The Study of Human Development

HUMAN - scientific study of Human development today

DEVELOPMENT processes of change and Goals of human development:
stability throughout the Description – describe when most children say their
human life span. first word or how large their vocabulary
is at a certain age by observing large
Developmental - individuals engaged in the groups of children and establish norms
scientists or professional study of or averages, for behavior at various ages.
developmentalists human development. Explanation - explain how children acquire
language and why some children
learn to speak later than usual.
They answer questions like: Prediction - predict the likelihood that a child
Which characteristics are most likely to endure? may have serious speech problems.’
Which are likely to change, and why? Intervention - intervene in development by giving a
child speech therapy
Importance of developmentalists’ research: - Development is messy. It is multi-faceted and shaped
- They have applications to child rearing, by interacting arcs of influence.
education, health and social policy. - It is best understood with input from a variety of
- E.g. Research has shown that students who go theoretical and research orientation and is most
to school hungry have poorer grades and more appropriately studied using multiple disciplines.
emotional and behavioral problems than their - It is best understood with input from a variety of
classmates and that this effect is more striking theoretical and research orientation and is most
in students from deprived environments. appropriately studied using multiple disciplines
- When breakfast programs are implemented,
students show academic gains (improved Domains of Development
nutrition and decrease in absences that emotions, personality, and social
accompanies such Psychosocial
relationships.
programs). growth of the body and brain,
- Research that adolescent brain is still immature Physical sensory capacities, motor skills and
leading to suggestion that adolescents accused health.
of crimes be exempt from death penalty. learning, attention, memory,
- An understanding of adult development can Cognitive language, thinking, reasoning, and
help people understand and deal with life creativity.
transitions: career change. These domains, though separate, are interrelated.

Studying the life span Periods of the Lifespan

Life Span now considered by researchers to Division of the life span into periods is a social
Development be from “womb” to “tomb”; construction.
comprising the entire human - a concept or practice that may
life span from conception to death. Social appear natural and obvious to
Development can be either positive or negative: construction those who accept it, but that in
Positive becoming toilet trained or reality, it is an invention of a
enrolling in a college course after particular culture or society.
retirement. Childhood in varied forms across cultures:
Negative once again wetting the bed after a US: children have relative freedom.
traumatic event or isolating
yourself after retirement. Children in colonial times do adultlike tasks such as
For these reasons, events such as the timing of knitting socks and spinning wool.
parenthood, maternal employment, and marital
satisfaction are now studied as part of dev psych. Inuit parents in Canadian Arctic believe that young
children are not yet capable of thought and reason so
they are lenient when children cry or become angry.

Parents on the Pacific Island of Tonga regularly beat 3-5

year olds because crying is attributed to willfulness.
 Periods of the life span maturation (unfolding of a natural sequence of
1. Prenatal Period conception to birth. physical and behavioral changes) of the body and
2. Infancy and toddlerhood Birth to age 3 brain.
3. Early childhood ages 3 to 6
4. Middle childhood ages 6 to 11 Only when deviation from the average is extreme
5. Adolescence ages 11 to about 20 should we consider development exceptionally
6. Emerging and Young ages 20 to 40 advanced or delayed.
Adulthood
7. Middle Adulthood ages 40 to 65 To understand development, we need to look at the
8. Late Adulthood age 65 and over inherited characteristics that give each person a start
in life. We also need to consider the many
environmental factors that affect development such
Influences on development
as family, neighborhood, socio economic status,
What makes each person unique?
race/ethnicity, and culture.
Students of development are interested in the
We need to understand which developments are
universal processes of development experienced by all
primarily maturational and which are not; which
normal human beings and they also study individual
influences affect many or most people at a certain age
differences.
and how timing can accentuate the impact of certain
influences.
Individual differences – differences in characteristics,
influences, or developmental outcomes.
Contexts of development
Each person has a unique developmental trajectory – Human beings are social beings.
an individual path to follow. FAMILY
Nuclear Family household unit consisting of one or
Challenge: identify the universal influences on two parents and their children,
development and then apply those to understanding whether biological, adopted, or
individual differences in developmental trajectories. stepchildren.

Increased incidence of divorce also

Heredity, environment and maturation
has affected the nuclear family.
Some influences on development originate primarily
Extended multigenerational kinship network
with heredity – inborn traits or characteristics
family of parents, children, and other
inherited from the biological parents.
relatives, sometimes living together
in an extended-family household.
Other influences come largely from the environment
– totality of nonhereditary or experiential influences
1. Both men and women are marrying at later ages,
on development.
thus, remaining at home for longer than was
previously typical.
Which of these factors has more impact on
development?
2. Immigrant populations since 1970 are more likely
Nature vs Nurture historically generated intense than native-born families to seek out
debate. multigenerational homes for reasons of practicality as
well as preference.
Contemporary theorists and researchers are more
interested in finding ways to explain how nature and 3. Latinos, African Americans, and Asians are all more
likely to live in multigenerational families than are
nurture work together than in
whites.
arguing about which factor is more important.

To get a callus, you have to have callus-making genes 4. People are living longer and elderly parents may
of some sort, but the environmental input of repeated sometime benefit from inclusion in their children’
friction on your skin is also required or a callus would households.
never form.

Many typical changes of infancy and early childhood,

such as the abilities to walk and talk, are tied to
 Socioeconomic status and neighborhood Ethnic and cultural patterns affect development by
Socioeconomic Status – combination of economic and their influence on the composition of a household, its
social factors describing an individual or family, economic and social resources, the way its members
including income, education and occupation. act toward one another, the foods they eat, the
games children play, the way they learn, how well
Poverty, if it is long-lasting, can be harmful to the they do in school, the occupations adults engage in,
physical, cognitive, and psychosocial well-being of and the way the family members think and perceive
children and families. the world.
historically and popularly viewed as an
Poor children are more likely than other children to identifiable biological category. There is
have emotional or behavioral problems, and their Race no clear scientific consensus on its
cognitive potential and school performance suffer definition, and it is impossible to
more. measure reliably.
overgeneralization about an ethnic or
Ethnic
Harm caused by poverty may be indirect: its impact is cultural group that obscures differences
gloss
on parents’ emotional state and parenting practices within the group.
and on the home environment they create.
Historical context
Composition of a neighborhood affects children as Historical context is the time in which people live.
well. Living in a poor neighborhood with large
numbers of unemployed people makes it less likely At one time, developmentalists paid little attention to
that effective social support will be available. it.

Still, positive development can occur despite serious As early longitudinal studies of childhood extended
risk factors: into the adult years, investigators began to focus on
Pulitzer Prize – winning author Maya Angelou how certain experiences, tied to time and place, affect
Country singer – Shania Twain the course of people’s lives.
Former US president – Abraham Lincoln
Hence, historical context is now an important part of
Affluence doesn’t necessarily protect children from the study of development.
risk. Some children in affluent families face pressure
to achieve and are often left on their own by busy
Normative and non-normative influences
parents.
biological or environmental events
Normative that affect many or most people in
They have high rates of substance abuse, anxiety and
influences a society in similar ways and events
depression.
that touch only certain individuals.
Although poor families are often less positive about highly similar for people in a
their neighborhood and feels less safe: particular age group. The timing of
Parents report being just as close with their children. Normative age biological events is fairly
They attend church with families just as often. graded predictable within a normal range.
They feel as safe at home and school. influences E.g. people don’t experience
They eat meals together as a family more often than puberty at age 35 or menopause at
wealthier families. 12.
Normative significant events that shape the
history graded behavior and attitudes of a
Culture and race/ethnicity
influences historical generation.
a society’s or group’s total way of life
a group of people who experience
including customs, traditions, beliefs,
the event at a formative time in
Culture values, language, and physical products their lives.
– all learned behavior, passed on from Historical
E.g. Depending on when and where
parents to children. generation
they live, entire generations may
a group united by ancestry, race, feel the impact of famines, nuclear
religion, language, or national origins, explosions, or terrorist attacks.
Ethnic
which contribute to a sense of shared Historical generation is not the same as an age
group
identity and shared attitudes, beliefs cohort: a group of people born at about the same
and values.
time. Historical generation may contain more than
one cohort, but cohorts are part of a historical with the ability to focus both eyes
generation only if they experience major, shaping on the same object is not corrected
historical events at a formative point in their lives. within a critical period early in
Nonnormative are unusual events that have a childhood, depth perception will
influences major impact on individual lives not develop.
because they disturb the expected However, the concept of critical periods in humans is
sequence of the life cycle. controversial.
They are either typical events that
happen at an atypical time of life Because many aspects of development, even in the
(death of a parent when a child is physical domain, have been found to show plasticity –
young) or atypical events (surviving modifiability of a performance, it may be more useful
a plane crash). to think about sensitive periods – times in
development when a person is particularly open to
Some of these influences are certain kinds of experiences.
largely beyond a person’s control
and may present rare opportunities The Life-Span Developmental Approach
or severe challenges that the Each period of the lifespan is
person perceives as turning points. affected by what happened
On the other hand, people sometimes help create 1. Development is before and will affect what is
their own nonnormative life events. lifelong to come. Each period has
unique characteristics and
E.g. deciding to have a baby in their mid-fifties or value. each
taking up a risky hobby such as skydiving. It occurs along multiple
interacting dimensions
Normative age-graded, normative history-graded and 2. Development is – biological, psychological,
nonnormative influences contribute to the complexity multidimensional and social – each of
of human development as well as to the challenges which may develop at
people experience in trying to build their lives. varying rates.
Biological abilities, such as
Timing of influences: critical or sensitive periods sensory acuity and muscular
Imprinting instinctive form of learning in strength and coordination,
which, during a critical period in 3. Relative influences weaken with age, but
early development, a young of biology and culture cultural supports, such as
animal forms an attachment to the shift over the life education,
first moving object it sees, usually span. relationships, and
the mother. It was believed to be technologically age-friendly
automatic and irreversible. environments, may help
In a well-known study, Konrad compensate.
Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist, Individuals choose to invest
showed that newly hatched their resources of time,
ducklings will instinctively follow energy, talent, money and
the first moving object they see, social support in varying
whether it is a member of their ways.
species or not.
Critical period specific time when a given event, Resources may be used for
or its absence, has a specific impact 4. Development growth, for maintenance or
on development. involves changing recovery, or for dealing with
If a woman receives X-ray, takes resource loss.
certain drugs, or contracts certain Allocations.
diseases at certain times during Childhood and young
pregnancy, the fetus may show adulthood → growth
specific ill effects, depending on the
nature of the insult, its timing, and Old Age → regulation of loss
characteristics of the fetus itself.
Midlife → allocation is more
If a muscle problem interfering balanced
 Many abilities such as organism and as occurring in a
memory, strength, and sequence of qualitatively different
endurance, stages. Children are active, growing
can be improved significantly organisms.
with training and practice,
even late in life. Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?
development is gradual and
However, even in children, Continuous
incremental; mechanistic.
plasticity has limits that development is abrupt or
5. Development Discontinuous
depend in part on the uneven; stages; organismic.
shows plasticity
various influences on Quantitative changes in height, weight.
development. change in kind, structure, or
organization, not just in number; the
One of the tasks of Qualitative
way that children think, behave, and
developmental research is to perceive the world as they mature.
discover to what extent
particular kinds of
development can be THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
modified at various ages. focuses on unconscious emotions
Psychoanalytic
6. Development is Human beings not only and drives.
influenced by the influence but also are Learning studies observable behavior.
historical and influenced by their historical- Cognitive analyzes thought processes.
Cultural context cultural context. emphasizes the impact of the
Contextual historical, social and cultural
context.
Theory and Research Evolutionary or
Considers evolutionary and
biological underpinnings of
Sociobiological
Basic Theoretical Issues behavior
coherent set of logically related
Theory concepts that seeks to organize, 1. PSYCHOANALYTIC
explain, and predict data. Sigmund Freud Erik Erikson
statement based on repeated
experimental observations that
Law SIGMUND FREUD: PSYCHOANALYTIC DEVELOPMENT
describes some phenomenon of
Hypothetical parts of personality:
nature; proof that something
Id operates under the pleasure principle
happens and how but not WHY.
– the drive to seek immediate
possible explanations for
satisfaction of their needs and desires.
Hypotheses phenomena, used to predict the
Ego operates under the reality principle –
outcome of research.
represents reason, develops gradually
during the first year or so of life.
Is Development Active or Reactive? Superego morality principle; includes the
: A young child is a tabula rasa – a conscience and incorporates socially
John Locke “blank slate” – upon which society approved “shoulds” and “should nots”
writes. into the child’s value system. The
children grasp experiences and this superego is highly demanding; if its
Reactive
input molds them over time. standards are not met, a child may feel
people create experiences and are guilty and anxious.
Active motivated to learn about the world The ego mediates between the impulses of the id and
around them. the demands of the superego.

