describing, explaining, predicting 

ex) describe behaviors of babies, explain why infants develop strong desire to bond with caregiver, 3) predict consequences of emotional bond for future relationship 

continuous or discontinous development 

one course of development or many 

Nature vs. Nurture 

Resilience 

1.) personal characteristics 

2.) warm parental relationships 

3. social support outside familia 

4). community resources and opportunities 

laws recognizing kids need protection, practice leniency with lawbreakers 

children are vulnerable 

religious writing portatyed them as evil, possessed by the devil, in need of purification 

Noble Savages, endowed with sense of right and wrong and plan for healthy growth, built in moral sense, could only be harmed by adults influence -

- concept of stage,

- concept of maturation, genetically determined growth 

-discontinuous stagewise process 

normative approach, measures of behavior, taken on large number of individuals and ae related averages to EXPLAIN typical DEVELOPMENT 

- used questionnaires asking kids about themselves 

GESELL - 

- collected the normative info on motor acheivement, social behaviors, personality 

series of stages, confront conflicts, 

-FREUD

- psychosexual theory, Id = basic desires, needs, biological

EGO= conscious, rational 

superego= conscience, conforms to values of society, societal norms, controls/regulates 

1. Birth - year ORAL, sucking, thumb sucking, fingernail biting, overeating, smoking 

2. 1-3 years ANAL - toddlers, enjoy holding and releasing urine and feces, if parents are overcontrolling or not controllign enough, conflicts arise with "orderliness" (where the expression comes from) 

3. 3-6 years, PHALLIC- preschool, genital stimulation, FREUD's OEDIPAL COMPLEX, children feel sexual desire for other sex parent, adopt sam sex parent values to overcome, form SUPEREGO. feelings of guilt. 

4. 6-11 years, LATENCY, superego strengthens as sexual desire dies down, new social values 

5. Adolescence, GENITAL, puberty, sexual impulses re emerge, marriage, sexual maturity, child rearing 

believed the ego makes positive contribution to development, helps acquire attitudes and skills, makes individual active member of SOCIETY 

Stage theory - move from one to the next when resolving conflict at each stage 

1. Classical Conditioning - pavlov and animals, watson and humans, UCS, UCR, CS, CR 

2. Operant Conditioning, reward and punishment 

---if behavior continues, reinforcing,

---if behavior stops, punishment 

Positive Reinforcement, add something, increase behavior

Negative reinforcement, add something DECRREASe behavior, Postiive punishment, add something DECREASE behavior, Negative Punishment, remove something, decrease behavior. 

3. Social Learning Theory 

-- Alburt Bandura, modeling, imitation, observational learning 

- kids construct knowledge as they manipulate/explore the world 

-biological ADAPTATION, believed mind develops to better fit the world 

- object permanance 

Stages: 

---Sensorimotor - use of movement and senses to explore

---Preoperational - symbolic but illogical thinking, preschool

---Concrete - organized reasoning school age kid 

---Formal - adults, systematic reasoning 

Weaknesses: 

understimated competencies of babiesand preschoolers. They are capable of more than he originally thought 

Babies reach full potential when having extensive education and experience 

learn well with training and adult involvment (not what he thought- he thought it was all experiential learning) 

insufficient attention to cultural social influences 

-correct that kids are active learners 

-His stages sparked research on kids conceptions of themselves, others, and relationships 

-Encouraged development of educational philosophy and programs 

perspective where human mind is viewed as symbol manipulating system through which information flows 

Ethology = adaptive value of behavior and its evolutionary history 

---imprinting, so babies stay close and safe from danger 

---critical period, time where baby is prepared to learn certain adaptive behaviors with help of stimulating environment 

Boundaries for Sensitive period are LESS defined than CRITCAL period 

Child Developing in the Midst of Complex Relationships and Multiple Levels of the Environment 

-Microsystem = immediate surroundings, bidirectional relationships, third parties, parents, friends 

- Mesosystem = school, connections between microsystems , classrooms, extent to which academia transfers over to home 

- Exosystem, social settings child doesn't interact with directly but which still affect child, parents workplaces, religious institutions, parent social networks 

Macrosystem- cultures, values laws, resources, = child policies, hospital/health care, etc. 

