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Infancy and Childhood

Module 8

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Infancy and Childhood

Infancy and Childhood Physical Development

Cognitive Development

Social Development

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Infancy and Childhood

Infancy and childhood span from birth to the teenage years. During these years,

the individual grows physically, cognitively, and socially.

Stage Span

Infancy Newborn to toddler

Childhood Toddler to teenager

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Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior - Preprogrammed

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

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Motor Development

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

sequence.

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Maturation and Infant Memory

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

memory is different from 3-4 years.

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Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development

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

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© Michael Newman/PhotoEdit

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Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

Cognitionall the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

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Cognitive Development

Piaget understood that cognitive processes followed a series of stages, and even though

certain children may reach stages before other children, the order of stages is invariable. 

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Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

Schemaa concept or framework that organizes and interprets information, they are building blocks of intellectual development

Schema example 2:23

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Schemas

Schemas are mental molds into which we pour our experiences.

14Figure 8.4 An impossible objectMyers: Exploring Psychology, Seventh Edition In ModulesCopyright © 2008 by Worth Publishers

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Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

Assimilation interpreting one’s new

experience in terms of one’s existing schemas

Accommodation changing one’s current

understandings (schemas) to incorporate new informationor experiences

Flash animation of schema development:http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget's_Stages#Criticisms_of_Piaget.27s_Theory

Jean Piaget with a subject

Example link 1:16

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Jean Piaget

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

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Typical Age Range

Description of Stage

Developmental Phenomena

SensorimotorBirth to nearly 2 years

Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing)

•Object permanence•Stranger anxiety•Some cause and effect

PreoperationalAbout 2 to 6 years

Concrete operationalAbout 7 to 11 years

Formal operationalAbout 12 through adulthood

Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning

•Pretend play•Egocentrism•Language development•Think in symbols

Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations

•Conservation •Mathematical transformations

Abstract reasoning, speculation •Abstract logic•Potential for moral reasoning

Piaget’s Stages

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Piaget Stages Mnemonic

Smart People Cook Fish

Sensorimotor, Pre-operational, Concrete-operational, Formal-operational

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Sensorimotor Stage

In the sensorimotor stage, babies take in the world by looking, hearing, touching,

mouthing, and grasping. Children younger than 6 months of age do not grasp object permanence, i.e., objects that are out of

sight are also out of mind.

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Object permanence in dogs 15:20

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Sensorimotor

Stranger Anxiety fear of strangers that

infants commonly display

beginning by about 8 months of age

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Sensorimotor Stage: Criticisms

Piaget believed children in the sensorimotor stage could not think —they

do not have any abstract concepts or ideas.

However, recent research shows that children in the sensorimotor stage can think and count.

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

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Sensorimotor Stage: Criticisms

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

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Impossible Display

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Preoperational Stage

Piaget suggested that from 2 years old to about 6-7 years old, children are in the

preoperational stage—too young to perform mental operations.

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Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

Conservation the principle that properties such as

mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

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Conservation

Number

In conservation of number tests, two equivalent rows of coins are placed side by side and the child says that there is the same number in each row. Then one row is spread apart and the child is again asked if there is the same number in each.

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Conservation

Length

In conservation of length tests, two same-length sticks are placed side by side and the child says that they are the same length. Then one is moved and the child is again asked if they are the same length.

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Conservation

Substance

In conservation of substance tests, two identical amounts of clay are rolled into similar-appearing balls and the child says that they both have the same amount of clay. Then one ball is rolled out and the child is again asked if they have the same amount.

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Egocentrism

Piaget concluded that preoperational children are egocentric. They cannot

perceive things from another’s point of view.

When asked to show her picture to mommy, 2-year-old Gabriella holds the

picture facing her own eyes, believing that her mother can see it through her eyes.

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Preoperational Stage: Criticism

DeLoache (1987) showed that children as young as 3 years of age are able to use mental operations.

When shown a model of a dog’s hiding place behind the couch, a 2½-year-old could not locate the stuffed dog in an actual room, but the 3-year-

old did.

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Theory of Mind

Preschoolers, although still

egocentric, develop the ability to understand

another’s mental state or perspective

when they begin forming a theory of

mind.

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Concrete Operational Stage

In concrete operational stage, given concrete materials, 6- to 7-year-olds grasp conservation problems and mentally pour

liquids back and forth into glasses of different shapes conserving their quantities.