Mechanistic Model & Organismic Model PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

Model that views human development an unvarying sequence of stages of childhood
Mechanistic
as a series of predictable responses to personality development in which gratification shifts
Model
stimuli from the mouth to the anus and then to the genitals.
Organismic model that views human development Freud consider the first 3 stages to be crucial for
Model as internally initiated by an active personality development. If children receive too little
or too much gratification in any of these stages, they 2. Learning
are at risk of fixation. Learning perspective maintains that development
arrest in development that can show up in results from learning – a long-lasting change in
Fixation
adult personality behavior based on experience or adaptation to the
environment.
SIGMUND FREUD: PSYCHOANALYTIC DEVELOPMENT Two important learning theories are:
Stage Age Description Behaviorism Social Learning Theory
Baby’s chief source of
Birth to
pleasure involves mouth- BEHAVIORISM
ORAL 12-18
oriented activities (sucking Learning theory that emphasizes the predictable role
months
and feeding). of environment in causing observable behaviors.
Child derives sensual
gratification from withholding Behaviorists consider development as reactive and
12-18
and expelling feces. Zone of continuous.
ANAL months
gratification is anal region,
to 3 years
and toilet training is important It focuses on associative learning – a mental link is
activity. formed between 2 events.
Child becomes attached to Two kinds of associative learning:
parent of other sex and later 1. Classical Conditioning
3 to 6 identifies with same sex 2. Operant Conditioning
PHALLIC
years parent, superego develops.
Zone of gratification shifts Learning based on associating a stimulus that does
to genital region. not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus
6 years to Time of relative calm between that does elicit the response.
LATENCY
puberty more turbulent stages.
Reemergence of sexual Ivan Pavlov – devised experiments in which dogs
impulses of phallic stage learned to salivate at the sound of a bell that rang at
GENITAL Puberty feeding time.
channeled into mature adult
sexuality.
Response (salivation) to a stimulus (bell) is evoked
PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES (ERIKSON) after repeated association with a stimulus that
Age Psychosocial Virtue Existential normally elicits the response (food).
Crisis Question
0-12- Trust vs. Can I Trust the CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Hope John B. Watson – claimed that he could mold any
18mos. Mistrust World?
12-18 Autonomy Will Is it ok to be infant in any way he chose. He taught an 11-month-
mos. to 3 vs. Shame me? old baby known as “Little Albert” to fear furry white
years and Doubt objects.
Is it ok for me
Initiative vs. Albert was exposed to a loud noise when he started to
3 to 6 Purpose to do, move
Guilt stroke the rat. The noise frightened him, and he began
and act?
Can I make it to cry. After repeated pairings of the rat with the loud
6 to Industry vs. in the world of noise, Albert whimpered with fear when he saw the
Skill rat. Albert has also started showing fear responses to
puberty Inferiority people and
things? white rabbits and cats, and beards of elderly men.
Puberty – Identity vs. Who am I and
young Role Fidelity What The study demonstrated that fear could be
adulthood Confusion can I be? conditioned.
Young Intimacy vs. Can I Love? Classical conditioning occurs throughout life.
Love
adulthood Isolation
Middle Generativity Can I Make my Food likes and dislikes may be a result of conditioned
adulthood vs. Care Life Count? learning.
Stagnation
Late Ego Integrity Is it okay to Fear responses to objects like a car or a dog may be
Wisdom the result of an accident or a bad experience.
adulthood vs. Despair have been me?
 OPERANT CONDITIONING Zone of Vygotsky’s term for the difference
Operant Learning based on association of proximal between what a child can do alone
Conditioning behavior with its consequences. development and what the child can do with help.
argued that an organism will tend to temporary support to help a child
Scaffolding
repeat a response that has been master a task.
B.F. Skinner reinforced by desirable
consequences and will suppress a THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
response that has been punished. Approach to the study of cognitive development by
the process by which a behavior is observing and analyzing the mental processes
strengthened, increasing the involved in perceiving and handling information.
Reinforcement
likelihood that the behavior will be
repeated. Individual is the processor of information same as
the process by which a behavior is computer which takes in info and follows a program to
Punishment weakened, decreasing the likelihood produce an output.
of repetition.
E.g. Eye receives visual information and codes info
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION THERAPY into electric neural activity to brain -> stored -> coded.
A form of operant conditioning used to eliminate Memory, perception and attention.
undesirable behavior, such as temper tantrums, or to
instill desirable behavior, such as putting away toys Output: read what is on the printed page.
after play.
BIOECOLOGICAL THEORY
Example: Every time a child puts toys away, she or he Proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner.
gets a reward, such as praise or a treat or new toy.

SOCIAL LEARNING (SOCIAL COGNITIVE) THEORY

Albert suggests that the impetus for
Bandura development is bidirectional.
Reciprocal the person acts on the world as the
Determinism world acts on the person.
modeling; people learn appropriate
Observational social behavior chiefly by observing
Learning and imitating models – that is, by
watching other people.
the confidence that a person has
what it takes to succeed; sense of
Self-efficacy
one’s capability to master challenges
and achieve goals.

3. COGNITIVE
Piaget’s theory that children’s
Bronfenbrenner’s approach to
cognitive development advances in a
Cognitive Bioecological understanding processes and contexts
series of four stages involving
Stage Theory theory of human development that identifies
qualitatively distinct types of mental
five levels of environmental influence.
operations.
– everyday environment of home,
Piaget’s term for the creation of
Organization school, work, or neighborhood,
categories or systems of knowledge.
including face to face relationships
Piaget’s term for organized patterns Microsystem
with spouse, children, parents,
Schemes of thought and behavior use in
friends, classmates, teachers,
situations.
employers or colleagues.
Mesosystem interlocking of various microsystems
SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY interactions between a microsystem
is Lev Semenovich Vygotsky’s theory Exosystem
Sociocultural and an outside system or institution.
of how contextual factors affect
theory
children’s development.
 EVOLUTIONARY/SOCIOBIOLOGICAL children.
It is the view of human development that focuses on Visual participants are asked to draw or
evolutionary and biological bases of behavior. representation paint or to provide maps or graphs
behaviors that developed to solve techniques that illuminate their experience.
Evolved
problems in adapting to an earlier OBSERVATION
mechanisms
environment. research method in which behavior
study of distinctive adaptive behaviors Naturalistic
is studied in natural settings without
of species of animals that have Observation
Ethology intervention or manipulation.
evolved to increase survival of the research method in which all
species. Laboratory
participants are observed under the
Observation
same controlled conditions.
A SHIFTING BALANCE researcher’s tendency to interpret
Theories shift and change. data to fit expectations or to
Observer bias
emphasize some aspects and
Influences are bidirectional: people change their minimize others.
world as it changes them.
BEHAVIORAL AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES
A manager who offers constructive criticism and Participants are tested on abilities, skills, knowledge,
emotional support to his subordinates is likely to elicit competencies, or physical responses.
greater efforts to produce. Improved productivity is
likely to encourage him to keep using this managerial Tests can be meaningful and useful only if they are
style. both valid and reliable.
the tests measure the abilities they
RESEARCH METHODS Valid
claim to measure.
research that deals with objectively the results are reasonably consistent
Quantitative Reliable
measurable data. How much? How from one time to another
research
many? Operational definition – definition stated solely in
research that focuses on nonnumerical terms of the operations or procedures used to
data, such as subjective experiences, produce or measure a phenomenon.
Qualitative
feelings or beliefs; understand the
research
story of the event; how and why of Basic Research Designs
behavior.
In-depth study of single
1. Case Study
individual.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD 2. Ethnographic In-depth study of a culture or
1. Identification of a problem Study subculture.
2. Formulation of hypotheses Attempt to find positive or
3. Collection of data 3. Correlational
negative relationship between
4. Statistical analysis of the data Study
variables.
5. Formation of tentative conclusion Controlled procedure in which an
6. Dissemination of findings experimenter controls the
independent variable to
SAMPLING 4. Experiment determine its effect on the
Population group to whom the findings may apply. dependent variable; may be
Sample a smaller group within the population. conducted in the laboratory or
selection of a sample in such a way that field.
Random each person in a population has an
selection equal and independent chance of being Pros & Cons
chosen. Type Advantages Disadvantages
Flexibility;
May not
FORMS OF DATA COLLECTION provides detailed
generalize in
SELF-REPORTS picture of one
others;
Diary or Log simplest form of self-report. Case Study person’s
conclusions not
Diaries, journals, interviews, or behavior and
directly testable;
questionnaires: parental self-reports development; can
cannot establish
commonly used in studying young generate
cause and effect.
hypotheses.
 Can help
overcome Birth and Physical Development During
culturally based
Ethnographic biases in theory Subject to the First Three Years
Study and research; can observer bias.
test universality of CHILDBIRTH AND CULTURE:
developmental HOW BIRTHING HAS CHANGED
phenomena. Customs surrounding childbirth reflect a culture’s
Enables prediction beliefs, values, and resources:
of one variable on
basis of another; - A Mayan woman in Yucatan gives birth in the
Correlational Cannot establish
can suggest hammock she sleeps in every night; both the father-
Study cause and effect.
hypotheses about to-be and a midwife are expected to be present.
causal To evade evil spirits, mother and child remain at home
relationships. for a week.
Establishes cause
and effect Findings, - By contrast, among the Ngoni in East Africa, men are
relationships; is especially when excluded from the birth experience.
highly controlled derived from
and can be laboratory - And in rural Thailand, a new mother generally
repeated by experiments, resumes normal activity within a few hours of giving
Experiment birth
another may not
investigator; generalize to
degree of control situations - In 17th and 18th century France, a woman had a 1 in
greatest in the outside the 10 chance of dying while or shortly after giving birth.
laboratory laboratory. Thousands of babies were stillborn, and 1 out of 4
experiment. born alive, died during the 1st year.

Important terms - At the end of the 19th century in England and Wales,
assignment of participants to groups an expectant mother was almost 50 times more likely
Random in such a way that each person has to die in childbirth than a woman giving birth in
assignment an equal chance of being placed in modern times.
any group.
in an experiment, the condition over - Childbirth in Europe and the United States followed
Independent similar patterns in the late1800s.
which the experimenter has direct
variable
control.
- At the start of the 20th century, childbirth began to
in an experiment, the condition that
Dependent be professionalized in the US, at least in urban
may or may not change as a result of
variable settings.
changes in the independent variable.
Experimental in an experiment, the group
- The growing use of maternity hospitals led to safer,
group receiving the treatment under study.
more antiseptic conditions for childbirth, which
in an experiment, a group of people
reduced mortality for women.
similar to those in the experimental
Control group
group, who do not receive the
- In 1900, only 5% of U.S. deliveries occurred in
treatment under study.
hospitals; by 1920, in some cities 65% did.
Placebo an inert substance that has no
known effects.
- A similar trend took place in Europe. Now in the
United States, 98.5% of babies are born in hospitals
DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGNS and 84% of births are attended by physicians.
Type Main Characteristics
Cross- Data are collected on people of - The dramatic reductions in risks surrounding
sectional different ages at the same time. pregnancy and childbirth in industrialized countries
Data are collected on same person or are largely due to the availability of antibiotics, blood
Longitudinal
persons over a period of time. transfusions, safe anesthesia, improved hygiene, and
Data are collected on successive cross- drugs for inducing labor.
Sequential
sectional or longitudinal samples
- In addition, improvements in prenatal assessment mother’s body.
and care make it far more likely that a baby will be
born healthy. - At the end of this stage, the baby is born but is
still attached to the placenta in the mother’s body
- The development of the science of obstetrics by the umbilical cord, which must be cut and clamped.
professionalized childbirth. Births took place in
hospitals and were attended by physicians. Medical 3. EXPULSION OF THE PLACENTA
advances dramatically improved safety. - It lasts between 10 minutes and 1 hour.

- Today, delivery at home or in birth centers attended - During this stage, the placenta and the remainder of
by midwives can be a relatively safe alternative to the umbilical cord are expelled from the mother.
physician-attended hospital delivery for women with
normal, lowrisk pregnancies

THE BIRTH PROCESS

Labor apt term for the process of giving birth.
the act or process of giving birth, and it
Parturition typically begins about 2 weeks before
delivery.
Hicks contractions – mild and irregular
Braxton
false contractions (2 mins.)

STAGES OF CHILDBIRTH
1. DILATION OF THE CERVIX
- Regular and increasingly frequent uterine
contractions – 15-20 minutes apart at first – cause the
cervix to shorten and dilate, or widen, in preparation
for delivery.
VAGINAL VERSUS
- Toward the end of the first stage, contractions occur CESAREAN DELIVERY
every 2 to 5 minutes. Vaginal delivery usual method of childbirth.
Cesarean – delivery of a baby by surgical
- It lasts until the cervix is fully open (10cm or about 4 delivery removal from the uterus.
inches) so the baby can descend into the birth canal. The Cesarean delivery operation is commonly
performed when:

- labor is too slow

- fetus is in trouble
- fetus in breech position/transverse
- mother is bleeding vaginally
- head is too big to pass the pelvis
- for multiple births
- premature infants
- increase revenue generated by hospitals

VAGINAL VERSUS
CESAREAN DELIVERY
Cesarean deliveries carry risks of serious
complications for the mother, such as:
2. DESCENT AND EMERGENCE OF THE BABY
- bleeding
- Typically lasts up to an hour or two.
- infection
- damage to pelvic organs
- It begins when the baby’s head begin to move
- postoperative pains
through the cervix into the vaginal canal, and it ends
- risks of problems in future pregnancies
when the baby emerges completely from the
- affects breastfeeding
Babies are deprived of important benefits of normal (usually the prospective father or a friend), who
birth: attends classes with her, takes part in the delivery, and
helps with the exercises.
- the surge of hormones that: - Using the LeBoyer method, introduced in the 1970s,
- clear the lungs of excess fluid a woman gives birth in a quiet room under low lights
- mobilize stored fuel to nourish cells to reduce stress, and the newborn is gently massaged
- send blood to the heart and brain to ease crying.

VAGINAL VERSUS - Another technique, developed by the French

CESAREAN DELIVERY physician Michael Odent, is submersion of the
- Vaginal delivery stimulates the release of oxytocin. laboring mother in a soothing pool of water.

- Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) should be - Other methods use mental imagery, massage, gentle
attempted only with caution. pushing, and deep breathing.

