Theories of Development Flashcards
Which is the least developed portion of the brain at birth?
Cerebral cortex
Brain growth after birth results from…
Increased neuronal size, dendritic branching and myelinization
The human infant is the least ____ mature primate of all , and the most reliant on ____ regulation by the caregiver for the longest period fo time
Least neurologically mature, most reliant on physiological regulation
Developmental tasks of the newborn
- Feeding
- Sleep and social interaction
- Movement
- Ability to calm themselves
- Response to environment
- Health/physical/medical well-being
3 infant subsystems
State
Motor
Physiologic
Concentric circles of development
Milestones (0-6 months)
Motor:
- Primary reflexes
- Reaching, rolling and sitting
Cognitive:
- Visual and auditory tracking
- Imitation
- Object/action patterns
- Means-ends association
Social/emotional:
- Social smile (6 weeks)
- Babbling and cooing –> purposeful vocalization
- Stranger anxiety (6 mo)
- Surprise, sadness, fear, distress
Milestones (6-12 months)
- Can remember things and anticipate future events
- Experience the world through senses (Piaget’s sensory-motor stage)
- Express different moods
- Walking @ 12 months
- Complex action patterns with objects
- Fine motor
Cognitive:
- Play games (peek-a-boo)
- Cause and effect
- Object permanence (9 mos)
- Imitation of action sequences
- Language dev
Social/emotional:
- Stranger anxiety peaks, separation anxiety (8 mos)
Freud: oral
Erikson: Trust vs. Mistrust
Importance of still face in child abuse
If the baby doesn’t care when the mom puts on a neutral face, there’s some kind of underlying issue like maybe abuse
Toddler milestones
Motor:
- Walking, climbing, running
- Undesirable social behaviors
- Fine motor skills increase as does tool use
Cognitive:
- “No” emerges
- Increased symbolic capacity
- Single words and brief phrases. Follow 1-step commands
- Number concepts
- When then logic (when you get shoes on then we can go to park)
Social/emotional:
- Separation anxiety peaks at 13 months
- Tantrums
- Increasing independence
- Emotions felt one at a time
- Low frustration tolerance
- Increased ability to follow rules
- Parallel to peer play + friendships
- Empathy
Potty training (2-3 years)
Freud: anal
Erikson: Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
Terrible T’s
Tantrums
Taking (biting, kicking, hitting, saying No)
Time outs
Transitions (to daycare, big beds, new siblings
Sleep Terrors
Potty Time
Milestones (3-6 years)
Motor:
- Jump, walk up stairs alternating feet, ride a bike, skip
- Draw a circle, string beads, puzzles, draw a person, print name
Cognitive:
- Vocab from 1000 to 8000 words
- Fluent expression, retelling/inventing stories
- School readiness skills: number and letter recognition
- Preoperational thinking
Social/emotional:
- Peer relationships, turn taking and negotiation
- Elaborate play and role adoption
- Gender segregated play beginning at 5-6 years
- Imaginary friends
- Fears are common
- Self-help skills
- Gender identity and sense of self
- Ability to participate in groups
Freud: Phallic
Erikson: Initiative vs. guilt
Milestones (6-12 years)
Motor:
- Complex gross motor task and sequences
- Fine: centered on concrete world
Cognitive:
- Logical thinking (deductive reasoning)
- Advance classification into hierarchies
- Seriation (ordering objects)
- Conservation of mass, length, weight, and volume
- Written expression matches verbal expression
Social/emotional:
- Complex social dynamics
- Mentors and relationships with non-familial adults
- Complex emotions can be described
- Takes perspective, rule-bound behaviors
Freud: Latency
Erikson: Industry vs Inferiority
Adolescent milestones
Motor:
- Better than childhood
- Can follow abstractions
Cognitive:
- Flexible and abstract thinking
- complex reasoning and problem solving
- Considers combinations of factors that will impact solutions
Social/emotional:
- Peer pressure, hierarchies, popularity
- Parental influence declines and peer influence increases
- Sense of self is in flux
Freud: Genital
Erikson: Identity s. Identity confusion
Puberty
Risky business
Adulthood milestones
- Myelinization of CNS until the 5th decade
- Complex social skills continue to improve until age 30
- Delay of gratification peaks at 40
- Physical abilities vary by age
- Better driving records at age 50 than age 20
- Suicide is a greater risk with age
Physical and cognitive changes in adulthood
Sensory:
- Vision declines
- Hearing loss
- Decline in reaction time
- Taste/smell declines, especially in men
Memory:
- Substantial decline in recent long-term memory
- Working memory decreases
- Little change in memory span
Intelligence:
- Crystallized intelligence (fund of knowledge) increases
- Fluid intelligence (processing speed, reasoning speed) decreases