Children in this stage are also able to transform mathematical functions. So, if 4 + 8 = 12, then a transformation, 12 – 4 = 8, is also easily doable.

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Formal Operational Stage

Around age 12, our reasoning ability expands from concrete thinking to abstract thinking. We can

now use symbols and imagined realities to

systematically reason.

Piaget called this formal operational thinking.

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Formal Operational Stage: Criticism

Rudiments of such thinking begin earlier (age 7) than what Piaget suggested, since 7-year-olds can solve the problem below

(Suppes, 1982).

If John is in school, Mary is in school. John is in school. What can you say about Mary?

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Reflecting on Piaget’s TheoryToday’s researchers believe the

following:

1. Development is a continuous process.2. Children express their mental abilities

and operations at an earlier age, changes between stages less consistent than Piaget thought.

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

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Personality Development

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages the childhood stages of

development during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

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Personality DevelopmentFreud’s Psychosexual Stages

Stage FocusOral Pleasure centers on the mouth--(0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing

Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for

control

Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with (3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings

Latency Dormant sexual feelings(6 to puberty)

Genital Maturation of sexual interests(puberty on)

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Octapuses Always Play Love Games

OralAnalPhallicLatencyGenital

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Social Development

Critical Period an optimal period shortly after birth

when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

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Social Development

Attachment an emotional tie with another person shown in young children by their seeking

closeness to the caregiver and displaying distress on separation

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Harlow and Attachment

Harlow’s Surrogate Mother Experiments Monkeys preferred

contact with the comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the nourishing wire mother

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Link 2:59

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Harlow’s Methodology and Results

Monkeys separated from their mothers in early infancy and raised in their own cages

Two artificial mothers: one wire and wood, one cloth

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Harlow’s Legacy

The bond of attachment is between parent and child (not child and food)

A secure base from which to explore The need for security remains with us

throughout our lives

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Origins of AttachmentLike bodily contact, familiarity is another

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Social Development Imprinting

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

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Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety peaks at 13 months of age, regardless of whether the children

are home or sent to day care.

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Attachment

Mary Ainsworth – Strange situation Unfamiliar playroom Mother and unfamiliar woman Women play with baby – leave briefly

How to the babies respond?

Link 3:15

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Secure Attachment

Most children have secure attachment Use mom as a home base and return

periodically Happy to see mom upon return Most common in US. 60%

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Insecure Attachment

Some have insecure attachment, 30% Avoidant – avoid or ignore mother on return Ambivalent –upset when mom leaves, but

vacillate between clingy and angry on return

Disorganized – inconsistent, disturbed, disturbing – may reach out for mom while looking away (Moss 2004)

Link 2:10

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Deprivation of Attachment

What happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming attachments?

In such circumstances children become:

1. Withdrawn2. Frightened3. Unable to develop speech

Link 13:20 Attachment Disorder

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Social Development

Basic Trust (Erik Erikson) a sense that the world is

predictable and trustworthy said to be formed during infancy by

appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

Self-Concept a sense of one’s identity and

personal worth

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Social Development: Parenting Styles Authoritarian

parents impose rules and expect obedience “Don’t interrupt.” “Why? Because I said so.”

Permissive submit to children’s desires, make few

demands, use little punishment Authoritative

both demanding and responsive set rules, but explain reasons and encourage

open discussion Rejecting-Neglecting

completely uninvolved; disengaged. Expect little and invest little

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Parenting Styles

Parental Acceptance

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Social Development: Child-Rearing Practices

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Star wars according to a 3 yo.

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Myers PSYCHOLOGY

Seventh Edition in Modules

Module 8 Infancy and Childhood

James A. McCubbin, Ph.D.Clemson University & Aneeq Ahmad, Henderson State University & Amy

Jones w/ Garber edits

Worth Publishers

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References erikson stuffReferences erikson stuff

http://www.alanchapman.com/erik_erikson_psychosocial_theory.htm

http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/erickson.shtml

http://childstudy.net/erikson.php

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html

http://www.nndb.com/people/151/000097857/

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/specials/erikson-obit.html

http://www.phillwebb.net/History/TwentiethCentury/Continental/Psychoanalysis/Erikson/Erickson.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/specials/erikson.html

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1960/Erikson-Erik-1902-1994.htmlhttp://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1960/Erikson-Erik-1902-1994.html

Educational Psychology: Theory and PracticeEducational Psychology: Theory and Practice