- VBACs have been associated with greater (though - Bradley method, which rejects all obstetrical
still low) risks of uterine rupture and brain damage as procedures and other medical interventions.
well as infant death. - A woman may be given local (vaginal) anesthesia,
also called a pudendal block, usually during the
- Today, if a woman had CS delivery, chances are about second stage of labor.
92% that any subsequent deliveries will be by CS.
- Or she can receive an analgesic (painkiller), which
VAGINAL VERSUS reduces the perception of pain by depressing the
CESAREAN DELIVERY activity of the central nervous system.
- Overall, women who attempt a trial of labor
- However, analgesics may slow labor, cause maternal
following one or two cesarean deliveries are
complications, and make the baby less alert after
successful 60 to 80% of the time and represented
birth.
12.4% of total births in 2016.
- Another form of pain relief is regional anesthesia, or
- VBAC is not recommended for home births or
an epidural, which can be injected into a space in the
women who have conditions that make it less likely to
spinal cord between the vertebrae in the lumbar
be successful, such as advanced age, high body mass
(lower) region. This blocks the nerve pathways that
index, a very large baby, or a previous cesarean that
would otherwise carry the sensation of pain to the
was the result of a failure of the cervix to dilate.
brain.
- In many traditional cultures, childbearing women are
MEDICATED VS. NONMEDICATED DELIVERY attended by a doula.
method of childbirth that seeks to
prevent pain by eliminating the - Doula – an experienced mentor, coach, and helper
Natural mother’s fear through education about who furnishes emotional support and information and
childbirth the physiology of reproduction and stays at a woman’s bedside throughout labor.
training in breathing and relaxation
during delivery. - There is growing evidence that offering women such
method of childbirth that uses support is associated with better outcomes.
instruction, breathing exercises, and
Prepared
social support to induce controlled - Other studies have found that women who give birth
childbirth
physical responses to uterine with the assistance of a doula are almost 41 percent
contractions and reduce fear and pain. less likely to have a cesarean delivery than women
who give birth without a doula.
LAMAZE
- Introduced by Fernand Lamaze in the late 1950s,
acknowledges that labor is painful and teaches BODY SYSTEMS
expectant mothers to work actively with their bodies - Before birth, blood circulation, respiration,
through controlled breathing. nourishment, elimination of waste, and temperature
regulation are accomplished through the mother’s
- The woman learns to relax her muscles as a body.
conditioned response to the voice of her coach
- Once born, a neonate needs more oxygen than STATES OF AROUSAL
before. Most babies start to breathe as soon as they A newborn’s state of arousal is governed by periodic
are exposed to air. cycles of wakefulness, sleep and activity.
an infant’s physiological and behavioral
State of
- The heartbeat at first is fast and irregular, and blood status at a given moment in the periodic
arousal
pressure does not stabilize until about 10 days after daily cycle of wakefulness, state and activity.
birth. - Sleep takes up the major, but a diminishing amount
of a neonate’s time. By about 6 months, babies do
- If the neonate does not begin breathing within most of their sleeping at night.
about 5 minutes, the baby may suffer permanent - Cultural customs affect sleep patterns.
brain injury caused by anoxia or hypoxia.
Hypoxia reduced oxygen supply. COMPLICATIONS OF CHILDBIRTH
lack of oxygen, which may cause brain - Complications of childbirth include low birth weight,
Anoxia
damage. postmature birth and stillbirth.
- 3 or 4 days after birth, about half of all babies (and a
larger proportion of babies born prematurely) develop - Low birth weight babies may be either preterm
neonatal jaundice: their skin and eyeballs look yellow. (premature) or small-for-gestational age.

- This kind of jaundice is caused by the immaturity of - Low birth weight is a major factor in infant mortality
the liver. Usually it is not serious, does not need and can cause long-term physical and cognitive
treatment, and has no long-term effects. However, problems.
severe jaundice that is not monitored and treated
promptly may result in brain damage. - Very low birth weight babies have a less promising
prognosis than those who weigh more.
MEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT
The Apgar Scale (1min after delivery, again 5 mins - The most pressing fear regarding very small babies is
after) Named after Virginia Apgar with the following that they will die in infancy, given the multitude of
subtests” challenges they face.

A – ppearance (color) - Their immune systems are not fully developed and they
P – ulse (heart rate) are especially vulnerable to infection.
G – rimace (reflex irritability)
A – ctivity (muscle tone) - Their nervous system may be too immature for them to
R – espiration (breathing) perform functions basic to survival, such as sucking, often
making it necessary for them to be fed intravenously. It is
The newborn is rated 0,1, or 2 on each measure, for a also difficult for them to stay warm (they do not have
maximum score of 10. enough fat to generate heat).
- A 5-minute score of
- 7-10 = baby is in good to excellent condition - A low-birth-weight or at-risk preterm baby may be
- 5-7 = baby needs help to establish breathing placed in an isolette (an antiseptic, temperature-
- <4 = the baby needs immediate lifesaving treatment controlled crib) and fed through tubes.
method of skin-to-skin contact in which a
Kangaroo newborn is laid face down between the
care mother’s breasts for an hour or so at a time
after birth.

POSTMATURITY
Babies can also be negatively affected by staying too long
in the womb.
a fetus not yet born as of 2 weeks after the
Postmature due date or 42 weeks after the mother’s
last menstrual period
sudden death of a fetus at or after the
20th week of gestation. Fetal death may be
Stillbirth
discovered prenatally or during
labor or delivery.
 SURVIVAL AND HEALTH - The brain grows rapidly during the months before
the proportion of babies who and immediately after birth as neurons migrate to
Infant mortality rate their assigned locations, form synaptic connections,
die within the 1st year.
- Birth defects and genetic abnormalities are the and undergo integration and differentiation. Cell
leading cause of death in infancy in the US, followed death and myelination improve the efficiency of the
by disorders related to prematurity and low birth nervous system.
weight, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),
maternal complications of pregnancy, and REFLEX BEHAVIORS
complications of the placenta, umbilical cord and automatic, involuntary, innate responses
membranes. Reflex to stimulation. Primitive, locomotor and
behaviors postural – are indications of
SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS) neurological status.
- Called crib death; it is the sudden and unexplained - Most of the early reflexes disappear during the first 6
death of an apparently healthy infant under age 1. to 12 months. Reflexes that continue to serve
protective functions—such as blinking, yawning,
- It is the leading cause of postneonatal death in the coughing, gagging, sneezing, shivering, and dilation of
United States. SIDS rates have declined markedly the pupils in the dark— remain.
following recommendations to lay babies on their
backs to sleep. - Disappearance of unneeded reflexes on schedule is a
sign that motor pathways in the cortex have been
partially myelinated, enabling a shift to voluntary
IMMUNIZATION FOR BETTER HEALTH
behavior.
- Such once-familiar and sometimes fatal childhood
illnesses as measles, pertussis (whooping cough), and
polio are now largely preventable, thanks to the
development of vaccines that mobilize the body’s
natural defenses. Unfortunately, many children
still are not adequately protected.
preventable diseases have declined as
rates of immunization have improved, but
many preschoolers are not fully
Vaccine protected. Multiple vaccines fortify the
immune system against a variety of
bacteria and viruses and reduce related
infections

EARLY PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

NUTRITION EARLY SENSORY CAPACITIES

- Breast-feeding is almost always best for infants. It - Touch is the first sense to develop and for the first
should begin immediately after birth and ideally several months, it is the most mature sensory system.
continue for at least 1 year, longer if the mother and
baby wish. Breast-feeding offers many health - Newborns are sensitive to pain. Newborns can and
advantages and sensory and cognitive benefits do feel pain and they become more sensitive to it
during the first few days.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section
on Breastfeeding (2005) recommends that babies be - Smell, taste, and hearing also begin to develop in the
exclusively breast-fed for 6 months. Breast-feeding womb.
has economic as well as health benefits.
- Vision is the least well-developed sense at birth.
Peripheral vision, color perception, acuteness of
THE BRAIN focus, binocular vision, and the ability to follow a
- The central nervous system controls sensorimotor moving object with the eyes all develop within the
activity. Lateralization enables each hemisphere of the first few months.
brain to specialize in different functions.
 MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
• Motor skills develop in a certain sequence, which
Cognitive Development During the First
may depend largely on maturation but also on
context, experience and motivation. Simple skills Three Years
combine into increasingly complex systems.
Studying Cognitive Development: Six Approaches
• Self-locomotion brings about changes in all domains Behaviorist Concerned with the basic
1.
of development. Perception is intimately related to approach mechanics of learning.
motor development. Depth perception and haptic seeks to measure intelligence
2. Psychometric
perception develop in the first half of the 1st year. quantitatively.
increasingly complex combinations describes qualitative stages in
3. Piagetian
of motor skills, which permit a cognitive thinking.
Systems of
wider or more precise range of analyzes processes involved in
action Information
movement and more control of the 4. perceiving and handling
processing –
environment. information.
screening test given to children 1 Cognitive links brain processes with
Denver 5.
month to 6 years old to determine neuroscience cognitive ones.
Development
whether they are developing focuses on environmental
Screening Test Social-
normally. 6. influences, particularly parents
contextual
The test measures: and other caregivers
Gross motor physical skills that involve the large
skills muscles. BEHAVIORIST APPROACH
physical skills that involve the small Anna and her father’s camera
Fine motor
muscles and eye-hand Camera – flash – blink
skills
coordination. Camera – blink

Classical conditioning – learning based on associating

a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response
with another stimulus that does elicit the response.
Operant conditioning – learning based on association
of behavior with its consequences.

Baby babbles = parents smile – increase babbling

Baby throws food = parents frown – not throw food

INFANT MEMORY
Can you remember anything that happened to you
before you were about 2 years old?

How do we determine what babies know?

Infants cannot talk, and they have limited motor
use of the eyes to guide
control; thus, researchers must be creative if they are
Visual guidance movements of the hands or
to determine what babies know and understand.
other parts of the body.
Fortunately, conditioning paradigms in research allow
ability to perceive objects and
Depth perception investigators to ask questions of babies in ways they
surfaces three-dimensionally.
can answer.
ability to acquire information
Research has determined that the length of time a
about properties of objects,
Haptic perception conditioned response lasts increases with age.
such as size, weight and texture,
can remember a conditioned
by handling them.
2 months of age response for 2 days; 18 months
apparatus designed to give an
can remember it for 13 weeks.
illusion of depth and used to
Visual cliff cannot recognize a picture in a
assess depth perception in 1-, 6- and 9-month
different room but 12- and 18
infants. old infants
month old CAN.
 PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH programs are less likely to require special
Intelligent behavior behavior that is goal oriented education services in grade school and high
and adaptive to school, more likely to graduate from high school,
circumstances and conditions more likely to be employed, less likely to be
of life. imprisoned, and report higher lifetime earnings
Psychometric tests measure factors presumed to
make up intelligence. Thus, from an economic standpoint, despite their high
Intelligence quotient psychometric tests that seek cost, early intervention programs are worth the
(IQ) tests to measure intelligence by benefits accrued.
comparing a test-taker’s
performance with The most effective early interventions are those that:
standardized norms. 1. Start early and continue throughout the
Binet Simon Scale first IQ test. preschool years;
Testing Infants and Toddlers 2. Are highly time-intensive;
If a child is unable to perform a task that the average 3. Center-based
baby can do by a particular age, that child may be 4. Take a comprehensive approach including
delayed in that area. By contrast, a baby can also be health, family counseling, and social services.
ahead of the curve by performing better than her 5. Are tailored to individual differences and
same-age peers. needs.
standardized test of infants’
and toddler’s mental and PIAGETIAN APPROACH
motor development. It was Piaget’s first stage in cognitive
designed to assess children SENSORIMOTOR development, in which infants
from 1 month to 3 ½ years. STAGE learn through senses and motor
Bayley Scales of
Scores on the Bayley-III activity.
Infant and Toddler
indicate a child’s Piaget’s term for organized
Development
competencies in each of five Schemes patterns of thought and behavior
developmental areas: used in particular situations.
cognitive, language, motor,
social-emotional, and Substage Age Description
adaptive behavior. 1. Use of Birth to Infants exercise their
Assessing the Impact of the Early Home reflexes 1 inborn reflexes and gain
Environment month some control over them.
- Home Observation for Measurement of the They do not coordinate
Environment (HOME) – instrument to measure information from their
the influence of the home environment on senses.
children’s cognitive growth. 2. Primary 1 to 4 Infants repeat pleasurable
circular months behaviors that first occur
- The home environment may affect measured reactions by chance (such as thumb-
intelligence. sucking). Activities focus
on the infant’s body rather
- Parental responsiveness – one important factor than the effects of the
assessed by HOME: caressing or kissing the child behavior on the
during an examiner’s visit. environment. Infants
develop first acquired
- If the home environment does not provide the adaptations. They begin to
necessary conditions that pave the way for coordinate sensory
cognitive competence, early intervention may be information and grasp
needed. objects
Early Intervention 3. Secondary 4 to 8 Infants become more
Early Systematic process of providing circular months interested in the
intervention services to help families meet young reactions environment; they repeat
children’s developmental needs. actions that bring
There are lasting effects of early intervention interesting results and
programs. prolong interesting
- Children who participate in early intervention experiences. Actions are
 intentional but not initially KEY DEVELOPMENTS OF THE SENSORIMOTOR STAGE
goal directed.
4.Coordination 8 to 12 Behavior is more Imitation
of secondary months deliberate and purposeful Invisible – imitation that involves parts
schemes as infants coordinate imitation of the body that babies cannot
previously learned see – at 9 months.
schemes and use imitation that uses body
previously learned Visible imitation parts such as hands or feet that
behaviors to attain their babies can see.
goals. They can anticipate Deferred Piaget’s term for
events. imitation reproduction of an observed
5.Tertiary 12 to Toddlers show curiosity behavior after the passage of
circular 18 and experimentation; they time by calling up a stored symbol
reactions months purposefully vary of it.
their actions to see – can imitate how an adult
results. They actively 6-month old interacted with a doll after 10-
explore their world to minute delay.
determine what is novel can reproduce 2 steps after a
about an object, event, or 9 months delay of 1 month (e.g. dropping a
situation. They try new toy car down a vertical chute).
activities and use trial and toddlers show preferences whom
error in solving problems. 14 months
they imitate for.
6. 18 Because toddlers can 15 months imitates a peer.
Mental to24 mentally represent
imitates those who are the same
combinations months events, they can think 4 years of age
gender as they are.
about events and
anticipate their
consequences without Object Concept
always resorting to action. Object Piaget’s term for understanding that a
Toddlers permanence person or object still exists when out
begin to demonstrate of sight
insight. They can
use symbols, such as
gestures and
words, and can pretend.

