CHAPTER 1: CHILD DEVELOPMENT TODAY: WHO, HOW, AND

WHY

Section 1: Child Development Across the Globe

1.1 Population Growth and Change

Average number of children per family is lower than ever– but total number of children is higher
than ever n still rising,
● Most of history, women has 4-8 children but due to inadequate medical care n nutrition,
children died during infance/childhood.

Medical advances in 20th century -> eradication of deadly diseases

● Birth rate began to fall but more children lived to adulthood.

Total Fertility Rate: number of births per woman

● Today TFR os 2.4, lowest global rate ever recorded.
● Replacement rate is 2.1

TFR is expected to decline to 2.1 by 2050, but not equally around the world.
● “Global demographic divide” between wealthy, economically developed countries (20%
of world pop), and economically developing countries (80% world pop)
○ Nearly all pop growth will take place in developing countries
○ Nearly all developed countries will decline in number of children bc TFR is below
RR
Half of Indian children are underweight and malnourished.
Fewer than half complete secondary school
½ of adult women are literate, and ¾ of men- GENDER DIFFERENCES
Developing countries r improving economically so children bron today r likely to
experience diff economical and cultural contexts.

Current pop of developing countries is abt 6.3billion.

Current pop of developed is 1.3 bil.
US is likely to gain rather than lose pop but nearly all other developed countries r expected to
remain fairly steady til 2050.
Decline will be steepest in Japan.

Why is US following different path?

● US TFR is 1.8, below RR of 2.1, but higher than TFR is most other developed countries.
● US offers more legal immigration
1.2 Variations Across Countries

Severe demo contrast between children in developed n developing countries

● Population
● Family income
○ 40% of world pop lives on less than $2 a day
○ 80% lives on less than $6000 per year
● Education
○ In developed countries, virtually all children obtain primary n secondary
education n abt 50% go to tertiary (college or post secondary training)
○ In developing countries, abt 20% of children dont complete primary school n only
more than half r enrolled in secondary. (tertiary r for elite)
● Cultural
○ Culture of developed tend to be individualistic values such as independence n
self-expression
○ Developing cultures prize collectivisticvalues such as obedience and group
harmony
■ NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

Africa is the poorest region in the world

Individualism: Cultural values such as independence and self expression

Collectivism: cultural value such as obedience and group harmony

In developing countries, sharp divide between rural n urban areas.

Children in urban areas living in fams w highr income receive more education n better care
Rural cultures have traditional cultures

Traditional cultures: people in rural areas of developing countries tend to adhere more closely
to the historical traditions of their culture than ppl in urban areas do.
Tends to be more collectivistic bc in rural areas ppl close ties w others r an economic
necessity
1.3 Variations Within Countries

Majority Culture: within a country, the cultural group that sets most of norms n standards n
holds most of positions of political, economic, intellectual, n media power.

Many minority cultures may be fefines by ethnicity, religion, etc.

VAriations in child dev. Also occur bc of diff in country’s setting sn circumstances of individual
lives,

Contexts: settings that contribute to variations in pathways of child development, including fam,
peer groups, school, work, media, civic institutions, religious institutions, SES, gender, ethnicity

Socioeconomic status (SES): person’s social class, including educational level, income level,
n occupational status. Usually references parent’s SES

SES is highly important in shaping development.

SES influences:
● Risk of infant mortality
● Height/weight in infancy to childhood
● Children’s language development n communication styles in family
● Age of first sexual intercourse n use of contraception in adolescence

In the US, infant mortality is higher among low SES than high bc low-SES moms r less likely ot
receive prenatal care.

Gender > Expectations that cultures have for females n males r different from the time they’re
born.

Ethnicity: grp identity that may include components such as cultural origin, cultural traditions,
race, religion, n language.

● Minority ethnic groups may arise as consequence of immigration

Ontogentic Development: typical development of individual within a given species

Phylogenetic Development: evolutionary development of an entire species.
1.4 From Africa to Distinct Destinations
Natural selection: evol process in which offspring best adapted to their enviro survive to
produce offspring of their own.

Hominin LIne: Evolutionary line that led to humans

By 200,000 years ago the early homo sapiens had evolved into our species. Size of brain grew.

To allow for birth of bigger-brained babies, female homo sapiens pelvis idened.
Bipedalism (walking on 2 legs) required narrow enough pelvises to walk n run stabally.
HUman children r born at earlier stage of brain development relative to other African great ape
species.

Less mature brain of human child at birth makes for longer childhood n for extensive brain
maturation n learning within local physical n cultural environment.
1.5 Early Cultures and Civilizations
Dramatic changes of human development took place during Upper Paleolithic period.
Cultural dev. Reflected in arts n tools

Humans began to bury dead, sometimes including art objects in grave, indicating belief in
afterlife.

CLimate change was key contributor to dramatic changes during Neolithic period.

As climate became warmer n wetter, new plants evolved that were good human food sources n
they began to cultivate which they liked best.
Domestication of animals.
Settlements

Final major historical change> Civilization: form of human social life, beginning abt 5,000 yrs
ago, that includes cities, writing, occupational specialization, wealth n status differences, n
states

Why did Civilization and states arise?

Agricultural production became more efficient and not everyone had to work on food production.
Focus could be diverted to cities.

Trade expanded and connected people in larger cultural groups that coil dbe united into a
common state.
1.6 Evolution, Culture, and Child Development Today
Evolutionary Psychology: Branch of psychology that examines how patterns of human
functioning n behavior have resulted from adaptations to evolutionary conditions.

These researchers may argue that characteristics of children r influenced by evolutionary

history, like aggressiveness, empathy, n need to play.

Children used to transition into adult-like work at an early age but now that transition occurs
during emerging adulthood in developed countries n among urban middle/upper in developing.

Cultural variations in the lives children experience as they grow:

● How we care for infants
● What we expect from children
● How wr respond to puberty changes
● Whether we stretch final entry to adulthood into the 20s.
Cultures shape the raw material of biology into widely different dev. Paths.

Once humans developed the large brain, it enabled us to survive in any environment by
inventing n learning new skills n methods of survival, n then ppassing it on to children.

We r capable of altering enviros n can survive n thrive in vastly diff conditions,

Section 2: The Field of Child Development: Past and Present

1.7 A Focus on Younger Children

G.Stanley Hall and the Child Study Movement

Child Study Movement: Organized effort thru turn of 20th century that advocated scientific
research on child and adolescent development and the improvement of conditions for children
and adolescents in the family, school, and workplace.

Hall;s initial studies focused on what children knew upon entering school at age 7.
AFter broadened his studies to include variety of topics.
Hall advocated using parents n teachers as sources of data.
● Criticized bc psychologists viewed themm as unreliable source of info.
He also believed children reanaced the phylogenetic history of humanity

Freud’s Focus on Early Childhood

Freud’s theory became dominant view of psych dev.

Freud concluded that a common theme amongst patients suffering from mental health problems
was a traumatic event in childhood.
Trauma became repressedin unconscious mind and continued to shape their personality
n mental functioning
Developed psychoanalysis: bring patients repressed memories from the unconscious into
consciousness thru having them discuss their dreams n childhood experiences.

Psychosexual Theory: sexual desire is the driving force behind psychological development
1. Oral Stage- infancy: sexual sensations r concentrated in mouth.
a. Infants derive pleasure from sucking, chewing, n biting
2. Anal Stage- beginnig at a year and a half: concentrated in the anus. Toddlers derive
greatest pleasure from pooping n r fascinated by feces
3. Phallic Stage- 3 to 6: concentrated in the genitals. Child’s sexual desires r focused on
other-sex parent
4. Latency Stage- 6 to puberty: child experiences incestruous desires for other-sex parent/
Child represses them in fear of punishment n identifies w same-sex parent, focusing on
learning social skills n inellectual skills
5. Genital stage- puberty+ : sexual drive emerges and directed toward person outside the
family.

Everything important happens in childhood. Freud believed personality as complete by 6.

The motives underlying persons bhvrs could be traced back to first 3 stages of development,
esp w child’s interactions w parents.
1.8 The Inclusion of Adolescence
Hall defined age of adolescence as beginning at 14-24
Anna Freud advocated for Hall’s idea that it’s natural for adolescents to go thru emotional
upheaval.

Erik Erikson proposed a lifespan theory of dev n singled out adolescence as key period for
establishing identity.

Erik Erikson proposed that adolescents must develop an awareness of who they r, what their
capabilities r, n what their place is within society.

Typical age of puberty declined during 20th century.

In developed countries, average age of menarche is 10. In developing countries it’s higher.
In countries that went thru rapid economic dev. Have a corresponding declining in age of
menarche

In developing countries, education beyond childhood is mainly for urban middle class.
Labor of rural adolescents is needed bu families so they work instead of schooling.

Economic dev. Introduces agricultural technologies that make children n adolescents labor less
necessary to family n staying in schools offers jobs.
1.9 The Inclusion of Emerging Adulthood
Emerging Adulthood: New life stage in developed countries, lasting from late teens thru mid
20s, in which ppl r gradually making their way toward taking on adult responsibilties in love and
work.

Most ppl in developed countries continue education into their 20s and take longer to find stable
job n enter marriage n parenthood.

Ppl r not as dependent on their parents as hey were in childhood and adolescence but have not
yet made commitments to the stable roles .

1.10 Today’s Field of Child Development

Common developmental terms and corresponding ages:
● Prenatal Development: conception to birth
● Infancy: birth-12 mos
● Toddlerhood: ages 12-36 mos
● Early childhood: ages 3-6yrs
● Middle childhood: 6-9yrs
● Early adolescence: 10-14yrs
● Late adolescence: 15-18yrs
● Emerging adulthood: ages 18-25yrs

We examine child development based on a cultural-developmental model: the study of dev.

within n across cultures in order to understand both what is universal n what is culturally
distinctive.
● Emphasize structure of dev. Periods that children experience is profoundly affected by
culture
○ Ex. adolescence begins w puberty but puberty age depends on cultural
conditions.
○ Ex. emerging adulthood exists in some cultures n not others
● Important to study chil dev. Across diverse cultures.
● Cultural change can be rapid bc migration n immigration leads to children identifying w
more than one culture.
01/23/22 CLASS NOTES

The Global Demographic Divide

● Differences in Total Fertility Fivide between developed and developing countries
Why?
- Reproductive Health Care
- Economic status of countries= more job opportunities = less likelihood to build families
- Developed countries’ life expectancy is longer than underdeveloped countries that have
high infant mortality rates.
- Access to education = build families later
- Costs of living. More costly to raise children in developed nations than underdeveloped
ones.

Consequences of low fertility rates:

- Not enough ppl to fill jobs

COnsewuences of high fertility rates

- Overpopulation

Why is the US unique?

Cultural Differences across Countries

● Individualism: Cultural values such as independence and self-expression
● Collectivism: Cultural values such as obedience and group harmony
● Traditional culture: Rural culture that adheres more closely to historical traditions than
urban people.

Within-country variations in child development

● Majority culture
● Minority culture
○ Identity development- how we view ourselves n how the world views us.
○ Adverse childhood experiences can cause stress responses that impact aspects
of development.
● SES
○ Depending on the child’s SES, they will have different access to resources and
will be treated differently amongst varying SES groups. Access to different
resources will affect education, health, safety, etc.
○ Easier access to nutrition, physical play
○
● Gender roles
○ The way ppl decide what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives.
● Ethnicity
What r some cultural differences u have noticed in Babies so far?
● Level of independence. More independence in underdeveloped countries than in
developed cultures.
○ In collectivist cultures, the entire family helped take care of the Babies.
● In collectivist cultures, life is harder so these women don’t have the time or hands to
carry babies. In individualistic cultures, the parents don't have that sort of pressure on
them.
● Variations in maternal care of the parent. More common for moms to spend time w baby
in hospital.

Similarities in raising infants

● Interaction btwn parent n baby. Baby cries if mother leaves.
● Babies crying in uncomfortable/unfamiliar environment
● Babies r curious of their environment. They are all given some sort of space to explore

Evolution and Human Cultures

Human Evolution
● Civilizations
● Evolutionary Psychology

The Field of Child Development

● G. Stanley Hall & the Childhood Study Movement
○ PArent n teacher reports
■ 7 yrs
● Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
○ Sexual desire as driving force being human behaviors throughout life
● Erik Erikson’s lifespan theory of development
○ Psychose
Section 3: How and Why We Study Child Development

1.11 The Five Steps of the Scientific Method

Scientific Method
1. Identify a research question
2. Propose a hypothesis
3. Choose research management n research design
a. Research management is the approach to collecting data (observations,
questionnaires, interviews)
b. Research design is master plan from when, where, n with whom to collect data
4. Collect data
a. Obtain sample: group of ppl who participate in study
b. Sample shoul drep a population: entire category of ppl the sample represents
c. GOAL: seek out sample that will be representative of population of interest.
d. Procedure: step-by-step order in which study is conducted n data r collected.
5. Draw Conclusions
a. Researcher submits a manuscript to be peer-reviewed for scientifical accuracy
and credibility.
A good theory is a framework that presents a set of interconnected r intrinsicallyconnected:
A theory generates hypotheses that can be tested in research

1.12 Ethics in Child Development Research

IRB’s help prevent ethical violations. They’re comprised of ppl who have research experience
themslves and can judge whether rsrch follows reasonable ethical guidlines

Ethical guidlines of IRB’s

1. Protection from physical and psychological har,
2. Informed consent prior to participation
3. Confidentiality
4. Deception and debriefing
1.13 Research Managements
● Questionnaires
○ Prtcpnts respond to written qs (open or close ended)
■ One advantage of closed qs- makes it possible to collect n analuze
responses from lots of ppl in short time
■ Closed qs r typically used for large-scale surveys
■ Questionnaires w closed qs provide quantitative data (info expressed in
numbers)
■ Limitations- impossible in a few bried response options to do justice to
depth and diversity of human experience
● Interviews
○ Prtcpnts answer qs asked directly by rshrchr
○ Intended to provide individuality n complexity that questionnaires lack
○ Interviews provide qualitative data (non numerical)
○ Limitations- don’t provide range of specific responses so interview responses
have to be coded, which takes time, effort, n money
● Observations
○ Involve observing ppl n recording bhvr
○ Naturalistic observations: obsrvtns take place in natural enviro
○ Structured observations: obsrvtns take place in lab setting
○ Observational methods advantage over qs and intrvws- involve actual bhvr rather
than self-reports of bhvr.
■ May not remember well or understand their own motivations
■ Rsrchr can observe bhvr prenatally
○ Disadvantage- ppl being observed may be aware od observer, causing change in
normal bhvr.
● Biological Measurements
○ Rsrch on genetic basis of dev, hormonal functioning, n brain functioning
○ Involves examining chemical structure of genes n measuring brain activity during
diff kinds of bhvr
■ Electroenceohalogram (EEG): measures electrical activity of cerebral
cortex.
■ Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): magnetic field
records changes in blood flow n oxygen use in brain in reponse to diff
kinds of stimulation
○ Can orovide precise info n allow rsrchrs to gain knowledge into how bio aspects
of dev r related to cognitive, social, n emotional functioning.
○ Disadavantage: expensive. Can be precise but far from exact in rltn to other
aspects of functioning

Reliability: extent to which measurements generate consistent results

Validity: refers to truthfulness of measurement.
Measurement is valid if it measures what it claims to measure.
One type of validity imp. In child dev rsrch across cultures is ecological validity.
 Ecological validity: extent to which there is a fit between measurement approach n
everyday life of ppl being studied.

1.14 Research Designs

● Experimental Designs
○ Prtcpnts randomly assigned to either experimental group or control group.
■ Independent variable: variable that is diff for exp. grp than control grp
■ Dependent variable: outcome that’s measured
○ Ex. Albert Bandura exp with bobo dolls.
○ Used for interventions: programs that change attitudes or bhvrs of prtcpnts.
○ Advantage: allows rsrch a high degree of control over prtcpnt bhvr n change
normal patterns of bhvr
○ Disadvantage: difficult to say whether results would apply irl.
● Natural Experiment
○ Rsrch doesnt control it
○ Involves treatments that rrch couldnt ethically administer
○ Advantagel allows exeptional insights into naturally occurring events
○ Limitation: not randomly selected and occur rare/unpredictably
● Ethnographic Research
○ Rsrchrs spend time w ppl they wish to study, often by living w them
○ AdvantageL allows rsrchr to learn how ppl bhvr in daily lives
○ DisadvantageL requires lots of time, commitment n sacrifice
● Case Study
○ Detailed examination of prtclr person, group, or situation over time
● Correlational Design
○ Rsrchr asses rltns btwn naturally ocurring variables w goal of finding out whether
1 variable predicts other.
○ AdvantageL can be completed quickly n inexpensively
○ Limitation: Correlations can be difficult to interpret
○ Correlation: statistical rltnshp between 2 variables, knowing 1 variable makes it
possible to predict other.
■ Positive correlation means that hen one variable increases/decreases,
other changes n same direcion.
■ Negative correlation means opposite direction
■ Stat value of 0 means no correlation
■ Correlation does not imply causation
1.15 Research Designs n Developmental Psychology
● Most common dev research design is a cross-sectional design:
○ data w ppl of diff ages r collecte at single point in time
○ Strength: can be completed relatively quick and affordable
○ Disadvantage: Can only show correlation but not causation
● Longituinal Design
○ Same ppl followed over time n data collected on 2 or more occasions
○ Advantage: allows rsrch to xamine q that is at heart of dev research: “how do ppl
change over time”. Also allos them to gain more insight into correlation vs
causation
○ Cohort Effect: ppl of diff ages vary bc they grew up in diff cohorts
○ Disadvantages: time, money, patience. Ppl may dropout

1.16 Contributing Knowledge

Child dev rsrchrs aimed to generate nomothetic knowledge: rsrch aimed at providing universal
knowledge.

SOught to provide universal descriptions, predictions, explanations of child dev.

All babies r universal listeners. Remarkable ability to perceive speech sounds in all world
languages
By first babies, infants hav become native listeners

When children n adolescents first gain access to media, they become more likely to subscribe to
individualistic values emphasizing decision making, achievement, n leadership.

Rsrchrs gainknowledge at idiographic level: rsrch aimed at providing knowledge of individual

dev.
Often uses case studies
Contemporaty rsrch addresses how every child’s unique genetic makeup influences her
responses to worl n ppl around her.

Aim to provide descriptions, predictions, n explanations at the sociocultural level: rsrch aimed
at providing knwldge of prtclr cultural n social grps.

1.17 Improving Children’s Lives

Applied contributions of child dev research
 ● Families: exposure to conflict btwn parents is damaging to children’s dev n predicts dev
of bhvr probs as well as emotional probs.
● Childcare Institutions: Infants n toddlers who spend time at early childcare r just as
securely attached to parents as children who r taken care at home by parent.
● Schools: Successful schools have teacher w high expectations for students that r
attentive to their needs n interests. > better attendance n test achievement
● Media: ads based on developmental psychology has been proven effective in removing
certai bhvr
● Government
● International Nonprofit Organizations: UNICEF and WHO have launched initiatives to
prevent mortality in adolescents n emetging adults.

Accesleration towards globalization: increasing connections btwn diff parts of worl din trade,
migration, n communications.
01/26/23 CLASS NOTES

The total number of children is still rising but the TFR is declining…?
- TFR (2.3) is higher than the replacement rate

When was the global TFR highest?

- {re-Industrial revolution
- 1960s, slight peak (baby boom)

How does immigration cause population increase in the US?

- Authorized/legal immigration
- Immigration
- without legal permission

Scientific Method
1. Identify a Research Question
○ Personal obervation or exprience
○ Theory or prior research
Ex. Why do preschool children exude others from play>
Ex. Do children with higher status engage in more social excursion
Ex. do preschool children exclude those of other social identity groups
Ex. which personality traits r associated with higher social rejection among children
2. Propose a Hypothesis
○ Hypothesis 1: Ingroup biases are associated with more social exclusion based on
group membership
○ Hypothesis 2: Girls engage in more social exclusion than boys
○ Hypothesis 3: Children w lower social status experience more social rejection
than children with higher status
3. Choose Research Measurement
○ Research Measurement
i. Questionnaires
1. Offers quantitative analysis
2. Likert Scales
a. 5 point: Never, rarely sometimes, often, always
b. 4 point: strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree
ii. Interviews
1. Offers qualitative analysis
a. Point out themes that keep occurring in interview.
iii. Observations
iv. Biological Measurements
○ Research Design
i. Experimental Design
1. Cause vs Effect
ii. Natural Experiment
iii. Ethnographic Research
1.
iv. Case Study
v. Correlational Design
CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES AND CONTEXTS:
PAST AND PRESENT

Section 1: Developmental Theories

2.1 Developmental Stages in History: Ancient Hindus, Greeks, Jews

and Medieval Europeans
● Absence of women from the conceptions

Ancient Hindu Conceptions

● Oldest known conception of the life course is in the Dharmashastras
○ 4 stages of a mans life, each abt 25yrs
○ Each stage carries distinctive dharma: role-related duties
■ First life stage- apprenticeship: a boy is dependent on parents.
● Series of Hindu rituals that mark childhood substages
Ancient Greek Conceptions
● In Western societies, oldest conceptions of life stages were developed by ancient
Greeks
○ Solon, a philosopher, segmented dvlpmnt into series of 7yr periods.
■ First 3 stages focused on physical dvlpmnt
Ancient Jewish Conceptions
● Comes from Jewish book: Talmud. Includes instructions for many aspects of life,
including ideals for each portion of life span.
○ Early yrs of life marked by religious transitions
● Compared to ancient greek conceptions, ancient jewish focuses on children’s cognitive
develooment rather than physical development. Similar to ancienthindu conception, this
includes changes in social roles and rituals making those changes
Medieval European Conception
● First stage: infantia- 0-7yrs. Leaning to walk, teeth set in, adept speakers of native
language
● Second stage: pueritia- 7-14yrs. School age, capacity for reason n making moral
judgements
● Third stage: adolescentia- 14-21/25/28/30 most complex n ambiguous stage. Physical
development0 ful physical strength, vigor, n stature. Greater ability for learning
theoretical subjects n developing reasoning abilities n heightened fondness for company
of peers.
2.2: Developmental Stages Across Traditional Cultures: Three
Examples
The Gusii
● Infants r breast-fed, require constan care from others, n sleep beside mothers. Weaning
at age 3 and considered major transition. No longer sleep w mothers but older siblings
○ Gender roles and divisions begin at age 2.
○ Around 6, Gusii children take on more responsibilities.
○ Girls tend to childcare n household work. Boys herd cattle.
○ Entry to adolescent stage marked by initiation rites. 9 for boys 12 for girls. Daily
rituals become more like adults.
○ Sex play acceptable in adolescent stage.
The Tobriand Islanders
● Infants n mothers live in seclusion for first 2 months of life to protect babies from
disease.
○ After this, babies are nursed on demand and lavished w affection.
○ Weaning takes place around 2. To accomplish this, mothers leave toddler in care
of others. After, they sleep w father.
○ Fathers play special role in caring for young children.
● Age 4-5, children form peer play group where they spend most of daily lives.
● Sex play begins at 7-8, imitating behaviors witnessed among their parents in 1 room
households.
● Upon puberty, boys move in bachellors house n girls in house w other unmarried
adolescent girls. Sex play intensifies.
● Adolescents more involved in adult work
The Maya
● In traditional Mayan culture, infants mostly w mother in early months of life. Older sister
shelp w infant care.
● At 2-3, major transition to less time w mother n more in care of older
sisters/grandmothrs.
● In early childhood, children begin helping w family duties in small ways. Play is related to
future work.
● Given important gender roles in middle childhood.
● During adolescence they make substantial contributions to household economy.
Adolescence does not last long. By 15-16 married.

