Infancy and Childhood

Infancy and childhood span from birth to the teenage years. During these years, the individual grows physically, cognitively, and socially.

Stage

Infancy Childhood

Span

Newborn to toddler Toddler to teenager 1

Maturation Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior Preprogrammed

Maturation sets the basic course of development, while experience adjusts it.

2

Poll: 7. Maturation refers to 3

Link

Motor Development

First, infants begin to roll over. Next, they sit unsupported, crawl, and finally walk. Experience has little effect on this sequence.

4

Poll: 8.Infant motor development is typically ...

5

6

Maturation and Infant Memory

The earliest age of conscious memory is around 3½ years (Bauer, 2002). A 5-year-old has a sense of self and an increased long-term memory, thus organization of memory is different from 3-4 years.

7

Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development

 Babies only 3 months old can learn that kicking moves a mobile--and can retain that learning for a month (Rovee Collier, 1989, 1997).

8

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development



Cognition

 all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating 9

Cognitive Development

Piaget understood that cognitive processes followed a series of stages, and even though certain children may reach stages before other children, the order of stages is invariable .

10

Poll: 11. Piaget was convinced that the mind o...

11

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development



Schema

 a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information, they are building blocks of intellectual development  Schema example 2:23 12

Schemas

Schemas are mental molds into which we pour our experiences.

13

Figure 8.4

An impossible object Copyright © 2008 by Worth Publishers 14

 

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

Assimilation  interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas Accommodation  changing one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information or experiences Flash animation of schema development: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget's_Stages#Criticisms_of_Piaget.27s_Theory

Jean Piaget with a subject Example link 1:16 15

Jean Piaget

 Piaget’s cognitive development personality theory was based upon the premises of constructivism, and his interest in the root of knowledge drove him to focus his attention on the psychology of children. According to Piaget, people developed deliberate cognitive representations of their environment, which they could then manipulate.

16

Piaget’s Stages

Typical Age Range Description of Stage Sensorimotor Birth to nearly 2 years Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing) Developmental Phenomena

•

Object permanence

•

Stranger anxiety

•

Some cause and effect Preoperational About 2 to 6 years Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning

•

Pretend play

•

Egocentrism

•

Language development

•

Think in symbols Concrete operational About 7 to 11 years Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations

•

Conservation

•

Mathematical transformations Formal operational About 12 through adulthood Abstract reasoning, speculation

•

Abstract logic

•

Potential for moral reasoning

17

Poll: 23. According to Piaget the ability to t...

18

Poll: 54. According to Jean Piaget, what is th...

19

Poll: 24. According to Piaget, during the form...

20

Sensorimotor Stage

In the sensorimotor stage, babies take in the world by looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping. Children younger than 6 months of age do not grasp object permanence , i.e., objects that are out of sight are also out of mind.

Object permanence in dogs 15:20 21

Poll: 55. A baby looks under the sofa for a ba...

22

Sensorimotor

 Stranger Anxiety   fear of strangers that infants commonly display beginning by about 8 months of age 23

Sensorimotor Stage: Criticisms Piaget believed children in the sensorimotor stage could not think —they do not have any abstract concepts or ideas. However, recent research shows that children in the sensorimotor stage can think and count. 1.

Children understand the basic laws of physics. They are amazed at how a ball can stop in midair or disappear.

24

25

Sensorimotor Stage: Criticisms 2. Children can also count. Wynn (1992, 2000) showed that children stared longer at the wrong number of objects than the right ones.

26

Impossible Display

27

Preoperational Stage

Piaget suggested that from 2 years old to about 6-7 years old, children are in the preoperational stage—too young to perform mental operations.

28

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

 Conservation  the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects 29

Conservation



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 apart and the child is again asked if there is the same number in each.

30

Conservation



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.

31

Conservation



Substance

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.

32

Egocentrism

Piaget concluded that preoperational children are egocentric. They cannot perceive things from another’s point of view.

When asked to show her picture to mommy, 2 year-old Gabriella holds the picture facing her own eyes, believing that her mother can see it through her eyes.

33

Poll: 22. According to Piaget, egocentrism ref...

34

Preoperational Stage: Criticism DeLoache (1987) showed that children as young as 3 years of age are able to use mental operations. When shown a model of a dog’s hiding place behind the couch, a 2½-year-old could not locate the stuffed dog in an actual room, but the 3-year-old did.

