Infancy - Physical, Cognitive & Social Developent

Question 1

Infant state at birth

Answer 1

• -Almost helpless
• -CNS (brain) is functionally immature until 7 months - minimum activity in the cortex
• -Birth - 24 months, brain grows & triples in weight; neurons mature and develop
• -Good nutrition (protein) & sensory stimulation critical during this tage

Question 2

Infant reflexes

Answer 2

At birth, reflexes are present (do not require learning, disappear with development of brain)

• -Sucking reflex: rooting reflex, head-turning reflex
• -Moro reflex: startle response
• -Babinski reflex: fanning toes when tickled on bottom of foot
• -Palmer reflex: grasping reflex

Question 3

Senses at birth

Answer 3

Smell, taste, hearing almost fully developed at birth; touch at least within a few hours of birth

• -Smell: prefer pleasant odors
• -Taste: sweet over bitter, salty, sour
• -Hearing: may be functional at 26 weeks gestation, prefer mother’s voice as early as 3 days

Question 4

Vision at birth

Answer 4

One sense that is not fully developed at birth

• -Newborns can see at birth, but objects more than 10-12” away are out of focus (20/500 vision/video; 20-400 text)
• -20/20 vision comes at approximately 6-12 months
• -Preference for colors comes at 3-4 months
• -Depth perception coincides with crawling stage

Question 5

Motor Development

Answer 5

• -Roll over - 5 months
• -Sit without support - 7 months
• -Pull self up to a stand - 10 months
• -Walk with help - 12 months
• -Walk alone - 14 months

Question 6

Cognitive Development

Answer 6

• -Some evidence infants remember smells & sights within days of birth (memory of short duration)
• -Birth - 2 years is Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
• -World of here and now
• -Things have meaning when infant sees, smells, tastes or touches it

Question 7

Object permanence

Answer 7

Understanding that objects exist independent of self; acquired in infancy, not complete until 18 months

Question 8

Language Acquisition

Answer 8

• -Birth: crying primary means of communication
• -1-4 months: cooing, squealing
• -6 months: babbling (resembles well formed syllables
• -12 months: 1st word spoken (milk mama, dada)
• -18 months: 2 word combinations, 3-50 word vocabulary
• -24 months: speaking in sort sentences, 50-300 word vocabulary

Question 9

Social Development

Answer 9

• -Infant moving from total dependence to greater independence
• -Freud’s oral stage (libido energy focused on mouth area)
• -Erickson’s trust vs. mistrust stage
• -Infant influenced/affected by others in life, others also affected by infant and his/her temperment–bidirectional

Question 10

Bonding & Attachment

Answer 10

• -Bonding usually refers to the emotional bond that parents feel toward the infant
• -Attachment is the emotional bond the child feels toward the parents or caregivers

Question 11

Bowlby’s Sequential Phases of Attachment

Answer 11

• -Preattachment
• -Attachment in the making:
• -True (clear cut) attachement;
• -Reciprocal (Goal-oriented) attachment:

Question 12

Bowlby’s Preattachment (Phase 1)

Answer 12

birth to 6-8 weeks (does not discriminate one person from another by has ability to elicit caregiving from an adult)

Question 13

Bowlby’s Attachment in the making (Phase 2)

Answer 13

6-8 weeks to 6-8 months (selective social smiling; recognition of familiar faces; smiling less at unfamiliar faces–easily consoled by primary caregiver

Question 14

Bowlby’sTrue (clear cut) attachment (Phase 3)

Answer 14

6-8 months to 18 months (extend an arm to mom; use motor skills to approach; cling to attachment objects; safe base from which to explore). Stranger anxiety takes place–peaks at 8-9 months

Question 15

Bowlby’s Reciproal (Goal-oriented) attachment (Phase 4)

Answer 15

18 months on (notions of self-development; refers to self by name; by 24 months recognizes adult standards, the viewpoints of others, can initiate interaction and negotiate. There is a recognition of cause and effect

Question 16

Mary Ainsworth Attachment Studies - “Stranger Situation” - what was sequence of study

Answer 16

• -With 1-year olds
• -Observer brings mother and child into room and leaves
• -Mother sits in chair while baby explores
• -Stranger comes in and is silent for 1 minutes, talks with mother for 1 minutes, and then approaches baby. Mother leaves
• -Stranger and baby are alone
• -First reunion: Mother returns and stranger leaves. Mother greets and comforts baby. After engaging baby in play, mother says “bye bye” and leaves
• -Second separation: baby is alone
• -Stranger enters an is alone with baby
• -Second reunion: Mother enters, greets and picks up baby. Stranger leaves

Question 17

Mary Ainsworth “Stranger Situation results

Answer 17

2 major types of infant attachment

• -Securely attached infants (60-65%)
• -Insecurely (Anxiously) attached infants, broken down into 3 subsets: Avoidant (20%), Ambivalent (resistant) 10-15%), Disorganized/Disoriented, (5-10%)

Question 18

Attachment and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)

Answer 18

Infants and young children don’t develop healthy bonds with parents or caregivers. Child is typically neglected, abused or orphaned. May permanently change the child’s growing brain, hurting the ability to establish future relationships.

Question 19

Issue of the role of the father

Answer 19

• -Father’s interaction with infants is mostly in the form of playing rather than caregiving
• -Fathers spent an average of 32 minutes per day in caregiving, mothers give 70 minutes per day
• -43% of US fathers have never changed a single infant diaper

Question 20

Issue of Day Care

Answer 20

• -one out of two North American preschool children now in daycare
• -The fastest growing type of child care is infant care
• -high quality infant day care does not appear to disrupt parent-infant bond and has no consistent negative effects