Similarities in developmental conceptions across cultures:

● Infant stage of dependency n constant care
● Early childhood stage whose entry is marked by weaning
● Middle childhood stage with time for play and gender-specific responsibilities
● Adolescence is understood as preparatory for adulthood
2.3: Psychosocial Theory
Erikson proposed a psychosocial theory of development: driving force behind development is
need to become integrated into social and cultural environment.
● EIght stages characterized by challenge that person must revolve. Each prepares for
next stage.
● Person with great difficulty w crisis in one stag enters next stage at high risk for
unsuccessful resolution to that crisis as well.

FIRST 5 STAGES
1. Trust versus Mistrust: infancy.
a. If infant is loved, basic trust develops that world is good place n doesnt need ot
be feared.
i. If not well loved in infanc, child learns to mistrust n doubts life will be
rewarding.
2. Autonomy versus shame and doubt: birth-adolescence
a. Child develops sense of self distinct from others.
b. If child is allowed to make choices, healthy sense of autonomy develops
i. If there is restraint or punishment, child experiences shame and doubt.
3. Initiative versus guilt: early childhood
a. Child becomes capable of planning activities in purposeful way.
b. With encouragement of this ability, sense of initiative develops
i. If discouraged n treated harshly, guilt is experienced
4. Industry versus inferiority: middle-late childhood
a. Expand social worlds n begin to acquire knowledge n skills required by culture
b. If encouraged n taught well, sense of industry develops. Enthusiasm for learning
n confidence in mastering skills required.
i. If unsuccessful at learning, experience inferiority.
5. Identity versus identity confusion: adolescence
a. Must develop awareness of who they r, what their capabilities r, ,n what their
place is within culture
i. Unable to achieve> identity confusion results.

Nearly all developmental psychologists agree that development is lifelong, with important
changes taking place at every phase of life span.
2.4: Cognitive-Developmental Theories
Focuses on how thinking and problem solving changes with age.
Most influential cognitive-developmental theory was proposed by Jean Piaget
● COncluded age differences in wrong answers reflected differences in how children of
various ages thought abt questions. Younger children know less and think differently.

According to Piaget, infants think abt world by means of senses and motor activities. (Infants
need physical presence of objects to be able to think abt them)

In early childhood, children enter new cognitive stage where they don’t need physical objects to
think bc they have mental representations of objects.

Idea of cognitive stages means each person’s cognitive abilities r organized into Mental
Structure: way of thinking within stage of development that is applied across all aspects of life.

Cognitive-Developmental Theories: Focus on how development takes place in sequence of

distinct stages, pioneered by Piaget and subsequently adopted by researchers addressing other
areas of development.

Maturation: Driving force behind development from one stage to the next.
● Reasonably normal environment is necessary for cognitive development to occur, but
effect of environment on cognitive development is limites.
●
Piaget emphasized development is driven by child’s effort to understand n influence surrounding
environment.
Children construct understanding of world rather than being passive recipients of environmental
influences.

Piaget proposed child’s construction of relaity takes place thru schemas: cognitive structures
for processing, organizing, n interpreting info.

Gender schema theory addresses how children learn to categorize all kinds of objects (dolls n
trucks), activities (dancing n wrestling), and personality characteristics (caring n assertive) as
female or male.
● According to this theory, gender is morst important schema from EC (early
childhood)
2.5 Learning Theories
Learning Theories focus on effects of environment on children’s development.
Social learning theory: argues children imitate bhvr they see performentd by others who r
rewarded or at least not punished.
Ex. relationship between television and aggression. Sexual content on tv and earlier intitation of
sexual intercourse.

SKinner
Behaviorism: another learning theory. Regards infants as starting out from scratch and learning
bhvrs based on responses or “conditioning” of those around them.
● Positive Reinforcement: caregiver encourages child’s bhvr by responding positively
○ Praise of reward
● Negative reinforcement: Caregiver encourages child
● S bhvr by stopping or removing smth negative
○ Nagging or being grounded
● Punishment: Caregiver discourages child’s bhvr by imposing an unpleasant condition
○ Yelling or extra chores

2.6: Biological Theories

Biological theories address contributions of biological inheritance to development as well as
interactions between biology n environment.

Evolutionary PSychology
Evolutionary theorists argued that human language development in many ways is biologically
based. SOme point to relatively specific aspects of children’s language development as
evidence of biological basis.

Other evol theoiests point to more general aspects of child devel as evidence of an innate basis
for language development.
● Bayesian theories argue that children infer meaning of words based on assessment of
statistical probability,

Behavior Genetics
Behavior Genetics: aims to identify extent to which genes influence bhvr, primarily by
comparing persons who share different amounts of their genes
● While genes influence development, so does environment infleucne how genes r
expressed.

Neuroscience
Neuroscience: addresses how characteristics of brain influences human thought n bhvr n also
how environmental factors shape brain development

Education Focus
In history, opportunities for enhancing cognitive development thru education have been more
limited for females than males.
Grounded in view that women were intellectually inferior than men

2.7: Contextual Theories

Contextual theories focus on children’s development in terms of the many ppl n institutions they
interact directly or indirectly.

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory: human development is shaped by 5 interrelated

systems in the social environment.
Presented as reaction to what he viewed as an overemphesis in developmental
psychology on immediate environment.

Five Key Systems in the Ecological Theory

1. Microsystem: term for immediate envrnmnt where ppl experience daily lives.
a. Include rltnshp w family, friends, teachers, n other adults (coaches/religious ldrs)
i. Child is active agent in microsystems
1. Ex. children affected by friends but thye can choose who to make
friends w.
2. Mesosystem: Network of interconnections between various microsystems
a. Ex. Child experiencing abuse from parents may become aggressive toward peer
3. Exosystem: societal insitituions that have indirect but potentially important influences on
dvlpmnt.
a. Includes schools, media, n religious insisitutions,
i. Ex. In Asian countries, competition to get into college is intense n
admission depends only on adolescents performance on national exa,>
limites time during high school yrs to devote to close friendships.
4. MAcrosystem: Broad system of cultural beliefs/values n economic/governmental
systems that r built on thise beliefs n values
a. Ex. In countries like Iran n Saudia Arabia, cultural beliefs/values n
economic/gvrnmntal systems r based on religion of Islam.
i. Have implications for sexual and behavioral norms.
5. Chronosystem: refers to changes that occur in developmental circumstances over time,
respect to both individual dvlpmnt and history.

Context: refers to environmental settings and relationship laid out by Bronfenbrenner

Devlopmental systems theories: address how individual development involves interactions
between biology n diverse social contexts.
● Indvdls n contexts mutuallu influence one another.
○ Individuals <-> contexts
● According to these theories, individual development is a lifelong process involving
continuous and complex interactions between biology and social contexts

COntextual theories take into account diverse social contexts and biology. Regard individual as
active agent and development as continuous process that takes place across life span.

2.8: Cultural Theories

Cultural theories: emphasize that culture shapes physical, cognitive, and socioemotional
development.
Highlights 3 points
1. Research in developmental psychology focused mainly on majority samples from
Western countries.
a. Cannot validly capture psychological development and rsrchrs need to include
diversity
2. Classic and contemporary theories of dvlpmnt underemphasize role of culture.
a. Goal of these theories is to discover principles of dvlpmnt that apply to all ppl in
all times in all cultures. But this strips away effect of culture on psychology.
b. Human development is inseperable from culture. Entails attention to diverse
human psychological characteristics n diverse ways of developing.
3. Sensitivity to the fact that measured against standards of majority cultures, minority ones
may seem deficient.

Section 2: Developmental Contexts

2.9: Families
Families are first context of child development.
In traditional culutrs, young men remain in home after marriage and women move into his home.
Remains resistant to influence of globalization.These children grow up in extended family.
Common in traditional cultures in asia, and africa. Uncommon in Wester countries. Familes r
smaller

Nonmarital childbreading and frequency of divorce mean that single-parent households, usually
headed by a mother are quite common.
Majority
In developed countries, families in our time have mainly emotional or affective functions.

Familes are the main contextin which young children develop.

Mothers are rarely the sole caregivers and they share responsibilities with family members.
In developed countries ,they share respoibsibilities with outside of family

2.10: Friends, Peers, and Romantic Partners

Friends r ppl u develop a valued, mutual relationship w.
Peers r ppl who share some aspect of status in common, like age.
Persons of similar ages congregate at all stages beyond infancy.
In childhood ppl depend on natal family for life. In adolescence they aren’t as dependent on
them or as responsible as they will be. Peer relations can taje on an intensity of attachment that
they lack at other stages of life cycle.

Romantic rltnshps begin as friendships. These rltnshps tned to involve more intense emotions
and morel likely to involve sexual activity,
Cultural norms play major role in whther sex is accepted in nonmarital romantic rltnshps.
Chastity is expected and violations r punished.
These values can change

2.11: School
150yrs ago, few children received schooling outside of home. Today, daily lives of most children
are oriented around school

As economic development of societies is increasingly base on info and tech, children need to
learn skills such as reading, writing, and math to prepare for adult work.
Schooling starts earlier bc of need to know how to use words n numbers in todays
economy.

Academic achievement is related to all kinds of positive outcomes in later development

● Income
● Occupational status
● Personal growth
● Marital stability
LArge gap between developed n undeveloped countries in academic achievement and within
countries.
In US, not enough financial support for tertiary education is problem for African
Americans and Latino bc they come from families w less money than Asian AMerican and white.
2.12: Work
Among developed countries, adolescents in US stand out for work participation. In European
countries and Japan, only few work.
Primary goal is to earn money towards purchases for themselves.

Work situation in developing countries:

● ILO estimates 95% of worldwide 5-17yo workers are in developing countries
● Poor families ind eveloping countries depend on children’s contributions to family income
○ Children may gain benefits from working
○ 70% of child and adolescent employment involves child labor
Child Labor: defined as work that is harmful to childen’s pjhysical and mental development and
interferes w school participation.

2.13: Media
Diffusion: spread of products or ppl across space.

Medie are n increasingly potent part of children’s cultural environment from infancy onward.
Children growing up in digital age.

Digital Natives: today’s generation of children who grew up w digital media since infancy.
DIgital immigrants: ppl belonging to generations who have only used digital media upon
reaching adulthood.

2.14: Civic and Religious Institutions

Different political systems shape the kinds of activities and venues open to and safe for young
ppl.

All cultures have religious beliefs of some kind. Include explanations for how world began and
what happens to us when we die.
Religions specify code for behavior. Gender roles emphasized. Provide source of meaning,
including significance of indvdls life in relation to eternal supernatural

Ppl are more religious in traditojnal cultures than developed cultures. Among developed
counries, US stands out for high level of religiosity.

Within US, ethnic background plays role in adolescents religiosity.

● African Americans more rleigious than adolescents of other ethnicities.
Cultural focus
Religion serves as protective role in these African American adolescents. CHurch is strong
social influence.
Relativeky high rate of religiosity among them explains their low rates of alcohol and drug use.

Religious and ethnic identity correlates w less risk behavior.

African Americnas more likely to cope w stress by relying on religious beliefs > fewer anciety
symproms than European American adolescents.
01/30 CLASS NOTES
Conceptions of Development Across Time and Traditional Cultures

Policy Research Paper Assignment

Compare ur country at a policy that has something to do with childood development.
Ex. policy that affects parnents, prenatal care, families, educatioon, newborn care/development
Compare to the US

Topic Proposal
1 paragraph summary
What is th epolicy?
Specify which developmnental periods that policy is relevant to?
FIgure out Focus on one or cover longer developmental?
In summary, say why this policy is relevant to specific domain. COgnitive, physical, social,
Don’t have to have an outline of paper or tell conclusion

Piaget would argue that the environment plays a stronger role in child development. More
specifically, they work to understand and influence their environment.
Bandura would argue that the environment also has a stronger influence. Children imitate what
they see around them- bobo doll experiment

Piaget- in order for child to develop in a normal way, they need to interact w parents.
Freud thought parent itnerractions are the only thing that helped raise children
Erikson leans more towards environment and culture. Child’s conflicts with enviornment/
Skinner argues for environemtn and how the environemnt gives them social cues of their
behavior from right and wrong. Base behaviors on reinforcement or punishment.
Bandura would argue that the environment also has a stronger influence. Children imitate what
they see around them- bobo doll experiment
Bronfenbrenner- leans towards context and environment and culture. Different culture have
different beliefs on how ppl are expected to act.

Research COntexts
Traditional Research Contexts
● Families
● Friends, Peers, and Romantic Partners
● School

COntemporary Research Contexts

● Work
● Media
● Civic & Religious Institutions
Section 3: Determinism and Agency in Development

2.15: To What Extent Do Children’s Early Experiences Determine Later

Development
Freud took extreme view that everything of developmental importance happens in first 6 yrs and
all of person’s motives n bhvrs can be traced back to these early yrs.

Early deprivation of common and fundamental experiences heightens risk for long-lasting
problems.
● Ex. infants in orphanages w no interaction w emotional care from adults have cognitive
deficits n emotional problems later in life, even if adopted into nurturing families.

Sensitive Periods for Learning: times in development when the capacity for learning in
specific area is especially pronounced.
● Ex. learning second language is easier in early middle childhood
○ Closes by late childhood
● Subsequent dvlpmntl experience r important in maintaining multilingual abilities.

Examine extent to which early deprivation, early abuse n trauma, n early exposure to rich
environment affect subsequent development.

2.16: To What Extent Do Children Contribute to Their Own

Development
Piaget- children actively contribute to their own development.
Contemporary rsrchrs examine diff ways children drive their own dvlpmnt.
● Emphasized reciprocal or bidirectional effects to describe parent-child rltshnhp
Reciprocal or bidirectional effects: in relations btwn 2 ppl, the principle that each of them
affects the other.

Children make choices abt who r friends, what media to consume, what civic groups to join, etc
Girls autonomy is restricted after puberty in many cultures and boys usually gain more
autonomy in adolescence.
2.17: To What Extent Does Development Occur in Stages
Stage theorists claim that biological maturation is primary driving force behind development from
one stage to next.

Physical, cognitive, n emotional development does not occur in series of sharply differentiated
stages.
Contrary to Piaget’s theory, developmenti s continuous.
● However, end of sensitive period may be end of stage.

Life stage concepts r ways that cultures organize social life n provide guidelines for expected
roles to be fulfilled at various times in life n duties associated w those roles
● Help ppl locate themselves n others into their place in social world

2.18: To What Extent Do Nature and Nurture Contribute to Individual

Development
Freud’s theory placed a lot of emphasis on mothers.
● Children who developed well>credit to mothers / children who struggles>blame
● “Refrigerator moms” (cold n uncaring) responsible for autism in children

Early learninig theoires regarded children’s bhvrs as attributable entirely to environmental

rewards, punishments, n modeling.

John Watson n other early behaviorists claimed physical principles could be used to shape
children’s bhvrs rgrdls of innate tendencies.
● Aimed to counter theories that strongly emphasized biology
○ Claimof human dvlpnt being mainly caused by biological inheritance contributed
to implementation of involuntary sterilization so patients don’t pass mental
disorders onto children

2.19: To What Extent Does Development Follow Diverse Pathways

Across Cultures
Large brains enable us to adapt to any envrnmnt by inventing new methods of survival n
passing tme to next gen as way of life.
We alter our envrnmnts so it’s not just natural selection that determines how we live but
also cultures we create.

Children who grow up in diff culturesvary widely in experiences:

● Who lives in the household during childhood
● Education
● How much n why they work
 ● Sexual and romantic rltshnshp expectations
● Gender roles
● Role of religion, etc.

02/02 CLASS NOTES

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory: HUman ddvlpnt is driven by need to become integrated in to
social n cultural environment.
● Stage 1: Trust vs Mistrust
○ Infants
● Stage 2: AUtonomy vs Shame n Doubt
○ In early childhood, we experience ourselves > develop self confidence. If we cant
experience ourselves, we experience shame
● Stage 3z: Initiative vs guilt
○ We ask if it sokay to do what we do.
● Stage 4: Industry vs inferiority
○ We try to show our interests. If we receive recognition, we become hard working.
Too much negative feedback= no motivation
● STage 5: IDentity vs role confusion
○ During adolescence, we learn we have diff roles. Many experience identity crisis.
If parents let us g out n explore, we realisze our identity
● Stage 6: intimacy vs isolation
○ As young adults we ask oursleves if we an love n make long term commitennt =
happy. If not, we feel isolated n lonely
● Stage 7: generativity vs stagnation
○ In 40s, we become comfortable n contribute to society. If we think were able to
lead next gen into this world, were happy. If not, we become pessimistic
● Stag e8: ego integrity vs despair
○ As we grow older we slow down n look back at lives. If we thinkw e did well, we
feel content. If not, we feel despair n becom bitter.

Erikson coined the term Identity Crisis

Friends, Peers, and Romantic Partners:

Who is most salient during dvlpmnt?

Examples ofrsrch studying friends, peers, and romantic partners

● Shyness, friendship quality, and adjustment during middle childhood
● Friendship quality, peer group acceptance, an dloneliness
● Linking timing of peer rejection to early adolescent-adikescent adjustment
● Aggression between peers in early childhood- continuity and change

Child Labor in developing countries

Sensitive Periods: times in development when capacity for learning in a specific area is
especially pronounced.
Critical Period: Heightened sensitivity. Limited.

Continuous vs Stage discontinuous development

Discontuniuos is “suddently”`

CHAPTER 3: GENETICS AND PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

Section 1: Genetic Influences on Development

3.1: Genotype and Pehontype

Human body contains 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs. One from each pair is inherited form
mother/father

Chromosome: sausage shaped structure in nucleus of cells containing genes, which r paired
except in reproductive cells.
● Composed of DNA: long strand of cell material that stores and transfers genetic info in
all life forms.
○ DNA is organized into genes: basic units of heredity info n contains coded info
for growth n functioning of organism.
■ Genes contain nucleotides which comprise instructions for functioning
and replication of cells.
● Genome: entire store of organisms hereditary info
Genotype: organisms unique genetic inheritance
Phenotype: organisms actual characteristics, derived from its genotype.
● Diff between genotype n phenotype is consequence of person’s environment.
Dominant-recessive Inheritance: pattern of inheritance in which pair of chromosomes
contains one dominant gene n one recessive gene but only dominant gene is expressed in
phenotype.
Allele: on a pair of chromosomes, each of 2 forms a gene.
● On many of allele pairs, DRI occurs.
○ Dominant genes influences phenotype and recessive gene does not.
○ Recessive genes r expressed in phenotype only when paired w another
recessive gene
Incomplete dominance: phenotype is influences primarily, but not exclusively, bu dominant
gene.

Most characteristics in human dclpmnt arent determined solely by single pair of genes.
Polygenic Inheritance: expression of phenotypic characteristics from Interaction of multiple
genes rather than just one.
 ● Physical characteristics like height, weight, skin color, n characteristics like intelligence,
personality , susceptibility to various diseases
●

3.2: The Sex Chromosomes

Sex chromosomes: determine whether an organism is male (XY) or female (XX)
● Y is smaller than other chromosomes and contains only third of genetic material
● All eggs in mother contain C but sperm may carry either X or Y
○ Father sperm determines sex of child

● Many cultures mistakenly believe mother is responsible for child’s sex n blames her if no
son
● According to ancient Mayan beliefs, sex can be predicted from mother’s age n month of
conception; if both even/odd=girl. If one odd/even=boy.
● In Chinese tradition, similar
● In the West today many believe if feetus is high on uterus it’s a girl but if carryinbg low its
a boy
● If mother craves sweet, itll be girl but if sour or salty its a boy.
● If mother to be’s right breast is larger than left she will have a boy. If left breast is largest,
she’ll have girl.
Many cultures have bias in favor of boys> sex-selective abortion esp in Asian countries. Skewed
gender ratios twrd boys.

Having only one X chrom makes males more vulnerable than females to variety of recessive
disorders linked to X chrom.
● If female has one X chrom that contains recessive gen for disorder, it wont show up in
phenotype bc dominant gene on other X chrom will prevent i from being expressed.
○ Will be carrier of disease to next gen
● If male received one X chrm w recessive gene for disorder, he will def have disorder bc
he has no other X chrom contaning chrom w dominant that would block its expressioin.
○ Y cannot serve that function

X-linked inheritanceL pattern of inheritance in which recessive characteristic is expressed bc

its carried on male’s x chrom.
Males greater risk for wide variety of genetically based probs like learning n intellectual
disabilities.

3.3: Principles of Behavior Genetics

Behavior genetics: how much genes influence human dvlpmnt
Bhvr genetic rsrchs estimate influence of genes on development by comparing ppl who share
diff amounts of their genes, mainly thru twin studies n adoption std=udies.

Monozygotic (MZ) twins (identical: 100% of genes in common

Dizygotic (DZ) twins (fraternal): 40-60% of genes in common like other siblings. Results when 2
ova r released by female instead of one and both r fertilized by sperm .
● MZ twins being more similar than DZ twins indicates genetic play strong role
● Adoptive children w no genetic resemblance similarities shows whether certain bhvrs or
traits of adoptive children r more sibilar to those of bio fas or adoptive dabs (stronger
encironmental influence)

Heretibality: estimate of extent to whic genes are responsible for differences among ppl within
specific pop.
Value ranges from 0-1.

Heritability estimate s have been criticized for giving misleading impression of influence of gens
on dvlpmnt.

Heritability estimates r measure of also how much enviro allows genes to be expressed.
Measures phenotype rather than genotype.

Heritability of intelligence increases rom childhood to adulthood.

● Enviro changes allow greater expression of genetic potentials.
● More able to choose own enviro
● Higher in middle class than poor fams bc of economic resource that make it likely that
child’s genotypicpotential for intelligence will be expressed inphenotype for MC fams.
Concordance rate: Percentage that indicates degree of similarity in phenotype among pairs of
fam mems.

3.4: Gene-Environment InteractionsL Epigenetics and Reaction

Ranges
● Studies of heritability show not only that genes influence development but also that the
environment influences how genes are expressed.
● Epigenetics: dvlpmnt results from bidirectional interactions between genotype n
environment.
○ Genetic activity responds constantly to enviro influences
■ Ex. Menstruation

Genes establish reaction range of potential expressin n enviro determines where persons
phenotype will fall within that range,
Reaction range: Range of possible dvlpmntl paths established by genes.
 ● Average height in Western countries rose steadily in first half of 20th century as nutrition
n health care improbed.

3.5: The Theory of Genotype -> Environment Effects

Influential Theory of bhvr genetics - Theory of genotype -> environment effects: proposed by
Sandra Scarr n Kathleen Mccartney : Both genotype n environment make essential
contributions to human dvlpmnt.

