Chapter Five First Two Years:Biosocial Development

Body Changes Rapid changes Consequences of neglect severe

Body Size Most notable time for physical changes

in each of the first 12 months they grow an inch

birth weight usually doubles by 4 months and triples by end of first year

head-sparing—biological protection of the brain when malnutrition temporarily affects body growth

Sleep

Newborns sleep about 17 hours per day needed for rapid growth REM sleep—rapid eye movement sleep—

declines quiet sleep increases at about 3 months too immature to sleep through the night

Infant’s sleep patterns influenced by brain waves and parents’ caregiving practices

Early Brain Development

Most critical biosocial aspect of growth newborn’s skull disproportionately large at birth, 25% of adult brain weight by age 2, 75% of adult brain weight

Growth in the First Two Years

Connections in the Brain Head measurement increases 35% in

first year brain development: changes in the brain’s

communication system

Basic Brain Structures

• Neurons—long thin nerve cells that make up nervous system- created before birth- 70% in cortex (brain’s outer layer)

• Axons—nerve fibers that extend from neurons that send impulses

• Dendrites—nerve fibers extending from neurons that receive impulses

Action Potentialhttp://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/ap.html

Action Potential

Areas of the Cortex

Basic Brain Structures, cont.

• Neurons—long thin nerve cells that make up nervous system- created before birth- 70% in cortex (brain’s outer layer)

• Axons—nerve fibers that extend from neurons that send impulses

• Dendrites—nerve fibers extending from neurons that receive impulses

• Each neuron has a single axon (nerve fiber) that extends from it and meets the dendrites of other neurons at intersections called synapses- axons and dendrites don’t actually touch at synapses- electrical impulses trigger brain chemicals called

neurotransmitters, which carry information from axon of sending neuron across synaptic gap to dendrites of receiving neuron

- synapses are critical communication links with the brain

Basic Brain Structures, cont.

Connections in the Brain

• At birth more than 100 million neurons are present

• Phenomenal growth is referred to as transient exuberance—fivefold increase in dendrites in first 2 years

• As many as 15,000 connections may be made per neuron

Exuberance

Specifics of brain structure and growth depend partly on experience exuberance is transient—transitional stage

between newborn brain’s immaturity and the maturity of older child’s or adult’s brain

underused neurons are inactivated, or pruned

Experience Enhances the Brain

Reactions to Stress experiencing stress may cause overproduction

of stress hormone developing brain can lose capacity to react

normally to stress normal neuron connections may have been

pruned for rapid response to repeated stress

Experience Enhances the Brain, cont.

William Greenough identified 2 experience-related parts of brain growth experience-expectant brain functions

require basic common experiences to develop normally

experience-dependent brain functions depend on particular and variable experiences

to develop

Experience Enhances the Brain, cont.

Human brains are designed for expected experiences how the brain is structured and connected will

depend on those experiences the brain expects certain experiences at

certain ages these experiences critical if connections are to

form; if connections not formed, plasticity may allow new connections and pathways as experiences continue

Experience Enhances the Brain, cont.

The Senses and Motor Skills Sensorimotor Stage

cognition develops between senses and motor skills

All senses function at birth sensation—the response of sensory system

when it detects stimulus begins with outer organ—nose, eyes, etc.

perception—mental procession of sensory information when brain interprets sensation begins in the brain and requires experience

cognition—thinking about what was perceived

Sensation and Perception

• Begins prenatally and is acute at birth• Certain sounds trigger newborns’

reflexes• Newborns particularly attentive to

human voice• Newborns’ sensitive hearing combines

with brain to distinguish sounds

Listening

• Vision the least mature sense at birth• Visual experience combined with visual

cortex maturation improves vision- with time scanning becomes more organized,

efficient, and centered• Binocular vision—ability to focus two

eyes in a coordinated manner to see single image

Looking

taste—functions at birth; calmed by sugar, sensitive to sour

touch—comforted by human touch; feel pain

smell—can distinguish between odors and have preferences

Early sensation is organized for social interaction comfort

Tasting, Smelling, and Touching

Most visible and dramatic body change of infancy

Motor Skills

Reflexes • Reflexes for survival are categorized

- maintain oxygen supply (breathing)- maintain body temperature (crying, kicking)- manage feeding (rooting and sucking)- swallowing aids feeding- spitting up if too much has been swallowed- crying when stomach empty