The sixth substage (about 18 months to 2 years) is a

transition to the preoperational stage of early
childhood.

Representational ability – Piaget’s term for capacity to

store mental images or symbols of objects and events. Symbolic Development, Pictorial Competence
and Understanding of Scale
They can pretend, and their representational ability Intentional representations of
Symbols
affects the sophistication of their pretending. They reality.
can think about actions before taking them. They no Pictorial ability to understand the nature
longer have to go through laborious trial and error to competence of pictures.
solve problems—they can try solutions in their mind. infants use their hands to explore
pictures as if they were objects—
Until 15 months
During these six substages, infants develop the rubbing, patting, or attempting to
abilities to think and remember. They also develop lift a depicted object off the page.
knowledge about aspects of the physical world, such children are able to point at a
as objects and spatial relationships. 19 months picture of an object while saying
its name
children understand that a picture
2 years
is both an object and a symbol
 – able to imitate an adult’s visual and perceptual abilities. Contrary to Piaget’s
actions (helping a puppet ring a ideas, such research suggests that representational
bell) when they saw an adult ability is present virtually from birth.
12- to 18-month
performing the action in front of
old
them than when they saw a Indicators of the efficiency of infant’s information
video of the same thing. processing, such as speed of habituation, show
promise as predictors of intelligence.
– able to locate an object hidden
in an adjoining room after Tools of Infant Research
watching a video of an adult tendency of infants to spend more
2½-year-olds Visual
hiding it, but 2-year-olds could time looking at one sight than
not. preference
another.
– prefers curved lines than straight;
Yet the younger children were able to find the object complex patterns than simple
if they watched through a window as it was hidden. patterns, 3D than 2D objects,
a momentary misperception of < 2 days old
Scale error pictures of faces than things, and
the relative sizes of objects. moving objects than stationary
Why would they still treat the objects as if they were objects.
full size? Visual Ability to distinguish a familiar visual
Researchers suggested that these actions might in recognition stimulus from an unfamiliar one
part be based on a lack of impulse control—the memory when shown both at the same time.
children wanted to play with the objects so badly that
they ignored perceptual information about size. Perceptual Process
proposal that children under Cross-modal Ability to use information gained
age 3 have difficulty grasping transfer by one sense to guide another
Dual
spatial relationships because of
representation A shared attentional focus,
the need to keep more than one
hypothesis Joint attention typically initiated with eye gaze
mental representation in mind
or pointing.
at the same time.
which is of fundamental
importance to social interaction,
Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage language acquisition, and the
In terms of describing what children do under certain understanding of others’
circumstances, and the basic progression of skills, The capacity for
intentions and mental states—
Piaget was correct. However, infants and toddlers are joint attention
develops between 10 and 12
more cognitively competent than Piaget imagined. months, when babies follow an
This does not mean that infants come into the world adults’ gaze by looking or pointing
with minds fully formed. in the same direction.

As Piaget observed, immature forms of cognition

Information Processing and Piagetian Abilities
precede more mature forms. However, Piaget may
have been mistaken in his emphasis on motor
experience as the primary engine of cognitive growth.
Categorization
Infants’ perceptions are far ahead of their motor
Dividing the world into meaningful categories is vital
abilities.
to thinking about objects or concepts and their
relationships. It is the foundation of language,
INFORMATION-PROCESSING APPROACH reasoning, problem solving, and memory; without it,
type of learning in which familiarity the world would seem chaotic and meaningless.
with a stimulus reduces, slows or Perceptual
Habituation shape, color, and pattern.
stops a response. Familiarity breeds features
loss of interest. Conceptual based on real-world knowledge
increase in responsiveness after such as function.
Dishabituation
presentation of a new stimulus. Causality
Information Processing Approach: Perceptions and Causality the principle that one event
Representations (squeezing) causes another
Information processing researchers measure mental (quacking).
processes through habituation and other signs of Piaget believed that at about 4 to 6 months, as infants
become able to grasp objects, they begin to recognize Cognitive Neuroscience Approach
that they can act on their environment. However, he Neurological developments help explain the
believed they did not yet know that causes must come emergence of Piagetian skills and memory abilities.
before effects and that forces outside of themselves Implicit unconscious recall; generally of habits
can make things happen. He maintained that this memory and skills; called procedural memory.
understanding develops slowly during infants’ 1st Explicit intentional and conscious memory;
year. memory generally of facts, names and events.
Object Permanence short term storage of information being
When Piaget investigated object permanence, he used Working
actively processed; emerges between 6
infants’ motor responses to gauge whether or not memory
and 12 months of age.
infants understood that a hidden object still existed.
Their failure to reach for the hidden object was
interpreted to mean they did not. Social Contextual Approach
research method in which Social interactions with adults contribute to cognitive
dishabituation to a stimulus that competence through shared activities that help
Violation-of- conflicts with experience is taken children learn skills, knowledge, and values important
expectations as evidence that an infant in their culture.
recognizes the new stimulus as adult’s participation in a child’s
surprising. Guided activity that helps to structure it and
Number participation bring the child’s understanding of it
closer to the adults.
In one classic study, infants watched as Mickey Mouse
dolls were placed behind a screen, and a doll was
either added or taken away. The screen then was Language Development
lifted to reveal either the number of dolls that should a communication system based on
Language
have been there or a different number of dolls. words and grammar.
Once children know words, they can use them to
Babies looked longer at surprising ―wrong answers represent objects and actions. They can reflect on
than at expected ―right‖ ones, suggesting that they people, places, and things; and they can
had mentally computed the right answers. communicate their needs, feelings, and ideas in order
to exert more control over their lives.
5 objects, +5 more objects:
- Infants looked longer when the screen dropped
to show 5 than 10.

Moreover, in preschool, the ability to estimate

approximate numbers is related to later mathematical
achievement, suggesting continuity in this process.

Evaluating Information Processing Research

Some theorists argue we must be wary of
overestimating infants’ cognitive abilities from data
that may have simpler explanations.

They argue that an infant’s visual interest in an

impossible condition may reveal a perceptual
awareness that something unusual has happened
rather than a conceptual understanding of the way
things work. For instance, if an infant looks longer at
one scene than another, it may just be because the
two scenes look different from each other rather than
because of any conceptual processes.
 Sequence of Early Language Development words, and they function
Before babies can use words, they make their needs much like words.
and feelings known through sounds that progress
from crying to cooing and babbling, then to First Words
accidental imitation, and then deliberate imitation. Linguistic verbal expression designed to convey
forerunner of linguistic speech; speech meaning.
utterance of sounds that area not single word that conveys a complete
Prelinguistic Holophrase
words. Includes crying, cooing, thought.
speech
babbling, and imitating language Receptive
sounds. what infants understand.
vocabulary
spoken vocabulary.
Early Vocalization Expressive Generally, infants have a far greater
a newborn’s first means of vocabulary receptive vocabulary than an
communication. Adults find crying aversive expressive—or spoken—vocabulary
Crying for a reason – it motivates them to find Nouns seem to be the easiest type of word to learn.
the source of the problem and fix it. Thus,
crying has great adaptive value. First Sentences
typically a vowel sound, like ahhh, but can Telegraphic Early form of sentence use consisting of
also sound like gurgling noises or speech only a few essential words.
Cooing
squealing. It signifies that baby is starting Rules for forming sentences in a
to work on language development. Syntax
particular language.
repeating consonant-vowel strings, such as Syntax is why a sentence like ―man bites dog‖ differs
―ma- ma-ma-ma‖ – occurs between ages from ―dog bites man,‖ and it allows us to understand
6 and 10 months and is often mistaken for and produce an infinite number of utterances.
Babbling
a baby’s first word. It is initially
nonsensical and becomes more word-like
Characteristics of Early Speech
over time.
Underextend word they use words in too narrow of
meanings a category.
Perceiving Language Sounds and Structure Overextend word using words in too broad of a
Imitation of language sounds requires the ability to meanings category.
perceive subtle differences between sounds. Infants’ occurs when children
brains seem to be preset to discriminate basic Overregularize inappropriately apply a
linguistic patterns, and categorize them as similar or rules syntactical rule. (“I drawed
different. that.”)
Phonemes smallest units of sound in speech.
If a mother regularly speaks two languages during
Variations in Language Development
pregnancy, her newborn baby will recognize both
languages and be more interested in listening to use of elements of two languages,
speakers in the languages he or she was previously Code sometimes in the same utterance, by
exposed to. mixing young children in households where both
languages are spoken.
Code changing one’s speech to match the
Gestures switching situation, as in people who are bilingual.
Before babies speak, they point. Pointing is important
to language acquisition and serves several functions.
The Nature-Nurture Debate
- waving bye-bye, nodding
Conventional - Is linguistic ability learned or inborn?
head to mean
social gestures - yes and shaking her head to - In the 1950s, a debate raged between two schools
signify no. of thought: one led by B. F. Skinner, the foremost
proponent of learning theory, the other by the
- hold an empty cup to mouth
linguist Noam Chomsky.
Representational to show wanting to drink or
social gestures holding up arms to show language learning, like other learning, is
wanting to be picked up. Skinner based on experience and learned
associations.
- blowing to mean hot or
Symbolic sniffing to mean flower often view by Chomsky; theory that human
gestures emerge around the same time Nativism beings have an inborn capacity for
that babies say their first language acquisition.
 in Chomsky’s terminology, an inborn
Language
mechanism that enables children to Psychosocial Development During the
acquisition
infer linguistic rules from the language
device
they hear. First 3 Years
Most developmental scientists today maintain that
language acquisition, like most other aspects of FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
development, depends on an intertwining of nature Although babies share common patterns of
and nurture. Children have an inborn capacity to development, each, from the start, shows a distinct
acquire language, which may be activated or personality.
constrained by experience. the relatively consistent blend of
Personality emotions, temperament, thought and
Influences on Early Language Development behavior that makes a person unique.
Influences on language development include neural From infancy on, personality development is
maturation and social interaction. intertwined with social relationships; this
combination is called psychosocial development.
In many ways, the brains of young children, even
before they begin to speak, process language similarly Emotions
to adult brains. Frontal brain regions are involved in subjective reactions to experience that are associated
the processing of speech in infants as they are in with physiological and behavioral changes.
adults, although in infants, this process is slower. Last, People differ in how often and how strongly they feel
the processing of linguistic information is localized in a particular emotion, in the kinds of events that may
the left hemisphere in infants as it is in almost all produce it, in the physical manifestations they show,
adults. and in how they act as a result.