The Three Forms of Genotype-> Environment Effects: passive, evocative, n active

● Passive Genotype -> environment effects: occur in bio families bc parents provide
both genes n envir for children
○ Not possible to separate genetic influence from enviro influence in bio families
bcparent sprovide both.
■ Pronounced in childhood
■ Weaker in adulthood
● Evocative Genotype -> environmen effects: occur when person’s inherited
characteristics evoke responses from other sin enviro.
■ Remain stable
● Active genotype-> Environment Effects: occur when ppl seek out enviro that
corresponds to genotypic characteristics, a process called niche-picking,
■ Week in childhood bc less autonomy
■ Stronger in adulthood

3.6: Ova and Sperm Formation

Mitosis: process of cell replication in which chromes first duplicate themselves n then cel
divides to become 2 new cells.

Gametes: (ova n sperm) cells distinctive to each sex involved in reproduction.

Gametes form in ovaries of female n testes of male thru meiosis.

Sex differences in process of meiosis:

● In males, meiosis is completed before sperm is released.
● In females, final stage of meiosis takes pllace only when and if ovum is fertilized by
sperm

Crossing over process mixed combinations of genes fro mother n father n rearrages in infinite
ways.
Upon reaching puberty, makes begin producing millions of sperm a day. In females, they’be
already produced all the ova they will ever have while still in mother’s womb.
3.7: Conception
Women have two ovaries that release ovum in alternating months.

Zygote: formed from fertilization when sperm meets egg.

02/06 CLASS NOTES

Genetics

Heritability
Able to calculate heritability- estimate of extent to which genes r responsible for differences
among persons within a specific population
● Also measures how much the environment allows genes to be expressed
○ Ex. heritability of IQ is 50%
● The differences in intelligence among a specific population is 50% attribute to genetic
differences.

Concordance
● Genetic influence also measured by concordance rates- percentage that indicates
degree of similarity in phenotype among pairs of fam memes.
○ Ex. concordance rate for eye color in MZ twins= 98%
● We have knowledge abt concordance rates for different characteristics from twin study
data.

Reaction Range
● Genes establish a reaction range of potential expression and environment determines
where phenotype will fall
○ Neglectful vs. supportive environment

Gene x Environment Correlations rGE

The Three Forms
● Passive Genotype: in a biological family, parents provide both genes n environment to
their children
● Evocative genotype: when a person’s inherited characteristics evoke responses from
others in environment
○ Ppl responding to genotype in enviro around her
● Active genotype: When ppl seek out environment that correspond to their genotypic
characteristics.
○ Individual actively seeking out situation.
○ We are active agents in our development.

Belsky (2014)- Downside of Resilience

 ● Some children carry “risk: genes
○ Ex. short alleles of gene 5-HTTLPR (tramsports serotonin), long alleles of DRD4
(dopamine-receptor)
■ Risk genes+ negative experiences
■ Risk genes + supportive environment
■ No risk genes+ negative experiences
■ No risk genes + supportive environment
○ Heightened sensitivity to environmental conditions
● Belsky’s controversial question:
○ Should we seek to identify (thru genetic testing) the most susceptible children
and disproportionately target them when it comes to investing scarce intervention
and service dollars?

Section 2: Prenatal Development and Prenatal Care

3.8: The Germinal Period (First 2 Weeks)

Germinal Period: First 2 weeks after fertilization when zugote ptravels down fallopian tubes to
uterus n implants in uterine wall.
● As it travels down, cell dovision n differentiation begins. Doesnt occur until 30hrs after
conception.
Blastocyst: 1 feel following conception, ball of 100 cells
Divided into 2 layers.
● Outer layer of cells- trophoblast: forms structures that protect n nourish embryo
● Inner layer- embryonic disk- EMbryo of new organism

During second week, implantation occurs when blatocyst firmly embeds into lining of uterus.
Follicle generates hormoned to build bloody lining to prep for receiving blastocyst.

Tropholast differeitnates into several structures in second week.

Amnion: is formed, a membrane surrounding the dvlping organism n fills w fluid to help keep
steady temp for organism n protect against friction of mothers movements.
Placenta: allows nutrients to pass from mother to organism n lets waste be removed. Protects
baby from bacteria n waste in mothers blood n produces hromones that maintain blood in
uterine lining n cause mothers breats to produce milk
Umbilical cord: connects placents to mothers uterus

Chromosomal problems may cause half of blastocysts to not implant successfully and leaves
during next menstrual period.
3.9: Embryonic Period (Weeks 3 to 8)
Over weeks of embryonic period, or 3-8 weeks since gestation, nearly all majororgans are
formed

During first week of EP, embryonic disk forms 3 layers.

● Outer layer- ectoderm: skin, hair, nails, sensory organs, nervous system
● Middle Layer- Mesoderm: muscles, bones, reproductive system, n circulatory system
● Inner Layer- endoderm: digestive and respiratory system
Nervous system develops first and fastest.

By end of week 3, part of ectoderm forms neural tube, which becomes spinal cord and brain.
Neural tube produces neurons by week 7. (neurogenesis)

4th week, shape of head becomes apparent, eyes nose mouth and ears begin to form.
Heart begins to beat, ribs muscles n digestive tract appear.
Embryo is only a quarter inch long.

5-8 weeks, growth continues rapidly. Buds become arms n legs in week 5, developing webbed
fingers n toes that lose webbing by week 8.
PLACNTA N UMBILICAL CORD BECOME FULLY FUNCTIONAL IIN WEEK 5
D. in weeks 6-9, digestive tract develops n liver produces blood cells.
Top of neural tube developsinto brain.
Tiny embryo responds to touch , esp around moth and can move. Looks distinctly like human.

3.10: The Fetal Period (Week 9 to Birth)

Fetal Period: 9 weeks- birth, organs develop.
Growth in size.
By 3 months, genitals form. Release hormones that influence rest of prenatal dvlpmnt, including
brain organization, body size, n activity level > boys larger n more active
Third month- fingernails, toenails, n taste buds dvlp.
Heartbeat can be heard

Prenatal Development is divided into trimesters (3 months each).

Ins second trimester, fetus becomes active n responds to environment.

By end of second trimester, it breathes amniotic fluid n kicks, turns, n hiccups.
Responds to sounds, shows preference for familiar voices

Vernix covers skin to protect chapping from amniotic cluid.

Babies bron before 22 weeks rarely survice.

Survivors born between 22 and 36 weeks often have disabilities, including problems w hearing n
sight, intellectual disabilities, n cerebral palsy.
Sirvival rates higher for babies in developed countries or in wealthy fam in developing country.

Main obstacle in third trimester is immaturity of lings since they develop last.
Weight gain is important.
By third semester, brain development has progressed to where sleep-wake cycles of fetus r
similar to newborn infant.

Fetuses repsond to internal environment. - if mtother is highly stressed, fetus’ hear beats and
body moves increase

Fetus is increasingly aware of ecternal environment.

3.11: Cultural Variations in Prenatal Care

All culures have advice abt what woman should do during pregnancy.
Practical advice reflects collected wisdom women pass down generations.

Beng People of West African Natiron of Ivory Coast

● Pregnant woman (PW) advised to avoid drinking palm wine based on experience of
women who drank alcohol during pregnancy w bad ressults.
● Advised to avoid eating bushbuk antelope meat bc baby may be striped like antelope

Bali
● Hot foods are avoided like eggplant, mango, n octopus
● Shouldnt accept food from someon ewho is spiritually impure like a menstruating woman
or someone who recently had death in family.
● Witches r believed to e attracted to blood of pregnant woman n unborn child so they
obtain magic charm for protection

Humans try to control evens that r highly important n mysterious.

PWs in developing countries r less likely to receive prenatal care from skilled health care worer
Massage for baby turns
3.12: Teratogens
Teratogens: behaviors, environments, n bodily conditions that could be harmful to developing
organism in prenatal care.

Makes more vulnerable to teratogens than females.

Teratogens can have profound and enduring effect furing embryonic period bc in this period,
nearly all major organs r forming rapidly.

Teratogens include malnutrition, infectious diseases, alcohol, tobacco, etc.

Malnutrition
● Most common teratogen
● Half of world’s pop is rural and their diet in varies depending on time of year.
○ Prenatal health may depend on when child was conceived.

Infectious Diseases
● IDs are more prevalent in developing countries
● Embryonic period is critical period for exposure to rubella.
○ Widespread in developing countries where children r less likely to vaccinate
● AIDS- sexually transmitted infection caused by HIV, which damages immune system
○ Can be transmitted from mother to child during prenatal dvlpmnt through blood,
during birth, or breast milk
○ Damages brain dvlpnt prenatally and unlikely to survive to adulthood unless they
revieve expensive meds rarely available in developing countries where AIDS is
most common
● HIV/AIDS transmission reduced in recent years bc of 1) effective meds given to mothers
prior birth, 2) Csections for mothers infected with AIDS, and 3) using infant formula

Alcohol
● Most widespread damage to prenatal development in developed countries
● RIsk for FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
○ Facial deformities, heart probs, misshapen limbs, variety of cogntiive probs like
intellectual disability ad attention and memory deficits.
■ Experience cognitive, behvioral, social, and emotional probkems
● Make it difficult for adolescents to succeed academically or
socially

Tobacco
● Smoking PW= higher risk for miscarriage n premature birth
● Leading cause of low birth weight in developed countries
● Impaired heart functioning, difficult breathing, n even death in infants
● Predicts problems in childhood n adolescence like poorer language skills, probs w
attention n memory, n behavior probs
● Secondhand smoke leads to higher risks of low birth weight and childhood cancer
Other teratogens
● Drugs can cause physical, cognitivem ad behavioral problems in infants
● Certain kinds of work that involves xrays, hazardous chemicals, or infectious disease
● Sever maternal stress r at risk of early births and low birth weight. Can develio cognitive
and emotional problems.
● Environmental pollution including toxins in food, water, air.

Education foucs- might help w research paper

Section 3: Genetics and Prenatal Development

3.13: Chromosomal DIsorders

Chromosomes may fail to divide properly and may not have 46 chromosomes in each cell.

Two main types of chromosomal disorders:

1) Involving sex chromosomes
2) Take place on 21st pair of chromosmes, resulting in Down Syndrom

Sex Chromosome Disorders

● Person may have extra X chromosome (XXX or XXY) or extra Y (XYY) or may have only
x and no second sex chromosme
● Cogntiive deficit like intellectual disabilty , learning disorder, or speech impairment
● Abnormality in dvlpint of reproductive system at puberty like underdeveloped testes and
penis or no ovulation.

Down Syndrome
● Extra chromsome on 21st pair
● Disticn phsyical features like short stocky build, large face, large tongue, extra fold of
skin on eyelids
● Cognitive deficits like intellectual disability, speech probs
● Hearing impairements, heart defects
● Social dvlpnt varies widely- some smile less readily than others n have difficulty making
eye contact and others r exceptionally happy n loving
● Supporting parents can help dvlp better
● Age faster than others. Life expectancy is lower.

Parental Age and Chromosomal Disorders

● Age of parents, esp mother, can cause chromosomal disorders
 ● The older woman gets, the longer the eggs have been in ovaries and less likely
chromosomes wont separate property bc theyve been in final stage of meiosis for so
long
● Paternal age linked to multifactorial disorders like autism
○ Combination of genetic n environmental factors
■ Linked to bipolar disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity, autism,
substance use probs

3.14: Prenatal Testing and Counseling

COmmon techniques for prenatal monitoring include ultrasounds, maternal blood screening,
amniocentesis, and chronic villus sampling. Developed countries

Ultrasound
● High frequency sound waves directed twrd uterus and as tehy bounce off fetus, theyre
converted into image
○ Measres fetus size, shape, n monitors activities. Fetal structures n internal
anatomy can be examined. Shows blood flow in heat valves
● Promotes feeling of parental involvement and atachment before birth.

Maternal Blood Screening

● Administered in first or second trim.
● Different substances in blood sample r tested like proteins, hormones, n genetic
fragments of dna from fetus.
● Screen for risks to fetus

Amniocentesis
● Long hollow needle inserted into PW abdomen n sample of amniotic fluid is withdrawn
○ Fluid contains fetal cells n can be examined for info on fetal genotype
● Used tot women at risk for prenatal probs due t family history or age bc it has risk of
triggering miscarriage
● Can detect 40 diff detects in delta dvlpmnt

Chronic Villus Sampling (CVS)

● Sampling and analyzing cells early in dvlpnt to detect possible genetic probs.
● Obtained from cells forming in umbilical cord,
● Tube inserted thru vagina into uterus. Slight risk of miscarriage or damage to fetus so
inly used when family history of genetic abnormalities or woman above age 34.

Genetic Counseling
● PArents at hig risk for probs may be referred for prenatal genetic counseling for more
info n options
3.15: Psychological and Social Implications
Infertility: inability to attain pregnancy after at least a year of regular sex w/out contraception

In the West infertility is viewed as sadness and loss.

Outside the west where cultures r more collectivistic, social consequence of infertility can be
more profound since it is stigmatized
● Women blamed from problem where motherhood is essential to identity in social world
○ Status of wife is lowered in community and family
○ Daughter seen as inadequate

Many women try herbal remedies provided by midwife to overcome infertility

● Ghana women consult shaman bc they think infertility was punishment on woman from
god
● Some cultures- permissable for man to divorce wife or take another if infertike
○ In vietnam, it’s accepted for him to have child with another “wife” even tho having
more than one wife is illegal
○ In cameroon, if couple cannot conceive, husbands fam encourages to obtain
divorce n seek return of bridewealth

3.16: Causes and Treatments

In the west, a treatment for infertility was to bring sexual pleasure to wife.
Other damaging tratments included surget to woman’s reproducive anatomy and bloodltting

Causes
● Hald time source of infertility is in male/femal reproductive system
○ Too few sperm produced
○ Quality of sperm may be poor bc of disease or defects in sperm manufacturing
○ Sperm may be low in motility n unable to make it to fallopian tubes
■ Probs may be genetic or caused by bhvr like drug, alcoloholm or cigs, or
age
● In women, most infertility is caused by probs in ovulation
○ May be caused by disease, drug,a locohol, cig use or under/overweight, or age
○ Fertility decreases slowly for woment hrougout 20s-30s but esp drops after 30 w
no menstrual cycle n no ovilation

Treatments: Assisted Reproductive Technologies

● Intrauterine insemination, fertility drugs, vitro fertilization (IVF).
● Few ppl in dvlping countries have access to fertility drugs and IVF. also disparities in
dvlpd countries- expensive- depends on income n health insurance coverage
● Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
○ Inject semen into uteurus, timed to coincide w ovulation
 ■ Donor insemination
● Fertility drugs used if woman cannot ovulate properly
○ Mimics activity of hormones that provoke ovulation
■ Carry risks
● If fertility drus r unsuccessful, IVF is used.
○ After fertility drugs r used to stimulate growht of follicled in womans overies, ripe
ova r extracted n combined w sperm so fertilization takes place. Then placed into
womans uterus.

02/09 CLASS NOTES

Teratogens
● Malnutrition
● Alcohol
● Tobacco
● Drugs (prescriptions and recreational)
● Infectious Diseases
● Mental distress
● Environmental pollution

Disparities in Prenatal Care

● Socioeconomic characteristics
● Maternal health
● Maternal cgaracteristics (e.g, age)
● Types of insurance coverage
● Location of prenatal care facilities
● Availability of local gynecologists

What factors explain disparities in prenatal care in US between Black, Hispanic/Latina, and
White mothers?

Chromosomal Disorders
● Sex chromosome disorders
● Down syndrom
● Parental risk factors
● Genetic Counseling
CHAPTER 4: BIRTH AND THE NEWBORN CHILD

Section 1: Birth and its Context

4.1: Stages of the Birth Process

Birth Process divided into 3 stages: labor, delivery of baby, and delivery of placenta and
umbilical cord

Variability of length and difficulty of process depends on size of woman and size of baby.
Princess longer n more difficult for first child

First Stage: Labor

Labor: cervic dilates and muscles of uterus contract to push fetus into vagina toward cervix.
● Longest and most taxing
● Averages 12hrs for first birth and 6 for subsequent
● COntractuins of muscles in uterus
● In early part of labor, as cervix dilates, thick stringy bloody discharge from vagina known
as bloody show
● Pain results when muscles contract intensely for extended period

Second stage: Delivery

Delivery: detus is pushed out of cervix thru birth canal
● Half hour to hour, wide variation
● Contractions less frequent
● Crowning: baby’s head appears at outer opening of vagina
● Episiotomy: Incision to make vaginal opening larger.
○ Makes vagina less likely to tear as fetus head comes out and to shorten birth
process by 15-30 mins
■ Criticism

Third Stage: Explision of Placenta and Umbilical Cord

● Contractions continue
● Few mins at most hour
● Begining to breast-feed triggers contractions that help expel placenta.
○ Injection of synthetic oxytocin may help
● Episiotomy will be stiched up
● Umbilical corc cut and tied

4.2: Birth Complications and Cesarean Delivery

Most common birth complications are failure to progress and breech presentation of fetus
Failure to Progress and Breech Presentation
“Failure to Progress”: Woman began birth process but taking longer than normal
● Can stimulate progress by walking, napping, or warm bath
● Synthetic oxytocin can stimulate contraction
● If delivery in hospital and baby is alr in birth cannal, forcepts, or a vacuum may be
attached to head to pull out of vagina
Breech presentation: fetus is turned around so feet or buttocks positioned to comeo ut first
instead of head
● Dangerous to babt bc can cause umbilical cord to be constrained during delivery,
potentially leading to insufficient oxygen and brain damage within minutes
○ TO avoid breech presentation, midwives may massage mother’s abdomen to turn
fetus to headfirst
○ Drugs and massage relax muscles
○ Most cases of breech presentation in developed countries result in Cesarean

Cesarean Delivery
● C-section may be given if failure to progress takes place before baby is in birth canal or if
breech position cannot be turned successfully of id any other problems in birth
○ Cutting ipen abdomen and retrieving baby directly from uterus
■ Takes longer to heal than vaginal birth
● C-sections are safer if mother has STDs like HIV or genital herpes bc the protect infant
from risk of contracting disease

VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section)

HUmans respond to danger of birth by developing cultural beliefs and practices intended to
explain why labor is difficult n to alleviate pain and enhance safety of mom and child

4.3: The Peculiar History of Birth in the West

● Midwives common throughout history of Western births- common assistants at birth
○ Then suspected of being witches n many put to death by Catholic church
● In early 18 century, as medical schools were established througout europe, the field of
obtetrics grew and it became common for doctors to assist birth
○ All doctors to be were men n it was improper for man to see woman’s genitals.
■ Medical training n knowledge inadequate
○ Half of all american births involved forceps in 19th century
● Lack of practical trainin in infection
○ Limited understanding of washing hands. Hospitals were disease factors
○ Women fied fromc childbed fever or puerperal sepsis, spread by docors
○ Development of antibiotics cured
○ Doctors used drugs to relieve pain but many had dangerous side effects that
could cause maternal hemorrhage and breathing difficulties in babies.
■ Twilight Sleep
 ● During late 1960s, backlash against medicalization of birth
○ Claimed drugs, forceps, and episiotomies were unnecessary and created for proft
■ Advocated for natural birth: reject medical techs and interventions
Poor outcomes of home birth
● Greater probability of baby dying during birth of first month after
● Risk of seizures in newborn and likelihood baby would need ventilator and mother need
blood transfusion
● Not recommended for high risk pregnancies or prexisting medical conditions
● Rare in devveloped ocuntries

Epidural: injection of anesthetic drug in spinal fluid to help manage pain while remaining alert
● Synthetic oxytocin can be used to stimulate contractions bc epidural may make
contraction sluggish

Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM): tracks fetus heartbeet, either externally thru mother’s
abdomen or directly running wire thru cervix and placing senor on fetus scalp
● Contributes to making birth process safer
● Changes in fetal heart rate may indicate distress or call for intervention
● Useful in prterm or high risk deliveries where fetal distress is likely

When fathers are present. Mothers experiences slightly shorter labor and greater satisfaction w
birth experience but some fathers have intense fears

4.4: Birth Across Cultures: Who Helps?

Main assistants r usually older women but sometimes father gelps
Midwives
● Some cultures midwives receives supernatural caling in dream or vision to become
midwife
● In other cultures, position of midwife is inherited mother to daughter
● Some cultures allow women to volunteer

Midwives common in developing countries

● Highest SES births take place inmedicl setting with medical personel but home births r
nromal in less wealth

4.5: Birth Across Cultures: Practices Aimed at Diminishing Danger

and Pain
Perhaps bc birth is often risky, many tradtional cultures have developed beliefs that giving birth
puts woman in state of being spirtiaylly unclean
 ● In some cultures, birth must be taken somewhere others don’t reside to avoid
contamination.

Delivery of placenta is potentially dangerous and may be why cultures developed beliefs that
placenta is dangerous and must be disposed

Desire for control may be why veliefs develop that placentas and new mothers r dangerous.

Some places recognize placenta as having hormones and nutrients.

Beliefs help ease pain and difficulty of birth process

Longer labor, more exhausted mother, greater danger to mother and child

Placebo Effect: sometimes if ppl believe soemthing affects them, it does hyst by virtue of
power of their belif.

4.6: Cultural Variations n Neobatal and Maternal Mortality

Infant and maternal mortality are higher in developing countries
Neonatal and Maternal Mortality decreased bynearly half in developing countries

Neonatal Period: first 28 days of life, which is th emost vulnerable for child’s survival

To reduce neonatal mortality in developing countries, UNICEF recommends

1. Hospital care is available in emergencies
2. Skilled personnel such as trained midwives are in attendance
3. There is access to essential items such as medication for clean umbilical cord care

Variation in neonatal and maternal mortality in developed countries

In the US, neonatal and infant mortality is over twice as high for African Americans as for Whites
● Due to poverty and lower access to high-quality medical care among AAs

Maternal mortality has been rising steadily in the US

Section 2: The Neonate

Neonate: newborn baby, up to 4 weeks
Head may be a but misshapen bc of being squeezed thru birth canal.
 ● Evolutionary solution to problem of large-brained human fetuses out of womb is that
infant’s skull is not yet fused to one bone
○ Composed of loosely joined pieces of skull that can move around as necessary
during birth process
■ Fontanels: soft spots on skill between loosely joined pieces of skill that
shift during birth process to asist passage thru birth canal
● Newborn skin may be covered in lanugo, fine fuzzy hair, as a vestige of hairy primate
ancestors

Neonatal Jaundice: yellowish pallor common in first few days of life due to immaturity of liver.
● Normally disappears after few days as liver begins to function normally but if it lasts
longer than few days, it should be treated or can result in brain damage
○ Phototherapy: exposing neonate to colored light; blue light

4.7: Measuring Neonatal Health

First few mins r crucial from transition to fetal environment to outside world
Important for neonates to begin to breathe on their own
● Most breathe as soon as they r exposed ot air, even before umbilical cord is cut
● If they don’t consequences can be severe
○ Anoxia: deprivation of oxygen during birth process and soon after, which can
result ins serious neurological damage within minutes.
■ Massive death in brain cells
● Can result in permanent cognitive damage

Methods for assesing neonatal health:

● The Apgar Scale
○ Appearance (color), Pulse (heart rate), Grimace (reflex irritability), Activity
(muscle tone), and Respiration (breathing).
■ Receives score of 0,1,3. Overall range from 0-10.
■ Neonates rates w=twice, first abt minute after birth ten again after 5 mins
○ Score of 7-10 menas neonate is in good to excellent condition.
○ Predicts risk of neonatal and infant death.
● The Brazelton Scale
○ Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) assesses reflexes
(like blinking), physical states (irritability and excitability), responses to social
stimulation, and central nervous system instability (indicated by symptoms such
as tremors)
■ Worrisome, normal, or superior
■ Perfored abt a day after bith or anytime within 2 months
○ Predicts future development effectively if given day-week after birth
○ Can promote development od relationship between parents and infants
4.8: Low Birth Weight
Weight of baby at birth is most important indicator of prospect for survival and healthy
development
Low Birth Weight: term for neonates weighing less than 5.8 pounds
Preterm: babies born 37 weeks gestation or less
Small for date: neonates who weight less than 90% of other neonates who were born at same
gestational age
● Esp at risk

In developing countries, main cause of low birth weight is that mothers are malnourished, in
poor health, and receive little or no prenatal care.