Involve large muscles and body movements crawling, creeping, walking

Gross Motor Skills

Small, finely tuned movements, especially of hands and fingers, including successful grabbing fingering, pointing, and holding grasping a moving object transferring objects from hand to hand adjusting reach

Fine Motor Skills

Age Norms (in Months) for Gross Motor Skills*

Age at which motor skills acquired varies greatly because of ethnicity inherited factors—genetic differences patterns of infant care individual rate of physical maturation

Variations and Ethnic Differences

Newborn Care Immunizations Nutrition

Public Health Measures

Immunization

Immunization—process that stimulates body’s immune system to defend against attack by a particular contagious disease smallpox polio measles

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Risk factors?

laying baby on stomach to sleep secondhand smoke low birthweight formula feeding rather than breast feeding

Ethnicity and SIDS

Asian babies less likely to succumb Babies of African descent more likely Infantcare routines in different

cultures play a role

Nutrition

How Infants Are Fed

Breast Is Best• Breast Milk

- begins with colostrum, high-calorie nourishment before milk “lets down”

- easily digestible- has antibodies and antibacterial properties- better for baby’s health

• Bottle Feeding: babies more likely to have allergies- better option if mother is HIV-positive or using

drugs• Feeding on Demand

Severe Malnutrition brain does not have enough nutrition to

develop normally no body reserves to protect from disease marasmus and kwashiorkor diseases are direct

result of malnutrition

Malnutrition

Chapter Six

The First Two Years:Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Intelligence Sensoritmotor intelligence—active

intelligence causing babies to think while using senses and motor skills

Stages 1 and 2: Primary Circular Reactions• The feedback loop involving the

infants own body; infant senses motion and tries to make sense of it

• Stage 1 = Reflexes • Stage 2 = First Acquired Adaptations

- adaptations of reflexes, i.e., sucking—new information taken in by senses and responded to

Assimilation and Accommodation assimilation—taking in new information by

incorporating it into previous knowledge accommodation— intake of new data to re-

adjust, refine, expand prior schema or actions

babies eagerly adapt their reflexes and senses to whatever experiences they have

Stages 1 and 2: Primary Circular Reactions, cont.

Sucking as a Stage-Two Adaptation begin adapting at about one month reflexive assimilation

Stages 1 and 2: Primary Circular Reactions, cont.

Stages 3 and 4: Secondary Circular Reactions• feedback loop involving people and

objects• Stage 3 = Making Interesting Events Last

- repetition - awareness

• Stage 4 = New Adaptation and Anticipation- goal-directed behavior- object permanence

Feedback loop that involves active experimentation and exploration- involves creativity, action, and ideas

Stage 5 = New Means Through Active Experimentation little scientist

Stages 5 and 6: Tertiary Circular Reactions

Stage 6 = New Means Through Mental Combinations mental combinations—sequence of mental

actions tried out before actual performance deferred imitation—perception of something

someone else does (modeling), then performing action at a later time

Stages 5 and 6: Tertiary Circular Reactions, cont.