Family characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, Culture influences the way people feel about the
adult language use, and maternal responsiveness, situation and the way their show their emotions
affect a child’s vocabulary development.
First Signs of Emotions
Child-Directed Speech is the earliest and most powerful
CDS – sometimes called parentese, motherese or Crying way infants can communicate their
baby talk; form of speech used in talking to babies or needs.
toddlers, includes slow, simplified speech, a high- There are four patterns of crying:
pitched tone, exaggerated vowel sounds, short words Basic hunger rhythmic cry not always associated
and sentences, and much repetition. cry with hunger.
excess air is forced through the vocal
Child-directed speech (CDS) seems to have cognitive, Angry cry
cords.
emotional and social benefits, and infants show a sudden onset of loud crying without
preference for it. However, some researchers dispute Pain cry preliminary moaning, sometimes
its value. followed by holding the breath.
2 or 3 drawn out cries, with no
Frustration cry
Preparing for Literacy: The Benefits of Reading prolonged breath holding.
Aloud
Three adult reading styles: SMILING AND LAUGHING
describes what is going on in the beginning in the 2nd month, newborn
Describer pictures and invited the child to do Social infants gaze at their parents and smile
so. smiling at them, signaling positive
encourages the child to look more participation in the relationship.
deeply at the meaning of a story infants smile at others more or less
Comprehender 12 weeks of
and to make inferences and frequently depending on the
predictions. age
responses of adults around them.
reads the story straight through, laughter becomes more common and
Performance- introducing the main themes 4- 12
signifies the most intense positive
oriented reader beforehand and asking questions months
emotion.
afterward. includes silly, nonverbal behaviors such
Clowning as odd facial expressions or sounds,
actions such as revealing a usually
 hidden body part ( such as a belly generally happy, rhythmic in
button), and imitating another’s odd Easy children biological functioning and accepting
actions. of new experiences.
5 ways to make babies laugh: more irritable and harder to please,
Difficult
1.Strange sounds irregular in biological rhythms, and
children
2.Tickling more intense in expressing emotion.
3.Peekaboo Slow-to-
mild but slow to adapt to new
4.Funny Faces warm-up
people and situations.
5.You Laughing children
Anticipatory infant smiles at an object and then STABILITY OF TEMPERAMENT
smiling gazes at an adult while smiling. Temperament is a relatively stable individual
Positive affective processes are reciprocal. difference.
- Mothers low in stress and high in positive
emotionality and effortful control tend to have Temperament appears to be largely inborn, probably
babies who smile and laugh a lot. hereditary.
- Babies who smile and laugh a lot elicit fewer
negative parenting behaviors. Temperament is affected by culturally influenced
- Infants who have more positive interactions with child-raising practices.
their parents at 3 and 6 months are more likely to
show secure attachment at 1 year of age. Current conceptions of temperament view genetic
influences as being strongest early in life, with greater
WHEN DO EMOTIONS APPEAR? influence wielded by the environment over time
Soon after birth, babies show signs of contentment,
interest and distress. During the next 6 months, these GOODNESS OF FIT
differentiate into true emotions: joy, surprise, Children differ, and their ideal environments differ as
sadness, disgust, anger and fear. well.
realization that one’s existence and
Self- functioning are separate from those of According to the NYLS, the key to healthy adjustment
awareness other people and things (15-24 is to have a match between a child’s temperament
months). and the environmental demands and constraints the
Self- emotions such as embarrassment, child must deal with, referred to as goodness of fit.
conscious empathy, and envy that depend on appropriateness of environmental
Goodness
emotions self- awareness demands and constraints to a child’s
of fit
emotions such as pride, shame, and temperament.
Self-
guilt, that depend on both self-
evaluative
awareness and knowledge of socially BEHAVIORAL INHIBITION
emotions
accepted standards of behavior Behavioral inhibition (BI) has to do with how boldly
or cautiously a child approaches unfamiliar objects
ALTRUISTIC HELPING AND EMPATHY and situations.
Altruistic activity intended to help another When presented with new stimulus:
behavior person with no expectation of reward. pump arms and legs, arch their
Babies high in BI
ability to put oneself in another backs; start to fuss and cry.
Empathy person’s place, and feel what the other relaxed; calmly stare at new
Babies low in BI
person feels. stimuli, sometimes smile at it.
neurons that fire when a person does Behavioral inhibition has also been associated with a
Mirror
something or observes someone else heightened risk of developing a social anxiety
neurons
doing the same thing. disorder later in life.
thought to develop between ages 2 ½
Guilt and 3; felt when children do not live Behaviorally inhibited children are more likely to
up to behavioral standards. outgrow their inhibition if parents do not completely
shield them from new situations and instead provide
TEMPERAMENT gentle support and encouragement during anxiety-
characteristic disposition or style of provoking situations.
Temperament approaching and reacting to
situations. BI can be a risk, but only when paired with overly
Three main types of temperament: protective or controlling parenting.
Additionally, children may themselves develop A dummy mother would not provide the same kinds
buffering strategies. of stimulation and opportunities for positive
When they can pull their attention away from scary development as a live mother.
things, or remember their favorite things, they won’t
feel so bad. These experiments show that feeding is not the only,
or even the most important, thing babies get from
Environmental influences: birth order, race/ethnicity, their mothers. Mothering includes the comfort of
culture, relationships with peers and teachers, and close bodily contact and, at least, in monkeys, the
unpredictable events. satisfaction of an innate need to cling.

EARLY SOCIAL EXPERIENCES: THE FAMILY Human infants need a mother who responds warmly
Many of adult-infant interactions are culture-based. and promptly to the infant.
THE FATHER’S ROLE
It is also important to recognize the wide diversity in Fatherhood is a social construction. Fathering roles
family systems where the number of nontraditional differ in various cultures. The role may be taken or
families, such as those headed by single parents and shared by someone other than the biological father.
gay and lesbian couples has increased in recent years.
THE MOTHER’S ROLE In some societies, fathers are more involved in their
Experiment made by Harry Harlow and his colleagues. younger children’s lives – economically, emotionally
and in time spent – than in others.
Rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers 6
to 12 hours after birth. The infant monkeys were put In many parts of the world, what it means to be a
into cages with one or 2 kinds of surrogate mothers: father has changed dramatically and continues to
A plain cylindrical wire-mesh form change.
Form covered with terry cloth.
Huhot of Inner Mongolia: fathers for economic
support and discipline, mother for nurturing. Men
almost never hold infants. Father interact with
children only if the mother is absent.

Aka of central Africa: fathers provide more direct

infant care than fathers in any other known society.
US: fathers’ involvement has greatly increased.
Some monkeys were fed from bottles connected to Concepts of fathering have changed.
the wire mothers; others were fed by the warm,
cuddly cloth mothers. Gender: What it means to Male or Female

When the monkeys were allowed to spend time with GENDER DIFFERENCES IN INFANTS AND TODDLERS
either kind of mother, they all spent more time longer, heavier, slightly stronger, more
clinging to the surrogate mothers, even if they were Boys active, but physically more vulnerable from
being fed only by the wire surrogates conception on.
less reactive to stress and more likely to
In an unfamiliar room, the babies raised by cloth Girls
survive infancy.
surrogates showed more natural interest in exploring Boys’ brains at birth are about 10 percent larger than
than those raised by wire surrogates. Apparently, the girls’ brains, a difference that continues into
monkeys also remembered the cloth surrogates adulthood. Despite these differences, they achieve
better. the motor milestones of infancy about the same
times.
After a year’s separation, the cloth-raised monkeys Social behavior differences
eagerly ran to embrace the terry-cloth forms, whereas Girls are more cuddly, more interested in faces and
the wire-raised monkeys showed no interest in the better at discriminating facial expressions, show
wire forms. fewer externalizing emotions and better at regulating
their distress and quicker to recover.
None of the monkeys in either group grew up Behavioral differences
normally and none were able to nurture their own Trucks for boys, dolls for girls (3 months)
offspring. 2 ½ years: girls prefer pink, boys avoid it.
Toddlers prefer to play with others of the same sex.
obtain their desires.
May be because most children enjoy playing with
someone who plays like they do. children view the world as unfriendly
Mistrust and unpredictable and have trouble
Infants begin to perceive differences between males forming quality relationships.
and females long before their behavior is gender-
differentiated and even before they can talk. Developing Attachments
respond differently to male and reciprocal, enduring emotional tie
6-month-olds between an infant and a caregiver,
female voices. Attachment
can differentiate male and female each of whom contributes to the
9-12 months faces, on the basis of hair and quality of the relationship.
clothing. According to ethological theory, infants and parents
use gender labels as Mommy and are biologically predisposed to become attached to
19 months Daddy and by 2nd year, associate each other, and attachment promotes a baby’s
dolls with face of the correct gender. survival.
Generally, parents use broadly similar parenting styles
with their boys and girls. They seem, overall, to be
equally warm, sensitive, and responsive to both, and STUDYING PATTERNS OF ATTACHMENTS
to use relatively similar levels of control. – laboratory technique used to study
Strange
infant attachment; devised by Mary
Situation
Parents’ actions provide implicit messages about Ainsworth.
gender that children internalize over time. The mother twice leaves the baby in an unfamiliar
room, the first time with a stranger. The second time,
Parents do nonetheless show some gendered she leaves the baby alone, and the stranger comes
differences in their treatment. Fathers, especially, back before the mother does. The mother then
promote gender-typing. encourages the baby to explore and play again and
socialization process by which gives comfort if the baby seems to need it. Of
Gender-typing children, at an early age, learn particular concern is the baby’s response, each time
appropriate gender roles. the mother returns.
During the 2nd year, fathers talk more and spend pattern in which an infant cries or
more time with sons than with daughters Secure protests when the primary caregiver
attachment leaves and actively seeks out the
Fathers, overall, play with their children more than caregiver on his or her return.
mothers do and play more roughly with sons and pattern in which an infant rarely cries
show more sensitivity to daughters. Avoidant when separated from the primary
attachment caregiver and avoids contact on his or
Mothers talk more, and more supportively, to her return.
daughters than to sons and girls at this age tend to be pattern in which an infant becomes
more talkative than boys. Ambivalent anxious before the primary caregiver
(resistant) leaves, is extremely upset during his
Fathers of toddlers play more roughly with sons and attachment or her absence and both seeks and
show more sensitivity to daughters. resists contact on his or her return.
disoriented attachment – pattern in
Developmental Issues in Infancy which an infant, after separation from
the primary caregiver, show
Disorganized contradictory, repetitious or
Developing Trust misdirected behaviors on his or her
Basic sense of trust versus mistrust – Erikson’s first return; identified by Main and
stage in psychosocial development, in which infants Solomon (1986).
develop a sense of the reliability of people and It is most prevalent in babies with mothers who are
objects in our world. insensitive, intrusive, or abusive; who are fearful or
frightening and thus leave the infant with no one to
The critical element in developing trust is sensitive, alleviate the fear the mother arouses; or who have
consistent caregiving. Erikson saw the feeding suffered unresolved loss or have unresolved feelings
situation as the setting for establishing the right mix of about their childhood attachment to their own
trust and mistrust. parents.
children develop hope and the belief
Trust
that they can fulfill their needs and
It increases in the presence of multiple risk factors, distress shown by someone, typically
Separation
such as maternal insensitivity plus marital discord an infant, when a familiar caregiver
Anxiety
plus parenting stress. It is a reliable predictor of later leaves.
behavioral and adjustment problems Separation anxiety may be due not so much to the
separation itself as to the quality of substitute care.
HOW ATTACHMENT IS ESTABLISHED When substitute caregivers are warm and responsive
According to John Bowlby, attachment styles are the and play with 9-months-old before they cry, the
result of repeated interactions with a caregiver. babies cry less than when they are warm are with less
responsive caregivers. Stability of care is also
If every time a baby cries, the mother quickly important.
responds, over time, the baby comes to expect it. LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF ATTACHMENT
- Larger, varied vocabularies, joyful.
If a mother responds inconsistently to crying, babies - Positive interactions with peers.
form a very different set of expectations regarding it. - Curious, competent, empathic,
Securely resilient, self- confident.
Babies can have different attachment styles with attached - Have closest, most stable
different people. friendships.
- Influences quality of attachment to
Secure attachment reflects trust; insecure attachment, partners
mistrust. A secure base allows children to explore - Negative emotions (fear, distress,
their environment more effectively because they danger)
know they can rely on their caregivers to quickly Insecurely - inhibitions, and negative emotions
come to the rescue if needed. attached - Hostility
- Aggressive
ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF ATTACHMENT STUDY - Conduct problems
mothers or home observers sort a set
of descriptive words or phrases into INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF
Waters and
categories ranging from most to least ATTACHMENT PATTERNS
Deane
characteristic of the child and then Adult – asks adults to recall and interpret
Attachment
compare these descriptions with Attachment feelings and experiences related to
Q-set (AQS)
expert descriptions of the prototypical Interview their childhood attachments.
secure child. Parents’ attachment history also influences their
The tendency to use the mother as a secure base is perceptions of their baby’s temperament and those
universal, though it may take somewhat varied forms. perceptions may affect the parent-child relationship.
Fortunately, a cycle of insecure attachment can be
Neurobiological studies suggest that attachment may broken.
have a neurological basis.
EMOTIONAL COMMUNICATION WITH CAREGIVERS:
THE ROLE OF TEMPERAMENT MUTUAL REGULATION
A baby’s temperament may have not only a direct process by which infant and caregiver
Mutual
impact on attachment but also an indirect impact communicate emotional states to
regulation
through its effects on the parents. each other and respond appropriately.
Release of oxytocin is related to parenting behaviors:
Irritability, on an infant’s part may prevent the Fathers: related to playful behaviors. Mothers:
development of secure attachment except if the positive affect, affectionate touch, and baby talk
mother knows how to deal with the baby’s
temperament. SOCIAL REFERENCING
understanding an ambiguous situation
Thus, goodness of fit between parent and child may Social
by seeking another person’s
well be a key to understanding security of referencing
perception.
attachment. As children age, social referencing becomes more
complex. For example, it becomes less dependent on
STRANGER ANXIETY & SEPARATION ANXIETY facial expression and more dependent on language.
wariness of strange people and places, Additionally, while younger infants tend to check in
Stranger
shown by some infants during the with adults regardless of what type of stimulus they
Anxiety
second half of the 1st year. encounter, older infants tend to check in only when a
stimulus or situation is ambiguous In most children, the full development of self-
regulation takes at least 3 years’
Children between the ages of 4 and 5 years are more
likely to trust information that comes from their COMMITTED COMPLIANCE
mother than from a stranger. – internal standards of behavior, which
usually controls one’s conduct and
Conscience
DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES IN TODDLERHOOD produce emotional discomfort when
violated.
THE EMERGING SENSE OF SELF Kochanska’s term for obedience of a
Situational
– our image of ourselves; sense of parent’s orders only in the presence of
compliance
self; descriptive and evaluative signs of ongoing parental control.
Self-concept Kochanska’s term for wholehearted
mental picture of one’s abilities and Committed
traits. obedience of a parent’s orders without
compliance
the sense of being a physical whole reminders or lapses.
Self- Kochanska’s term for eager willingness
with boundaries separate from the
coherence Receptive to cooperate harmoniously with a
rest of the world.
conscious knowledge of the self as a cooperation parent in daily interactions, including
distinct, identifiable being. It can be routines, chores, hygiene and play.
Self-
tested by studying whether an infant
awareness
recognizes his or her own image FACTORS IN THE SUCCESS OF SOCIALIZATION
(ex.lipstick). Secure attachment and a warm, mutually responsive,
parent-child relationship seem to foster committed
DEVELOPMENT OF AUTONOMY compliance and conscience development.
– Erikson’s second stage in
Autonomy psychosocial development in which Emotional socialization seems to be important too.
versus shame children achieve a balance between Parents who talk to their 18- to 30-month-old children
and doubt self- determination and control by about emotions tend to have toddlers who are
others. quicker to help others.
the tendency to shout “No!” just for
Negativism Discussion of emotions in conflict situations (“How
the sake of resisting authority
Many U.S. parents might be surprised to hear that the would you feel if . . .”) also led to conscience
terrible twos are not universal. In some developing development, probably by fostering the
countries, the transition from infancy to early development of moral emotions.
childhood is relatively smooth and harmonious.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHILDREN
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: SOCIALIZATION AND
INTERNALIZATION SIBLINGS
development of habits, skills, values, Another arena for socialization is joint dramatic play.
Socialization and motives shared by responsible, Siblings who frequently play “let’s pretend” develop a
productive members of a society. history of shared understandings that enable them to
during socialization, process by more easily resolve issues and build on each other’s
Internalization which children accept societal ideas.
standards of conduct as their own.
Children who are successfully socialized no longer Generally, same-sex siblings, particularly girls, are
obey rules or commands merely to get rewards or closer and play together more peaceably than boy-
avoid punishment; rather, they have internalized girl pairs.
those standards and made them their own.
Lessons and skills learned from interactions with
DEVELOPING SELF-REGULATION siblings—such as conflict and cooperation—carry
– a child’s independent control of over to relationships outside the home.
Self-regulation behavior to conform to understood
social expectations. Siblings who frequently play amicably together tend
Self-regulation is the foundation of socialization, and to develop prosocial behaviors. Friendships can
it links all domains of development — physical, influence sibling relationships.
cognitive, emotional, and social.
Older siblings who have experienced a good
relationship with a friend before the birth of a sibling physically or psychologically
are likely to treat their younger siblings better and are harmful sexual activity or any
Sexual abuse
less likely to develop antisocial behavior in sexual activity involving a child
adolescence For a young child at risk for behavioral and another person.
problems, a positive relationship with either a sibling rejection, terrorization, isolation,
or a friend can buffer the effects of a negative exploitation, degradation,
relationship with the other. ridicule, or failure to provide
Emotional emotional support, love and
PEERS maltreatment affection, or other action, or
Some children, of course, are more sociable than inaction that may cause
others, reflecting such temperamental traits as their behavioral, cognitive, emotional
usual mood, readiness to accept new people, and or mental disorders.
ability to adapt to change.
MALTREATMENT IN INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD
Sociability is also influenced by experience; babies Most victims of maltreatment are infants and
who spend time with other babies, as in child care, toddlers. Some die due to failure to thrive. Others are
become sociable earlier than those who spend victims of shaken baby syndrome.
almost all their time at home. slowed or arrested physical
growth with no known medical
Nonorganic
CHILDREN OF WORKING PARENTS cause, accompanied by poor
failure to thrive
developmental and emotional
EFFECTS OF MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT functioning.
Labor force participation by mothers of children of all form of maltreatment in which
ages has increased dramatically in the past four Shaken baby shaking an infant or toddler can
decades. syndrome cause brain damage, paralysis, or
death.
Studies showed negative effects on cognitive Head trauma is the leading cause of death in child
development at 15 months to 3 years when mothers abuse cases in the US.
worked 30 or more hours a week by a child’s 9th
month. [maternal sensivity, high-quality home CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: AN ECOLOGICAL VIEW
environment and child care lessened these.]
CHARACTERISTICS OF ABUSIVE AND NEGLECTFUL
Those whose mothers worked full-time in the 1st year PARENTS AND FAMILIES
after giving birth were more likely to show negative Often, abusive adults appear to be just like everyone
cognitive and behavioral outcomes at ages 3 to 8 than else; there is no identifying behavior or characteristic
children whose mothers worked part-time or not at all that determines who will or will not abuse a child.
during their 1st year. 78% of perpetrators were parents
54.1% women
FACTORS HAVING AN IMPACT ON CHILD CARE 6.3% were a relative (other than the parent)
1. Type of substitute care a child receives. 4% have an “other” relationship to the child
2. Temperament and gender of the child make a 83.4%, age of perpetrators between 18 and 44 years
difference of age.
3. The most important element in quality of care is 50.3% predominantly White
the caregiver. 20.7% African American
4. Low staff turnover is another important factor in 18.6% Hispanic
quality of care. Abuse may begin when a parent who is already
anxious, depressed, or hostile tries to control a child
MALTREATMENT: ABUSE AND NEGLECT physically but loses self-control and ends up shaking
Maltreatment can take several or beating the child.
MALTREATMENT: forms: Physical abuse : action
ABUSE AND taken deliberately to endanger Parents who abuse children tend to have marital
NEGLECT another person, involving problems and to fight physically. Abuse and neglect
potential bodily injury. sometimes occur in the same families.
failure to meet a dependent’s
Neglect
basic needs. Sexual abuse often occurs along with other family
disturbances such as physical abuse, emotional
maltreatment, substance abuse, and family violence. Adults who were sexually abused as children tend to
be anxious, depressed, angry or hostile, to mistrust
CULTURAL INFLUENCES people, to feel isolated and stigmatized, to be
Culture can impact the likelihood of child abuse and sexually maladjusted and to abuse alcohol or drugs.
neglect. For example, norms regarding child care
impact the definition of what neglect is. Still, many maltreated children show remarkable
resilience.
In some countries, leaving infants and children in the
care of young siblings is routine; in countries such as Preventing or stopping maltreatment may require
the United States, this would likely be considered multifaceted, coordinated community efforts.
neglectful.
Physical & Cognitive Development in
HELPING FAMILIES IN TROUBLE
State and local child protective service agencies
investigate reports of maltreatment. After making a Early Childhood
determination of maltreatment, they determine what
steps, if any, need to be taken. Bodily Growth and Change
Physical growth continues during the years from 3 to
When authorities remove children from their homes, 6, but more slowly than during infancy and
the usual alternative is foster care. Foster care toddlerhood.
removes children from immediate danger but is often
unstable, further, alienates the child from the family, Boys are on average slightly taller, heavier, and more
and may turn out to be another abusive situation. muscular than girls. Internal body systems are
Often, a child’s basic health and educational needs are maturing.
not met.
Sleep Patterns and Problems
Children who have been in foster care are more likely 1. Sleep patterns change during early childhood, as
than other children to become homeless, to commit throughout life, and are affected by cultural
crimes, and to become teenage mothers as well as to expectations.
suffer mental or physical health problems. 2. US children: 11 hours of sleep at night (age 5) no
daytime nap
LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF MALTREATMENT 3. Gusii of Kenya, Javanese (Indonesia) and Zuni
Long term effects of maltreatment may include: Poor (New Mexico) – no regular bedtime, allowed to
physical, mental and emotional health stay up until they are sleepy.
4. Canadian Hare – age 3 don’t take naps but put to
Impaired brain development Cognitive, sleep right after dinner and sleep as long as they
wish in the morning.
language and academic difficulties 1/3 of parents of children ages 1-5: report that their
child has sleep problems.
Problems in attachment and social relationships Sleep disturbances are caused by:
Accidental activation of the brain’s motor control
And in adolescence: heightened risks of poor system.
academic achievement, delinquency, teenage Incomplete arousal from a deep sleep
pregnancy, alcohol and drug use and suicide. Disordered breathing
Restless leg movements.
Abuse and neglect in childhood results in an elevated
risk that the victims will, when grown, engage in In most cases, sleep problems are occasional and are
criminal activity or themselves become abusers. usually outgrown.
Long term consequences of sexual abuse:
Children showed more disturbed behavior, had lower Most sleep problems are behavioral in nature and
self- esteem and were more depressed, anxious, or most commonly include refusing to go to bed, taking
unhappy. a long time to go to sleep, or frequent night waking.