In developed countries, primary cause of low birth weight are mother’s cigarette smoking an
duse of alcohol and other drugs

Multiple births, and age of mother can contribute to low birth weight

Consequences of Low birth weight

Low birth weight babies at high risk of death in first year
In developed countries, low birth weight is second most common case of infancy death next to
genetic disordrs

Low birth weight babies are less healthy

For preterm neonates, physical systems re inadequately developed at birth

● Immune systems are immature- vulnerable to infection
● Central nervous systems are immature- difficult to perform basic functions such as
sucking to obtain nourishment.
● Not enouggh fat to insulate so at risk of dying from insufficient body heat
○ Incubators: special cribs designed to regulate temperatures nad exposure to
infection, allergens, and excessive nouse and light.
● Lungs are immature- danger of dying from unable to breathe proeprly

Treatment for Low-Birth-Weight Babies

● Kangaroo Care: mothers n fathers advised to place their preterm newborns skin-to-skin
on their chest for 2-3 hrs a day during early weeks of life
○ Benficial to neonatal functioning
■ Helps newborns stabiize and reguglate bodily functions such as body
temp, heart rate, breathing, and sleep-wake cycles.
■ More likely to survive first year, longer sleep periods, less crying, faster
weight gain
■ Mother sbenefir bc it gives them more confidence in caring for baby- more
success in breast feeding
● Infant massage
 ○ Relieve neonate isolation in incubator
○ Faster weight gain and are more active and alert
■ Releases hormones that promote weight fain, muscle development, and
neurological development

Low birth weight babies ar at risk for problems throughout childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood
● In childhood, LBW predicts physical problems like such as asthma and cognitive
problems that include language delays and poor school performance
● In adolescence, LBW products low intelligence scores and greater likelihood of repeating
grade
● In adulthood, LBW products brain abnormalities, attention deficits, and low educational
attachment

4.9: Neonatal Sleeping Patterns

Even in womb, cycles of waking and sleeping exist beginning at abt 28 weeks gestation.
MOst neonates spend more tiem awake than asleep
Average neonate sleeps 16-17 hrs a day
● Neonate sleep pattern and quality is different than it will be later in infanc and beyond
○ Sleep for few hours, wake for a while, repeat
■ Governed by when they get hungry, not time of day
○ Parents are often sleep deprived
● Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep: phase of sleep cycle in which eyes move back and
forth rapidly under eyelids
○ Irregular heart rate and breathing and in males, erection
○ Audults spend abt 20% of sleep time in REM but neonates are in REM abt half of
time they’re sleeping
○ Neonates enter REM immediately but adults after an hour
○ REM sleep stimulates brian development for neonates

In traditional cultures, neonates n young infants r constantly in physical contact w mothers>

effects babies’ state of arousal and sleep-wake patterns

4.10: Neonatal Reflexes

Reflexes: automatic repsonses to certain kinds of stimulation
● Total of 27 reflexes presen at birth or shortly after
● Some have clear survival value
○ Sucking and swallowing reflexes- neonate obtains nourishment from breast
○ Rooting reflex: Helps neonates find breast bc it causes them to turn heads n
open mouths when touched on cheek or side of mouth
 ○ Moro reflex: neonates arch backs, fling out arms, then bring arms quickly
together in embrace in response to falling backward sebastian or loud sound
○ Coughing, gagging, sneezing, blinking, and shivering reflexes regulate neonates’
sensory systems n help avoid unhealthy things in environment
● Most redlexes fase after few months and replaces by voluntary bhvr.
○ Early weeks, reflexes r important indicators of normal development and healty
functioning

4.11: Neonatal Sensation and Perception

Sensation: ability to experience stimulation thru physician sesnes, such as ears n eyes
● Vary widely in how well developed they r at birth
● Touch n taste r well developed, but sight doesn’t mature until several months after
Perception: how sensations r understood or interpreted
● If person is speaking, neonate will be bale to distinguish whether those sounds r in
familiar or unfamiliar language.

Touch
● Earliest sense to develop
● Neonates feel paain.
○ Heart rates and blood pressure increase, palms sweat, muscles tense, n pupils
dilate
● Neonates who experience intense pain release stress hormones that interfere w sleep n
feeding n heighten sensitivity to later pain
○ Sugar water and breast milk relieves pain

Taste and Smell

● Taste is well developed in womb
○ Amnitoic fluid that fetus floats in has flavor of what mothe recently ate and has
preference for tastes and smell in diet days before birth
■ Prefer smell of mother’s amniotic fluid and smells
● Innate response to tastes and smells
○ Prefer sweet tastes and smells over bitter or sour
■ Nose crinkles, foreheads wrinkle, displeased expression to sour/bitter
■ Preference for sweet tastes present before birth
● Quickly begin to discriminate smells after birth

Hearing
● Developed before birth
● Familar w mothers voice n sounds as fetus and recognize distinctive sounds they heard
in womb
● Innate sensitivity to human speech apparent from birth
○ Prefer mother’s voice to other women’s voices and mother’s language to foreign
 ○ No preference for father’s voice over other mae voices
■ Less heard of and prefer high pitched voices
● Can distinguish small changes in speech sounds
● Early sensitivity to music
○ Prefers songs mothers sang during pregnancy to after birth
● Limitations to hearing ability for first 2 years
○ Takes awhile after birth for amniotic fluid to drain ears
○ Hearing system isnt physiologically mature until after 2
Sound Localization: perceptual ability for telling where a sound is coming from

Sight
● Innate visual preferences
● Prefr patterns to random design, curved over straight lines, 3D over 2D, and colored
over gray pattrns
● Prefer human faces over othe rpatterns
○ Born w cells specialized to detect n prefer certain kinds of visual patterns
● Least developed of neonate’s senses
○ Structures of eye immature at birth:
■ Muscles of lens- adjust eyes’ focus depending on distance from object
■ Cells of retina- membrain in back of eye that collects visual info n
converts into form that can be sent to brain
■ Cones- identify colors
■ Optic nerve- transmits visual info from retina to brain
● Visual acuity at birth is 8-14 inches
● Perceive size n shape constancy within first week
○ Size constancy: perception that 2 objects r same size, even if one is farther
away
○ Shape constancy: Perception that shape of object is the same, even if it looks
different from diff angles
● Infants’ vision improves steadily as eyes mature
02/13/23 CLASS NOTES
Birth and Neonatal Care

Birth Complications
● Failure to Progress and Breech Presenation
○ Failure to progress is when birth process has started but takes longer than
normak
■ Forceps can suction baby out
● Breech Presentation: Feet or buttocks are positioned to come out first
○ Causes umbilical cord to be constricted during delivery

Cesarean Delivery (C-Section)

● Mother’s abdomen is cut open and fetus is retrieved directly from uterus
● Today, it’s very safe but takes longer to heal
❖ Current research:
● Meta-analysis: Urinary incontinence, fetal incontinence, pelvic organ
prolapse, pelvic pain, incidence of painful sexual intercourse… vaginal vs
cesarean> only 2 conditions w significant differences are the bolded ones>
higher in vaginal births
● RCT: Infant mortality and developmental outcomes at age 2 unrelated ot delivery
method
● Meta-analysis: Higher rate of asthma and obesity among children born by
C-sectio: increases r very small (but significant) BUT confounding factors r
difficult to control for

BIrth Practices Across Cultures

● Natural childbirth vs. Medical interventions
○ Epidural: injection of anesthetic drugs into spinal fluid to help manage pain while
remaining alert
● MIdwives
● Disposal, burying, or consuming of placenta

Rates of Infant Mortality Across Cultures

● Decreased by nearly half
● Neonatal (first 28 days) is most vulnerable time

Postpartum Depression
What are possible symptoms of PPD?
Why do some mothers with PPD go undiagnosed/untreated?
Measurement of Neonatal Health
● The Apgar Scale
○ Neonatal assessment scale given immediately after birth
○ Assesed on Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration
● The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
○ Assesses reflexes, physical states, responses to social stimulation, and central
nervous system instability
■ Receives rating of worrisome, normal, ir superior
■ Given one day to 2 months after birth
What are key uses of each scale?

Low Birth Weight?

What are causes of low birth weight?
What are possible consequences of low birth weight?
What are treatment options for low birth weight?

Sleep
Neonates
● 16-17 hours of sleep a day
● SLeep-wake cycle governed by hunger
● High proportion of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep
○ Stimulates brain development
● Traditional cultures keep babies close, so infants spend more day hours sleeping in
industrialized cultures

Reflexes
● Stepping: Holding baby under arms w feet touching floor
○ Makes stepping motions
■ Disappears 2 months
● Moro: Dip downward suddenly, or loud sound
○ Arch back, extend arms and legs outward, bring arms together swiftly
■ Disappears 3 months
● Babkin: Press and stroke both palms
○ Mouth open, eyes close, head tilts forward
■ Disappears 3 months
● Sucking: Object or substance in mouth
○ Sucking
■ Disappears 4 months
● Rooting: Touch on cheek or mouth
 ○ Turn toward touch
■ Disappears 4 months
● Grasping: Object placed in palm
○ Hold tightly
■ Disappears 4 months
● Swimming: Baby is immersed in water
○ Holds breath, swims with arms and legs
■ DIsappears 4 months
● Babinski: Stroke sole of foot
○ Foot twists in, toes fan out
■ Disappears 8 months

Sensation & Perception

What is the difference between sensation and perception?

Sensation
● Touch
○ Earliest sense to develop
○ Neonates do experience pain
● Taste and Smell
○ Well developed in womb
○ Innate responses
■ Sweetness, mothers breast smell

Hearing
● Well developed before birth
○ Fetuses to become familiar with mother’s voice
● Sensitive to human speech
○ Prefer mother’s voice over father’s or other women’s voice
● Can distinguish small changes in speech sounds
● Show early sensitivity to music
● Have difficulty with social localization

Sight
● Innate visual preferences, particularly for human faces
● Least developed sense, as some key structures are immature
● Visual acuity is 8-14 inches at birth
● Perceives size constancy and shape constancy
● Binocular and color vision limited
Section 3: Caring for the Neonate

4.12: Historical and Cultural Perspective on Breast-Feeding

Mammary Glands: glands that produce milk to nourish babies. Breasts expand greatly in size
ad miilk producing cells multiply and mature.
● By 4 months gestation, breast ready to produce milk
Let-down reflex: causes milk to be released to tip of nipples whenever she heard sounds of
infants cry, sees its open mouth, or even thinks abt breast-feeding

Wet nursing: hiring lactating woman other than mother to feed infant bc frequent feeding is
demanding
● Can also substitute milk from other animals
○ According to American Academy of Pediatrics, cow n goat milk shouldnt be fed to
infants bc of unsuitable balance of nutrients and risk of indigestion
● Manufactured substitutes like condensed and evaporated milk began to be developed
and marketed in the West
○ Sold falsely that its cleaner and safer than breast milk

In developed countries, higher mother’s age, educational level, socioeconomic status, the more
likely she is to breast-feed her infant.
In the US, ethnicity is also correlated w breast feeding
● HIgher among Latinos and Whites than AAs

Neonate are ready for breast-feeding right at birth. Sucking and rooting reflexes are strongest at
30 mins after birth.

Breast feeding provides nourishment, and soothes baby when distressed bc of closeness and
warmth to mother while breast feeding

4.13: Benefits (and Limitations) of Breast-Feeding

No evidence that breast-feeding influences emotional development od infant or social
relationship btwn infant and mother

Benefits for Child

● Disease Protection: Reduces risk for illness n disease
● Cognitive Development: Improves cognitve fuctioning, esp for preterm or
low-birth-weight infants
● Obesity: Reduce likelihood of obesity in childhood if breast-feeding ocurred for at least
6mos
 ● Long-Term Health: Promotes long-term health, including bone density, vision, and
cardiovascular functioning

Benefits for Mother

● Uterine Health: Reduces bleeding in uterus following birth n causes terus to return to its
original size
● Weight: Improbes likelihood of returning to pre-pregnancy weight
● Long Term Health: Promotes long-term health, including bone density and decreased
risk of ovarian/breast cancer.

World Health Organization recommends breast-feeding for 2 years w solid foods introduced to
supplement breast mlk at 6mos

BFing for only few days after birth provides important benefits
● Colostrum: First milk mother produces, ruch in protein n antibodies that strengthen
neonate’s immune system
○ SOme cultures believed to be bad for babies

BFing provides advantages for infants & mothers in developed countries but advantages r small
It’s crucial in developing countries where diseases r higher n less infant vaccinations
● Helps aboid minor illnesses like gastrointestinal infections in developed
● Can be life or death in developing
○ Breastfed infants in developing countries have at least 6x greater chance of
survival in early months than non breast fed

Obstacles to Breast Feeding

● Some women have difficulty bc infant cant latch on properly or insufficient breast milk
● In developed countries, mothers employed outside of home makes breast feeding
difficult
● BF’ing makes it difficult for fathers to take part in feeding
○ Challenging for both parents to share care of baby equally as couples in
developed countries prefer
● Obstacles in developing countries
○ Mothers may have infectious diseases liek EBola or HIV/AIDS that can be
tramsitted thru breast milk
■ Advised not to breast-feed
○ Mothers in developing countries have been persuaded by companies selling
instant formula saying it’s better than breast milk
■ False- it’s better than condensed/evaportated milk but it’s not as good
● Infants drinking formula with water miss out on health benefits of
breast milk and can get waters diseases
4.14: Crying and Soothing
Most frequent and effective signal for needs is crying

Patterns of Crying
● Infants may cry bc they’re hungry, lonely, in pain, tired, too warm/cold, dirty diaper, or
discomfort/frustration
When babies cry in unusual ways— exceptionally high or oddly fluctuating pitch— often
indicator of serious future developmental problems like Autism

PURPLE Crying in Early Months

● Peak Pattern: Crying peaks around 2mos and then declines
● Unpredictable: Crying in early mos comes and goes unpredicatbly for no reason
● Resistant to soothing: Crying may continue despite soothing efforts
● Pain- like Face: Look like in pain even if they’re not
● Long Lasting: Cry longer for early mos
● Evening crying: usually cry mosy in afternoon/evening

Soothing and Responding to Cries

Crying episodes longer/intense in cultures where infants r left on their own w little time of being
carried aorund
Infants in cultures where babies r held/carried mosg of day rarely have long crying episodes

In traditional cultures, babies held most of day

● Responses for crying are breast-feeding and swaddling in traditional cultures

Swaddling: babies wrapped in cloth so arms n legs can’t move.

Option of not responding to crying bc argued that immediately reinforcing infants’ crying makes i
more likely next time it wants attention

Colic: Infant crying pattern in which crying goes on for more than 3hrs a day over more than 3
days at a time for more than 3 weeks
● Exists primarily in Western culture where infants receive lies carrying time

4.15: Bonding: Myth and Truth

Imprinting: instant and enduring bond to first object seen after birth; common in birds
Bonding: concept that in humans the first few mins and hrs after birth are critical to
mother-infant relationships.
4.16: Postpartum Depression
● Low emotional states ma be due to rapid hormonal changes as high concentrations of
estrogen and progesterone in mother’s body return to normal levels
● Postpartu depression: feelings of sadness n anxiety so intense as to interfere w ability
to carry out simple daily tasks
○ Changes in appetite and difficulty sleeping

In the US, postpartum depression often peaks abt 4 weks after childbirth
Over hald of all women who develop postpartum depression still suffer symptoms year later
Why do some women n not others develop postpartum depression?
● Women in developed countries at higher risk for postpartum depression if they have
history of psychopathology, including previous episodes of postpartum depression
○ Genetic vulnerabilty
● If they lack social support or have poor marital or partner relationship
● For fathers, postpartum depression may result fromc hallenges of reconciling personal
and owrk related needs w demands of being father

Poverty and economic adversity associated w maternal postpartum depression, higher rates of
poverty in developing countries
● WOmen with HIV/AIDS in developing countries more likely to develop postpartum
depression
● Women who giveb irth to female child in countries where they all want sons

● Practical and emotional support from partners and families important to overcoming
postpartimd epression
○ Psychopathology is often effective
○ Antidepressant meds
■ Limites bc they mey transmit antidepressants thru breast freeding
Exercise, acupuncture, brigth light therapy may also help alleviate postpartum depression

Postpartum depression can impact child development in infancy and beyond

● More likley to be irritable, have problems eating/sleeping, difficulty forming attachment
○ Risk for being withdrawn or displaying antisocial behavior later in life
02/16/2023 CLASS NOTES
When is it too late to get an epidural?
● 10-15 mins to set up epidural
● 10-15 mins to feel relief from pain
● Cervix must be dilated at least 4c,
● Once cervix becomes fully dilated- too late
○ After cervix id fully dilates, it can take as little as 20mins to push baby out
○ Second stage of labor can take up to 3hrs (esp for first baby)

Breast Feeding: What guidance says

● Benefits for Child
○ Disease protection: reduces risk of illness n diseases, such as siphtheria,
pneumonia, ear infections, asthma, and diarrhea
○ Cognitive Development: Improves cognitive functioning, esp for preterm or
low-birth-weight infants
○ Obesity: Reduces likelihood of obesity in childhod if breast-feeding ocurred at
least 6mos
○ Long-term Health: Promotes long-term health, including bone density, vision,
and cardiovascular functioning
● Benefits for Mother
○ Uterine Health: Reduces bleeding in uterus following birth n causes uterus to
retuen to original size
○ Weight: Improves likelihood of returning to pre-pregnancy weight
○ Long-term health: Promotes long-term health, including increased bone density
and decreased risk of Obarian and breast cancer.
■ Breast feeding has no influence on emotional development of infant or
social relationship btwninfant and mother

Breast-feeding Data Dive

What does good quality data say about disease and infections?
● RCT: 17,000 mother-infant pairs (IV: encouragement vs no encouragament)
○ Year 1: Breastfed babies fewer gastrointestinal infections, eczema
○ Date didnt support claim that
● OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES: 70,000 Danish Women
○ Small reduction in ear infections. Not replicated in other high quality survey

What does good quality data say about… SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)?
● Hard to study- SIDS is rare but u need a large sample to get good results
● Case-control method
● Identify infants who have died of SIDS, interview parents, then interview control parents
○ Living children more likely to be breastfed
○ BUT when u control for parent smoking, prematurity, other risk factors (correlated
with BFing)... effects are N.S
 ○ Issues w bias in selection of control group

What does good quality data say about… later health?

● RCT: no evidence in long-term impacts
○ No change in allergies, asthma, cavities, height, blood pressure, weight,
indicators for obesity
● Correlation btwn breastfeeding & obesity is likely just that…correlation
○ COnfounding factors such as SES, maternal
○ Can’t rule a casual link out, but there is no data to support it

What does good quality data say about… IQ?

● Correlation between breast-feeding and IQ… likely only correlation
○ When mother IQ accounted for, only small effect
○ Studies compare siblings that were fed differently: no relationship
○ Sibling studies account for all differences between mothers
○ RCT: no effects on overall IQ or teacher’s evaluations of child performance

What does good quality data say about… benefits for mothers?
● No evidence for weight loss
● Evidence for link between BF and PPD isn’t compelling
○ Mothers w PPD more likely to stop BF (which makes it seem like BF relieves
PPD)
● Link between bone health and BF doesn’t appear in large datasets
● More robust evidence for link btwn BF and breast cancer reduction

Limitations of breast-feeding
Obstacles
● Physical and practical difficulties
○ Some mothers struggle to BF, can be painful
○ Not all families consist of someone who can BF
○ Formula may be necessary for low-birth-weight babies
○ Some evidence for more broken sleep (FF babies sleep for longer stretches,
partners can share formula feeds more easily)
● In developing countries:
○ Mothers w some infectious diseases should not breast-feed
CHAPTER 5: INFANCY

Section 1: Physical Development

5.1: Growth Patterns

Babies grow at faster rate in first year than at any later time of life
● Birth weight doubles by time infant is 5 months and tripped by end of first year

Babies accumulate fat in early months, which helps them maintain costant body temp

Height increases dramatically in first year from 20 inches to 30

● Unlike weight, growth in first year is uneven , occurring in spurt
● In infancy, growth begins at top and proceeds downward
● Cephalocaudal Principle: principle of bio development that growth tends to behin at top
with the head and then proceeds downward to rest of body
● Proximodistal Principle: principle of bio development that growth proceeds from middle
of body outward

5.2: Brain Development

Brain Growth
● Production of neurons starts by Week 7 of prenatal dvlpmt and most of the billions of
neurons tat person will ever have r produced by the middle of prenatal dvlpmnt.
○ First year is peak time for dvlpmnt of connection among neurons
Synapses: tiny gap between neurons across which neural communication takes place
● Formation of synapses begins during prenatal dvlpmnt and continues to flourish in first
year
Neurotransmitters: chemical that enables neurons to communicate across synapses
● Axon: part of neuron that transmits electric impulses and releases neurotransmitters
○ Long connecting fibers
● Dendrites: part of neuron that receives neurotransmitters.
○ Array of short fibers like tree branches.
Overproduction or synaptic exuberance: tremendous spurt in new dendritic connections
between neurons and axons

Myelin Sheath: white, fatty substance that axons are wrapped in

Myelination: process of growth of myeline sheath around axon of neuron

Synaptic Pruning: process of reducing number of connections between neurons so that they
become more efficient. “Use it or lose it.”
Brain Specialization
Brain is divided into three major regions: the hindbrain, midbrain, and the forebrain.

The hindbrain and midbrain mature earliest and perform basic biological functions necessary to
life.
● Keeps lungs breathing, your heart beating, your bodily movements balanced.

