Guide in practice and skill expansion (guided participation) ◦No inappropriate punishment ◦ If result of normal exploration ◦Language stimulation (books) 16 Early intervention ◦Planning and providing services to young children’s developmental needs ◦Expanding the ZPD ◦Best if: ◦ Provide direct educational experiences ◦ Include health, family counseling, and social services ◦ Tailored to individual differences and needs 17 How to improve cognitive development as early intervention (1) ◦Sensory stimulation ◦Environment stimulating learning ◦Books, toys, space to play ◦Responding to babies signals ◦Builds trust also makes them feel in control of their life ◦Babies having the power to change the environment ◦E.g., turning on/off light, opening door 18 How to improve cognitive development as early intervention (2) ◦Freedom to explore ◦Allowed to move around ◦Talk and play to them ◦Allow them to direct the focus/play, don’t always change their attention to something else ◦Practice basic skills, e.g., labeling, comparing/sorting objects (into color/shape) ◦Praise skills learnt ◦Read aloud & talk about stories 19  Language Development ◦Language ◦A communication system based on word, grammar and cognitive development ◦Literacy ◦The ability to read and write 20 Early Vocalizations 21 Gestures ◦Conventional Social ◦ Waving bye-bye, nodding head to mean ‘yes’ ◦ Most babies learn by 12 months old ◦Representational/symbolic ◦ shaking body means cold ◦ Learn around 13 months old ◦Learning gestures help babies learn to talk 22  Theories of Language Acquisition ◦Nature v. nurture? ◦Behaviorist view: Reinforcement and imitation ◦Chomsky’s nativism – Brain has the innate capacity to learn language ◦Synthesis of innate capacity and behaviorist principles most likely 23 Can babies learn language without any human interactions? ◦No ◦Also needing interactions from real humans ◦Video-watching alone does not teach ◦Learns better when there’s other infants around 24 Language development of Chinese children ◦Follow similar patterns as reported in Western studies ◦Showed that cognitive development is prerequisite to language learning (Miao & Wang, 2003) 25 Sociocultural influences on language development ◦ Tardif and colleagues (2009) studied normally- developing children from Beijing and Hong Kong ◦ Most children in Beijing had monolingual setting (Mandarin only), most children in HK had multilingual setting (Cantonese plus English/Mandarin/others) ◦ Vocabulary develops rapidly from 1yr4months for both sites ◦ Advantage for girls around 1yo in vocabulary ◦ Advantage between 1-2yo for monolingual settings for both sites 26  How to enhance children’s language (writing and reading) ◦ Parents provide communication experience opportunities ◦ Parents provide models of language use ◦ Parents should repeat the sounds the baby make and baby joins ◦ Joint attention between parents and children ◦ Mothers' talkativeness, parents' responsiveness and sensitivity ◦ Read to children (1-3 year reading -> 7 year comprehension) 27 Joint attention ◦Important for language development ◦Also an important social (non-verbal) skill Photo copyright by: https://speech-learning.com.au/2023/12/enhancing- communication-through-joint-attention-in-speech-therapy/ 28 Suggestions from Department of Health https://www.fhs.gov.hk/english/ health_info/child/15654.html 29 Health & developmental surveillance by Dept. of Health 30 Assessment tools ◦ Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development for age 16 days to 42 months (Copyright by Pearson) ◦ Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale from birth onwards (Copyright by Pearson), with a teacher form for age 3-21 31 Personality and emotion ◦Personality: a blend of emotions, temperament, thought and behavior that makes each person unique ◦Emotions: Subjective reactions to experience that are associated with physiological, cognitive and behavioral changes 32 Emotion Primary emotions Basic, e.g., being focus Self- of attention awarenes s emerges, so do Evaluative, secondary mild form of emotions shame 33  Emergence of Self Concept ◦Self-concept: The image of ourselves ◦Personal agency ◦ ‘I can make that move!’ ◦Self-efficacy ◦ ‘I’m GREAT at making it move!’ ◦Self-awareness – Knowledge of the self as a distinct being 34 Gender ◦Can tell male/female faces by 9-12 months ◦ Based on hair style and clothing ◦Develops in the context of society ◦Behavioral differences by 1-2 yrs old, e.g., choices of ◦ Toys ◦ Play activities ◦ Playmates 35 Erikson’s first stage ◦Birth to 18 months ◦Trust vs. mistrust (HOPE) Key to trust: parents being sensitive, responsive and consistent 36  Erikson second stage ◦18 months to 3yo ◦Autonomy vs. Shame -> Will Autonomy – A shift from external control to self-control [toilet training] – Emerges from trust and self-awareness – Around 20-24 months, often say “me” or “mine” – Growing sense of autonomy -> “terrible 2” of often saying “no” ◦ Shame and doubt – Help toddler recognize need for limits 37 Mutual Regulation of Emotions ◦Infant and caregiver responding to each other’s emotional states ◦Social Referencing ◦Baby’s attempt to understand an ambiguous situation by seeking out cues from caregiver 38 Temperament Style of approaching and reacting to situations More or less in-born Easy child, difficult child, slow-to-warm-up child Activity level, positive emotion, fear, frustration, easiness in being soothed, orientation Mood, respond to change, sleeping, food intake, stranger, frustrations, adapt to new routines -> Do not change child’s temperament -> Follow along temperament for fit 39  In-born temperament (New York longitudinal study) “easy” child “difficult” child “slow-to-warm-up” child 40% 10% 15% positive mild to moderate intense and frequently mild positive or negative intensity mood negative moods, cries moods often and loudly and laughs loudly respond well to change respond poorly to change respond slowly to change regular sleep and feeding irregular sleep and feeding in-between easy and schedule schedule difficult child take new food easily no new food show mild negative smile at strangers and new suspicious of strangers and response first to new food situations new situations and new person accept frustrations with react frustrations with slow but negative at first little tantrum tantrum adapt new routines easily do not like new routines gradually liking after repetition 40 Goodness of Fit between the child and the environment ◦Adjustment is easiest when the child’s temperament matches the situation –Physically –Socially –Culturally 41 The Mother’s Role ◦Newborns placed with ‘foster mother’ – Cloth mother offered no food – Wire mother provided food ◦Babies preferred cloth mother ◦The importance of ‘contact comfort’ 42  The Father’s Role ◦Entails emotional commitment and direct involvement ◦Amount of involvement can vary greatly ◦Play with infants more 43 Attachment  Reciprocal, enduring tie between two people, especially between infant and caregiver, each of whom contributes to the quality of that relationship  Feeling safe and develop trust  Try hard for parents to develop a secure attachment a. Secure attachment b. Avoidant attachment c. Ambivalent attachment d. Disorganized-disoriented attachment 44 Attachment and temperament ◦Temperament is in-born ◦Carers’ sensitivity ◦Result: Attachment ◦ Goodness of fit between carers and temperaments result in secure attachment 45  Early child care ◦ Different temperament -> different reactions ◦ Shy/insecurely attached children -> show more stress ◦ Needing quality child care ◦ Staff training ◦ Ratio of children to caregivers ◦ Staff’s warmth, sensitivity, responsiveness ◦ Children in good child care benefit: ◦ Better critical thinking ◦ Better decision making ◦ Better self-confidence ◦ Better academic outcomes 46 With other children ◦ Can be securely attached to siblings ◦ By sibling conflict over property rights/access to parents after 18 months old ◦ Good opportunities for learning own & other’s wishes, how to disagree and compromise ◦ Kindergarten children with siblings found to have better social skills, but ◦ If having a sibling with anger issues, the child is also likely to show aggressive behaviors ◦ No siblings? 1.5-3yo, show interest in other children 47