Introduction to Infant Development PDF

Learning Outcomes Explain what development is Explain goals and reasons for studying development Describe some of the early perspectives on childhood What is Development? Development: Systematic continuities and changes in an individual over the course of a lifetime Maturation and Learning Goals of...

Learning Outcomes Explain what development is Explain goals and reasons for studying development Describe some of the early perspectives on childhood What is Development? Development: Systematic continuities and changes in an individual over the course of a lifetime Maturation and Learning Goals of studying development: Description Idiographic development vs. normative development Explain Optimize Why Study Development Child rearing Inform social-policy Understand human nature The Nature of Development Continual, lifelong process Holistic Physical, cognitive, psychosocial Plasticity Capacity for change Historical/Cultural Context Summary Development refers to the systematic continuities and changes in an individual over the course of lifetime due to maturation and learning Developmental psychologists strive to describe, explain and optimize practices in child rearing, and social policy 17th and 18th century perspectives had different perspectives on the inherent nature of the child and their role in their own development Introduction to Infant Development Historical and Modern Research Methods This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC Learning Outcomes Explain the role of baby diaries in understanding infant development Distinguish between a theory and a hypothesis Discuss the importance of reliability and validity when choosing measures Describe different methods used to gather data about infant development Historical Methods Baby Biographies/Diaries Detailed account of an infant’s growth and development Dietrich, Darwin, Stern, and Piaget Strengths: Insight regarding child-rearing practices Subjective Lack of generalizability Research Methods in Developmental Psychology The scientific method Theory a set of concepts and propositions designed to organize, describe and explain events. Hypothesis A theoretical prediction about some aspect of experience Gathering Data Choosing measures Relevance Reliability – the extent to which measures are consistent Inter-rater reliability Test-retest reliability Validity – the extent to which measures measure what they are intended to measure Internal validity External validity Learning Check Gathering Data Self Report Methods Structured interview/questionnaires Clinical method Diary Study Strengths: quick, rich data Limitations: not useful for young children, may lack honesty and accuracy, interpretation Gathering Data Observational Methods Naturalistic Observation Strengths Limitations Observer influence Structured Observation Time Sampling This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND Gathering Data Case studies a detailed record of an individual’s development Ethnography A method of understanding the unique values, traditions, and social processes of a specific culture or subculture Gathering Data Psychophysiological Methods Heartrate Electroencephalogram (EEG) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Parental psychophysiological states Strengths Limitations Learning Check Summary The first scientific attempt to record infant development were known as baby diaries, which are subjective and lack generalizability Theories are a set of propositions that inform the development of testable statements (hypotheses). Measures that are consistent are reliable whereas measures that measure what they are intended to are valid There are many techniques used to gather data about infant development, including interviews, questionnaires, diary studies, observations, and time sampling Early Studies of Infant Development Learning Outcomes Describe some of the early studies used to investigate social development in infancy Discuss early methods used to study infant attention and cognition Distinguish between passive and active attention Outline foundational studies for understanding emotional development Describe some of the key issues in infancy research Early Studies of Social Development Wolf and Wolff (1947) Hospitalism and anaclitic depression: depression brought on by a mother’s absence Bowlby (1951) Object relation theory: the infants relation to an object (typically mother) serves as a model for future interpersonal relationships Mothers absence a significant loss Contradictory viewpoint – loss of positive stimulation is the loss Early Studies of Social Development Provence and Lipton (1962) Strained caregiving networks in orphanages Harlow and Harlow (1965) Monkeys separated from mothers – failed social and emotional development Monkeys raised with other monkeys – alike living with mothers Infants are born into social networks Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Early Studies of Attentional and Cognitive Development William James (1890) Passive attention: the infant is drawn/pulled to the stimulus Active attention: the infant attends to stimuli due to interest and association Robert Fantz (1958, 1964) Visual perception Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Early Studies of Attentional and Cognitive Development Bower (1966) Training and conditioning of infants Size constancy Lewis, Kagan, and colleagues (1963, 1965) Attentional processes and physiological response Sokolov (1963) Habituation: a disinterest in a stimulus after multiple presentations Age differences