Forebrain divided into 2 main parts; the limbic system and cerebral cortex.
● Limbic system structures: hypothalumus, thalamus, and hippocampus
○ Hypothalamus: small, size of peanut, plays key role in monitoring and
regulating basic animal functions, like hunger, thirst, body temp, sexual desire,
and hormonal levels
○ Thalamus: acts as receiving and transfer center for sensory info from body to
brain
○ Hippocampus: crucial in memory, esp transfer of info from short term to long
term memory
Most distinctly human part of brain is the cerebral cortex in the most counterpart of forebrain

The cerebral cortex is the basis of our distinctively human abilities, including ability to speak and
understand language, solve complex problems, to thik of concepts, ideas, and symbols

Cerebral cortex is divided in to ways

● Two hemisphere, left and right
○ Lateralization: specialization of functions in 2 hemispheres of brain
○ Left specialized for language n processing info in sequential way
○ RIght specialized for spatial reasoning and processing info in holistic, integrative
way
■ Both work together
● Has four regions/lobes
○ Ocipital at the rear of each hemisphere processes visual info
○ Temporal lobes at lower side of each hem involved in processing auditory info
and spoken language
○ Parietal lobes above temporal lobes process bodily sensations
○ Frontal lobes behind forehead are center for most advanced human processes
like producing spoken language and making decisions

The prefrontal cortex is foremost part o frontal lobes and most recently evolved with specialized
abilities for planning, organizing info to direct bhvr

The Plasticity of Infant Brain

Plasticity: degree to which dvlpmnt can be influenced by environmental circumstances

High plasticity of infant brain makes it adaptable but also vulnerable

5.3: Sleep Changes
Neionates sleep for 17-17 hrs/day in periods of few hrs and REM sleep abt half this time

Cultural practices influence how much infants sleep by 6 mos

Two important issues of sleep in infancy are risk of dying during sleep and question of with
whom infants should sleep

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

In developed countries, leading cause of death for infants is SIDS

SIDS involves convergence of three factors: critical dvlpmntl period, a vulnerable infant, and
envrnmntl risks

HIghest risk is 1-4mos

Characteristics that make infants more vulnerable to SIDS

● Low birth weight
● Low apgar scores
● Immature or dysfunctional cardiorespiratory system

Environmental risks:
● Mother smoking /being around tobacco during pregancny
● Sleeping i overheated room/wearing 2+ slayers during sleep
● Sleeping surrounded by soft bedding
● Sleeping stomach-down or side instead of flat on back

Rate of SIDS higher in the US than any other developed countries but continuing to decline in
US
● AAs and NA infants esp high risk
○ Poorer prenatal care

Cosleeping: Helpful or harmful to babies?

● Western cultures assume better for infants to have own crib to teach independence and
for parents to enjoy marital intimacy
○ Pediatricians in US warn against cosleeping
● Outside the West many cultures practice cosleeping during infancy
○ Believe it’s neglect

Cosleeping promotes close parent-child attachment, highly valued in collectivistic cultures

● Cosleeping reflects collectivistic beliefs
● Not cosleeping reflects individualistic beliefs
5.4: Nutritional Needs
During first year of life, nutritional energy needs greater than any other time of life per pound of
body weight

Introduction of Solid Foods

● Best way to obtain good high-fat nutrition during infancy is thru breast milk
● Start eating some solid foods during first year

Ability to chew and swallow does nto develop until second half of first year

Western pediatricians recommend introducing solid foods by 4-6mos

Malnutrition in Infancy
● Malnutrition higher in developing countries than developed countries
● Usually die to mother being unable to unwilling to breast feed
○ Mother may be so ill/malnouished that she’s unable to produce enough breast
milk
○ May have disease like HIV or TB and advised not to breast-feed
○ May have been misled to believe infant formula is better than breast-milk
○ Mother may have died

Malnourished infants at risk for marasmus: disease in which body wastes away due to
insufficient proteins and calories

5.5: Infant Mortality

Vauses and Prevention of Infant Mortality
Most infnt mrtlty is neonatal mortality
● First month of life and usually due to severe birth defects, prematurity, or birth
complications or indirect consequence of mother’s death during childbirth

Rates of infnt mrtlty higher in developing countries

● Malnutrution and diseases
○ Respiratory infections major cause of death
○ Malaria
○ Diarrhea
■ Lose fluids and die from dehydration if untreated
● Unsade water, inadequate sanitation, insufficient hygiene

Oral rehydration therapy: treatment for infant diarrhea that involves drinking solution of salt
and glucose mixed with clean water
5.6: Motor Development
Gross motor development: development of motor abilities including balance and posture as
well as whole-body movements such as crawling

Fine motor development: development of motor abilities involving finely tuned movements of
hands such as grasping and manipulating objects

Gross Motor Development

● Holding up head without support, rolling over, sitting without support, crawling, standing,
cruising, walking
Ontogenetic: gross motor development takes place due to inborn, genetically based, individual
timetable
● Most dvlpmntl psychologists view gross motor development in infancy as combination of
genetic timetable, maturation of brain, support and assistance from adults for developing
the skill, and child’s own efforts to practice skill
○ Genetics and environment
● Largely ontogenetic

In traditional cultures, infants’ gross motor activities are restricted bc of swaddling and being
strapped onto mother’s backs

Some culture promote infants’ GMDs

Cultural practices can slightly speed up or slow down the ontogenetic timetable for GMD in
infancy, but the influence of environment is relatively small

Fine Motor Development

Opposable thumb is an evolutionary development that makes umans anatomically distinctive

● Basis of fine motor development
○ Reaching and grasping

5.7: Sensory Development

Two important sensory advances n infancy are depth perception and intermodal perception

Depth Perception
Depth Perception: ability to discern relative distance of objects in environment
Binocular vision: ability to combine images of each eye into one image
● Indicates object in relation to observer and in relation to other objects in visual world
○ Develops by 3mos
Intermodal Perception
Intermodal Percetion: integration and coordination of sensory info
Early development of intermodal perception helps infants learn about physical and social world

02/21/23 CLASS NOTES

Infancy: Physical Development

Growth Patterns
● Infants grow at faster rate during first year
● Weight doubles in first 5mos and triples by end of first year
○ Height is more uneven in growth than weight
● Growth follows two patterns
○ Cephalocaudal Principle: Head to tale
○ Proximodistal Principle: Near to far

Why can most animals already walk at birth?

● Our brain is so big that if we were to birth our babies at the same rate as animals, we
have to birth them before brains are fully developed. They don’t have the brain functions
to be able to walk. Makes babies more dependent on parents.
Brain Growth
● Most neurons are developed before birth
● At birth, brain is 25% size of adult’s brain, but reaches 70% by 2yrs
● Growth in brain due to:
○ Synaptix exuberance: dendritic connections multiply
○ Myelination: axons become encased in myeline sheath
■ Makes speed of communication between neurons faster

● Efficiency increases due to synaptic pruning

Which processes help explain rapid brain development during first year of life?
Between each neuron, axon terminal meets dendrite of another neuron. The electric signals are
travelling down axon to synapse and converts to chemical signals (neurotransmitters) which go
to the synapse to the dendrite of another neuron. The myelin sheath speeds up the process of
transmission of info from synapse to synapse. This is why out brain is able to develop at this
fast rate

Brain Specialization
● Brain divided into 3 major regions
○ Hindbrain
○ Midbrain
○ Forebrain
■ Limbic system- hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus
 ■ Cerebral cortex- lobes
● Hindbrain and midbrain mature early and perform basic biiological functions
● FOrebrain looks at processes that really make us human and things other animals cant
like processing and working memory

The pre-frontal cortex is the brain region specialized to executive functioning.

● Last part of brain that fully develops
● Most advanced human processing
○ Ability to forge plans, strategize, do multiple things, regulat ourselves during
complicated tasks. The kind of skills needed to do well in schol, challenging
intellectual environments. During early childhood it’s a domain of development
where children develop differently. Really shapes how children manage schools.

● Most distinctively human part of brain is cerebral cortex

● Divided into 2 hemispheres- lateralization
○ Each hemisphere has 4 lobes w distinct functions
■ Occipital lobes
■ Temporal lobes
■ Parietal lobes
■ Frontal lobes

Brain Plasticity
● The plasticity of Infant Brain
○ Highly responsive to environmental circumstances
○ Adaptable to overcome damage but also vulnerable
○ Environmental deprivation can have permanent effects
■ Example seen in Romanian adoptions (next week)

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

● Death within first year of life due to unknown reasons, with no apparent illness or
disorder
● Infants between 1-4mos have highest risk
● Involves convergence of 3 factors:
○ Critical developmental period
○ Vulnerable infant
○ Environmental risks
● Some physical characteristics and enviornmental risks
● Sleeping on back lowers risk
○ “BACK to Sleep” campaign
● Rates higher in U.S than other developed countries
○ Ethnic Variations:
■ African American and Native American infants are at especially high risk
Cosleeping: Helpful or Harmful to Babies?
● Western countries warn against it
○ Feel it leads to excessive dependence, poor emotional health, and risk of SIDS
● Developing countries view as normal
○ Feel it promotes close parent-child attachment
● A custom complex-a distinctive cultural pattern of behavior based on underlying cultural
beliefs.

Nutritional Needs
● Introduction of Solid Foods
○ Breast milk provides infants w high-fat diet, which they need
○ Introduce solid foods at 4-6mos
○ Cultural variations in types of food introduced
■ West- rice cereal, easily eaten and digestible foods
■ Traditional cultures- mashed, prechewed, pureed.

Malnutrition in Infancy
● Malnutrition rates declining in developing countries but much higher than developed
ones
● Can be severe and enduring
● Can be due to inability or unwillingness of mother to breast-feed
● At risk of marasmus: disease in which the body wastes away from lack of nutrients

Infant Mortality: Causes

● Most infant mortality occurs during first month of life
● Rates much higher in developing countries
● Top sources after first month but within first year:
○ Malnutrition
○ Disease
○ Malaria
○ Diarhea- dehydration

Infant Mortality: Prevention

● Diarrhea can be cured thru inexpensive oral rehydration therapy (ORT)
○ Has reduced worlwide rate of infant deaths due to diarrhea
● Diseases eliminated due to vaccines that provide immunization
○ Variability worldwide in vaccination rates
○ No scientific basis for vaccines causing autism or SIDS

Which vaccines are children give in first year of life?

Cultural Beliefs and Practices to Protect Infants

● In traditional cultures, parents’ awareness of infant’s vulnerabilities influenced parenting
practices
 ○ No knowledge of physiological causes of illness and no medical remedies
○ Developed practices to help infants avoid harm
● Even today where knowledge is limite may use magical practices

Gross Motor Development

● Includes whole body movements like crawling
● Children tend to develop these skills in sequence
○ More variability in timing of milestones than in sequence
○ Sequence is largely ontogenetic (genetic beginnings) with environmental
influences
● Cultural variations in stimulation of skills
○ No long-term gains for early gross motor stimulation

Fine Motor Development

● More precise motor abilities of hands
○ Basis is opposable thumb
● Principal milestone is reaching and grasping
○ Becomes more intentional and accurate
● Learn to coordinate the two skills
○ At 9-12mos, infants learn “pincer grasp” to hold food

Depth Perception
● A key development is binocular vision at 2-3mos
● Important when children become mobile
● Visual cliff useful in understanding when infants learn depth perception
○ Bidrectional relation between perceptual and motor development

Intermodal Perception
● Integration and coordination of sensory info
● Progresses in first year
● Helps infants learn abt physical and social world

Section 2: Cognitive Development

5.8: Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget divided theory of cognitive development to describe stages that children’s thinking
passes thru
Stages of Cognitive Development in Piaget’s Theory
1. Senorimotor
a. Ages 0-2
b. Capable of coordinating activities of senses w motor activities
2. Preoperational
a. Ages 2-7
b. Capable of symbolic representnation such as in language. Limited ability to use
mental operations
3. Concrete Operations
a. Ages 7-11
b. Capable of using mental operations but only in concrete n immediate experience;
difficulty thinking hypothetically
4. Formal Operations
a. Ages 11-15+
b. Capable of thinking logically and abstractly; formulating hypotheses and testing
them systematically; thinking is more complex, including ability to think abt
thinking (metacognition)

The Sensorimotor Stage

Sensorimotor stage: first 2 years of cognitive development, which involves learning how to
coordinate activities of senses with motor activity
● Piaget proposed infants’ schemes for processing, organizing, n interpreting info abt
world r based on sensory and motor activities

Major cognitive achievement in infancy is the advance in sensorimotor development from reflex
behavior to intentional action

Development toward intentional behavior allows us to adapt to environment. Infants no longer

engage in assimilation but also in accommodation
Assimilation: when new info altered to fit existing scheme
Accomodation: changing scheme to adobe new info

Object Permanence
Object permanence: awareness that objects and ppl continue to exist even when we arent in
direct sensory or motor contact witht them.
● Infants have little understanding of object permanence for most of first year
● “Out of sight out of mind”
● Infants 8-12mos begin to show developing awareness of object permanence
○ Still rudimentary
■ “A-not-B error

Motor Coordination and Object Permanence

Infants’ motor development occurs along w cognitive development
Renee Baillargeon tested if it could be a lack of motor coordination to search for a hidden object
rather than they believeit disappeared.
● Used the “violation of expectations methods”: relies on technology that measures infant’s
viewing patterns
○ Assumption is that infant’s look longer at event that violates expectations
■ Understanding of object permanence

Findings from other cultures support argument that some understanding of object permanence
develops earlier than Piaget claimed.
● Peek-a-boo

Object permanence is not distinctly human

5.9: Information-Processing Approaches

Information-processing approaches: approaches to understanding cognitive functioning that
focus on cognitive processes that exist at all ages rather than on viewing cognitive development
in terms of discontinuous stages
DIFFERENT FROM PIAGET”S THEROY
● Rather than discontinuous stages, IPA views cognitive changes as continuous.
○ Gradual and steady
● Focuse son hos mental capabilites and processes gradually change with age; hwo
memory becomes swifter, more accurate, and larger over childhood

Information-Processing Concepts
● The different components of thinking operate simultaneously
● Executive function: ability to integrate attention and memory that rises steeply in an
early childhood

Attention
● Information processing begins with stimulus info that enters the sense,s but much of
sight, hearing, and touch is processed no further.
○ The only info u process is info u focus attention on
● Habituation: gradual decrease in attention to a stimulus after repeated presentations
● Dishabituation: revival of attention when new stimulus is presented following several
presentations of previous stimulus,
Methods to monitoring infants’ looking behavior are heart rate and sucking rate.

Heart rate declines when a new stimulus is presented and gradually rises again as habituation
takes place.

Speed of habituation products memory ability on other tasks in infancy and performance on
intelligence tasks.
In second half of first year, infants’ patterns of attention become increasingly social.

Joint attention: paying attention to stimuli on which other people r focusing.

● Basis of infants’ information processing development but of language and emotional
communication
○ Learn new words by observing what others are doing/looking when using word
● Cultures where verbal interactions w adults are limited, infants and young children learn
a great deal of language by observing adults’ language use and “listening in”

Memory
● Short term memory: capcity to retain info for brief time
○ Object permanence is a test of short term memory and knowledge of properties
of objects
● Long term memory: knowledge accumulated and retained over time. Improves notably
over course of first year

distinction between recognition memory and recall memory

5.10: Assessing Infant Development

Scales for assessing cognitive ability and development in infants w goal of predicting later
intelligence

Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III)

Assesses development from 3mos-3.5mos
Three main scales:
1. Cognitive Scale: measures mental abilities such as attention and exploration
2. Language Scale: measures use and understanding of language
3. Motor Scale: measures fine and gross motor abilities

Developmental Quotient (DQ): assessments of infant development, the overall score indicating
developmental level
● Bayley scales don’t measure IQ or school performance well
● USed mainly as screening tool to identify infants who have serious problems in need of
immediate attention rather than as predictors of later development i children within the
normal range

Infant Processing Approaches to Infant Assessment

Infants vary in how long it takes them to habituate to a new stimulus

Habituation assessments in infancy are also useful for identifying infants who have
developmental problems
Milestones of Infant Lasting Development

1. 2 mos
a. Cooing (preverbal and gurgling sounds
2. 4-6 mos
a. Babbling (repetitive consonant-vowel combinations)
3. 8-10 mos
a. First gesture (such as bye-bye)
4. 10-12 mos
a. Comprehension of words and simple sentences
5. 12 mos
a. First spoken word

5.11: First Sounds and Words

Cooing: simple sounds that babies make beginning at 2mos

Babbling: repetitive consonant-vowel combination such as “ba-ba-ba” or “do-do-do,” made by

infants universally beginning at about 4-6 mos
● Gradually infants begin to babble in the sounds distinctive to their culture and cease to
babble in sounds they haven’t heard used by others
○ May initiate turn-taking btw infants and caregivers

By about 8-10 mos, infants begin to use gesture to communicate

● Evokes behavior verbal responses from others

Language comprehension: the words we understand

Language production: the words we speak

5.12: Infant-Directed (ID) Speech

Infant directed (ID) speech: form of speech that adults direct towards infants, in which pitch of
voice becomes higher than in normal speech, the intonation is exaggerated, and words and
phrases are repeated.

Why do people us ID speech with infants?

● Infant seem to like it
○ Bc it is more emotionally charged than other speech
○ ID speech helps infants unravel language’s mysteries
■ Gives clue to their meaning which provides info abt th ebuilding blocks of
speech they’ll use in language of culture
■ Exaggeration of speech separates speech into words more clearly
02/27/23 CLASS NOTES
Infancy: Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development

★ The Sensorimotor Stage
○ First 2 years of life in which infants learn how to coordinate activities of the
senses with motor activities
○ Advance from reflex behavior to intentional action
○ Assimilation: new info is altered to fit existing scheme
○ Accomodation: changing the scheme to adapt to new info

Age Stage Characteristics

0-2 Sensorimotor Capable of coordinating activities of senses with

motor abilities

2-7 Preoperational Capable of symbolic representation, such as in

language, but with limited ability to use mental
operations

7-11 Concrete Operations Capable of using mental operations, but only in

concrete, immediate experience; difficulty
thinking hypothetically

11-15 Formal Operations Capable of thinking logically; capable of

formulating hypotheses and testing them
systematically; thinking is more complex,
including ability to think about thinking
(metacognition)

Object Permanence
● Objects continue to exist even when we are not aware of them
○ Infants have little understanding
○ At 8-12mos, developing awareness
○ A-not-B error- belief own action causes object to appear

Motor Coordination and Object Permanence

● New advanced methods of testing cognitive abilities
● Renee Baillargeon tested infant abilities using the violation of expectations method
○ Showed that young infants perceive objects as permanent and whole
○ Supported by findings from other cultures
● Found in other animals as well

Information Processing Concepts

● Information processing approaches view cognitive change as continuous
 ● In humans, the different components of thinking operate simultaneously
● Researchers studied attention, memory, and executive functions

Attention
● Only process what you focus on
● Attention studied using habituation and dishabituation
● Infants become better at perceiving and processing stimuli to habituate more quickly
● What is joint attention?
○ paying attention to stimuli on which other people r focusing.

Memory
● Short term memory and long term memory improve during first year of life
○ Object permanence tasks show infants can remember more locations of hidden
objects
● What is the difference between recognition memory and recall memory
○ Recognition involves prompts and recall does not
●
Information Processing Approaches to Infant Assessment
● Information processing model uses habituation to assess intelligence
● Infants with short habituation time process information more quickly
● Longitiudinal studies show a connection between habituation and IQ and higher
achievement
● Educational edie tries to enhance cognition

Language Development
● Cooing at 2 months
● Develops into babbling at 4-6 months
○ Develop conversational turn taking
● At 8-10 months, infants use gestures to communicate
● At 12 months, first words spoken
○ Language comprehension exceeds language production

Infant Directed (ID) Speech

● Higher pitch with simplified grammar
● Exaggerated intonation and phrases repeated
● Infants prefer becuaue it is more emotionally charged
● Common in many western cultures
○ Some cultures do not use i, but infants pick up language from hearing community
conversationn

Humphreys et al. 2020- Psychiatric Outcomes Following Severe Deprivation in Early

Childhood: Follow Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial at Age 16
● Infants lived in institutional care till approx. 22 months
● Severe psychosocial deprivation → cognitive impairment
 1. Summarize the Methods & Conclusions
2. Discuss: which aspects of cognitive impairment could be causes of
psychopathology (during childhood and adolescence)?

Key Acronyms
● FCG- foster care
● CAUG- care as usual
● NIG- Never institutionalized group
03/02/23 MIDTERM REVIEW
Section 3: Emotional and Social Development
Temperament: innate responses to physical and social environment, including qualities such as
activity level, general mood, and self-regulation.

5.13: Conceptualizing Temperament

Two Conceptions of Infant Temperament

Thomas and Chess- Quality/ Description

● Activity Lebel: Ratio of active time to inactive time
● Attention Span: Length of time devoted to an activity before mobing on to the next
● Intensity of Reaction: Emotional expressiveness such as crying and laughing
● Rhythmicity: Regularity of physical functioins such as feeding and sleeping
● Distractibility: Extent to which new stimulations stops current behavior
● Approach/Withdrawal: Response to new object or person
● Aaptability: Adjustment to changes in routines

Rothbart- Quality/ Description

● Activity Level: Frequency and intensity of gross motor activity
● Attention Span/ Persistence: Duration of attention to a single activity
● Fearful Distress: Fear/distress in response to novel or intense stimulation
● Irritable Distress: Expression of distress when frustrated
● Positive AffectL Frequency of expression of happiness and other positive emotions
● Self-Regulation: Ability to suppress an initial response to situation and execute a more
adaptive response

Temperament originally proposed as psych concept by Thomas and Chess- began NY

Longitudinal STudy (NYLS)
● Asked parents to evaluate babies on basis of dimension ssuch as activity level,
adaptability, and quality of mood
○ Divided babies into three atgeories: easy babies, difficult babies, and slow to
warm up babies
1. Easy babies: moods generally positive. Adapted well to new situations and generally
moderate rather than extreme in emotional reactions
2. Difficult babies: didn’t adapt well to new situations. Moods intensively negative more
frequently than other babies
3. Slow to warm up babies: notably low in activity level. Reacted negatively to new
situations. Fewer positive or negative emotional extremes than other babies
 ● Study shoed that temperament in infancy predicted later development.
○ Difficult babies at high risk for problems in childhood like aggressive bhvr,
anxiety, social withdrawel
○ Slow to warm up babies rarely had early childhood problems but in school, they
were fearful and had problems academically with pears bc of slow
responsiveness

Rothbart points out children differ in how they regulate or manage initial responses.

5.14: Goodness of Fit

Thomas and Chess proposed goodness of fit: children develop best if there’s a good fit
between temperament of child and environmental demands.
Difficult and slow to warm up babies need parents aware of temperaments and whilling
to be especially patient and nurturing.

Asian babies are less active and irritable than US and Canadian babies. Also appear to regulate
emotionality earlier and more easily
● Bc of differences in later childhood
○ Asian children ar more likely to be shy
○ North Americans view shyness as porblemt o overcome and Asians view it
positively

5.15: Primary Emotions

Primary emotions: basic emotions, shared with animals
● Ex. Anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise, happiness
○ Evident first year of life

Secondary emotions (sociomoral emotions): require social and cultural learning

● Embarrassment, shame, guilt
○ Develop mostly between ages 1 and 2

Primary emotions evident in early weeks of life are: distress, interest, and pleasure
● In the first 3mos, they become differentiated into other primary emotions. Distress into
anger, sadnes, and fear. Interest into surprise. Pleasure into happiness.