Sexually abused children may become sexually active Many sleep issues are the result of ineffective
at an early age. parenting practices that exacerbate rather than ease
the problem.
Persistent sleep problems may indicate an emotional, MOTOR SKILLS
physiological, or neurological condition that needs to Children progress rapidly in gross and fine motor skills,
be examined. developing more complex systems of action.
Gross motor physical skills that involve the large
Possible sleep disturbances include night terrors, skills muscles such as running and jumping.
walking and talking while asleep, and nightmares. physical skills that involve the small
child may scream and sit up in bed, Fine motor muscles and eye-hand coordination
breath rapidly and stare or thrash skills such as buttoning shirts and drawing
Night terror about but he is not really awake. He pictures.
quiets down and doesn’t remember it increasingly complex combinations of
the next morning. Systems of skills which permit a wider or more
Walking and talking during sleep are fairly common in action precise range of movement and more
early and middle childhood. control of the environment.

Sleepwalking and sleep talking are generally harmless, HANDEDNESS

and their frequency declines as children age. preference for using a particular hand;
Handedness
usually evident by about age 3.
Sleepwalking, sleep talking and night terrors: all occur Because the left hemisphere of the brain, which
during slow wave sleep, common when children are controls the right side of the body, is usually
sleep deprived, have fever or are on medications, dominant, 90 percent of people favor their right side.
when conditions are noisy. When they happen,
children are generally unresponsive to external Boys are more likely to be left-handed than girls.
stimulation and are confused.
Genetics has less to do with handedness than
Nightmares are common during early childhood. environment.
An occasional bad dream is no cause for alarm, but
frequent or persistent nightmares, especially those HEALTH & SAFETY
that make a child fearful or anxious during waking
hours, may signal excessive stress and are correlated OBESITY
with emotional, attentional, and conduct problems. having a body mass index at or above
Obesity
the 95th percentile for age.
Most children stay dry, day at night by age 3 to 5 but Excessive weight gain hinges on caloric intake and lack
enuresis is usual. of exercise.
repeated, involuntary urination ay
Enuresis night by children old enough to be How to prevent obesity?
expected to have bladder control. 1. Regularly eat an evening meal as a family.
10-15% age 5 wet the bed regularly (while sleeping 2. Get adequate amounts of sleep
deeply). 3. Watch less than 2 hours of television a day.

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT UNDERNUTRITION

brain is approximately 90% of adult being underweight for one’s age,
Age 3 too short for one’s age, dangerously
weight Undernutrition
most rapid growth occurs in the frontal thin, deficient in vitamins and
Ages 3-6 minerals.
areas.
(a fatty substance that coats the axons refers to both undernutrition and
Malnutrition
Myelin of nerve fibers and accelerates neural overnutrition.
conduction) continues to form.
rapid brain growth occurs in areas that Stunted children appear to be of normal weight but
Ages 6-11 support associative thinking, language, shorter for their age and may have cognitive and
and spatial relations. physical deficiencies. This is the result of chronic,
The corpus callosum continues to be myelinized persistent hunger.
throughout childhood and adolescence.
Others are an appropriate height but thinner than
they should be.
Undernutrition is an underlying cause in about a third supplements or the water supply.
of worldwide deaths for children under 5. South Asia
has the highest level of undernutrition. Given the low risk and high effectiveness of
Undernourishment coupled with extremely deprived fluoridated toothpaste, topical administration is now
circumstances may negatively affect not only growth generally recommended
and physical well-being but cognitive and psychosocial
development as well and the effects are long-lasting. Deaths and Accidental Injuries
Accidents are the leading cause of death in the US for
FOOD ALLERGIES young children.
an abnormal immune system response
Food allergy
to a specific food. Most deaths from injuries among pre- schoolers occur
Reactions can range from tingling in the mouth and in the home often from fires, drowning in bathtubs,
hives to more serious, life-threatening reactions like suffocation, poisoning or falls.
shortness of breath and even death.
Everyday medications can be dangerous to curious
90% of food allergies can be attributed to: milk, eggs, young children.
peanuts, tree nuts, fish, soy, wheat and shellfish.
Car accidents are the most reported case of accidental
Food allergies are more prevalent in children than death for over age 4.
adults and mostly outgrown.
Other common causes of death in early childhood
Changes in diet, how foods are processed, and include:
decreased Vitamin D based upon less exposure to the - cancer,
sun have all been suggested as contributors to the - congenital abnormalities and
increase in allergy rates. chromosomal disorders,
- assault and homicide,
A theory that society is too clean, and that children’s - heart disease,
immune systems are less mature because they are not - respiratory diseases (including both
exposed to enough dirt and germs has also been chronic respiratory disease as well as
explored. influenza and pneumonia),
- and septicemia (a bacterial infection that
Although possible explanations abound, not enough poisons the blood leading to organ
evidence exists to pinpoint a cause. failure).