Piaget and Modern Research Habituation—process of getting used to

an object or event through repeated exposure to it

fMRI—functional magnetic resonance imaging measuring technique for brain activity and neurological responses

First three years are prime time for cognitive development

Information-processing theory— perspective that compares human thinking processes to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, stored memories, and output

Information Processing

Affordances Affordances—opportunities for

perception and interaction offered by environment

How something is perceived and acted upon depends on past experiences current developmental level sensory awareness of opportunities immediate needs and motivation

Sudden Drops Visual cliff measures depth perception,

which is based not on maturity level but affordance

- depends on prior experience Object Constancy

- things remain what they are, despite changes in perception or appearance

- boundaries of three-dimensional objects

Movement and People Dynamic perception—1 of the 2 principles

explaining infant perception; namely, that from birth perception is primed to focus on movement and change

2nd principle explaining infant perception is that babies are fascinated by people

Infants most interested in emotional affordances of their caregivers

Certain amount of experience and maturation in order to process and remember experiences

In first year infants have great difficulty storing new memories

Older children often unable to describe events that occurred when they were younger

Memory

Very early memories possible if situation similar to real life motivation high special measures aid retrieval by acting as

reminders

Memory, cont.

Reminders and Repetition Reminder session—any perceptual

experience that helps a person recall an idea or experience

A Little Older, A Little More Memory After 6 months infants capable of

retaining information for longer periods of time with less reminding

Deferred imitation apparent after end of first year

By middle of the 2nd year, children capable of remembering and reenacting complex sequences

A Little Older, A Little More Memory, cont.

Memory is not just single entity; distinct brain regions for particular aspects of memory; humans have a memory for words images actions smells experiences “memorized” facts

Language: What Develops in Two Years? Most impressive intellectual

achievement of young child and also of all humans

Children around the world have the same sequence of early language development but timing and depth of linguistic ability vary

The Universal Sequence of Language Development

First Noises and Gestures Baby talk—high-pitched, simplified, and

repetitive ways adults talk to babies Vocalization

crying cooing

Babbling deaf babies do it later and less frequently, but

are more advanced in use of gestures

First word and sentences at age of 1 year

First Words

The Language Explosion and Early Grammar Naming explosion—sudden increase in

infant vocabulary, especially nouns, beginning at 18 months

Holophrase—single word that expresses a complete, meaningful thought

Grammar—all the methods that languages use to communicate meaning

Theories of Language Learning Even the very young use language well Three schools of thought

infants are taught language infants teach themselves social impulses foster infant language

Theory 1: Infants are Taught Skinner’s reinforcement theory: quantity

and quality of talking to child affects rate of language development (learned) parents are good instructors baby talk characterized by

high pitch simpler vocabulary shorter sentence length more questions and commands repetition

Chomsky and LAD (Language Acquisition Device)—hypothesized neurological (inborn) structure that prewires all children for language, including basic aspects of intonation, grammar, and vocabulary infants innately ready to use their minds to

understand and speak whatever language offered to them

they are experience expectant

Theory 2: Infants Teach Themselves

Social-pragmatic—social reason for language: to communicate

Infants seek to respond, which shows their being social in nature— and thus mutually dependent—by

- vocalizing- babbling- gesturing- listening- pointing

Theory Three: Social Impulses Foster Language

A Hybrid Theory Emergentist coalition—combination of valid

aspects of several theories- cortex contains many language centers- nature provides several paths to learning language

Chapter Seven

The First Two Years:Psychosocial Development

Theories About Early Psychosocial Development

Importance of parents and their contribution to emotional growth

Connects biosocial and psychosocial development

Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud: Oral and Anal Stages

Oral Stage—1st stage, where infant obtains pleasure through sucking and biting

Anal Stage—2nd stage, where anus becomes main source of gratification, i.e., bowel movements and the control of them

1st Stage—Trust vs. Mistrust basic needs need to be met with consistency,

continuity, and sameness

2nd Stage—Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt basic desire to gain self-rule over their own

actions and bodies and to feel ashamed if it doesn’t happen

Erikson: Trust and Autonomy

Behaviorism Infant’s emotions and personality

are molded as parents reinforce or punish child’s spontaneous behavior social learning adds to personality formation social referencing strengthens learning by

observation

Cognitive Theory

• Individual’s thoughts and values determine perspective on the world

• Working model—set of assumptions used to organize perceptions and experiences

Epigenetic Theory

Each child is born with a genetic predisposition to develop certain traits that affect emotional development

