62 - Infant and Childhood Development

Question 1

Piaget’s sensorimotor stage

Answer 1

Birth to 2 years.

Learning about the world through sensory exploration

Question 2

Piaget’s preoperational stage

Answer 2

2-7 years

Representing world through language, symbols, internal representations of the world

Question 3

Piaget’s concerete operational stage

Answer 3

Logical reasoning about concrete events/ideas/stimuli

Question 4

Piaget’s formal operational stage

Answer 4

Abstract and hypotheticalreasoning

Question 5

Behaviour of infants and toddlers
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Answer 5

• Motor and sensory exploration prominent
• Limitations in verbal expression; gaps between expression and understanding
• Will struggle with logical explanations
• Focus on “here and now”
• Limited understanding of illness;
• Do understand what affects them directly
• Early experiences influence subsequent coping
• Nonverbal communication important

Question 6

Behaviour of preschoolers
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Answer 6

• Thinking is relatively literal, concrete, egocentric
• Developments in independence , curiosity, language
• Literal interpretation may = misinterpretation:
• “I’m going to take your temperature”
• “We’ll knock you out”
• Will struggle with analogies and “hypotheticals”
• Like to have choices

Question 7

Primary schooler behaviour 
1
2
3
4

Answer 7

• Developments in logical thinking and abstract reasoning
• Understand causes of disease beyond contagion – (e.g. internal causes, body processes, prevention of illness)
• Peers of increasing importance
• Simple analogies and hypothetical examples can be understood

Question 8

Adolescent behaviour
1
2
3
4

Answer 8

• More advanced reasoning and problem-solving skills (Higher-order abstract/hypothetical reasoning, future-oriented thinking, holding multiple possibilities in mind, “shades of grey”)
• Regulation of emotion and behaviour still developing
• Peers and identity formation
• Can understand illness in terms of organs, disease processes, mechanisms