-Chronosystem, ordering of life events, niche picking 

1. Systematic observation/Naturalistic observation - see everyday life and behavior, can't control it though

2. structure observation - in a laboratory under controlled conditions 

3. self reports/interviews - sometimes not accurate reporting, investigator bias 

4. structured interviews, tests

- not as much info can be recieved, innacurate reporting 

5. clincial case study - cant be applied to everyone, only one person's story 

6. Ethnography - participant in a culture or social group. findings cant be applied beyond culture/social group 

1. Correlation 

cannot infer cause and effect, correlation coeeficient measures variables agaisnt each other, magnitude of relationship, direction of relationship (close to 1, positive/negative) 

2. Experimental 

allows inferences about cause and effect 

independent and dependent variable

control group 

random assignment, equal distribution 

3. Field Experiments 

rare opportunities in natural settings

compare longitudinal studies at seventh, eighth, ninth grades- if don't differ, can rule out cohort 

Several cross sectional/longitudinal at various times 

change over five year period by following each cohort for 3 years 

present children with task, watch over time as they begin to figure it out, develop skills for figuring it out

observe how change occurs 

1. Amniocentisis - needle collects fluid in uterus for baby cells, examined for genetic defects 

2. Chorionic Villus Sampling - tube through vagina, tissue removed from hairlike projections surrounding developing organism

3. Fetoscopy, LOOKS AT fetus for defects of limbs/face, allows sampling of fetal blood to test for things like hemophilia, sickle cell anemia 

4. Human Genome Project - to sequence entire genome 

Passive -

child has no control over it, parent provide environments, ex) parents who are good athletes influence kids to play sports. exposedto athletic environment 

Evocative Correlation- 

the responses kids evoke from others around them, ex) active friendly baby likely to be liked, as opposed to unhappy baby 

Active correlation - 

choose thier environments based on likes/dislikes- niche picking , musically talented child joins orchestra, listens to classical music, makes friends with other prodigies, has a much different experience than a soccer player 

development resulting from bi directional exchanges between heredity and environment- Baby with healthy diet, brain growth, nerve cells, transform gene expression.  effect of environment on genes. 

in contrast, bad environment hurts brain and early development, gene expression is different (more cortisol produced than normal) 

increase of ADHD

people homozygous for chromosome 12 gene DD are at risk for ADHD

impulsivity, overactivity, oppositional behavior 

1. Zygote (1-2 weeks) 

2. Embryo (3-8 weeks) 

3. Fetus (9-38 weeks) 

60 - 70 cells 

Hollow Fluid Filled Ball 

Cells inside become organism 

harmful agent in environment during prental period 

Zygotes not sensitive 

Embryo's are very sensitive 

Fetus, decreases in sensitivity, causes more minor problems

Brain and Eyes have longest sensitive periods 

related to stroke, heart disease, diabetes 

because organs are undersized and infant is poorly nourished.

hurts brain, hurts heart, hurts pancreas(glucose intolerance) 

Diabetes also may be caused by poor placenta and excess stress hormones, promoting too much blood glucose, predisposing person to disease later 

Cocaine, heroine, meth = 

low birth weight, death, breathing issues, physical defects, born drug addicted, shrill piercing cries, poor motor development 

Marijuana = 

small head, low birth weight, underdeveloped organs 

Tobacco - 

low birth weight, less attentive 

Alcohol= 

poor motor coordination, information processing problems, reasoning, intelligence issues 

short eyelids, thin upper lip, impaired brain, small in size, concentration problems

other teratogens: radiation, environmental pollution, other drugs, disease 

increases birth weight, reduces risk of complciations 

but too much results in low birht weight 

poor nutrition = damage to CNS

good = folic acid reduces physical defects, prevents premature birth 

Need iron for growth of brain cells and connections 

Iron build strong normal hippocampus, responsible for memory 

heart rate, respiratory effort, reflexes, muscle tone, color 

score of 7 = good 

score of 4-6 = needs assistance 

score of 3 or below= child needs emergency medical attention 

when there is social support : 

labor is shorter, 

baby is healthier 

childbirth is more natural 

mother is happier, more pain free 

preterms- born early, weight appropriate for date 

Small for Date, born on time, but too small. Small for date have more problems, most likely had bad nutrition 

music, touch, stimulation, skin to skin kangaroo care which improves oxygenation, sleep, breastfeeding, alertness, infant surivival 

