INFANCY and CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

							INFANCY and CHILDHOOD
    DEVELOPMENT
 Babies come
 into the world
   with many
innate abilities,
 these abilities
  are present
   from birth.
          Motor Development
 Definition: The increasing coordination of
  muscles that makes physical movements
  possible.

 Developmental norms tell us the median age at which
babies develop specific behaviors and abilities.
 Maturation is genetically programmed growth and
development.
 Although maturation plays a large role, babies also
actively develop motor skills by moving around and
exploring their environment.
EXAMPLE: Cultural Differences




In cultures where babies receive early training in sitting
   up, standing, and walking. They develop these skills
   earlier. Conversely in other cultures, mothers carry
   babies most of the time and babies develop these
   skills later.
               Temperament
   Definition: The kind of personality
    features babies are born with.

 Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, two
researchers who study temperament, described three
basic types of temperament.
   Easy - Children tend to be happy and adapt easily
   to change.
   Slow-to-warm-up - Children tend to be less
   cheerful and less adaptable than easy children.
   Difficult - Children tend to be glum and irritable,
   and they dislike change.
                 Attachment
 Definition: A close bond between infants
  and their caregivers.

                  QUICK REVIEW


Contact Comfort: Comfort derived from physical closeness
with a caregiver.
         Attachment Styles


Mary Ainsworth did a study on a mother and a
 child and categorized the characteristics of
 the experiment called a “Strange Situation.”
 The experiment was based on how an infant
 reacts to unfamiliar people and places.


                       CONTINUED…
  Types of Attachment Styles
 Secure Attachment - Most infants in the experiment had a
  secure attachment to their moms. These infants expressed
  unhappiness when their mothers left but still played with the
  stranger. When their mothers returned the infants looked
  happy. The infants displayed greater attachment to their
  mothers than to the strangers.

 Anxious-ambivelant attachment - Some infants showed a type of
  insecure attachment called anxious-ambivalent attachment.
  These infants became upset whent heir mothers left but resisted
  contact witht heir mothers whent hey returned.

 Avoidant Attachment - Other infants showed a type of insecure
  attachment called an Avoidant Attachment. These infants didn’t
  seem upset whent heir mothrs left and avoided their mothers
  when they returned. Researchers did not see a significant
  difference in the waty these infants treated teir mothers and the
  stranger.
          Seperation Anxiety
Definition: The emotional distress infants show
when they separate from people to whom they
are attached.



 Separation anxiety
    Begins: 6 – 8 months old
    Peak intensity: 14 – 18 months old
      Separation Anxiety Example

Daycare or not?

  Research suggests that babies have a greater
  chance of developing insecure attachments, if a
  non-parental figure cares for them more than 20
  hours per week.
            Gender Development

Gender – refers to a learned distinction between
masculinity and femininity

Gender stereotypes – a societal belief about the
characteristics of males and females