Midterm Flashcards
(130 cards)
1
Q
The science of human development seeks to
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understand how and why people—all kinds of people, everywhere, of every age—change over time (this is the definition of human development).
2
Q
Growth is
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multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic
3
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Developmental study is a science that depends on
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theories, data, analysis, critical thinking, and sound methodology.
4
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Scientific Method
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pose a question
Develop a Hypothesis: shape the question into a hypothesis
Test the Hypothesis: design research to collect empirical evidence (data)
Analyze the evidence gathered in research: conclude whether hypothesis is supported or not.
Repetition: repeat procedures with different participants.
5
Q
Nature
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influence of the genes that we inherit,
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Q
Nurture
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environmental influences—like health and diet from mother and continuing lifelong in school, community…
7
Q
The Nature—Nurture Controversy
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The main question is—how much of any characteristic, behavior, emotion…the result of genes, and how much is because of environment. Question is HOW MUCH, not WHICH. Both genes and environment affect every characteristic. Nature always affects nurture and nurture always affects nature.
8
Q
How is the nature-nurture interaction studied?
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epigenetics, the study of the many ways that the environment alters genetic expression, beginning with methylation at conception and continuing lifelong.
9
Q
Differential Susceptibility
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There is increasing evidence that the sensitivity to any particular experience differs from one person to another because of particular genes each person inherited, or what happened to that person years before. **genetic nurture
10
Q
The Life-Span Perspective
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takes in account all phases of life. led to new understanding of human development as multidirectional, multicontextual multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic.
11
Q
Growth as Multidirectional
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change occurs in every direction, not always in a straight line. multiple changes in every direction characterize life span. Traits appear, disappear, increase, decrease, and zigzag. Gains and losses, predictable growth, and unexpected transformations are evident.
12
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Discontinuous Growth
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change can occur rapidly and dramatically.
13
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Continuous Growth
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growth is steady and gradual. Sometimes characteristics seem to not change at all
14
Q
Losses and Gains
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impairments or improvements. Some changes are sudden because of critical period
15
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Critical Period
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a crucial time when a particular type of developmental growth must happen for normal development to occur.
16
Q
Growth as Multicontextual
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human development is contextual. Among the contexts are physical contexts like climate, noise, population…, family contexts like marital status, family size, age and sex…, and community context like urban, suburban, rural…
17
Q
Which 2 contexts are basic to understanding people at every period of the entire life span?
A
the historical and socioeconomical
18
Q
Historical Context
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Cohorts travel through life together, affected by the values, events, technologies, and culture of the historical period as it interacts with their age at that time. these people born around the same time experience the same events, new techonologies…
19
Q
Cohorts
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All people born within a few years of one another are called cohorts. A cohort is a group defined by its members shared age.
20
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Socioeconomic Context
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SES reflects education, occupation, income, and neighborhood. SES is the person’s position in society as determined by income…SES brings advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and limitations—all affect housing, health, nutrition, knowledge…
21
Q
Growth as Multicultural
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culture is the system of shared beliefs, conventions, behaviors… it is a set of ideas, beliefs, and patterns. Culture is social construction **different cultures affect how people develop
22
Q
Social Construction
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a concept constructed by society, which affects how people think and act. **different cultures affect how people develop
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Growth as Multidisciplinary
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Human development is usually split into three domains—biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial
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Q
Biosocial Domain/Aspect of Development
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includes biology, neuroscience, and medicine.
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Cognitive Domain/Aspect of Development
includes psychology, linguistics, and education.
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Psychosocial Domain/Aspect of Development
includes economics, sociology, and history.
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Growth as Plastic
development is plastic, each life is modeled by contexts and events. Genes and earlier events make people vulnerable to later experiences, for better or worse.
Growth as Plastic is evident in the Dynamic-Systems approach to development and through Differential susceptibility
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Dynamic-Systems Approach to development
human development is an ongoing, ever-changing interaction between the body and mind and between the individual and every aspect of the environment. Physical context, emotional influences, passage of time, and ecosystem are always interacting. Development is never static, it is always affected by many systems of development and also affects many systems of development. every part of the system has an effect on our development. supports idea of growth as plastic
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Differential Susceptibility
The genes and experiences of each person prime him to respond a certain way, and responses are plastic. supports idea of growth as plastic
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Plasticity
human traits can be molded, yet people maintain a certain durability of identity. Shows that change is possible and development builds on what has come before.
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Basic research method #1: Observation
scientific observation requires researchers to record behavior systematically and objectively. Observation is crucial to develop hypotheses.