NREM- regular sleep, full rest, little no body movement, no eye movement, slow regular breathing, relaxed 

REM- gentle limb movements, stirring, facial grimmacing, closed eyelids, rapid eye movements, irregular breathing 

Drowsiness- Falling asleep, waking up, body less active, glazed over eyes 

Quiet alertness - eyes open and attentive, breathing even 

waking activty/crying - frequent bursts of uncoordianted body activity, irregular breathing

stimulates growth, emotional development, mouth, palms, feet, genitals first sensitve to touch, infants very sensitive to pain 

newborns can tell sweet sour and bitter 

prefer saltiness at four months 

PET and FMRI because require subject to lie quietly on scanner bed or inside tunnel 

NIRS is best- infrared light shone on regions of brain to measure blood flow and oxygen 

specialization of each of the two sides of the brain 

LEFT - deals with commucating, processing info analytically  

RIGHT - makes sense of spatial info, regulating emotion, processing infomation in integrative manner 

two sides always communcating and working together 

babies drawn to different shades - contrast sensitiivity = patterns because of poor vision = no fine vision

TWO MONTHS  

newborns can see faces, rely on hairline and chin for face recognition, open eyes, direct gaze, look longer at "attractive' faces 

not yet able to sort out detail 

four months - ball moving back and forth is continous 

4-5 months, can follow intricate paths of objects 

4-11 months rely on certain characteristics 

stumbling upon a new experinece caused by baby's own motor activity. "circular" because Baby repeats over and over again, sensorimotor response becomes strengthened into new scheme 

1. sucking, grasping, looking at everything the same 

2. voluntary control over actions through Primary circular motion repeating behaviors motivated by basic needs (sucking), anticipation of events 

3. Sitting up, reaching, manipulating objects - Seconday Circular motion repeating interesting events caused by own actions 

4. Combining schemes into more complex action sequences, goal directed behavior, intentional. Mastering Object Permanance, make A not B error, 

5. Tertiary circular reaction  toddlers repears behavior with variation, problem solving, look for hidden object in many location (A not B searching), imitating behaviors 

internal depcitions of info that the mind can manipulate (images, concepts)

infants know more than piaget thought 

Babies can explore, control world LONG before 4-8 months (piaget's thinking) 

Research shows babies as young as 14 months can construct mental representation of objects and wherabouts 

babies are habituated to a stimuli (until looking time declines), Then show them something radical, show babies an expected event. 

There is more attention given when the expectation is violated. in other words. the box doesnt fall, even though its not resting on anything 

10-12 months 

end of first year, infant have mental representation of how to use tools to get objcts 

babies born with set of innate knowledge ssystems, core domains of thought 

each is prewired understandings permit ready grasp of new related info 

Swift language acquisition in early childhood due to this (opinion) 

Critics dont believe that babies are endowed with knowledge, and that the experiments give false positives 

Structure Human Mental System remains similar throughout life, speeding and capacity changes though 

- Mental Strategies 

-Sensory Register 

-Working short term memory 

-Central Executive 

-Long Term Memory 

many personally meaningful events from recent and distanct past 

- first few years, rely heavily on nonverbal memory 

-only after age 3, children represent events verbally 

- encode autobiographial events in verbal form

Brain development and adult child interaction ARE KEY to remembering/voicing past experiences 

Information processing 

social interaction necessary for acquiring ways of thinking and behaving 

Habituation and recovery times - the quicker habituated, and the quicker recovery = flexibility of thinking, intelligence 

object permanance also good indicator of 

IQ 

many hours of mediocre, poor child care score lowwer on cognitive, language, and social skillls 

Good child care can reduce negative impact of stressful home 

high quality child care leads to cognitive emotional and social competence 

US- child care is not nationally regulated or funded

20-25% are good posiitve experiences 

Low income familes experience poor child care 

Middle SES get worst care for kids 

an Early intervention program where children acheived higher scores in reading and math, completed more years of schooling 

gains in cognitive development 

by age 2, kids score higher on tests 

behaviorism - language acquisition due to environment and experience , learned through operant conditioning, imitation but problem with this theory is kids make novel utterances not learned from others 

