Infancy - Physical, Cognitive & Social Developent Flashcards
Infant state at birth
- -Almost helpless
- -CNS (brain) is functionally immature until 7 months - minimum activity in the cortex
- -Birth - 24 months, brain grows & triples in weight; neurons mature and develop
- -Good nutrition (protein) & sensory stimulation critical during this tage
Infant reflexes
At birth, reflexes are present (do not require learning, disappear with development of brain)
- -Sucking reflex: rooting reflex, head-turning reflex
- -Moro reflex: startle response
- -Babinski reflex: fanning toes when tickled on bottom of foot
- -Palmer reflex: grasping reflex
Senses at birth
Smell, taste, hearing almost fully developed at birth; touch at least within a few hours of birth
- -Smell: prefer pleasant odors
- -Taste: sweet over bitter, salty, sour
- -Hearing: may be functional at 26 weeks gestation, prefer mother’s voice as early as 3 days
Vision at birth
One sense that is not fully developed at birth
- -Newborns can see at birth, but objects more than 10-12” away are out of focus (20/500 vision/video; 20-400 text)
- -20/20 vision comes at approximately 6-12 months
- -Preference for colors comes at 3-4 months
- -Depth perception coincides with crawling stage
Motor Development
- -Roll over - 5 months
- -Sit without support - 7 months
- -Pull self up to a stand - 10 months
- -Walk with help - 12 months
- -Walk alone - 14 months
Cognitive Development
- -Some evidence infants remember smells & sights within days of birth (memory of short duration)
- -Birth - 2 years is Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
- -World of here and now
- -Things have meaning when infant sees, smells, tastes or touches it
Object permanence
Understanding that objects exist independent of self; acquired in infancy, not complete until 18 months
Language Acquisition
- -Birth: crying primary means of communication
- -1-4 months: cooing, squealing
- -6 months: babbling (resembles well formed syllables
- -12 months: 1st word spoken (milk mama, dada)
- -18 months: 2 word combinations, 3-50 word vocabulary
- -24 months: speaking in sort sentences, 50-300 word vocabulary
Social Development
- -Infant moving from total dependence to greater independence
- -Freud’s oral stage (libido energy focused on mouth area)
- -Erickson’s trust vs. mistrust stage
- -Infant influenced/affected by others in life, others also affected by infant and his/her temperment–bidirectional
Bonding & Attachment
- -Bonding usually refers to the emotional bond that parents feel toward the infant
- -Attachment is the emotional bond the child feels toward the parents or caregivers
Bowlby’s Sequential Phases of Attachment
- -Preattachment
- -Attachment in the making:
- -True (clear cut) attachement;
- -Reciprocal (Goal-oriented) attachment:
Bowlby’s Preattachment (Phase 1)
birth to 6-8 weeks (does not discriminate one person from another by has ability to elicit caregiving from an adult)
Bowlby’s Attachment in the making (Phase 2)
6-8 weeks to 6-8 months (selective social smiling; recognition of familiar faces; smiling less at unfamiliar faces–easily consoled by primary caregiver
Bowlby’sTrue (clear cut) attachment (Phase 3)
6-8 months to 18 months (extend an arm to mom; use motor skills to approach; cling to attachment objects; safe base from which to explore). Stranger anxiety takes place–peaks at 8-9 months
Bowlby’s Reciproal (Goal-oriented) attachment (Phase 4)
18 months on (notions of self-development; refers to self by name; by 24 months recognizes adult standards, the viewpoints of others, can initiate interaction and negotiate. There is a recognition of cause and effect
Mary Ainsworth Attachment Studies - “Stranger Situation” - what was sequence of study
- -With 1-year olds
- -Observer brings mother and child into room and leaves
- -Mother sits in chair while baby explores
- -Stranger comes in and is silent for 1 minutes, talks with mother for 1 minutes, and then approaches baby. Mother leaves
- -Stranger and baby are alone
- -First reunion: Mother returns and stranger leaves. Mother greets and comforts baby. After engaging baby in play, mother says “bye bye” and leaves
- -Second separation: baby is alone
- -Stranger enters an is alone with baby
- -Second reunion: Mother enters, greets and picks up baby. Stranger leaves
Mary Ainsworth “Stranger Situation results
2 major types of infant attachment
- -Securely attached infants (60-65%)
- -Insecurely (Anxiously) attached infants, broken down into 3 subsets: Avoidant (20%), Ambivalent (resistant) 10-15%), Disorganized/Disoriented, (5-10%)
Attachment and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)
Infants and young children don’t develop healthy bonds with parents or caregivers. Child is typically neglected, abused or orphaned. May permanently change the child’s growing brain, hurting the ability to establish future relationships.
Issue of the role of the father
- -Father’s interaction with infants is mostly in the form of playing rather than caregiving
- -Fathers spent an average of 32 minutes per day in caregiving, mothers give 70 minutes per day
- -43% of US fathers have never changed a single infant diaper
Issue of Day Care
- -one out of two North American preschool children now in daycare
- -The fastest growing type of child care is infant care
- -high quality infant day care does not appear to disrupt parent-infant bond and has no consistent negative effects