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3 Types of Observation
in a natural setting, in a lab, or in searches of archival data.
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Basic research method #2: Experiment
establishes what causes what. Impose treatment on a group and then note whether their behavior changes. You manipulate an independent variable and see if it affects the dependent variable.
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Independent variable
the thing imposed on what you are studying
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Dependent variable
whatever you are studying
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Basic research method #3: Survey
info is collected from many people by interview, questionnaire… this is a quick and direct way to get data, but they aren’t always accurate—people can lie, the wording can influence how one answers, etc.
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Method #1 to study change over time/lifespan: Cross Sectional Research
uickest and least expensive way to study development over time. groups of people of one age are compared with people of another age. Can be a problem because the people may not be similar at all except for their age.
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Method #2 to study change over time/lifespan: Longitudinal Research
to discover if age itself rather than cohort causes a developmental change, scientists do this research. You collect data repeatedly on the same individuals as they age. Follow the people from infancy to old age. Can bump into problems with this because of historical context—science, popular culture, and politics can change life experiences. Data collected on someone decades ago may not be relevant for today.
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Method #3 to study change over time/lifespan: Cross Sequential Research
combines the longitudinal and cross sectional tests. Researchers study several groups of people of different ages, follow them over the years, and then combine the results.
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3 Potential Research Hazards
misinterpreting correlation, depending too heavily on numbers, and ignoring ethics.
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Correlation and Causation
mistake to confuse correlation and causation. A correlation exists between 2 variables if one variable is more or less likely to occur when the other does. Correlation is not causation. Just because 2 variables correlate does not mean that one causes the other.
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Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
another concern is how heavily a scientist should rely on quantitative research—this research can be ranked, categorized, numbered…and then can be easily translated across cultures and different populations. This research is less open to bias which is why we prefer it. But this research takes away the individual distinctions which is why people turn to qualitative research—asking open ended questions…but this way is more open to bias and its harder to replicate this data to other populations…
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Ethics
need to uphold ethical standards.
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Developmental Theory:
systematic statement of general principles that provides a framework for understanding how and why people change as they grow. Facts and observations are connected to patterns of change and explanations, weaving the details into a meaningful whole. Developmental theories provide insights that are broad and deep.
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Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud and Erikson
Inner drives, deep motives, and unconscious needs rooted in childhood are the focus of the psychoanalytic theory. These unconscious forces are thought to influence every aspect of thinking and behavior, from smallest detail of daily life to the crucial choices of a lifetime.
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Freud’s Ideas
psychoanalytic theory originated with Freud. From people’s dreams he constructed an elaborate theory. According to Freud, development in the first 6 years of life occurs in three stages, each characterized by sexual interest and pleasure arising from a particular part of the body.
In infancy, the body part is the mouth (oral stage) In early childhood, it is the anus (anal stage) Genital stage arrives at puberty, lasting throughout adulthood.
Freud believed that sensual satisfaction is linked to developmental stages. He also believed that in each stage there are challenges and your experience through them determine personality. He didn’t believe that there were more stages after puberty, rather he believed that adult personalities and habit were influenced by whatever happened in childhood. unconscious conflicts rooted in early life are evident in adult behavior (like smoking you get from your oral phase).
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Erikson's Ideas
Erikson described 8 developmental stage, each characterized by a particular challenge/developmental crisis. Erikson like Freud believed that problems of adult life echo unresolved childhood conflicts. Like if an adult has trouble establishing a secure, mutual relationship with a life partner, they may have never resolved that first crisis of early infancy—trust vs mistrust. Every stage echoes throughout life. like in adulthood, one person may be outspoken while another avoid expressing opinion because each resolved the initiative vs guilt stage in opposite ways. Erikson’s stages emphasize family and culture, not sexual urges. Erikson recognized adult development, with 3 stages after adolescence.
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Erikson Birth to 1-year-old
Trust vs Mistrust: babies either trust that other will satisfy their needs or develop mistrust about the care of others.
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Erikson 1-3 years old
Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: children either become self-sufficient (like going to bathroom, walking…;) or doubt their own abilities
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Erikson 3-6 years old
Initiative vs Guilt: children either try to do adult activities or internalize the limits and prohibitions set by parent. They feel adventurous or guilty.
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Erikson 6-11 years old
Industry vs inferiority: children practice and master new skill or feel inferior
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Erikson Adolescence:
Identity vs role confusion: adolescents ask themselves who they are and develop identities or they are confused about their role.