Nativist - LAD in brain, pre wired to masterrules of language, Chomsky says its a uniquely human accomplishment sensitive period for language development 

Strength - humans do have a unique capacity to acquire language 

Limitation: hard to specify universal grammer, and observation of langage development don't coincide with chomsky's theory 

Interactionist - both environment and biological processes add to language development 

language acquisition device, contains a universal gramer set of rules common to all languages - enables children to udnerstand and speak in rule oriented fashion as soon as they pick up enough words 

deaf adults who learned sign language at different ages 

- those who learned late had hardertime, never reached level of early learners

- those who never learned, learned very late had a really hard time 

when both child and adult are focusing on something, infants sustain attention longer, comprehend more, produce meaninful gestures, words earlier,, faster vocab development 

Turn Taking - vital for acquiring communication skills 

bear = teddy bear, dog = only thier dog, not others dogs 

apply a word to narrowly 

everyones dog is sally becuase his dog is sally. Car is used for everything that moves 

2 words (1.5-2 yrs) "Me Up "

vocab has more social formulas and pronouns in it, chinese, japanses, korean = actions, asian familes emphasize action and social routines 

american moms use objects, nouns, labeling things with babies (so referential style) 

1. Basic trust vs Mistrust conflict, one of two paths could go down, being trustful, or being apprehensive  Between birth and 1 yr old 

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt (intiaitve vs guilt) 

middle childhood (industry vs inferiority ) 

6-10 weeks 

Basic emotions - 

1. attraction to pleasant stimuli, withdrawal from unpleasant 

2. Hapiness expressed first in smiles and laughter, especially when acheiving new skills, 

10-12 months, babies have many smiles for differnet situations 

6-12 months 

4-6 months- increase is greatest 

less common than anger, 

occurs wen parent interaction is poor, interrupted 

6-12 months 

stranger anxiety most frequent expression of fear 

rise after 6 mo 

coping = develop a secure base - the caregiver 

appear 18-24 months - second year 

gullt, shame, envy, pride 

- 4 to 6 months, shifting attention, self soothing, crawling 

2yr old - mommy, scared, seek help 

Easy = 40% 

difficult = 10% 

slow to warm up = 15% 

Widely accepted view,

emotional tie is an evovled response for survival, like imprinting. Has strengthened in order to keep babies alive 

1. pre attachment phase, birht to 6 weeks, babies not yet attached to mother, attached to anyon

e who provides care 

2. Attachment in the making - 6 weeks to 6 - 8 months, Have a preference for familair caregiver over stranger, no protest when separated. 

3. Clear cut- 6/8 months, to 2 yrs., attached to mother, evident, display separation anxiety, use familiar caregiver as a secure base 

4. Formation of Reciprocal Relationship 18- 2 yrs and on, understand when mother leaves, she will come back, less seperation protest, communication, requests, reciprocation :) 

set of expectations about availablitlty of attachment figures, liklihood of providing support during times of stress 

based off past relationships 

constantly changing 

what they can expect from other relationships 

parent is secure base, when separated, maybe cry, actively seek contact, parents returns and crying is reduced 

unresoonsive to parent, not distressed when parent leaves 

slow to greet or care that parent has returned, picked up fail to cling 

while parent in room baby is shy and cautious, clings to parent

parent leaves, very distressed, both angry and clingy with parents for leaving 

Avoidantly attached 

Resistant Attachment 

12- 18 months 

even firmer self control = 3rd year 

too many synapses, contributes to plasticity of brain 

then synaptic pruning occurs 

left hemosphere is especially active between 3-6 yrs.

right hemisphere activity increase b/w 3-6 yrs 

caused by extreme emotional deprivation, appears between ages 2 and 15, from decreased growht hormone caused by lots of stress 

 Running jumping hopping throwing catching BETTEr 

Galloping and one foot skippiing 

at 3 yrs, cant distinguish their thoughts from other 

at age 4, can tell the difference and false beliefs, know what other person would think 

14-16 months, display ordinality. 3 is more than 2, 2 is more than 1 

3.5-4 yrs, cardinality, last nimber in counting sequence = total number of items in a set 

children connect new words with underlying concepts after brief encounter 

6 yr old field example 

field trip is at a field 

teach them yellow car = cintron 

show yellow lemon = call it cintron

baby learns cintron is yellow