Anger develops over course of first year

Sadness rare in first year, except infants w depressed mothers
Fear develops by 6mos
● Stranger anxiety in response to unfamilar adults
○ Sign that infants begun to develop attachments to familar ppl
Surprise is evident about halfway thru first year
Happiness takes place during arly months
● Social smile: expression of happiness in response to interacting with others, first
appearing at age 2 to 3 mos

Extent to which infants negage ins social smiling depends on caregivers.

5.16: Infants’ Emotional Perceptions

Infants not only express and perceive others’ emotions from first days of life
Emotional Contagion: infants cry in response to hearing another infant cry, beginning at just a
few days old
● Shows they recognize and respond to cry as a signal of distress

At first, infants better at perceiving emotions by hearing than seeing

● Auditory system more developed than visual system in early weeks of life
● By 2-3 mos, eyesight improve and begin to disciminat between happy, sad, and angry
faces

Still-face paradigm: infants respond with distress when parents show no emotion while
interacting with them.
● Infants quickly learn to expect emotional reactions from others

Social referencing: process of becoming more adept at observing others’ emotional responses
to ambiguous and uncertain situations and using that information to shape one’s own emotional
responses

5.17: Cultural Themes of Infant Social Life

1. Infants are with their mothers almost constantly during early months of life
2. After 6 months, most daily infant care is done by older girls rather than the mother
a. So mother can devote energy and attention to work
3. Infants are around mamy other people in the course of a day
4. Infants are held or carried almost constantly
5. Fathers are usually remote or absent during first year

5.18: The Foundation of Social Development: Two Theories

To most influential theories of infants’ social development are by Erik Erikson and John Bowlby
● Erikso proposed stafe theory of life span with specific developmental challenge for each
○ For infancy, the central crisis is Trust vs Mistrust
Erikson’s Trust vs Mistrust
● Infants dependent on other for survival
● Must have someone who can be trusted to care for them and be reliable source of
nourishment, warmth, love, and protection
○ Usually mother. Not a biological tie but the emotional and social bond
● Infnants with a providing caregiver develop a basic trust in their social world and believe
otters r trustworthy and that they’re worthy of live
● If they are lacking in love and care in first year, infants may come to mistrust caregivers
and others in social world

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

Attachment theory: focuses on crucial importance of infants’ relationship w primary caregiver.
● Like Erikson, believed quality of first important social relationship influenced emotional
and social development not only in infancy but in later stages of dvlpmnt as well.
● Like erikson, viewed trust as key issue in infants’ attachment
● Bolwby says if caregiver is sensitive and responsive to infant, infant will learn that others
can be trusted too

Differences in Erikson and Bowlby’s theories:

● Erikson’s psychosocial theory was contrast to Freud’s psychosexual theory
● Bowlby’s theory originated in evolytionary theory and research on mother-offspring
relatiohnships in animal species
03/20/23 CLASS NOTES
Temperament
● Innate responses to physical and social environment
● THomas an Chess classified babies into three categories:
○ Easy
○ Difficult
○ Slow to warm up

Rothbart’s Conception of Infant Temperament

● Addition of self-regulation: ability to suppress an initial response to a situation and
execute a more adaptive response
● What is an example of an infant self regulating?

Goodness of Fit
● A good fit between temperament of child and neviornemental demands
● Parents need to be aware of temperamrnts and repsond accordingly
○ Babies will better learn to control emotional reactions
● Culture value different traits leading to cultural goodness of fit
○ Shyness encouraged in China but not in the US

Gene environment interaction

● A child might innately have a certain temperament. If temeramnt and environment
doesnt fit, that will have a different developmental outcome
● With difficult babies, parents have to be more patient and understanding and meotional
support and asurance and responsiveness to that baby
Child’s active role in development
● Child’s temperament influences how ppl respond to them

Predicting later development from infant temperament

Emotions
Primary Emotions
● Distress, interest, disgust and pleasure in first weeks of life
● Becomes anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and happiness

Secondary Emotions
● Secondary emotions: develop later and are called socio-moral emotions
○ Ex. guilt, shame, embarrassment

Perceiving Emotions
● Crying in response to hearing another cry is emotional contagion
● Infants perceive emotions by hearing before seeing
 ● Still-face paradigm shows infants quickly learn to expec certain emotional reactions
● Ability to match auditory and visual emotion
● Infants gradually show social referencing

Social World of Infant

Key Themes Across Traditional And Collectivist Cultures
● Infants almost constantly with mothers in early months
● After 6 months, most daily care done by older girls
● Infants are around many other people during the day
● Infants are held or carried almost constantl
● Fathers are usually remote or absent during first years

How are these practices different than in Western or individualistic cultures?

The Foundation of Social Development

Trust vs Mistrust (Erikson) Attachment Theory (Bowlby)

● Centers around emotional and social ● Crucial importance of primary
bond and not biological bond caregiver being sensitive and
● Developing trust in infancy provides responsive
foundation for future social ○ Babies learn that others can
development be trusted in social
relationships
● Evolutionary basis and in research on
mother-offspring relationships in
animal species

CHAPTER 6: TODDLERHOOD

Section 1: Physical Development

6.1: Bodily Growth

Body growth is swift and steady during toddery years
● Rapid growth in first yearn ut it slows during toddlerhood andn beyond
During todderhood, children loose baby fat of infancy bc it is no longer needed to keep bodies at
constant temperature.

Head is noe one fifth of 2yo’s height

By adulthood head will be one eighth of whole body size

Toddlers in developing countries don’t grow as rapidly as toddlers in developed countries

 ● Around 6 mos, solid foods become larger part of diet, children in developing countries
receive less protein and begin to lag in growth

Protein deficiency limits growth of children in developing countries and makes them vulnerable
to disease and early death
● Kwashiorkor: protein deficiency leads to lethargy, irritability, and thinning hair
○ Body swells w water, esp belly
■ Lowers effectiveness of immune system-> more vulnerably to disease
● Damage is likely to be permanent

Toddlers need diet w micronutrients like iron, zinc, vitamins A, B12, C, and D.
● Iodine is most crucial
○ Iron deficiency stunts physical growth and cognitive development
■ Estimated IQ deficiency

6.2: Brain Development

Synaptic density: density of synapses among neurons; peaks around 3yo.
● Peak in toddlerhood, esp in frontal lobes
○ Frontal lives r location of most distinctively human cognitive qualities such
as reasoning, planning, and creativity.
Synaptic pruning takes place as synaptic density is flourishing.
● In SP, connections between neurons become fewer but more efficient and unused
synapses wither away.

Methods of Assessing Brain Activity

● EEG (electroencephalogram): measures electrical activity of cerebral cortex.
● fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging): unlike EEG< fMRI detects activity in
any part of the brain

6.3: Motor Development

Gross Motor Development: From Toddling to Running, Jumping, and Climbing
● Begin to walk without support at 11mos- varies from 9-17mos
● By 15mos, can stand on one leg and have begun to clumb
○ Most can climb up stairs but not down
● By 18mos, most can run
● By 24 mos, kick ball or throw small object. Running is more flexible and fluid
○ Can go down stairs, squat for minutes at a time, tiptoe, jump up and down

Through third year, toddlers’ gross motor skills develop as they gain more flexibility and balance.
● Use visual info to adjust walking and running in response to changed in surface
From Motor Development: From Scribbling to Building with Blocks
● At 12mos, can hold object in one hand while performing an action on it with another
● Show definite right or left hand preference for self feeding
● During first year of toddlerhood, learn to hold cup, scribble, build tower of 3 or 4 blocks,
turn pages of book
● During second year of toddlerhood, from 2-3 yo, fewer major advances and more by
extending advances of previous year

6.4: Weaning
In traditional cultures, breastfeeding for 2-3yos is common until recently
● If breastfeeding takes place only for few weeks or months, transition from breast to bottle
is fairly smooth
● If longer breastfeeding into toddlerhood, challenging weaning

Toddler more socially aware than infant and more capable of exercising intentional bhvr.

Most traditional cultures have have practices for weaning

● Approach often gentle and gradual at first but becomes stronger if toddler resists.
● Bali- parents feed some solid food from first few days of life and attempt gradual wening
beginning at 2yo
○ If gradual weaning doesnt work, coat breast in bitter tasting herbs
● Rural villages in turkey- weaned at 2 but if they persist, breast coated in tomato pate
● Others sperate mother and toddler during weaning
● Fulani of West Africa- toddler sent to grandmother’s household during weaning

6.5: Sleeping
● Sleep declines fro 16-18hrs/day in neonate to about 15hrs/day by 1year
○ 12-13hrs by 2year

Toddler sleeps less than infant and has more of a night-sleeping day-waking arousal schedule
● 1 nap during day by 18mos, compared to 2+ for infants

Episodes od waking in night increases in frequency

● Molars emerge, causing pain
● Toddlers develop more definite sense of themselves and others by 2yo, and if they sleep
in separate bed, they r aware of separation and want to go to parents’ room
In traditional cultures, cosleeping continues thru beginning of toddlerhood
03/23/23 CLASS NOTES
Toddlerhood- Physical Development

Toddler Growth
● Children lose baby fat and become leaner
● Bosy grows faster than head
● Nutritoion changes at about 6 months when solid food is introduced
○ Nutritional deficiencies occur in developing countries, leading to slower growth
■ Kwashiorkor: protein deficiency
■ Micronutrient deficiency: lack of crucial vitamins and minerals

Toddler Brain Development

● Steep increase of synaptic density: number of synaptic connections among neurons
○ New neurons produced in frontal cortex
● Long process of synaptic pruning: connections between neurons become fewer but
more efficient
○ Increases efficiency by allowing unused synapses to wither away

Toddler Brain Activity

● EEG research shos sharp increase in overall cortical activity from 18-24 months
● fMRI method shows that toddlers have greater frontal lobe activity in response to speech
than older children
○ Reflects brain’s readiness for rapid language acquisition

Gross Motor Development

Age (Months) Milestone

9-6 Stand Alone

9-17 Walk without support

11-19 Stand on one leg

11-21 Climb onto chairs, beds, up stairs, etc.

13-17 Walk backward

12-22 Run

17-30 Jump in place

16-30 Walk on tiptoes

22-36 Walk up and down stairs

Early Intervention: Gross Motor Delays
● Occupational therapists work with children aged 0-3 years on a range of developmental
delays, including gross motor delays

Fine Motor Development

Age (Months) Milestone

7-15 Hold writing instrument (e.g., pencil, crayon)

8-16 Coordinate actions of both hands

10-19 Build towers of two blocks

10-21 Scribble vigorusly

12-18 Feed self with spoon

15-23 Build tower of 3-4 blocks

20-28 Draw straight line on paper

24-32 Brush teeth

26-34 Build tower of 8-10 blocks

29- 37 Copy circle

Socializing Physical Functions

● Weaning
○ Breastfeeding for 2-3 years has been typical human custom until recently
■ Caries widely among cultures
○ Harder to wean the longer into childhood
○ Traditional cultures have customary practices for weaning

Sleep
● Declines to 15 hours by age 1, and 12-13 hours by age 2
○ Research indicates moving from 2 regular naps to 1 regular nap around 15-18
months
○ Drop the naps around 3 years
● More of a night-sleeping, day-waking arousal schedule
○ Not necessarily sleeping through the night
● In traditional cultures, toddlers start sleeping with siblings
Rao & Fisher (2021)
● Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent development
○ Pre-natal depression
○ Food insecurity
○ Child Protection
○ Parental Conflict
○ Parental Warmth
○ Nurturing conflict in early childhood

Section 2: Cognitive Development

6.6: Piaget’s Theory: The Completion of the Sensorimotor Stage

● First 2 years are sensorimotor stage
By end of year 1, infants lost most motor reflexes and physical actions are more
voluntary and purposeful
○ During 2nd year (first year of toddlerhood) sensorimotor tasks are completed
■ Toddlers develop mental representations

Mental Representations
Mental Representations: key accomplishment in Piaget’s stage of sensorimotor development.
Tofflers first think about range of possibilities n then select action most likely to achieve desired
outcome
● Between 18-24 months
● Basis of most important and distininctly human cognitive abilities, including language
● Contributes to deferred imitation and catgeorization

Deferred Imitation
Deferred Imitation: ability to repeat actions observed at an earlier time
● Crucial ability for learning because it means we observe something important and can
repeat later ourselves
● Part of toddlers’ pretend play
● Can be seen as early as 6 weeks

Hippocampus is importan in long-term memory encoding and recall.

Categorization
● Mental representation in toddlerhood is the basis of categorization
● Patterns of looking at things
○ Infants look longer at new or unfamiliar images
6.7: Vygotsky’s Cultural Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky’s theory (sociocultural theory).
● Social bc children learn thru interactions with others and require assistance from others
to learn what they need to know
● Cultural bc what children need to know is determined by culture they live in

Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky recognizes there are distinct cultural differences in the knowledge that
they must acquire. Piaget viewed cognitive development as the same across cultures.

The Zone of Proximal Development

Two of Vygotsky’s most influential ideas are zone of proximal development and scaffolding

Zone of proximal development: difference between skills/tasks that children can accomplish
alone and those they’re capable of performing if guided by adult
● Children learn best if instruction they receive is within zone of proximal development

Private speech: self-guiding and self-directing comments children make to themselves as they
lean in zone of proximal development.
● Unlike Vygotsky, Piaget thought private speech was a sign of egocentricism: children do
this bc they fail to consider whether others might be interested in what they’re saying

Scaffolding: degree of assistance provided to children in zone of proximal development.

● Should gradually decrease as child becomes more competent at task

Guided Participation
Barbara Rogoff- guided participation
Guided Participation: interaction between 2 ppl as they participate in culturally valued activity
● Like Vygotsky. Rogoff portrays learning as cultural and social process, but more
emphasis on role of others

Language development most rapid and important advances during toddlerhood

6.8: The Biological and Evolutionary Basis of Language

Infinite Generativity: ability to take word symbols of language and combine in virtually infinite
number of ways

Human biological characters that indicate we’re species built for language:
● Vocal Apparatus: unique vocal apparatus; able to make wider range of doinds
● Brain Specialization: two areas of left hemisphere devoted to language function
○ Broca’s area: left frontal lobe specialized in language production
○ Wenicke’s area: left temporal lobe sepcialized or language comprehension
● Specific genes
Language Acquisition Device (LAD): according to Noam Chomsku, innate feature of brain
enables children to perceive and grasp quickly the grammatical rules in the language around
them.

6.9: Milestones of Toddler Language: From First Words to Fluency

● Burst of language development occurs at 18-24 months

Twelve Months to 18 Months: Slow Expansion

● First 6 months of toddlerhood, language develops at slow steady pace
● 12-18 months, toddler speak 1-3 new words per week
● Toddlers first learn words they need to use in practical ways to communicate w ppl
around them
● Holophrases: single words used to represent a sentence
● Overextension: use of single word to represent variety of related objects
● Underextension: applying general word to specific object

Production (speaking) lags behind comprehension (understanding) in languag development

Eighteen Months to 24 Months: The Naming Explosion

● Toddler word production suddenly takes off from 18-24 months
● Naming explosion (vocabulary spurt): pace of learning new words doubles from 1-3
words per week to 5-6
Fast Mapping: learning and remembering word after just one time of being told what the object
is called
● Due to memory and ability to quickly infer meaning of words based on how word is used
in a sentence and how it seems to be related to words they already know
● Girls’ vocabulary increases faster than boys

Telegraphic Speech: two word phrases that strip connecting words, such as “the” and “and”
● Toward end of 18-24 month period
● Shows initial knowledge of syntax (word order)
○ Synaptic Bootstrapping: using knowledge of syntax to figure out meaning of
words

Twenty-Four Months to 36 Months: Becoming Adept at Language

● During year 3, toddlers continue to expand speaking vocab
● Learn to use prepositions
● Continue to exhibit overextension and underextension but with diminishing frequency as
vocab expands
● Still use telegraphic speech but rather 2 words
● Can communicate with others about wide range of topics
● Overregularization: applying grammatical rules to words that ae exceptions to the rule
6.10: Learning Language in a Social and Cultural Context
● Social differences in parents’ language stimulation and relation to pace of toddlers’
language development
● Speaking and reading to toddlers and infan directed speech can also benefit language
production for toddlers

03/27/23 CLASS NOTES

Toddlerhood: Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Theory: The Completion of the Sensorimotor Stage

● Mental representations
○ Thinka bout possibilities and select actions
○ Intenionally trying out different behaviors
○ Leads to development of language

Deferred Imitation
● Ability to repeat actions observed earlier
● Piaget suggested 18 months but happens sooner– as early as 6 weeks
● Maturation of hippocampus in toddlerhood, which is responsible for long term memory
encoding and recall

Categorization
● Ability to mentally put objects into categories
● At 2 years, toddlers go beyong appearance and can categorize functions or qualities
○ “Blicket” experiment

Vygotsky’s Cultural Theory of Cognitive Development

● Lev Vygotsky’s Research
○ Often referred to as sociocultural theory
○ Cognitive development is always both social and cultural
■ Children learn through interactions with others
■ Distinct cultural differences in knowledge children must acquire

The Zone of Proximal Development

● Range of skills child can perform if guided to, but can’t accomplish alone
● Private speech: self guiding and self directing comments children make to themselves
○ Adolescents and adults use when solving tasks
 ● Scaffolding: degree of assiatcne provided
● Emphasis on social learning

Guided Participation
● Barbara Rogoff’s extension of Vygotsky’s theory
● Teaching interaction between two people as they participat ein a culturally valued activity
○ Can be direct or indirect
● Emphasis on culture and role of values

Language Development
The Biological and Evolutionary Bases of Language
● Can communicate not just about what exists but about what might exist or what we
imagine
● Can teach chimpanzees sign language but not speech
● Important distinguishing feature of human language is infinite generativity: combining
symbols in infinite ways

Biological Characteristics
● Unique vocal apparatus
● Brain specialization: Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area
● Specific genes
● CHildren learn basic rules of grammar at same age
○ Chomsky proposed Language Acquisition Device (LAD): innate brain feature
enabling children to learn language

Evolutionary advantage of language development

- How would language hace conferred an evolutionary advantage to early humans
in obtaining mates, food, and status?

Milestones of Toddler Language: From First Words to Fluency

● Twelve Months to 18 Months: Slow Expansion
○ Begins slowly then rises sharply during toddlerhood
○ First 50 words part of toddler’s routine
○ Similarities of first words across cultures
○ 12 to 18 months, use one word at a time
■ Holophrases
■ Overextenshions
■ Underextensions
● Eighteen Months to 24 Months: The Naming Explosion
○ Pace of learning new word doubles, also called vocabulary spurt
○ Begin to see processes of:
■ Fast Mapping: Learning and remembering a word after just one time of
being told what object is
■ Telegraphic Speech: two word phrases that strip away connecting words
 ■ Syntatic Bootstrapping: using knowledge of syntax to figure out
meaning of words
● Twenty Four Months to 36 Months:
○ Diminished frequency of overextension and underextension
○ Show understanding of rules of language
■ May show overregularization: applying grammatical rules to everything,
even exceptions

LImportance of Languuage
● 7000 different human languages
● Langauge necessary for social development
● Focus on how parents foster language
○ Parents read and explain word meaning
○ Some research suggests social class differences
○ Use of Infant-Directed (ID) speech beneficial as well

Language Learning Gaps

● “30 million word gap”
● Conventional duet (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015)
○ Parents and children together using gestures/words and symbols taking child’s
lead
○ Engaging in familiar routines with toys and a book
○ Conversation keeps going with fluid and connected speech

Learning Landscapes Intervention

● Children from under resourced communities regularly enter formal schooling lagging
behind their peers
○ Language development
● Children only spend 20% of waking hours in school
● Aim: Transform everyday places into learning opportunities to maximize “the other
80%” of time
○ Hospital, waiting rooms, laundromats, parks, libraries, outdoor spaces,
buildings…

Supermarket Language Intervention

● Using colorful, visually engaging signage in supermarkets to encourage caregiver-child
conversations and interactions
○ 33% increase in caregiver-child language in low-income neighborhoods
○ Cheap intervention ($60-$200 per supermarket)
○ Ridge, Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015)
Section 3: Emotional and Social Development

6.11: Toddlers’ Emotions

Emotional Self-Regulation
● During first year, infants develop emotional regulation

During toddlerhood, emotional self-regulation advances in four ways:

1. Behaviors
2. Language
3. External requiremements
4. Sociomoral emotions

Learning the Sociomoral Emotions

● In toddlerhood, new emotions appear, including guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, and
pride
○ What toddler has been taught in social and cultural environment evokes
secondary emotions
● Sociomoral Emotions: secondary emotions that evoke based on learned, culturally
vased standards of right and wrong; also called secondary emotions
● By age 2, most toddlers have begun to develop a conscience: internalized set of
culturally-based moral standards that guides their behvior and emotions
● Empathy: ability to understand and respond helpfully to another person’s distress
○ Requires understanding of self as separate from others
● Prosocial behavior: behavior intended to help or benefit others

6.12: The Birth of the Self

● Infants recognize the snell of mother’s breast and sound of voice, indicates awareness
of difference between their own smells and sounds of others
● Self recognition: during second and thor years. Ability to recognize one’s image in the
mirror as one’s self
● Self reflection: second half of second year, capacity to think about one’s self as one
would think about other persons and objects
○ Enables tolers to develop sociomoral emotions

6.13: Gender Identity and the Biology of Gender Development

Gender identity: awareness of one’s self as female or male
Sex: biological status of being female or male

Mainly parents who convey cultural gender messages

● Toys are gender specific custom complexes, representing distinctive cultural patterns
 of behavior that are base don underlying cultural beliefs

Gender an Biology
● Three elements to the biological basis of gender development: evolutionary, ethological,
and hormonal
● Ethology: study of animal behavior, also provides evidence of the biological basis of
human gender differences
○ Fenales more nurturing and cooperative than males. Males more aggressive,
competitive, and dominant than females
● Hormonal evidence in hormonal differences between males and females
○ Influence human development and behavior

The Limits of Biology

● Gender roles have changed dramatically

6.14: Attachment Theory

Bowlby’s Theory
● Findings notable to Bowlby
○ Institutionalized Infants: infants raised in institutions suffered in physical and
emotional development, even if they were fed well. ANaclitic depression
○ Baby Monkeys: Harlow found baby monkeys preferre cloth mother
○ Imprinting: bond between newborn and mother was instantaneous and occurred
immediately after birth
● Bowlby concluded that emotional tie btwn children and mothers wa sbased on children’s
need for protection and cae for many years
○ Primary attachment figure: person sought out when child experiences distress
or threat in envrnmnt: hunger, pain, uunfamilar person.setting
● Stranger anciety: fear in response to unfamiliar persons, usually evident in infants by
6mos
● Secure Base: role of primary attachment figure, allows child to explore world while
seeking comfort while seeking comfort when threats arise
● Attachment develops gradually over first 2 years of life, culminating in goal-oriented
partnership
○ Both persons use language to communicat abt childs needs and primary
attachment figure’s response
● Child Welfare Institutions: residential institutions that provide total care for children
who are orphaned, abandoned, or otherwise separated from family.