Temperament—“constitutionally based individual differences in emotion, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation.” inhibited uninhibited epigenetic—though personality traits not

learned, environment affects their expression

Research on Temperament: Nine Characteristics activity level

rhythmicity approach-withdrawal adaptability intensity of reaction threshold of responsiveness quality of mood distractibility attention span

Temperament and Caregiving Inhibited vs. Uninhibited

responsive care and encouragement can help inhibited children become less so

Match between parent and child goodness of fit

Sociocultural Theory Emphasizes the many ways social

context can have impact on infant-caregiver relationship

If social context changes, child can change

Emotional Development in Infancy

In the first 2 years of emotional development, infants progress from simple reactions to complex patterns of social awareness

The First Year Newborns’ first discernable emotions

distress contentment

Later emotions (after first weeks) anger fear, expressed clearly by stranger wariness

and separation anxiety

The Second Year Fear and anger typically decrease Laughing, crying: more discriminating New emotions appear

pride shame embarrassment guilt

Self-Awareness Foundation for emotional growth

realization of individual distinctions

At about 5 months begin developing a sense of self apart from mother

15-18 months the “Me-self” rouge experiment

Pride and Shame Self-awareness becomes linked with

self-concept early on Negative comments more likely to

lead to less pride or shame Own pride can be more compelling

than parental approval

Social connections help us understand human emotions

The Development of Social Bonds

Synchrony Synchrony—coordinated interaction;

attunement Helps infants learn to express own

feelings Imitation is pivotal Becomes more elaborate and more

frequent with time Learning through play

playful interactions by both partners important for both to be responsive

Enduring emotional connection Proximity-seeking behaviors Contact-maintaining behaviors

Attachment

Bowlby and Ainsworth Secure—relationship of trust and

confidence that provides comfort, assurance, and secure base

Secure and Insecure Attachment

Insecure—relationship that is unpredictable or unstable avoidant: one person tries to avoid any

connection with another resistant/ambivalent: anxiety and uncertainly

keep one person clinging to another

Secure and Insecure Attachment, cont.

Measuring Attachment Strange Situation—lab procedure to

measure attachment; observed are exploration of the toys (caregiver present) reaction to caregiver’s departure reaction to caregiver’s return disorganized behavior—neither secure nor

insecure attachment—marked by inconsistent behavior of caregiver and infant toward each other

Insecure Attachment as a Warning Sign Stressed mother (although not

always an indicator) Mother too withdrawn Inconsistent behavior of mother

(conflicting messages sent by her) Insecure attachments repairable

Social Referencing

Looking to others for cues

Referencing Mom Look to mother for comfort Mother’s tone and expression can

become guide to how to react to unfamiliar or ambiguous event

Fathers play more than mothers Infants look to fathers for fun and

physical play Physically active play with fathers may

contribute to development of social skills and emotional expression

Physically active play with fathers helps children master motor skills and develop muscle control

Referencing Dad

Cultural Differences Fathers, single mothers,

grandparents, and cultures with other family structures still provide needed referencing

Father’s involvement can benefit later development of child raise mother’s self-confidence and two parents working together are better

able to meet infant’s needs than either alone

Infant Day Care Almost all infants cared for by

people other than parents part of the time

Specifics vary from culture to culture

The older the child and the more money the family has, the more likely possibility of day care

Family day care Center care Day care generally beneficial High-quality programs include

adequate attention to each infant encouragement of sensorimotor exploration

and language development attention to health and safety well-trained professional caregivers

Infant Day-Care

Infant Day Care, cont.

Cognitive and biosocial development are more advanced by day care than at home

Poor day care has detrimental effects

Conclusions in Theory and Practice

No single theory stands out as best interpretation of developments during first 2 years

Do not know the extent to which positive influence can compensate for negative one

Conclusions in Theory and Practice, cont.

Parental attentiveness crucial to synchrony, attachment, and social referencing.

In dealing with children with problems, need a practical rather than theoretical approach that focuses on their specific issues