ORAL HEALTH HEALTH IN CONTEXT: ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

Oral health is an important component of overall The lower a family’s SES, the greater
SES, Race &
health. a child’s risk of illness, injury, and
Ethnicity
Thumbsucking death.
Age 3 primary (baby) teeth are in place. results from circumstances
Age 6 permanent teeth will begin to appear. Homelessness that force people to choose between
Thumbsucking under age 4 can be safely ignored by food, shelter, and other basic needs.
parents Smoking is bad for everyone;
Tooth Decay Exposure to however, children, with their still-
Stems from overconsumption of sweetened milk and Environmental developing lungs and faster rate of
juices in infancy together with a lack of regular dental Pollutants respiration, are particularly sensitive
care. to the damaging effects of
exposure.
Worst effects found: children who take bottles to bed
with them and bathe their teeth in sugar over the COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT PIAGETIAN APPROACH:
course of an afternoon or evening. THE PREOPERATIONAL CHILD

Fluoride: mineral essential for the maintenance and ADVANCES OF PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT
solidification of bones. Advances in symbolic thought are accompanied
by a growing understanding of space, causality,
Fluoride can be administered topically, via toothpaste, identities, categorization, and number.
mouthwashes, or gels; or systemically, via
 SYMBOLIC FUNCTION form, size, or appearance).
Being able to think about something in the absence of
sensory or motor cues characterizes the symbolic Categorization, or classification, requires a child to
function. identify similarities and differences
Piaget’s term for ability to use
Symbolic mental representations (words, numbers, One type of categorization is the ability to distinguish
function or images) to which a child has attached living from nonliving things.
meaning. tendency to attribute life to objects that
Animism
Deferred imitation is related to symbolic function are not alive.
because it requires the child to have kept a mental In general, it appears that children attribute animism
representation of an observed action. to items that share characteristics with living things:
things that move, make sounds, or have lifelike
Another marker is pretend play. features such as eyes.
play involving imaginary people and
Pretend
situations; also called as fantasy Understanding of Number
play
/dramatic/ imaginative play. the concept of comparing quantities
By far, the most extensive use of the symbolic function Ordinality (more or less; bigger or smaller); seems
is language. Language, at its heart, is a system of to begin around 9-11 months.
symbols. principle in counting where children
understand that the number of items in
Understanding of Objects in Space a set is the same regardless of how they
Cardinality
Children begin to be able to understand the symbols are arranged and that the last number
that describe physical spaces, although this process is counted is the total number of items in
slow. the set; develops at about age 2.5
most children can say one tree is bigger
It is not until the age 3 that most children reliably Age 4: than another or one cup holds more
grasp the relationships between pictures, maps, or juice than another.
scale models and the objects or spaces they can count to 20 or more and know the
Age 5:
represent. relative sizes of the numbers 1-10.
developed basic number sense:
Piaget maintained that preoperational children cannot counting, number knowledge, number
Elementary
yet reason logically about cause and effect. Instead, transformations,
school:
he said, they reason by transduction. estimation, and recognition of number
Piaget’s term for a preoperational patterns.
child’s tendency to mentally link Numerical competence is important; how well
Transduction
particular phenomena whether there children understand numbers in kindergarten predicts
is logically a causal relationship. their academic performance in math through 3rd
For example, Luis may think that his “bad” thoughts grade.
or behavior caused his own or his sister’s illness or his
parents’ divorce. IMMATURE ASPECTS OF PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT
the tendency to focus on one aspect of
Piaget was incorrect in believing that young children Centration
a situation and neglect others.
could not understand causality. Think about several aspects of a
Decenter
situation at one time.
When tested in situations that are appropriate to their
overall level of cognitive development, young children
EGOCENTRISM
do grasp cause and effect.
Egocentrism is a form of centration.
“The scissors have to be clean so I can cut better.”
According to Piaget, young children center so much
“I have to stop now because you said to.”
on their own point of view that they cannot take in
another’s.
Understanding of Identities and Categorization
The world becomes more orderly and predictable a Piaget’s term for inability to consider
preschool children develop a better understanding of another person’s point of view; a
Egocentrism
identities (the concept that people and many things characteristic of a
are basically the same even if they change in outward young children’s thought.
To study egocentrism, Piaget designed the
three-mountain task a person whose eyes and ears are covered can think
about objects;

someone who looks pensive is probably thinking; and

that thinking is different from seeing, talking,
touching, and knowing.

FALSE BELIEF AND DECEPTION

The understanding that people can hold false beliefs
flows from the realization that people can hold mental
representations of reality, which can sometimes be
wrong.
CONSERVATION
Another classic example of centration is the failure to Not until about age 6, however, do children realize
understand conservation. that two people who see or hear the same thing may
Piaget’s term for awareness that two interpret it differently.
objects that are equal according to a
Conservation certain measure remain equal in the Deception is an effort to plant a false belief in
face of perceptual alteration so long someone’s mind.
as nothing is added or taken away. children are capable of telling simple
About age 3
lies
children become better able to think
about what they should and should
Age 8
not know and thus conceal their
transgressions more effectively.

Distinguishing between Appearance and Reality

According to Piaget, not until about age 5 or 6 do

children begin to understand the distinction between
what seems to be and what is (3-4).

For example, when the children put on special

Why do children make errors on conservation tasks? sunglasses that made milk look green, they said the
- Their responses are influenced by two immature milk was green, even though they had just seen white
aspects of thought: centration and irreversibility. milk.
involves focusing on one dimension
Centration When you ask them to display their knowledge via
while ignoring the other.
Piaget’s term for a preoperational their actions, they are better able to do so
child’s failure to understand that an
Irreversibility Sometime between 18 months and 3 years, children
operation can go in two or more
directions. learn to distinguish between real and imagined
events.
THEORY OF MIND
Magical thinking is a way to explain events that do not
awareness and understanding of mental processes.
seem to have obvious realistic explanations (usually
because children lack knowledge about them), or
Knowledge about Thinking and Mental States simply to indulge in the pleasures of pretending – as
Between ages 3 and 5, children come to understand with a belief in imaginary companions.
that thinking goes on inside the mind that:
Magical thinking tends to decline near the end of the
it can deal with either real or imaginary things; preschool period.

someone can be thinking of one thing while doing or

looking at something else;
Moreover, there are indications that imaginative 3 types of Brain Storage
activities may offer developmental benefits: Sensory initial, brief, temporary storage of
Memory sensory information.
In one study, children who had imaginary companions Working short-term storage of information
used richer and more elaborate narrative structure Memory being actively processed.
than children without imaginary companions when storage of virtually unlimited
asked to recount a personal story. Long-term
capacity that holds information for
Memory
long periods.
Other research has shown that children who watched
a movie with magical themes later scored higher on conscious control of thoughts,
creativity tests and drew more imaginative impossible Executive
emotions and actions to accomplish
objects, even though their beliefs about magic were function
goals or solve problems.
unaffected. in Baddeley’s model, element of
Central
working memory that controls the
Individual Differences in Theory-of-Mind executive
processing of information.
Development The central executive orders information encoded for
Some children develop theory-of-mind abilities earlier transfer to long-term memory.
than others (reflects brain maturation).
Recognition and Recall
Children who are better at paying attention to others Placing material in memory is not enough; it must also
as infants show more facility with theory-of-mind be retrieved to be used. Recognition and recall are
tasks at age 4. types of retrieval.
ability to identify a previously
Social competence matters: those high on social skills
encountered stimulus.
are better able to know false beliefs, know real from Recognition
- To pick out a missing mitten from a
pretend emotion and take another person’s point of
lost-and- found box.
view.
ability to reproduce material from
The kind of talk a child hears at home may affect the
memory.
child’s understanding of mental states. Recall
- Describing a lost mitten at the lost-
and-found desk.
A mother’s reference to others’ thoughts and
knowledge is a consistent predictor of a child’s later
mental state language. Forming and Retaining Childhood Memories
memory that produces scripts of
Being bilingual helps. Generic Memory familiar routines to guide
behavior.
Families that encourage pretend play stimulate the general remembered outline of a
development of theory-of- mind tasks. Script familiar, repeated event, used to
guide behavior.
long-term memory of specific
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH: MEMORY Episodic
experiences or events, used to
memory
guide behavior.
Basic Processes and Capacities Autobiographical memory of specific
Memory can be described as a filing system with 3 Memory events in one’s life (age 3-4).
steps:
process by which information is prepared
Encoding Influences on Memory Retention
for long-term storage and later retrieval.
Why do some memories last longer and remain
retention of information in memory for
Storage clearer than others?
future use.
1. Uniqueness of the event
process by which information is accessed
2. Events with emotional impact
Retrieval or recalled from memory
3. Active participation
storage.
4. The way adults talk about experiences Social
interaction model –model, based on
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, that proposes children
construct autobiographical memories through
conversation with adults about shared events.
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT PREPARATION FOR LITERACY
development of fundamental skills
Emergent
VOCABULARY that eventually lead to being able to
Literacy
Age 3 knows and can use 900-1,000 words. read and write
speaks 2,600 words & understands Two types of prereading skills
Age 6 vocabulary, syntax, narrative
>20,000.
High school 80,000 words Oral language structure, and the understanding
process by which a child absorbs the skills that language is used to
Fast mapping meaning of a new word after hearing communicate.
it once or twice in a conversation. Specific
phonological
that help in
skills (linking
GRAMMAR & SYNTAX decoding the printed word.
letters with
deep underlying structure of a language
sounds)
Grammar that enables us to both produce and
Reading to children is one of the most effective paths
understand utterances.
to literacy.
involves the rules for putting together
sentences in a particular language.
Syntax Young children often make errors MEDIA & COGNITION
because they have not yet learned Exposure to television during the first few years of life
exceptions to rules. may be associated with poorer cognitive
development, but children over the age of 2 exposed
to programs that follow an educational curriculum
PRAGMATICS AND SOCIAL SPEECH
have demonstrated cognitive enhancement.
the practical knowledge needed to use
Pragmatics
language for communicative purposes.
Program content is an important mediator.
For example, a child is more likely to be successful
with a request such as “May I please have a cookie?”
Parents who limit screen time, select well- designed
than “Give me a cookie now.”
age-appropriate programs, and view the programs
Social speech intended to be understood by with their children can maximize the benefits of
Speech a listener. media.

PRIVATE SPEECH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

talking aloud to oneself with no intent to
Private
communicate with others; is normal and
speech TYPES OF PRESCHOOLS
common in childhood.
based on the belief that children’s
egocentric speech is a sign of cognitive
Piaget natural intelligence involves rational,
immaturity.
spiritual and empirical aspects. This
it is a special form of communication:
Montessori method stresses the importance of
Vygotsky conversation with the self. It is part of
Method children learning independently at
the learning process.
their own pace, as they work with
Private speech tends to increase when children are
developmentally appropriate
trying to solve problems or perform difficult tasks
materials and self-chosen tasks.
especially without adult supervision.
Teachers follow children’s interests
and support them them in exploring
Delayed Language Development Reggio Emilia
and investigating ideas and feelings
Children who speak late do not necessarily lack Approach
through words, movement, dramatic
linguistic input at home. play, and music.
have had positive outcomes, and
Many children who speak late – especially those Compensatory participants’ performance is
whose comprehension is normal – eventually catch preschool approaching national norms.
up. programs Compensatory programs that start
early may have better results.
Some children with early language delays, if left Many children today attend full-day kindergarten.
untreated, may experience far-reaching cognitive, Success in kindergarten depends largely on emotional
social and emotional consequences. and social adjustment and prekindergarten
preparation.
 b. Cultural Differences in Self-Definition
Psychosocial Development in Early Culture helps shape the understanding of the self.

Childhood One major cultural dimension—individualism versus

collectivism—impacts the understanding of the self in
I. THE DEVELOPING SELF relation to others.

A. The Self-Concept and Cognitive Development In United States, individuals are seen as separate from
- Our total picture of our abilities one another, and independence and self-reliance are
and traits highly valued.
- It is a system of descriptive and
evaluative representations about In collectivistic cultures, such as India and China,
the self that determines how we individuals are seen as fundamentally interrelated,
feel about ourselves and guides and group harmony and cohesiveness take
Self- Concept precedence over individual concerns.
our actions
- The sense of self also has a social
aspect: Children incorporate into Cultural ideas and beliefs about how to define the self
their self-image their growing was often transmitted by our parents through
understanding of how others see everyday conversations.
them.
a. Changes in Self-Definition: The 5 to 7 Shift Chinese parents tend to encourage interdependent
the way they describe themselves aspects of the self, such as compliance with authority,
changes between about ages 5 and appropriate conduct, humility, and a sense of
Self-definition 7, reflecting self-concept belonging to the community.
development and advances in
cognitive abilities. European American parents tend to encourage
At age 4, Jason says, “My name is Jason and I live in a independent aspects of the self: individuality, self-
big house with my mother and father and sister, Lisa. I expression, and self-esteem.
have a kitty that’s orange and a television set in my
own room. . .. I like pizza and I have a nice teacher. I Children absorb such differing cultural styles of self-
can count up to 100, want to hear me? I love my dog, definition as early as age 3 or 4, and these differences
Skipper. I can climb to the top of the jungle gym, I’m increase with age.
not scared! Just happy. You can’t be happy and scared,
no way! I have brown hair, and I go to preschool. I’m These differences can even be seen in children’s
really strong. I can lift this chair, watch me!” drawings.

He cannot acknowledge that his real self, the person Children from cultures in which autonomy,
he actually is, is not the same as his ideal self, the individualism, and self-expression are valued tend to
person he would like to be. draw themselves larger.

At about age 5 or 6, Jason begins to make logical Children from cultures in which relatedness and social
connections between one aspect of himself and connections are viewed as more important draw
another: “I can run fast, and I can climb high. I’m also themselves smaller.
strong. I can throw a ball real far; I’m going to be on a
team some day!” B. Self-Esteem
is the self-evaluative part of the self-
At about age 7, Jason will be able to describe himself Self-esteem concept; the judgment children make
in terms of generalized traits such as popular, smart, about their overall worth
or dumb; recognize that he can have conflicting a. Developmental Changes in Self-Esteem
emotions; and be self-critical while holding a positive Younger children, about age 8, show their concept of
overall self-concept. In middle childhood children self-worth by their behavior.
begin to integrate specific features of the self into a
general, multidimensional concept. As all-or-nothing Although there are individual differences in self-
thinking declines, Jason’s self-descriptions will esteem, most young children wildly overestimate their
become more balanced and realistic: “I’m good at abilities.
hockey but bad at arithmetic.”
Self-esteem is the result of feedback received from Children develop the ability to regulate their emotions
other people, and adults tend to give positive and slowly via a shift from early reliance on orienting
uncritical feedback processes supported by the parietal and frontal areas
of the brain to control of affect using frontal brain
Children’s self-esteem tends to be unidimensional. In networks in the anterior cingulate gyrus.
other words, children believe they are either all good Culture also is an influence
or all bad. Individualistic cultures such as in the United States
tend to value the free expression of emotions,
In middle childhood, self-esteem will become more whereas Asian cultures with collectivistic values tend
realistic as personal evaluations of competence based to suppress the expression of negative emotions
on internalization of parental and societal standards
begin to shape and maintain self-worth. Not surprisingly, research has found that parents from
b. Contingent Self-Esteem: The “Helpless” Pattern different cultures show varied socialization patterns
Children whose self-esteem is contingent on success that reflect cultural values.
tend to become demoralized when they fail.
D. Understanding Emotions Directed toward the Self
Consider the praise parents give children for Social emotions involve a comparison of oneself
succeeding. If a child is generally praised for working or one’s actions to social
hard and she fails at a task, the logical implication is standards. These emotions are
that she did not try hard enough. That child might directed toward the self and
then be motivated to work harder next time. include guilt, shame, and pride.
Emotional understanding appears to proceed in an
If the same child is praised for being smart and she ordered and hierarchical manner.
fails at a task, the implication is far different. Now the
implication is that the child is no longer smart. The First, by about 5 years of age, children understand the
motivation for working hard has been stripped away. public aspects of emotions.