Varieties of Attachment: The Strange Situation

Strange Situation: laboratory assessment of attachment entailing a series of introductions,
separations, and reunions involving the child, the mother, and an unfamiliar person
Four Classifications of attachment:
1. Secure attachment: healthiest classification of parent-child attachment. Child uses
parent as secure base form which to explore, protests when separated fro parent, and is
happy when parent returns
2. Insecure-Avoidant attachment: relatively little interactions between parent and child
and child shows little response to paren’ts absence and may resist being picked up
when parent returns
3. Insecure-Resistant Attachment: child shows little exploratory behavior when parent is
present, great distress when parent leaves room, and ambivalence upon parent’s return
4. Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment: child seems dazed and detached, with
possible outburst of anger when parent leaves room, and exhibits fear upon parent’s
return
a. Shows by toddlers who show signs of developmental disorders, such as autism
or down syndrome, and also those who suffered severe abuse or neglect

6.15: Quality of Attachment

Determinants of Attachment Quality
● Quality of attachment based mainly on how sensitive and responsive mother was
○ Sensitve: good at judging what child needs at any given time
○ Responsive: quick to assist or soothe when child needs it
● According to attachment theory, based on degree of mothers’ sensitivity and
responsiveness over first year, children revelop internal working model of what to expect
○ Secure attachment child identifies mother as someone they can rely on to protect
○ Insecure attachment children unsure if mother will come help when needed
Attachment Quality and Later Development
● Internal working model applied to other relationships
○ Exception; toddlers with disorganized-disoriented attachment exhibit high hostility
and aggression in early and middle childhood andlikely to have cognitive
problems
Critiques of Attachment Theory
● The child effect
○ Bowlby’s theory overstates mother’s influence and understates the child’s
influence on quality of attachment.
● Cultural variation

Parent-child relations are bidirectional.

Culutral critics have hihlighted that traditional, non western norm of maternal care emphasizes
interdependence and collectivism than found in attachment theory
● Attachment theorists emphasize sensitive and responsive maternal care should provide
love and care while also encouraging self expression and independence
● In traditional cultures, ideal maternal care involves controlling child’s bhvr, anticipating
 child’s needs, and curtailing strong emotional expression

6.16: The Role of Fathers

Mothers have histroicaly been primary caretakers of infants and toddlers because:
1. Biological- breast milk main
2. Cultural

Fathers in Traditional Cultures

● Fathers rarely involved in daily child care in traditional cultures but part of chil’d social
environment in other ways
○ In china, father is provider and disciplinarian
○ In latin america, father provides and authorizes
○ In many African cultures, polygyny occurs. Father rotates so child is usually not
emotionally close to him

Fathers in Developed Countries

● Typically interact less w infants an dtoddlers than mothers do
● When they do interact, tends to be play rather than care
● Trend toward greater father involvement as gender roles have become more flexible and
egalitarian

6.17: The Wider Social World: Siblings, Peers, and Friends

Siblings: Younger and Older
● Toddlers develop attachment for older sibling who takes care of them
● Response of birth of younger siblings tend to be negative

What if toddler is the younger sibling:

● Upside- older siblings show less resentment and become more interested in playing with
toddler
● Downside- conflict arises as toddlers become capable of asserting own interests and
desires that annoyes older siblings

Peers and… friends?

● Toddlerhood is time of forming first relations outside the family
● Solitary play- all by themselves
● Parallel play- take part in same activity but without acknowledging each other
● Simple social play- talk to each other, smile, and give and receive toys
● Cooperative pretend play- shared fantasy
6.18: Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Disruption in Social Development
● Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): persistent deficits in social communication and
interactions across contexts as well as repetitive behaviors
○ Unusually large brains of children will ASD
○ Amygdala is especially large in toddlers with ASD
○ Usually diagnosis made during toddlerhood but signs can be present in infancy
○ Don’t engage in joint attention with parents, point to objects to show to others,
look at others, or respond to own name

6.19: Media Use in Toddlerhood

● African american and latino toddlers watch more TV than White toddlers
● Displacement Effect: in media research, term for how media use occupies time that
may have been spent on other activities
○ Children would benefit more fromplay and being physically active
03/30/23 CLASS NOTES
Toddlerhood: Social/Emotional Development

Emotional Self-Regulation
● Show how we feel
● Toddlers develop self regulation in four ways:
○ Behavioral development
○ Use of language
○ Social demands (external requirements)
○ Development of sociomoral emotions
● “Terrible twos occur possibly due to increased sense of self

Learning the Sociomoral Emotions

● Primary emotions develop in infancy
● Secondary emotions develop in toddlerhood- known as sociomoral emotions
○ Empathy extremely important: ability to understand and respond helpfully to
another person’s distress
○ Beginning of prosocial behaviour: behavior intended to help or benefit others
● Cultural difference sin how sociomoral emotions are shaped

Self Awareness
● Starts in infancy but advances further in toddlerhood
● Self-recognition: recognizing image of self
● Self-reflection: think about themselves as they would think about others

Gender Identity
● Children begin to identify as male or female during toddlerhood
■ This can include trans children who have been found to identify with their
current gender as young as 3 years old (olson & Gulgoz, 2017)
○ Sex: Biological status of being male or female
○ Gender: Cultural categories of male and female
● Culture communicates gender expectations
○ Parents have early influence in conveying gender messages
○ Includes names, dressing, toys

Gender & Biology

● Three elements to biological basis of gender development
○ Evolutionary: gender differences based on characteristics promoting survival
■ Males- aggresive, cooperative, dominance
■ Females- nurturing, cooperative, emotionally responsive
○ Ethology- animal behavior shows evidence of biology
○ Hormonal- horonal balance differences
Limits of Biology
● Gender roles have changed dramatically while biology has stayed same
● Enormous influence of culture
● Variabilty within each gender much greater than between genders

Attachment Theory

Bowlby’s Theory
● Debunked belied that babies are attached to mothers solely because thy are source of
food
○ Based on research findings of institutionalized infants, baby monkeys, and
imprinting
● Emotional tie between children and mothers based on children’s need for protection and
care
○ Primary attachment figure: person who is sought out when child experiences
distress or threat
○ Stranger anxiety: fear in response to unfamiliar persons

Attachment research: Mary Ainsworth

● Strange SItuation devised to assess attachment by going through 8 vignettes
● Led to development of cfour attachment classifications
○ Secure attachment
○ Insecure-avoidant attachment
○ Insecure-resistant attachment
○ Disorganized-disoriented attachment

Determinants of Attachment Quality

● Attachment theory suggests quality influenced by:
○ Maternal sensitivity- what a child needs at any given time
○ Maternal responsiveness- quick to assist or soothe when needed
● CHildren develop an internal working model of attachment- what to expect from mother
○ Can apply to later relationships

Attachment Quality and later development

● Research is mixed on predictions of attachment theory
○ Internal working model established early may be modified substantially by later
experiences
○ Disorganized-disoriented attachment can be predictive of later problems

Critiques of attachment theory

● Child effect critique
○ Children are born with different temperaments
 ○ Parent-child relations are reciprocal or bidirect
● Cultural variations critique
○ Some attachments are recognizable across cultures
■ Most common is what constitutes a securely attached child
○ Cultural differences in typical pattern of care
○ Cultural variations in what attachment types are desired

Social World of the Toddler

● Fathers in Traditional Cultures
○ Fathers rarely involved in daily child care, but are part of child’s social
environment in other ways
■ In China, father is provider and disciplinarian; in Latin America, father is
provider and also warm and affectionate
■ Some cultures in Africa have a tradition of polygyny
○ Common cultural pattern is that fathers serve as providers but remote from
child’s emotional life
■ Some exceptions, such as Manu fathers

Fathers in Developed Countries

● Interact less and provide less care
○ Do interact, but in play rather than care
● Change to more egalitarian in recent years
● Parenting is a learned pattern, not innate, and can change with culture

Siblings
● In both traditional cultures and developed countries, toddlers show attachment to older
siblings
○ Older siblings provide emotional comofrt and security if primary caregiver not
around
● Toddlers may show negative reactiosn to younger siblings
● Conflict is common with siblings

Peers and Friends

● Toddlers form first social relatinons outside family
○ Siblings, cousins, child care
● Children engage in solitary play, parallel play, simple social play, and cooperative
pretend play
● Well-acquainted toddlers engage in more advanced forms of play than unacquainted
toddlers
● Toddlers can form friendships, similar to adults

Autism Spectrim Disorder (ASD)

● Features for Diagnosis include:
○ Persistent deficits in social communication and interactions
 ○ Repetetive and restricted behavior
● A small proportion of ASD children haveexceptinal mental skills (e.g, “savant”
● Majority of ASD children are low in intelligence and echibit some degree of intellectual
disability

● 1 in 68 in US fit criteria for autism spectrum disorder

● Origins are unclear, but believed to have genetic basis
● Although usually diagnosed between 18 to 30 months, it is seen in infancy
● As adults can live with parents or in government-sponsored group homes

Media use in Toddlerhood

● 73% of toddlers watch TV evey day
● Toddlers understand images are not real although boundary is not completely clear
● Effect of media depends on content
○ Can encourage pro-social behavior
○ May expand vocabularies
● Displacement Effect: is a concern
○ Children should spend time reading or playing instead

CHAPTER 7: EARLY CHILDHOOD

Section 1: Physical Development

7.1: Bodily Growth

● From age 3-6, typical child in developed country grows 2-3 inches/year and adds 5-7 lbs
○ 3yo: 35 inches tall and weighs about 30 pounds
○ 6yo: 45 inches tall and weighs about 45 pounds
● Children gain more weight than height but add more muscle than fat
● Average weight and height in developing countries in early childhood are considerably
lower bc of poorer nutrition and disease. Differences in socioeconomic status influence
as well
● Stunting has long term physical and cognitive effect

7.2: Brain Development and “Infantile Amnesia”

● Brain isa bout 70% of adult weight at age 3 and grows to about 90% by 6yo
● Average 6yo body weight is less than 30% of adulthood. Brain outpaces
● Frontal lobe grows faster than rest of cerebral cortex during early childhood
○ Frontal lobe growth= advances in emotional regulation, foresight, and planned
behavior
 ● Increase in brain size and weight during early childhood is due to increase in synaptic
connections between neurons and to myelination
○ Corpus callosum, cerebellum, reticular formation, and hippocampus esp. Notable
for myelination

Corpus callosum: band of neural fibers connecting two hemispheres of brain.

● Myelination peaks during early childhood and slows through adolescence
● Allows for coordination of activity between two hemispheres

Cerebellum: base of the brain structure involved in balance and motor movements
● Increased myelination enhances connections between cerebellum and cerebral cortex.
● Increases abilities to jump, run, climb, and throw ball

Reticular formation: part of lower brain, involved in attention

● Myelination completed by age 5
● Increase in attention span
● Myelination in hippocampus completed by age 5
○ Hippocampus involve in memory

Infantile Amnesia: inability to remember experiences prior to 4-5yo

● Semantic memory: retain language, habits, and general information
● Episodic memory: most if not all of our memories for unique events vanish
○ autobiographical memory: recollection of specific personal memories.

7.3: Gross and Fine Motor Skills

Handedness: preference for using either right or left hand in gross and fine motor activities.
● Appears prenatally- fetus preference for sucking thumn
● Adoptive children more likely to resemble bio parents than adoptive parents in
handedness, suggesting genetic component
● Identical twins more likey than ordinary siblings to differ in handedness
○ Twins usually lie in opposite ways
● Culture plays a role
○ Many cultures view left handedness as evil

Left handedness associated with greater likelihood of some problems but also with excellence
and genius in certain fields

7.4: Safety and Health in Early Childhood

Injuries
● Most common cause of injury in childhood is falling, followed by being struck by an
object or person,being bitten by animal or insect, and being cut or pierced
 ● Rates of childhood injury and death due to accidents higher in developing countries
○ Due to more stringent safety codes in developed countries
● In developed countries, accidental injuries are leading cause of death for young children
● Leading cause of death for young children in developing countries is illness and disease

Illness and Disease

● About 95% of deaths among children 1-5yo in developing countries are due to illness
and disease
○ Pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea most common
● Malnutrition is indirectly responsible for almosy hald of early childhood deaths
○ Lack of sufficient foods reduces effectiveness of body’s immune system
● Decline in mortality of children under 5 in developing countries
○ Improved food production and increased prevalence of childhood vaccinations

Nutrition and Malnutrition

● 80% of children in developing countries lack sufficient food or essential nutrients
○ Most common nutritional deficiencies involve protein and iron
● Protein deficiency can result in marasmus (in infancy) and kwashiorkor (toddlerhood and
early childhood)
● Anemia: iron deficiency that causes problems such as fatigue, irritability, and attention
difficulties
○ Leads to cognitive and social development problems

● Children in developed countries often eat too much unhealthy foods and too little healthy
foods
○ Specific nutritional deficiencies
■ Calcium is most common nutritional deficiency in US
● Calcium important gor bone and teeth growth
■ Immigrant children consumed less fast food and more nutritious foods

Section 2: Cognitive Development

Piaget’s preoperational stage: “theory of mind” examines how children think about thoughts of
others; and theories of cultural learning that emphasize ways young children gai knowledge and
skills of culture

7.5: Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

● Early childhood crucial turning point in children’s cognitive development bc this is when
thinking becomes representational
 ● Preoperational Stage: cognitive stage from 2-. Child becomes capable of representing
world symbolically thru language but still limited in ability to use mental operations
○ Mental operations: cogntiive procedures that follow certian logical rules

Conservation
● Conservation: mental ability to understand quantity of substance or material remians
the same even if appearance changes
○ Glass example
● Mistakes on conservation tasks indicated 2 kinds of cognitive deficiencies
○ Reversibilty: ability to reverse an action mentally
○ Centration: young children’s thinking as being centered, or focused, on one
noticeable aspect of cognitive problem o exclusion of other important aspects

Egocentricism
● Egocentricism: cognitive inability to distinguish btwn one’s own perspective and
anothers perspective
○ Three mountains task
● Animism: tendency to attribute human thoughts and feelings to inanimate objects and
forces.
○ Stuffed animals

Classification
● Piaget believed preoperational children lacked capacity for classification
● Classification: ability to understand objects can be part of more than one cognitive
group

Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

● Two critiques
○ Underestimates children’s cognitive capabilities
○ Exxagerates extent to which development is stage-like rather than continuous
● Research shows that development of cognitive skills in childhood is less stage like and
more continuous than Piaget believed

7.6: Young Children’s Social Cognition: The Development of “Theory

of Mind”
● Theory of Mind: ability to understand thinking processes in oneself and others
● False-belief tasks

7.7: Cultural Learning in Early Childhood

● In early childhood, young children have greater capacity for learning
● Factors that make cultural learning in developed countries different in traditional cultures
 ○ Children in developed countries often apart from families for most of day
○ Many activities of adults in complex economy are less accessible to children’s
learning that activities children learn thru guided participation in traditional
cultures

7.8: Importance of Preschool Quality

● Cogntiive benefits of attending preschool include higer verbal and math skills and strongr
performance on measures of memory and listening comprehension
● Social benefits incline more independent and socially confident
○ costs= less compliant, less respectful towards adults, and more aggressive
● Factors to consider when searching for high-quality preschool experience
○ Education and training of teachers
○ Class size and child-teacher ratio
○ Age-approproate materials and activities
○ Teacher-child interactions
● One of best preschool programs is the Montessori program which encourages creative,
active, self-directed learning

7.9: Preschool as a Cognitive Intervention

● Early intervention program: directed at young children at risk for later problems,
intended to prvent problems from developing.

7.10: Advances in Vocabulary and Grammar

● Average 6yo has vocab increased to over 2500 words
● Young children add new words to their vocab thru fast mapping
● Grammar: language’s distinctive system of rules

7.11: Pragmatics: Social and Cultural Rules of Language

● Pragmatics: social and cultural context of language that guides ppl as to what is
appropriate to say and not to say in given social situations
○ Begin pragmatics before they behin to speak
○ Represents social understanding and cultural knowledge
Section 3: Emotional and Social Development

7.12: Emotional Regulation

● Emotional Self Regulation: ability to exercise control over one’s emotions
○ Major developmental task of early childhood
■ Crucial to social relations
● Development of frontal cortex promotes this process because it is
most involved in emotional self-regulation
● Emotional outburts alsod ecline during childhood because they learn strategies to
regulate emotions
○ Effortful control

Undercontrol: trait of having inadequate emotional self regulation

● At risk for externalizing problems: problems that involve others such as aggression

Overcontrol: trait of having excessive emotional self-regulatin

● At risk for internalizing problems: problems taht entail turning distress inward, toward
the self, such as depression and anxiety

Externalizing probs more common among men and internlizing more common among females

Erikson- initiative versus guilt: in erikson’s lifespan theory, early childhood stage where
alternatives are learning tp plan activities in purposeful way or being afflicted with excess guilt
that undermines initiative.
● Children need to learn emotional self ocntrol without being so tighly regulated they feel
excess guilt

7.13: Moral Development

● Empathy is important to moral development
○ Contributes to moral undestanidng of proncipes such as avoiding harm and being
fair, bc thru empathy children understand how their behavior would make another
person feel
■ Promotes prosocial bhvr
● Socialization: process by which ppl acquire bhvrs and beliefs of culture they live in
○ Morality is taught thru stories and custom complexes
■ Modeling- variation of custom complex
○ According to modeling theory, after observing multiple occasions of others’ bhvr
being rewarded or punished, children conclude the rewarded bhvr is morally
desirable
■ Learn culture’s principles of moral conduct
● Children contribute to socialization of others
 ○ Display moral reasoning

7.14: Gender Development

Gender Identity and Gender Socialization
● Gender constancy: b understanidng that emaleness and maleness are biological and
cannot be changed
● Gender roles: cultural expectations for appearance and behavior specific to females or
males.

Gender Schemas and Self- Socialization

● Scheme: piaget’s term for cognitive structure for organizing and processing information
● Gender schema: gener-based cognitive structure for organzing and processing
information
● Gender schemas influence how we interpret bhvr or others and what we expect from
them
● Self socialization: ppl seek to maintain consistency btwn gender schems n their bhvr
○ Cultural myths become self fulfilling prophecies

7.15: Parenting “Styles”

● Parenting Styles: practices that parents exhibit in relation to their children and their
beliefs about those practices

● Parents demandingness: degree to which parents set down rule and expectations for
bhvr and require their children to comply with them
● Parental responsiveness: degree to which parents are sensitive to their children’s
needs and express love, emotional warmth, and concern

Four Parenting Styles

● Authoriative Parents: high in demandingness and high in responsiveness
○ Clear rules and expectation for children
● Authoritarian Parents: high in demandingess but low in responsiveness
○ Require obedience from children and punish disobedience without compromise
● Permissive Parents: low in demandingess and high in responsiveness
○ Clear expectations for children’s bhvr and rarely discipline them
● Disengaged Parents: low in both demandingess and responsiveness
○ Goal to minimize amount of time and emotion devoted to parenting

Effects of Parenting Styles on Children

● Authoritative parenting associated with most favorable outcomes
○ Tend to be independent, self assured, creative, and socially skilled, etc
● Authoritarian children tend to be less self assured, less creative, and less socially adept
 ● Permisive children tend to me immature and lack self control

A More Complex Picture of Parenting Effects

● Reciprocal or bidirectional effects
● Children may evoke certain behaviors from their parents

Parenting styles worldwide

● Rarity of authoritative parenting styles in diverse cultures
● Asian culture shave tradition of filial piety: children expected to respect, obey, and
rever their parents thorughout life
● In Latin cultures, authority of parents is paramount
● Familismo: emphasizes the love, closeness, and mutual obligations of Latino family life
● Within american society, authoritative style is dominant among WHite, middle class
families

7.16: Discipline and Punishment

Cultural Variations in Discipline
● In western majority cultures,approach to discipline in early childhood emphasizes
authoritative style of explaining consequences of misbehavior and reasons for discipline

In addition to time out, parenting researchers recommend:

1. Explaining reasons for discipline
2. Being consistent so that consequences will bepredictable to the child and hence
avoidable
3. Exercising discipline at time of misbehavior and not later on so connection will be clear

Cultures vary in approaches to discipline

● Japan - shame and withdrawal of love is core
● In western countries, this has a negative effect
○ Psychological control: parenting strategy that uses sham and withdrawal of
love to influence children’s bhvr
■ Related to anxiousness, withdrawn, and aggressive behavior

Physical Punishment and its Consequences

● Corporal Punishment: physical punishment of children

Child Abuse and Neglect

● Child Maltreatment: both the abuse and neglect of children
○ Phsyical abuse
○ Emotional abuse
○ Sexual abuse
○ Neglect
 ● Abused children at risk for later social emotional and academic problems in adolescence
and beyond
● Foster care

7.17: Mead’s Classifications of Childhood Social Stages

Mead’s Classifications of Childhood Social Stages

Age Term Features

0-2 Lap Child Needs constant care; doted on by others

3-4 Knee Child Still cared for mainly by mother, but spends more time
with other children

5-6 Yard Child Spends more time with same sex peers; sometimes
unsupervised

As a child moves fromlapt to knee toyard, gradual lessening of dependence on mother and
gradual move into social orbit of peers and older children

7.18: Siblings and “Only Children”

● Gap of 2-4 yrs btwn children is common worldwide
● Young children initially respond with jealous to new baby sibling
○ Ambivalence continues with age
○ Younger child admires older sibling and models their behavior but can resent
their authority
Only children common in china because of overpopulation and one child policy

7.19: Peers and Friends

● Friends: ppl you develop a valued mutual relationship
● Peers share aspect of status in common
● Relations with both peers and friends tend to be segregated by age

Play in Early Childhood

● Play serves variety of purposes in childhood, including exercising, learning, and
sharpening skills, andpositive emotions that accompany it
○ Solitary play, parallel play, simple social play, and cooperative pretend play
 ● Cooperative play becomes more complex in early childhood

Aggression
● Instrumental Aggression: involved when child wants something and uses aggressive
:bhvr or words to get it
● Hostile aggression: Exhibits signs of anger and intends to inflict pain or harm on
others
● Relational Aggression (or social aggression): damaging another person’s reputation
among peers through social exclusion and malicious gossip

Physical aggression peaks at 24-42 months and then declines

Verbal aggression risses across early childhood.

