middle ages: pictures of children as little adults (creepy), often cared for by others, information on children derived from one social class

1800s: information from child diaries/biographies; children lbored long hours; US Children's Bureau formed to protect chidlren

modern times: interest in activities of children, descriptive catalogue, regular/irregular observations

- created the cognitive-developmental theory of dev psych: children actively manipulate and explore their world to construct knowledge --> most advanced stage reached in adolescence

- simple experiments performed on his own three children

- psychosexual theory of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital stages

- childhood experiences are emotionally significant

- inborn sexual and aggressive impulses/drives

- developed questionnaires to study child thinking

- development = evolution; development follows a stage-like process

- sociocultural theory views cognitive development as a socially mediated process

- necessity of communal development

social learning theory --> modeling is most important mode of experience and learning

- bobo doll experiment

Naturalistic observation: info gathered in child's everyday environment without any outside influences

Structured Observation: information gathered in laboratories creating environments amenable to a certain response or behavior of interest

- cross-sectional: one-time experiment (i.e. test one child in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades)

- longitudinal: ongoing experiment (i.e. test a group of 3rd graders each year for a number of years)

- microgenetic: an adaptation of the longitudinal design in which researchers follow a specific thing over closely spaced sessions

critical period: SPECIFIC time period when an individual is most susceptible to LASTING enironmental influences (i.e. days 19-23 for FAS --> cannot be altered afterwards

sensitive period: general period of time where exposure to a certain environmental condition has the potential for the greatest influence (i.e. divorced or dating parents during adolescence)

Continuity: skills develop and build on each other (i.e. language)

Discontinuity: Skills develop in stages and are not connected to earlier ones (i.e. cognitive development)

Nature: inherent, biological, predetermined maturation (i.e. body type, temperament)

Nurture: good environment can overcome poor biological starting point (i.e. SES, IQ)

teratogen: any environmental agent that our body doesn't naturally produce that causes damage to the fetus during the prenatal period

effect: what physically happens --> the developmental outcome or consequence of exposure to a teratogen

mechanism: HOW it happens --> the physiological or biological processes that explain the cause or how specific events occur

1. Germinal Period: Begins with conception and ends with implantation

2. Embryonic Period: begins with implantation and ends with ossification

3. Fetal Period: begins with ossification of the bones and ends with birth

equifinality: different teratogens can cause the same defects (i.e. ADHD can be caused by chronic stress during fetal development OR exposure to drugs/alcohol during pregnancy

multifinality: one single teratogen can result in multiple final outcomes

highest risk during the first trimester; eye and brain damage

- later infection results in mild visual and cognitive impairments

passed to fetus 20-30% of the time

results in respiratory illness, brain damage, delayed mental and motor development

cytomegalovims: transmitted through respiratory or sexual contact

Simplex 2: sexually transmitted

--> both invade the genital tract and are transmitted to babies during pregnancy or birth

- 1/3 die

-1/3 have significant developmental defects

- 1/3 have mild effects upon development

prematurity, low BW, brain damage, anemia in mother

- caused by old paint, industrial materials

- first trimester, physical defects, miscarriages

- later: survival, but low BW, small heads

- last trimester: greater loss in brain weight

Signal labor is coming is triggered by engagement/lightening: baby drops head down about 3 weeks prior to delivery: maturation of infant lungs --> hormone cascade --> endocrine signals estrogen in mother --> water breaks, caused by infant's head, delivery within 24 hours

1. Most of labor: to dialate cervix: contractions, transitions, 1-2 hours

2. 30-90 minutes: baby rotates to be expeled

3. 5-10 minutes: delivery of placenta 

1. Neurogenesis: proliferation of cells prenatally

2. Migration: active vs. passive displacement and neural plasticity

3. Axon growth: axons grow towards a specific target

4. Maturation: neurons are functional but not optimally

5. Synaptogenesis: increase in synaptic connections

6. Decrease in the number of synapses: apoptosis, pruning

7. Myelination

- women experience less pain

- takes less pain medication

- lower rates of assisted delivery (instruments, surgery)

- more positive attitude about birth

- father feels more part of the process

- mother's height, weight, age

- mother's weight at birth

- environmental variables --> teratogens

- nutrition

- birth order: babies after first one are generally larger

- younger than 14 or older than 40 years old for mother influences BW

low BW: less than 5.5 lbs (40 weeks from last menstrual period) --> more of a concern than preterm birth; small for its date but is full-term

pre-term birth: less than 35 weeks post-conception --> not necessarily bad; age of viability

small for gestational age: biggest concern: depending upon which point they are born, they are small for that age

- combination of nature and murtre: maturation and experience

- changes involving growth and skill acquisition in one area of system will improve and impact performance

Example: crawling --> gradual development of motor skills link up to develop into crawling motoin