In contrast, children with noncontingent self-esteem By about 7 years of age, children start to understand
tend to attribute failure or disappointment to factors that mental states can drive Emotions.
outside themselves or to the need to try harder.
Last, by about 9 years of age, children start to
understand more complex aspects of emotion.
For example, when faced with the same puzzle, such a
child might assume the puzzle was for older children
E. Erikson: Initiative versus Guilt
or might continue to try to put it together despite
The need to deal with conflicting feelings about the
having initial difficulties. If initially unsuccessful or
self is at the heart of the third stage of psychosocial
rejected, they persevere, trying new strategies until
development identified by Erik Erikson (1950):
they find one that works.
initiative vs guilt.
Research on self-esteem suggests that when children
Preschool children can do—and want to do—more
are praised and rewarded for everything they do,
and more. At the same time, they are learning that
regardless of performance, they believe that praise
some of the things they want to do meet social
uncritically.
approval, whereas others do not.

C. Regulating Emotions II. GENDER

One of the key advantages of early childhood is the
ability to regulate or control one’s feelings. Gender identity
awareness of one’s femaleness or maleness and all it
Emotional self-regulation helps children guide their implies in one’s society of origin, is an important
behavior and adjust their responses to meet societal aspect of the developing self-concept.
expectations.
A. Gender Differences
Children’s ability to exert control over themselves is This is the psychological or behavioral differences
related to adjustment. between males and females
 B. Perspective on Gender Development important personality development of early
are the behaviors, interests, childhood.
attitudes, skills, and personality d. Cognitive Approach
Gender roles
traits that a culture considers Children actively search for cues about gender in their
appropriate for males or females. social world. As they realize which gender, they
the acquisition of a gender role, belong to, they adopt behaviors they perceive as
Gender-typing
takes place early in childhood. consistent with being male or female.
Gender are preconceived generalizations
stereotypes about male or female behavior The acquisition of gender roles, said Kohlberg, hinges
a. Biological Approach on gender constancy, a child’s realization that his or
The existence of similar gender roles in many cultures her gender will always be the same. Once children
suggests that some gender differences may be achieve this realization, they are motivated to adopt
biologically based. In fact, if gender differences were behaviors appropriate to their gender.
purely cultural inventions. Gender Constancy
awareness of one’s own gender and
Gender
In this view, differences we see between boys and girls that of others typically occurs between
identity
are influenced by brain anatomy. ages 2 and 3.
awareness that gender does not
These differences arise from, among others, genes change. However, children at this stage
Gender
coding for differences in anatomy and function base judgments about gender on
stability
between the sexes, prenatal hormonal exposure, superficial appearances (clothing or
differing environmental experiences, or the activating hairstyle) and stereotyped behaviors.
effects of puberty in adolescence. the realization that a girl remains a girl
even if she has a short haircut and plays
Gender
There are indications that the disparity between with trucks, and a boy remains a boy
consistency
gender and sex in transgender people is biologically even if he has long hair and earrings,
influenced. For example, biological women who later typically occurs between ages 3 and 7.
identify as male have markers that suggest high e. Social Learning Approach
androgen exposure in the womb. Children acquire gender roles by imitating models and
b. Evolutionary Approach being rewarded for gender-appropriate behavior.
The evolutionary approach sees gendered behavior as Behavioral feedback, together with direct teaching by
biologically influenced. parents and other adults, reinforces gender-typing.

According to evolutionary theory, male For social cognitive theorists, socialization—the way a
competitiveness and aggressiveness and female child interprets and internalizes experiences with
nurturance develop during childhood as, preparation parents, teachers, peers, and cultural institutions—
for these adult roles. Boys play at fighting; girls play at plays a central part in gender development.
parenting.
According to social cognitive theory, observation
Evolutionary theory argues that society and culture enables children to learn much about gender-typed
are more important than biology in determining behaviors before performing them. They can mentally
gender roles. But evolutionary theorists have never combine observations of multiple models and
argued that culture is insignificant. Rather, they have generate their own behavioral variations.
argued that men and women have cognitive
adaptations designed to be sensitive to environmental In the following sections, we address three primary
input. sources of social influences on gender development:
- Family Influences
Evolutionary psychology is not deterministic, Evolution - Peer Influences
has given us an evolved architecture of the mind that - Cultural Influences
pushes us in certain directions, but it has also given us
the ability to reflect upon our choices and make
reasoned decisions.
c. Psychoanalytic Approach
Identification is the adoption of characteristics,
beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors of the parent
of the same sex. Freud considered identification an
 development of dense
connections in the brain and
promotes later capacity for
abstract thought.

C. The Social Dimension of Play

In a classic study, Mildred B. Parten (1932) identified
six types of play.
Parten’s Categories of Social and Nonsocial Play
Categories Description
The child does not seem to be
Unoccupied
playing but watches anything of
III. PLAY behavior
momentary interest.
The child spends most of the time
A. The Adaptive Nature of Play Onlooker watching other children play. The
Play is ubiquitous, not just in young humans—who behavior onlooker may talk to them but does
take almost any opportunity they can to play—but not enter into the play. .
also in the young of many species, especially The child plays alone with toys that
Solitary
intelligent ones (Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2000; Graham are different from those used by
Independent
&Burghardt, 2010). nearby children and makes no effort
play
Why is this pattern of behavior so common across to get close to them.
different species? Why is playing so much fun? The child plays independently
Exercise play increases from early childhood to the beside rather than with the other
early primary school years, and vigorous activity may Parallel play children, playing with similar toys,
help develop muscle strength, endurance, efficiency and does not try to influence the
of movement, and athletic coordination (Graham & other children’s play.
Burghardt, 2010; Smith & Pellegrini, 2013). The children talk, borrow and lend
toys, follow each other around, and
Pretend play has been linked to cognitive functions, play similarly. There is no division of
such as creativity, flexible thinking, perspective taking, Associative labor and no organization around
and exploring bounds of fantasy and reality (Russ & play goals. The children behave as they
Wallace, 2013). wish and are more interested in
being around each other than the
Play fighting, which is often discouraged by adults, has activity itself
adaptive functions as children innovate story lines, The child plays in a group organized
practice controlled physical movements, and for some goal—to make something,
Cooperative or
experiment with themes of competition and play a formal game, or dramatize a
organized
aggression (Hart & Tannock, 2013). situation. One or two children's
supplementary
direct activities. Children take on
play
B. Cognitive Levels of Play different roles and supplement each
The simplest level, which begins other’s efforts.
during infancy consisting of
Functional play
repeated practice in large D. Gender and Play
or
muscular movements, such as As we have mentioned, sex segregation is common
Locomotor play
rolling a ball (Bjorklund & among preschoolers and becomes more prevalent in
Pellegrini, 2002). middle childhood. This tendency seems to be
The second level is the use of universal across cultures.
Constructive play objects or materials to make
or something, such as a house of E. Culture and Play
Object play blocks or a crayon drawing Culture values influence beliefs about the importance
(Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002). of play. In Western cultures such as the United States,
The third level involves imaginary some argue that adequate amounts of child-directed
Dramatic play
objects, actions, or roles. More free play are necessary for optimal development.
/pretend play,/
advanced cognitive development
fantasy play,/or
affords more sophisticated play
imaginative play
but play also helps strengthen the
 IV. PARENTING Moreover, Baumrind did not consider innate factors,
such as temperament, that might have influenced the
Parenting parents. An easy child might, for example, elicit
can be a complex challenge. Parents must deal with authoritative parenting, and a difficult child, more
small people who have independent minds and wills, power assertive techniques as parents search for a
but who still have a lot to learn about what kinds of way to manage her defiance.
behavior work well in society.
C. Special Behavioral Concerns
A. Forms of Discipline Three issues of special concern to parents, caregivers,
In this field of human development, discipline refers and teachers of preschool children are how to
two methods of molding character end of teaching promote altruism, curb aggression, and deal with
self-control and acceptable behavior. fears that often arise at this age
a. Reinforcement and Punishment a. Prosocial Behavior
Parents sometimes punish children to stop Any voluntary behavior intended to help others.
undesirable behavior. Ex. Alex, at 31⁄2, responded to two preschool
b. Inductive Reasoning, Power Assertion, and classmates’ complaints that they did not have enough
Withdrawal of Love modeling clay, his favorite plaything, by giving them
half of his. Alex was showing altruism: motivation to
are designed to encourage desirable
Inductive help another person with no expectation of reward.
behavior or discourage undesirable
reasoning Altruism is at the heart of prosocial behavior,
behavior by setting limits.
voluntary, positive actions to help others
is intended to stop are discouraged
b. Aggression
Power and desirable behavior through
Assertion physical or verbal enforcement of Noah walks over to Jake, who is playing quietly with a
parental control. toy car. Noah hits Jake and snatches the car away. He
has used aggression as a tool to gain access to a
Withdrawal may include ignoring, isolating, or
wanted object. This is instrumental aggression, or
of love showing dislike for a child.
aggression used as an instrument to reach a goal—the
most common type of aggression in early childhood.
B. Parenting Styles Influences on Aggression
Just as children differ in their temperament, parents Why are some children more aggressive than others?
differ in their approach to parenting. Temperament may play a part. Children who are
a. Baumrind’s Model of Parenting Styles intensely emotional and low in self-control or who
Authoritarian emphasizes control and have a difficult temperament tend to express anger
parenting unquestioning obedience. aggressively (Eisenberg, Fabes, Nyman, Bernzweig, &
Permissive emphasizes self-expression and Pinuelas, 1994; Rubin, Burgess, Dwyer, &Hastings,
parenting self-regulation. 2003; Yaman, Mesman, van IJzendoorn, &
Authoritative emphasizes a child’s individuality Bakersmans-Kranenburg, 2010;Röll, Koglin, &
parenting but also stresses limits. Petermann, 2012).
b. Criticisms of Baumrind’s Model c. Fearfulness
In research based on Baumrind’s work, the benefits of Passing fears are common in early childhood. Many 2-
authoritative parenting have generally been to 4-year-olds are afraid of animals, especially dogs,
supported. This is important because identifying and snakes, and spiders. By age 6, children are more likely
promoting positive parenting practices is crucial to to be afraid of the dark. Other common fears are of
preventing early-onset problem behavior (Dishion & thunderstorms, doctors, and imaginary creatures
Stormshak, 2007). Families at high risk for problem (DuPont, 1983; Stevenson-Hinde & Shouldice, 1996;
behavior in children that participated in parenting LoBue, 2013).
support services were able to improve childhood
outcomes by an early focus on positive and proactive
V. RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHILDREN
parenting practices (Dishion et al., 2008).

However, Baumrind’s findings are correlational. Thus, A. Sibling Relationships

they merely establish associations between each Disputes happen among siblings but are resolved on
parenting style and a particular set of child behaviors. the basis of moral principles.
They do not show that different styles of child rearing
cause children to be more or less competent. As with Sibling rivalry or conflict is common, but it is not the
all correlations, the direction of effects is not certain. main pattern between brothers and sisters.
Prosocial and play-oriented behaviors are more D. Playmates and Friends
common rather than rivalry, hostility, and About age 3, children begin to have friends.
competition.
Through friendships and interactions with casual
Older siblings initiate more behavior, while younger playmates, young children learn how to get along with
siblings tend to imitate the older ones. others.

Same-sex siblings, particularly girls, are closer and In one study, 4- to 7-year-olds rated the most
play together more peaceably than boy-girl pairs. important features of friendships as doing things
together, liking and caring for each other, sharing and
The quality of sibling relationships tends to carry over helping one another, and to a lesser degree, living
to relationships with other children. nearby or going to the same school.

Friendships can influence sibling relationships. Preschoolers usually like to play with children of the
same age.
B. Only Children
There is a meta-analysis which shows that most Children who have frequent positive experiences with
“onlies” perform slightly better than children with each other are most likely to become friends.
siblings.
The traits that young children look for in a playmate
Why do “onlies” do better on some indices than are similar to the traits they look for in a friend.
children with siblings?
Well-liked preschoolers and kindergartners and those
Only child’s parents give them more attention, talk to who are rated by parents and teachers as socially
them more, and expect more of them. competent generally cope well with anger. Less well-
liked children tend to hit back or tattle.
In research in China, only children seem to be at an
advantage than those with siblings. Because children
with siblings are reported to have a higher level of
fear, anxiety, and depression than only children who
were less likely to show signs of anxiety or depression.

Only children’s academic achievement and physical

growth were about the same as, or better than,
children with siblings.

C. Age Segregation versus Mixed-Age Play

Since most school, children were often assigned to
classes based on how much they knew rather than
when they were born.

As soon as children enter day care or school, many of

their activities are structured by age.

In mixed-age play, younger siblings learn by watching

and observing the older children and by participating
in activities with them. While older siblings can
develop their leadership abilities and serve as
mentors.

There is also value in interactions with others of

different ages.