7.20: Media USe in Early Childhood

● Total saily time devoted to media is abt 3.5 hrs for america children 2-8yrs

The Negative Impacts of Television Use: Violence and Advertising

● TMost popular shows are cartoons and educational shows like sesame sreet
● Childrens programs are more violent than programs for adkts
○ Strong consensus that watching violent TV increases children’s aggression
■ Causation vs correlation
● Young children susceptive to advertising

Beneficial Effects of Eductaional Television

● Sesame Street
○ Teaches academic skills that’ll prepare for school

Electronic Games and Music

● Music evokes positive response even from infants but especially important in early
childhood
04/13/23 CLASS NOTES
Early Childhood: Cognitive & Socio-Emotional Development

Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

● Thinking becomes representational- child begisn to internalize images and use symbols
● Mistakes in performing mental operations includeing
○ Conservation
■ Reversibility & centration
○ Egocentricism
■ Animism
○ Classification

Theory of Mind
● Ability to understand thinking processes in oneself and others
● Appear early, in joint attention and pretend play
● Test abilities in the false-belief task violation-of-expectation tasks
○ Debateso n extent and depth to which children of different ages acquire
false-belifs reasoning

Cultural Learning in Early Childhood

● In early childhood, learn culturally specific skills via guided participation
○ In traditional cultures, food preparation, child care, and animal care
○ In developed countries, prepare grocery list, organize, count money, or hold
conversations
● Two factors impact differences in cultural learning:
○ Time apart from families in developed countries
○ Complexity of adult activity in the economy

Early Childhood Education

● Many cognitive and social benefits
○ Higher verbal skills, stronger memories and listening comprehension
○ More independent and confident
● Negative effects include less ocmpliant, less respectful of authority figures, and more
aggressive
● Preschool programs vary vastly in quality

Montessori Programs
● What do you know about Montessori education?
● What are the key differences between traditional education?
 ● What would you hypothesize are different outcomes

Early Intervention Programs

● Focus on cogntive development for at risk chiildren
● Project Head STart begain in 1965
● Some debat eon its effectiveness
○ Boost in IQ but fades after 2 or 3 years
○ Children less likely to repeat a grade or placed in special education
● Early Head Start (EHS) intervention at an aearlier age
○ Best known is High Schope Preschool Project

Language Development- Pragmatics

● Social rules f language
● Understanding begins through gestures
● Learn pragmatics of conversation
● Becomes a social understanding as well as cultural knowledge
○ Cultural differences exist in linguistic politeness

Emotional self-regulation
● Undercontrol can lead to externalizing problems
● Overcontrol can lead to internalzing problems
● Emotional control part of erikson’s stage of initiative versus guilt
● Different cultures have differen optimal levels of emotional control
● Also develop better understanding of others’ emotions

Moral Development
● One important sociomoral emotion is empathy
● Gain detailed and complex understanding of morla rules and expectations of their culture
through socialization
● Cultural similarities in when children grasp moral standards, but cultural differences in
what is viewed as moral

Gender Identity & socialization

● Ages 3-4, gender identity intensifies
● Ages 3-7, gender constancy is attanined
○ Insistent about maintianing gender roles
● PArents and peers play important role ingender socialization
○ Fathers more insistent about gender roles
○ Peers rienforce gender-appropriate behaviors

Gender Schemas & Self Socialization

● Gender socialization leads to gender schemas
○ Behaviors and activities categorized as male or female
● Tendency to confirm schemas and ignore inconsistencies
 ● Self socialization: maintaining consistency between behvior and schemas

Parenting Styles
● Parenting styles worldwide
○ Cultural differencesin traditional cultures
■ Asian cultures- filial piety
■ Latino culture- respeto and familismo
○ Cultures have different forms of warmth and control
■ In US, warmth is praise and expressions of emotional warmth; control is
explanation and negotiation
○ Overall, the dominant parenting style reflects unerlyng cultural beliefs

US Majority Culture Parenting Styles

● In general, authoritative parenting associated with most favorable outcomes
● Other parenting styles associated with negative outcomes
● Relationship between parenting styles and children’s development more complex
○ Reciprocal or bidirectional effects
● Impact of evocative genotype and environment effects

Physical Punishment & Consequences

● Phsical punishment (corporal punishment) is common in most of world
● Many Westenr studies found detrimental effects of physical punishment
● Highlights importance of cultural context in children’s response to parents behavior

Child Abuse and Neglect

● Child Abuse and Neglect
○ Children risk factors include difficult temperament or unusually aggressive
○ Parental risk factors include poverty, unemployment, single motherhood, or
history of abuse
○ Physical abuse impairs child’s emotional self-development and school
performance
○ Assistance can come from foster care and group homes

Play, Peers, & Friends

● Play in Early Childhood
○ Play provides a variety of benefits
○ Solitary and parallel play decline while cooperative and social play increases
○ Increased sex segregation in play
○ Preschool experience may result in successful social play
○ Similar play patterns across cultures

Aggression
● Instrumental Aggression: wants something and uses aggression to get it
● Hostile aggression: signs of anger and harm
● Relational Aggression: involved damaging another person’s reputation
● Physical aggression tends to decline, although individual differents remain stable across
time
● Verbal and relational aggression tend to increase
CHAPTER 8: MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Section 1: Physical Development

8.1: Physical Growth and Sensory Development

● Physical growth continues slowly and steadily abt 2-3inches per year in height and 5-7
pounds
● Body Mass Index (BMI): measure of ratio of weight to height. Lowest between 6-10
● Hearing improves for better and sight for the worse
○ Hearing improves bc inner ear tube that ws site of toddlerhood infections has
matured
○ Myopia: (nearsighted)- visual condition of being unable to see distant objects
clearly
■ More likely in developed countries
● Caused by reading, writing, using computer

8.2: Motor Development

● Fine motor abilities reach maturity

Gross Motor Development and Physical Activity

● Balance improves, become stronger, coordination advances, greater agility, faster
reaction time, increasing myelination of corpus callosum
● Most play is informal
● Children do not get nearly as much gross motor activity as they should- high rates of
obesity
○ 20% of american children get recommended amount of physical activity
● Executive function: ability to solve cognitive problems without becoming distracted and
to adjust one’s strategy as nature of problem changes

Fine Motor Development

● Advances in fine motor development especially evident in drawing and writing

8.3: Malnutrition and Obesity

Malnutrition
● Effects of malnutrition in middle childhood not as sever because bodes are stronger ad
more resilient and immune systems are better developed
● Children who survive earlly malnutrition have damage in physical and cognitive abilities
accumulate into muddle childhood
Obesity
● Children n developed countries have too many calores
● Especally high in the least aluent ethnic minority groups
● Relects diet changes and socal changes
○ Another contributer is television, prenatal environment and genetics
● Socal and physical consequences
○ Social exclusion and rdicule
○ Can result n diabetes, which can lead to blindness, kidney failure, and stroke

8.4: Illness and Injuries

● MC is safest and healthies time of life
○ Death rate slower
■ Vaccinations and stronger immune system
● Asthma: chronic illness of lungs characterized by wheezing, coughing, and shortness of
breath
○ Highest in middle childhood and increasing worldwide
○ Boys at higher risk
■ Other risk factors are low birth weight, smoking paent, poverty, and
obesity, and genetics
● Higher rates in developed countries because of family households. Higher in developing
countries because of increased industrialization, and air pollution
● Injury rates relatively low in middle childhood bc more agile

Section 2: Cognitive Development

● Advances in attention, memory, and executive function

8.5: Piaget’s Concreate Operations Stage

● Better grasp of physical world
● Early childhood is the preoperational stage
● 7-11 is the Concrete operations stage: in piaget’s theory, the cognitive stage i which
children become capable of using mental operations
○ Allow them to organize and manipulate info mentally instead on physical and
sensory associations

Advances in Concrete Operations

● conservation
○ Enables child to perceive regularities and principles in natural world, which si the
basis of how world works
● Classification
 ● Seriation: ability to arrange things in logical order

Evaluating PIaget’s Theory

● Research found children are capable of performing tasks at earlier stage than Piaget
claimed

Attentoin and ADHD

● Selective attention: ability to focus attention on relevant information and disregard what
is irrelevant
○ More capable of this in middle childhood
● Attention deficit hyperactivity: (ADHD) diagnosis that includes porblems of inattentin,
hyperactivity, and impulsiveness
○ Difficulty following instructions and waiting for their turn
○ Combination of behavioral therapy and medication is more effective
■ Side effects include slower physical growth and higher risk of depression

Memory
● Capacity of working memory emerges: capacity to retain information for a brief time
and also princess it in some way
● Mnemonics: (memory strategies) such as rehearsal, organization
○ Rehearsal: repeating info overand ober
○ Organization: placing things mentally into meaningful categories
○ Elaboration: transforming bits of information in a way that connects them and
hence makes them easier to remember
● Apart from use of mnemonics, memory also improves bc children’s knowledge base
expands
● Metamemory: understanding od how memory works

Executive Function
● Problem solving
● Includes inhibitory control and flexibility
○ Dimension change card sort (DCCS)

8.7: Intelligence and Intelligence Tests

● Intelligence: capacity for acquiring knowledge, reasoning, and solving problems
● Psychometric Approach: evaluation of cognitive abilities with intelligence tests

The Wechsler Intelligence Tests

● Most widely used
● Wechsler Intellgence Scale for CHildren (WISC)- 6-16
● Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPS()- 3-7
● Wechsler Adult ntellgence Scale (WAIS)- 16+
WISC-V Asses child’s cognitive abilty on five indexes:
1. Verbal Comprehension Index
2. Visial Spatial Index
3. Fluid Reasoning Index
4. Processing Speed Index
5. Working Memory Index

● The results can provide an overall Intelligence Quotient (IQ): score of mental ability as
assessed by intelligence tests, calculated relative to the performance of other people the
same age

Critiques
● IQ tests only assess narrow range of abilities and miss creativity
● Culturally biased

Influences on Intelligence
● Normal distribution: typical distribution of characteristics of a population, resembling
bell curve in which most cases fall near the middle and the proportions decrease at low
and high extremes
● Intellectual disability: level of cognitive abilities of persons who score 70 or beloow
● Gifted: score of 130+
● The more two people in a family are alike genetically, the higher the correlation in their
IQs
○ Adopted siblings who have no common genotype have relatively low correlation
● Environmental influence
● Both environment and genetics have strong infuence

Other Conceptions of Intelligence: Gardener’s and Sternberg’s Theories

● Two of the most influential alternative theories of intelligence have been presented by
Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg
● Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences: none district types of intelligence
○ Only linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences are evaluated by
intelligence tests.

Types of Intelligence Descriptions

Llinguistic Ability to use language

Logical/mathematical Ability to think logically and to solve mathematical problems

Spatial Ability to understand how objects are oriented in space

Musical Ability to compose and/or perform music

Bodily-kinesthetic Speed, agility, and gross motor control

 Naturalist Ability to recognize the patterns

Existential Insight into the meanings of life and death

Interpersonal Sensitivity to others and understanding the motivation of

others

Intrapersonal Understanding of one’s emotions and how they guide

actions

● Gardner argues schools should give more attention to the development of all 9 kinds of
intelligence and design programs should be tailored

Sternberg’s Triarchic theory of intelligence: three distinct but related forms of intelligence
● Analytical intelligence- kind of intelligence that IQ measures, which involves acquiring,
storing, analyzaing, and rerieving information
● Creative intelligence- ability to combine infrmaion in original ways to produce new
insights, ideas, and problem-solbing strategies
● Practice intelligence- ability to apply info to kinds of problems faces in everyday life,
including capacity to evaluate social situations

8.8: Becoming an Adept Native Speaker

● Children’s vocab expands once they enter formal school at 5-7
● More likely to use conditional sentences
● Pragmatics- social context and convention sof language
○ Culturally grounded
● Sapir Whorf hypothesis: that cognitive development is influenced by language
development
● Egocentric frame of reference: location of an object is determined in relation to the
location of the self
● Allocentric frame of reference: object is located either in relation to another object

8.9: Multilingualism
● Reasons for multilingualism:
○ Increased migration between countries-> two languages at home/outside
○ School systems increasingly seek to teach children a second language to
enhance their ability participate in global economy
● Metalinguistic skills: skills that reflect awareness of the underlying structure of
language
○ Multilingual children have better metalinguistic skills
■ Score higher on general measures of cognitive ability
 ■ Differences between multilingual and monilingual children on executive
function may be liked to ways their brains develop differently
● Multilinguk gas denser brain tissues

8.10: School Experiences and Achievement

Approaches to Reading
● Larnibg to read in globalized information based economy is an essential skil for most
economic activity
● Phonics approach: method of teaching reading that advocated breaking down words
into their component sounds, called phonics, then putting the phonics together into
words
○ Gradually learning more comlex units
● Whole-language approach: method of teaching reading in which the emphasis is on
the meaning of written language in whole passages rather than breaking down words
into their smallest components
○ Phonics is more effective who are first learning to read

Learning Math Skills

● Numeracy: understanding of the meaning of numbers
● From toddlerhood through middle childhood, the development od math skills follows a
path parallel to the development of language and reading skills

Learning Disabilities
● Dyslexia: difficulty sounding out letters, spelling words, and tendency to misperceive the
order of letters in words
○ Most common type of learning disabilities: cognitive disorder that impedes the
development of learnig specific skill such as reading ot math
● Dyscalculia: term for people who have neurologically based problem in processing
numbers
● Individual Education Plan (IEP): plan developed by professionals and parents to
ensure that a child with special needs receives adequate services and support in
schools
● Least restrictive environment (LRE): federal requirement that students with special
needs are educated alongside their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent possible
04/20/2023 CLASS NOTES
Gross & FIne Motor Development

Gross Motor Development & Physical Activity

● Advancement occurs in balance, strength, coordination, agility, and reaction time
● Involvement in games and organized sports
○ Boys more likely to participate in sports teams
● Children do not get as much gross motor activity as they should

Fine Motor Development

● Increased ability in fine motor skills
○ Especially in drawing and writing
○ Cultural differences
● FIne motor skills reach adult maturity by end of middle childhood
● Gross motor skills continue to develop

Health Issues: Obesity

Health Issues: Asthma

● Higher rates in middle childhood, boys at higher risk
○ Rates higher for african american children
● Risk factors include a parent smoking, living in poverty, and obesity
● Increase in developed countries could be due to hugeine hypothesis
● Increase in developing countries could be due to air pollution

Cognitive Development
Advances in Concrete Operations
● Can perform conservations
● Can perform classification mentally
● Seriation- ability to arrange things in logical order
● Children capable of performing some tasks at an earlier age than Piaget claimed
○ To piaget, it had to be complete mastery
● Piaget believed it had to occur naturally as part of interaction with environment
○ Training and instruction can teach children under age 7

Attention & ADHD

● Children become more capable of selective attention
● Children with difficulty maintaining attention may have attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD)
○ Boys are over twice as likely to be diagnosed
○ Can take medicatios to suppress hyperactivity and help concentration
○ May result in frequent problems in relations with peers, teachers, and parents
● WHy do you think boys are over twice as likley to be diagnosed?
Memory
● Capacity of working memory enlarges
● Increased use of mnemonic such as:
○ Rehearsal
○ Organization
○ Elaboration
● Knowledge base expands
● Understanding of how memory works increases- metamemory

Executive Functioning
● Problem solving sills
● One common measure is dimensional change card sort (DCCS)
○ Can sort cards by multiple categories
● Number of strategies children use to help remember increase steadily with age
● Possible cultural differences

Intelligence Testing
● Most widely used is Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children (WISC)
● Usually fall into a normal distribution (bell curve)
● People below have intellectual disability and people above are gifted
● Intelligence impacted by a combination of genes and environment
○ Research with twin and adopted children indicated each child has a reaction
range for intelligence
○ Influence of environment on IQ is stronger for poor children
● Why are psychometric tests of intelligence like IQ useful in psychological practice and
research?

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence

● Gardner’s theory has had a large impact in educational research and practice
● However, accurate measurements of these different types of intelligences are not
supported by data
● Do you think there is value to using this theory as a teacher even if they aren’t fully
supported by empirical research?

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

● Analytical intelligence
○ What most IQ tests measure
● Creative intelligence combine information in new ways
● Practical intelligence- apply information to everyday problems

Language Development: Multilingualism

● Increased migration between countries and increased global economy have led to
learning more languages
● Children become proficient at both languages
 ● Easier to learn language in early childhood
● Benefits
○ Better metalinguistic skills- awareness of underlying structure of language
○ HIgher scores on general cognitive abilities

School in Middle Childhood

● School attendance has become a national norm
○ Only in past 200 years
○ But not universal
● In developing countries, larger percentage do not attend school
○ Recently, focus has changed from work to school

Cultural differences- educational research

● United States
○ More likely to believe education success due to innate ability
○ More likely to see academic achievement as individual success
● Asian countries
○ Schools tend to reflect the collectivistic cultural beliefs
○ Children help maintain order and wear uniforms
○ Children spend more time learning academic subjects
○ School day and school year are longer
Learning Math Skills
● Even nonhumans have some numeracy- understanding of numbers
● Develops comparably to language skills
● Cultures vary in timin and approach to teaching math skills
○ Can also be learned effectively in practical settings

Learning Disabilities
● Dyslexia- difficulty sounding out letters and spelling words
● Dyscalculia- difficulty processing numbers
● Government mandates that special needs
○ Educate in least restrictive environment (LRE)
○ Common options are inclusion classroom and self-contained classroom
Section 3: Emotional and Social Sevelopment

8.12: Sooth Sailing: Advances in Emotional Self-Regulation

● Frequency of outbursts of crying and anger decline substantially
● Experience Sampling Method (EMS): research method that involves having people
wear beepers, usually for a period of 1 sweek, when they’re beeped at randm times
during the day, they record a variety of characteristics of their experience at that
moment.
○ Shows middle childhood is time of remarkable contentment and emotional
stability
● Emotional self-regulation improves early childhood to middle childhood partly bc
environment requres it
● Emotional understanding also advances
● Increased capacity for empathy

8.13: Self-Understanding
Self Concept
Self concept: people’s view and evaluation of themselves
● Changes during MC from external to internal and physical to psychological
● Can be influenced by age and social context
Social comparison: how persons view themselves in relation to others with regard to status,
abilities, or achievements

Self Esteem
Self esteem: person’s overall sense of worth and well-being
● Combine different areas of self concept into overall level of self esteem

Culture and the Self

● Independent self promoted by individualistic cultures and interdependent self promoted
by collectivist cultures
● Cultural variations in views of self esteem influence approaches to parenting

8.14: Gender Development

● Gender roles sharper in middle childhood
● Boys n girls learn gender-specific tasks and also r socialized to develop personality
characteristics that enhance performance on those task
○ Independence and toughness for boys and nurturance and compliance for girls
● More gender segregated
○ Quasi-romantic and antagonistic
8.15: Family Relations
● Key turning point in family relations
○ More capable of daily activities without constant monitoring of others
● Coregulation: rltshnsp between parents and children in which parents provide broad
guidelines for bhvr but children r capable of a substantial amount of independence, self
directed bhvr.
○ Parents move from direct parental control to coregulation
● Sibling relations also change
○ Sibling rivalry and jealoyst continue in middle childhood

Diverse Family Forms

● Single motherhood
● Consequences of single parent household
○ Greatly increases likelihood of growing up in poverty, and growing up in poverty

Children’s Responses to Divorce

● Children respond negative;y to divorce
● Externalizing problems (unruly bhvr and conflict w mothers, siblings, peers, and
teachers) and internalizing problems (depressed mood, anxieties, phobias, and sleep
disturbances). School performance declins
● Not all children react negatively to divorce
● Family process: quality of relationships between family members
○ Parental conflict linked to children’s emotional and behavioral problems
● Coercive cycle: pattern in relations bten parents and children in which children’s
disobedient bhvr evokes harsh responses from parents, which in turn makes children
even more resistant to parental control, evoking even harsher responses
● Divorce mediation: arrangement in which professional mediator meets with divorcing
parents to help them negotiate an agreement that both will find acceptable

Out of the Frying Pan: Children’s Responses to Remarriage

● Remarrying helps mother n finances
● Children often take a turn for the worse after stepfather entiers families

8.16: Friends and Peers

Making Friends
● Selective association: in social relations, principle that people tend to prefer being
around others who are like themselves

Playing with Friends

● Simple social play remains popular in middle childhood
● More rieles about powers and limitation sof characters in middle childhood
04/27/2023 CLASS NOTES
Middle Childhood: Social & Emotional Development

Advances in Emotional Self-Regulation

● High emotional well-being and low volatility
● Research with Experience Sampling Method (ESM)
● Understanding of ambivalence
● Increased ability to understand others’ emotions

Self-Concept
● How we view and evaluate ourselves
● Children begin to describe themselves in more psychological or personality-related terms
● Social comparisons become more accurate
● Self-concept influenced by age and social context

Self-Esteem
● A person’s overall sense of worth and well being
● Children have self concepts for specific areas: academic competence, social
competence, athletic competence, and physical apperance
● Combine areas of self concept into overall level of self-esteem

Culture and the Self

● Independent self encourages reflection about self
○ Individualistic cultures
● Interdependent self encourages importance of group
○ Collectivist cultures
● Cultural variations in self-esteem influence parenting approaches
● Most cultures not purely one or the other

Gender Development
Traditional Cultures Modern Cultures

● Gender roles defined by difference in ● Gender attitudes and behavior

daily activities of men and women become more stereotypes
● Gender-specific personality traits also ● See personality traits and occupations
socialized to enhance work as feminine or masculine
performance ● Play groups become more
○ Men independent and tough gender-segregated
○ Women nurturing and ● DIffering gender self-perceptins
compliant emerge

Social Interactions
 ● Play becomes more gender-segregated
Family Roles
● Parenting moves from direct control toward coregulation
● More freedom and more responsibility given
● Both older and young siblings benefit from mutual companionship and assistance
○ However, sibling rivalry also peaks

Diverse Family Forms

● Family comes in many forms
● Increase of same-sex couples adopting
● Increase of single motherhood over last 50 years
○ Children often must contribute to family’s functioning
○ Increases likelihood of growing up in poverty
● Single-parent families are diverse

Children’s Responses to Divorce

● Externalizing behaviors-impulsive and conflicts with family
● Internalizing problems- depression, anxiety, phobias, and sleep disturbances
● Low point occurs about one year after divorce
● Parental conflict linked to children’s emotional and behavioral problems
● Family processes affected by divorce:
○ Mother’s parenting becomes more punitive
○ Mother and son’s relationships turn into coercive cycle
○ Children with fathers who remain involved have fewer post-divorce problems
● Divorce mediation can minimize damage to children

Children’s Responses to Remarriage

● Most stepfamilies involve entrance of stepfather
● Mother’s lives improve but children’s outcomes worsen
● Causes for negative outcomes include:
○ Disruption of family systems
○ Perception of stepfathers interfering
○ Children may resent stepfathers

Friends and Peers

● Main basis for friendship is similarity
● Selective association: prefer being around others like ourselves
○ Includes gender, sociability aggression, and academic orientation
● Trust becomes more important
● Fewer friends but lasts longer
● Social and cooperative play continue
● Shared activity becomes more complex and rule-based
● Cognitive challenging games increase
● Development of hobbies
Popularity and Unpopularity
● Four categories of social status:
○ Popular- most often liked
○ Rejected- disliked by other children
○ Neglected- neither liked nor disliked
○ Controversial- like dby some, disliked by others, can be aggressive
● Strongest influence on popularity is social skills
● Rejected children tend to be more aggressive

Popularity and Unpopularity

● Neglected and controversial children well adjusted
● Rejected children tend to be aggressive
○ Often fail in social information processing (SIP)
○ Cause problems in social relationships
○ Can lead to developmental cascade
● PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) curriculum to improve social
information processing and reduce aggressive behavior

Media Use
● Involves media multitasking
● Both positive and negative effects of watching television, which is impacted by use and
exposure
○ Prosocial content leads to self-control and altruism
○ Heavy use associated with obesity, anxiety, poor school performance, and social
isolation
● Research support link between television watching and aggressive behavior
Fishbowl