Developmental differences Early Studies of Emotional Development Darwin (1872) Primary emotion: Emotions that present within the first year after birth (happy, disgust, sad, fear, anger, surprise Self-conscious emotions: emotions that are more complex that emerge with self-knowledge, self-awareness, and awareness of societal standards Lewis and Michalson (1983) Rouge test – self awareness Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Key Issues in Infancy Research Passive vs. Active Development Stability vs. change Nature/Nurture Innate/genetics Environmental factors Summary Early studies of social development demonstrate that social networks are important for infant development Early studies of attentional and cognitive development suggest that infants are born with the ability to perceive their environment, have preferences and can be trained for research purposes. Self-conscious emotion are linked to growth in self as a cognitive representations Infants are active in their own development. The nature side of the nature/nurture debate stresses the role of genetic factors on development, whereas the nurture side of the debate stresses the role of environmental influences on development. Infant Development Research Methods This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC Learning Outcomes Describe methods that we use to understand what infants think and know Outline how we study infant sensory capability Explain how we study infant cognition and learning Describe how we assess socio-emotional behaviour in infants Discuss how we study infant’s response to stress Assessing Infants in Research Naturalistic observation E.g., Darwin’s observations of his children Standardized Developmental Tests E.g. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire Experimental designs Experimental Designs Independent variable (manipulated) and dependent variable (measured) 2 types of experiments True experiment Random assignment Quasi-experimental Naturally occurring This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND Sensory Capabilities Do infants see and hear what we do? Tracking Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale Preference paradigms Infants look at Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Techniques Do infants see and hear what we do? Habituation paradigm: a procedure use to familiarize infants with a given stimulus via repeated exposures Sensory Capabilities High amplitude sucking: A procedure used to examine infant’s preferences or discrimination abilities by making stimulus presentation contingent with infant’s sucking on a non-nutritive nipple Conditioned head turning Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Cognition and Learning Can you tell how smart an infant is? Rate of habituation Bayley Scales of Infant Development Mental Development Index Psychomotor Development Index 5 areas that are assessed: cognitive, language, motor, adaptive behaviour, and socio-emotional development Cognition and Learning What do infants learn and remember? Classical conditioning: learned associations between environmental signals or cues Expectancy violation Image from: www.todaysparent.com Infant Development Research Methods This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC Cognition and Learning What do infants learn and remember? Contingency or operant learning: a learned association between a behaviour and a consequence Operants 🡪 behaviour Contingencies 🡪 consequences Imitation Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Cognition and Learning Memory Reactivation: A reminder of a previous consequence of a particular behaviour Reinstatement: After extinction, a reactivation of a previously learned behaviour from an association between a given consequence and a particular behaviour Socio-Emotional Behaviour How do infants learn to interact with others? Mother-child interactions coded Specific behaviours that occur Order of occurrence Still-face procedure: used to assess an infant’s response to an unresponsive social partner Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Socio-Emotional Behaviour How do infants learn to interact with others? Desynchronized interaction Strange situation: paradigm used to assess infant’s attachment to caregiver. Social referencing: using another person’s response as a cue about how to act to a novel situation Joint attention: the ability to coordinate attention with a social partner Socio-Emotional Behaviour How do Infant react to Stressful Events? Behavioural stress reactivity and regulation Reactivity: initial behavioural or physiological response to a stressful event Regulation: the time it takes to return to pre-stress levels Physiological responses Hormone levels Epinephrine Cortisol Heart-rate changes This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA Learning Check This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Summary Methods like habituation, preference paradigm, and operant conditioning can be used to assess different domains of development Imitation, naturalistic parent-infant interactions and violation of expectation of behaviour can be used to assess social functioning Methods are often combined to study infant development True experiments include random assignment, and are high in control and internal validity, whereas quasi-experiments lack control but are high in external validity Infant Development Research Methods This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC Mini Learning Check Or https://b.socrative.com/login/student/ ROOM ID: BAILEY2549 Enter your full name