CHILDHOOD: THE WONDER YEARS

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Refers to progression of muscular coordination required for physical activity

Grasping, reaching, crawling, walking, etc…

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

1: Cephalocaudal trend: head-to-foot direction of motor development

Children tend to gain control of their upper body before the lower

2: Proximodistal trend: center-outward direction of motor development

MATURATION

Early motor dev. depends partially on physical growth; uneven in infancy

Early motor dev. attributed to Maturation: development that reflects the gradual unfolding of one’s genetic blueprint

DEVELOPMENTAL NORMS

DEF: the median age at which individuals display various behaviors and abilities

Useful as benchmarks in the life span

CULTURAL VARIATIONS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE

Cross-cultural research shows a relationship btwn experience and maturation

As age increases, maturation becomes less influential and experience is more critical

EASY AND DIFFICULT BABIES

Temperament: characteristic mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity

Alexander Thomas and Stella Chase studies

Longitudinal study: observe one group repeatedly over a period of time

Cross-sectional study: compare groups of differing age at a single pt. in time

THOMAS AND CHASE FINDINGS

Temperament is established btwn 2 or 3 months old

3 basic styles:1) Easy children: 40%; happy, regular sleep

and eating, adaptable, not easily upset2) Slow-to-warm-up: 15%; less cheery, less

regular sleep and eating, slower adaptation to change

3) Difficult children: 10%; glum, erratic sleep and eating, irritable, resistant to change

--remaining 35% were a mix

OTHER RESEARCH

Jerome Kagan15-20% of infants:

inhibited temperament: shy, timid, wary of unfamiliar

25-30% of infants: uninhibited temperament: not shy, approach unfamiliar

EARLY EMOTIONAL AND PERSONALITY

DEVELOPMENT

ATTACHMENT

DEF: close, emotional bonds of affection that develop btwn infants and their caregivers

Usually to the motherNot instantaneousSeparation anxiety:

emotional distress seen in many infants when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment

PATTERNS OF ATTACHMENT

Secure attachment: infant is comfortable when mother present, visibly upset when she leaves, calmed when she returns

Anxious-ambivalent: anxious when mother present, protest when she leaves, not calmed when she returns

Avoidant attachment: seek little contact w/mother, not distressed when she leaves

EFFECTS OF SECURE ATTACHMENT

Children tend to become competent toddlers w/high self-esteem

Preschool years: leaders, self-reliant, better peer relations

Age 11: better social skills, more close friends

More advanced cognitive development

All correlational data

BONDING AT BIRTH

Some believe that skin-to-skin contact btwn newborn and mother is important

Can create a more effective attachment

DAY CARE

Do infant-mother separations effect attachment?

2/3 of children under 5 are in day care

Research by Belsky shows 20+ hrs per week increases development of insecure attachment

CULTURE AND ATTACHMENT

Separation anxiety emerges c. 6-8 months

Peaks about 14-18 months

Attachment is culturally universal

Differences occur due to child-rearing practices

EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON ATTACHMENT

Attachments may depend on the character of the environments

Secure environments create sensitive parents, which leads to secure attachment

Harsh environments create unresponsive parents; leads to insecure attachment

BECOMING UNIQUE: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Freud came up w/1st theory of personality development

Erik Erikson revised the stage theory of Freud

Stage: developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behavior are exhibited and certain capacities become established

ERIKSON’S STAGE THEORY

8 stagesEach has a

psychosocial crisis involving transitions

Personality is shaped by how we deal with these crises

STAGE 1

Trust vs. MistrustIn the 1st year of lifeBabies rely on others

for careIf biological needs are

seen to, secure attachments form

STAGE 2

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

2nd and 3rd years of life

Toilet training and other ways of regulating behavior

Child must begin to take some responsibility

Parent-child conflicts may create shame and self-doubt

STAGE 3

Initiative vs. GuiltAges 3-6Children take

initiatives that conflict with rules

Overcontrolling parents may instill feelings of guilt, damaging self-esteem

Be supportive while maintaining control

STAGE 4

Industry vs. Inferiority

Ages 6-pubertyLearning to function

socially beyond the family

Effective functioning leads to higher sense of competence

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: TRANSITIONS IN CHILDREN’S PATTERNS OF THINKING, INCLUDING REASONING, REMEMBERING,

AND PROBLEM SOLVING

GROWTH OF THOUGHT: COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT

OVERVIEW OF PIAGET’S STAGE THEORY

Jean PiagetWanted to study how

children use intelligence

Believed the way children think is altered by interaction w/environment and maturation

4 major stages…

STAGE 1

Sensorimotor PeriodFrom birth to age 2Development of

coordination of sensory input

Transition from innate reflexes to use of mental symbols

Object Permanence: recognition that objects continue to exist even when no longer visible

STAGE 2

Preoperational PeriodAge 2-7Principles:1: Conservation: awareness that physical amts remain constant in spite of changes in shape and appearance2: Centration: tendency to focus on one feature of a problem, ignoring others

STAGE 2 CONTINUED

3: Irreversibility: inability to envision reversing an action4: Egocentrism: limited ability to share another person’s point of view---notable feature of egocentrism: animism: belief that all things are living

STAGE 3

Concrete Operational Period

Development of mental operations

Reversibility and decentration occur

Leads to decline in egocentrism and mastery of conservation

Problem solving skills enhance

STAGE 4

Formal Operational Period

C. 11 yrs oldAbstract operationsProblem solving

becomes systematic, logical, and reflective

ARE COGNITIVE ABILITIES INNATE?

Habituation: gradual reduction in strength of a response when a stimulus is presented repeatedly

Dishabituation: occurs if a new stimulus elicits an increase in the strength of an habituated response

CHILDREN’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE MIND

Age 2: distinguish btwn desires and emotions

Age 3: realize other’s thoughts and beliefs

Age 4: begin to understand how thoughts and desires effect behavior

PROGRESS IN INFORMATION PROCESSING

Info. processing theory focuses on how people receive, encode, store, organize, retrieve, and use information

Has shown developmental changes in attention and memory

ATTENTION

Attention span lengthens as age increases

More conscious control is acquired

Gradually able to filter out irrelevant data

MEMORY

Infantile Amnesia: inability to remember experiences from early years

Memories usually start around 3 or 4 yrs oldDevelopment of language skills improves memoriesStrategies for enhancement of information storage

and retrieval:Rehearsal: repetition; verbal or thinking (age 5)Organization: grouping based on similarities(age 9)Elaboration: building additional associations(age

11)

DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL REASONING

KOHLBERG’S STAGE THEORY

Lawrence KohlbergTheory focus: moral

reasoningThree levels:

Preconventional, Conventional, Postconventional

Each as 2 sublevels (6 stages in all)

KOHLBERG’S LEVELS

Preconventional: thinking in terms of external authority---based on punishment or reward

Conventional: internalize rules to be virtuous and win approval---rules are absolute

Postconventional: working out personal code of ethics; moral thinking is flexible