Prenatal Development

Question 1

Name some prenatal risks

Answer 1

• Genetic e.g. Downs syndrome
• Environmental e.g. Thalidomide- morning sickness drug in 1950s caused deformities
• alcohol
• Other risks include
• Poor maternal nutrition
• Infectious diseases- malaria etc
• Exposure to radiation
• Maternal stress

Question 2

What did Glover 2010 find could be the implications of antenatal stress on the baby?

Answer 2

increased incidence in the offspring of :
 Anxiety and Depression
 Schizophrenia
 Autism
 Behavioural problems (e.g. conduct disorder)
 Impaired cognitive development
Glover (2010)

Question 3

What is perinatal?

Answer 3

• Perinatal - relating to the time, usually a number of weeks, immediately before and after birth.

Question 4

What perinatal risks are there for premature babies?

Answer 4

• During birth
• they are at greater physical and neurological risk
• Immediate issues could include
• Respiratory (breathing) difficulties
• Low birth weight

Question 5

What are the long term risks of being premature?

Answer 5

• Research indicates there may be longer term risks of
• Poorer motor abilities
• Cognitive impairments
• Social problems (e.g. shyness, isolation)
• Behavioural differences

Question 6

What is psychosocial?

Answer 6

the interrelation of social factors and individual thought and behaviour.

Question 7

What did Werner find in 1993?

Answer 7

• Research indicates that good care after birth and a stimulating environment can overcome perinatal risks (Werner, 1993)- followed 698 children on Hawaiian island from birth to adulthood- looked at educational achievement, mental health, physical health and criminality- some risks were overridden by happy and intact family, availability of substitute carers eg siblings and grandparents, absence of poverty
• But even a good psychosocial environment can not compensate for very low birth weight or premature birth

Question 8

What are new borns four instinctive abilities?

Answer 8

1. Orienting (attending to) social situations
2. Displaying behaviours which encourage a social response
3. They have an ability to learn
4. They enjoy contingent responses and seek these

Question 9

1. Orienting (attending to) social situations

Answer 9

• Babies are attracted to attend to the auditory and visual stimulation that adults provide eg if a mother speaks or makes noises/coos to the baby

Question 10

2. Displaying behaviours which encourage a social response

Answer 10

• Newborns look and cry
• Smile randomly
• Cry if hungry or uncomfortable
• Caregivers respond to these signals
• Gradually the baby learns the social consequences of smiling and crying…… That they will receive attention

Question 11

3. They have an ability to learn

Answer 11

• Some things are learned before birth
• Can distinguish between voice of their mother and another woman 2 hours after birth (Querleu et al, 1984)
• Few hours after birth babies can learn temporal relationships (e.g. that one stimuli is regularly followed by another)
• Demonstrated by Blass et al (1994) with a forehead press and water drop- they know to move their head to the side to get water

Question 12

4. They enjoy contingent responses and seek these

Answer 12

• Stimulation that follows quickly from an action of their own (a ‘reply’ to their action)
• Demonstrated by the ‘contingency mobile’ by Watson and Ramey (1972) with 8 week-old infants
• Infants significantly increased the number of pillow (head) movements they made in the session
• Shows infants can learn a simple response to produce some stimulation.

Question 13

Why are the four instinctive abilities important?

Answer 13

• These abilities of the infant assist them in getting into social interactions with adult caregivers
• Important for their survival and for learning
• The infant and caregiver ‘dance’ is important for development – we will learn more in lectures on Attachment and Perception