35

Theory of Mind

Preschoolers, although still egocentric, develop the ability to understand another’s mental state or perspective when they begin forming a theory of mind .

36

Concrete Operational Stage

In concrete operational stage, given concrete materials, 6- to 7-year-olds grasp conservation problems and mentally pour liquids back and forth into glasses of different shapes conserving their quantities.

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.

37

Formal Operational Stage

Around age 12, our reasoning ability expands from concrete thinking to abstract thinking. We can now use symbols and imagined realities to systematically reason. Piaget called this formal operational thinking.

38

Formal Operational Stage: Criticism

Rudiments of such thinking begin earlier (age 7) than what Piaget suggested, since 7-year-olds can solve the problem below (Suppes, 1982). If John is in school, Mary is in school. John is in school. What can you say about Mary? 39

Reflecting on Piaget’s Theory Today’s researchers believe the following: 1.

2.

3.

Development is a continuous process.

Children express their mental abilities and operations at an earlier age, changes between stages less consistent than Piaget thought.

Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition than Piaget thought.

40

Personality Development

 Freud’s Psychosexual Stages  the childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones 41

Personality Development

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

Stage Focus

Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth- (0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with (3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings Latency Dormant sexual feelings (6 to puberty) Genital Maturation of sexual interests (puberty on)

42

Octapuses Always Play Love Games

 Oral  Anal  Phallic  Latency  Genital 43

Social Development

 Critical Period  an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development 44

Social Development

  Attachment   an emotional tie with another person shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and displaying distress on separation Stranger Anxiety   fear of strangers that infants commonly display beginning by about 8 months of age 45

Harlow and Attachment

 Harlow’s Surrogate Mother Experiments  Monkeys preferred contact with the comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the nourishing wire mother 46

47

Harlow’s Methodology and Results

FED ON CLOTH MOTHER FED ON WIRE MOTHER 24 18 12 6 0 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 DAYS OF AGE 21-25 24 18 12 6 0 1-5 6-10 11-15 DAYS OF AGE 16-20 - cloth mother - wire mother 21-25

 Monkeys separated from their mothers in early infancy and raised in their own cages  Two artificial mothers: one wire and wood, one cloth 48

Harlow’s Legacy

   Bond of attachment between parent and child A secure base from which to explore The need for security remains with us throughout our lives 49

50

Origins of Attachment

Like bodily contact, familiarity is another factor that causes attachment. In some animals (goslings), imprinting is the cause of attachment.

51

Social Development

 Imprinting  the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life 52

Attachment

 Mary Ainsworth – Strange situation  Unfamiliar playroom  Mother and unfamilar woman  Women play with baby – leave briefly  How to the babies respond?

53

Secure Attachment

 Most children have secure attachment  Use mom as a home base and return periodically  Happy to see mom upon return  Most common in US. 60% 54

Insecure Attachment

 Some have insecure attachment, 30%  Avoidant – avoid or ignore mother on return  Ambivalent but vacilate between clingy and angry on return –upset when mom leaves,  Disorganized – inconsistent, disturbed, disturbing – may reach out for mom while looking away (Moss 2004) 55

56

Deprivation of Attachment

What happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming attachments?

In such circumstances children become: 1.

2.

3.

Withdrawn Frightened Unable to develop speech 57

Social Development

  Basic Trust   (Erik Erikson) a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers Self-Concept  a sense of one’s identity and personal worth 58

Social Development: Parenting Styles

    Authoritarian  parents impose rules and expect obedience  “Don’t interrupt.” “Why? Because I said so.” Permissive  submit to children’s desires, make few demands, use little punishment Authoritative  both demanding and responsive  set rules, but explain reasons and encourage open discussion Rejecting-Neglecting  completely uninvolved; disengaged. Expect little and invest little 59

Parenting Styles Parental Acceptance Low High Authoritarian Authoritative Neglectful Permissive

60

Social Development: Child-Rearing Practices

61

 Star wars according to a 3 yo.

62

Myers

PSYCHOLOGY

Seventh Edition in Modules

Module 8 Infancy and Childhood

James A. McCubbin, Ph.D.

Clemson University & Aneeq Ahmad, Henderson State University & Amy Jones w/ Garber edits Worth Publishers 63