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Erikson Young Adults:
Intimacy vs isolation: young adults seek companionship or become isolated
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Erikson Middle Aged Adults
Generativity vs stagnation: middle aged adults contribute to generation through work…or they stagnate
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Erikson Older Adults
Integrity vs despair: older adults try to make sense of their lives or despair at goals they never reached.
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Behaviorism
Everything that people do and feel is due to conditioning and learning. i.e. babies learn to smile or to breastfeed, kids learn to hold hands while crossing street. Behaviorists believe that development occurs not in stages but bit by bit. A person learns to talk and read and everything else in very small steps.
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Classical conditioning
(Pavlov) A person learns to associate a neutral stimulus with a meaningful stimulus, creating a conditioned response to the stimulus that’s no longer a neutral stimulus but now a conditioned stimulus. **learning has occurred. Like a white coat can condition a person to be anxious because the white coat means doctor.
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Operant conditioning
(Skinner) people act and then something follows that action. He focused on what happens after a behavior/what is the response. If the consequence that follows behavior is good, the person will repeat the behavior. If consequence is bad, won’t do it again.
Consequences that increase the frequency of a particular actions are called reinforcers, called reinforcement. *punishment.
Pleasant consequences are called rewards.
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Social learning theory
Humans sometimes learn without personal reinforcement. They learn through modeling—copy what they see others do (observational learning). Observable behavior becomes copied behavior.
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Cognitive theory
sensory input triggers a neural response. According to the cognitive theory, thoughts and expectations affect attitudes, values, actions…HOW and WHAT people think is important.
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Piaget's Ideas
How children think changes with time and experience, and their thought processes affect their behavior. According to cognitive theory, to understand humans of any age, one must understand thinking. He believed that cognitive development occurs in 4 age related stages:
Piaget found that intellectual advancement occurs because humans at every sage seek Cognitive Equilibrium.
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Piaget Birth to 2 years
Sensorimotor. infants use sensors and motor abilities to understand the world. Learn that objects still exist when out of sight.
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Piaget 2-6 years old
Preoperational. kids think symbolically with language, but still have their own perspective. Imagination flourishes.
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Piaget 6-11 years old.
Concrete operational. kids understand and apply knowledge. Kids grasp concepts
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Piaget 12 years and on
formal operational. Start to use analysis. Use theoretical reasoning.
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Cognitive Equilibrium
a state of mental balance. Achieve balance by interpreting new experiences through the lens of preexisting ideas. like small kids grasp new objects like they grasped old objects. People of all ages stick to their old ideas—this is cognitive equilibrium.
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Cognitive Disequilibrium
an imbalance that creates confusion. Like sometimes a new experience is incomprehensible—like learning that some dogs do not bark. This disequilibrium causes cognitive growth if people adapt their thinking.
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2 types of cognitive adaptation
Assimilation: new experiences are interpreted to fit/assimilate into old ideas (a dog can bark if it wanted to)
Accommodation: old ideas are restructured to include/accommodate new experiences (some dogs do not bark).
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Sociocultural Theory
(vygotsky) human development results from the dynamic interaction between developing persons and their surrounding society. Culture is not external, it is internalized and it affects your attitude and actions. This theory says that our development results from the interaction between social and cultural forces. Also, according to sociocultural theory, learning is social. As part of the apprenticeship in thinking, a mentor finds the learners Zone of proximal development (an imaginary area surrounding the learner that contains the skills) that are close to being grasped but not yet reached—need the help of the mentor.
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Vygotsky
believed that each person develops with the guidance of more skilled people—these people teach them how to think. Called Apprenticeship in Thinking=cognition is stimulated and developed in people by more skilled people of society.
Guided Participation=process by which people learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations.
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Evolutionary Theory
basic idea of evolutionary theory in development is that in order to understand the emotion, impulses, and habits of humans over the life span, it’s important to understand how those same emotions, impulses, and habits developed within humans over the past 100,000 years.
Example: human fear of snakes evolved since ancient times, when snakes were common killers.
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When is all genetic information for an individual determined?
at conception (nature). Anything that that influences genetic expression is considered an influence from the environment (nurture).
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genotype vs phenotype
a genotype is the genetic constitution of an individual organism and a phenotype is the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment
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epigenetic
relating to or arising from nongenetic influences on gene expression. epigenetics is the study of heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence.
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Teratogen
anything –drugs, viruses, pollutants, malnutrition, stress, and more—that increase the risk of prenatal abnormalities and birth complications. Many problems can be avoided though; many teratogens do not harm/cause no physical defects. But some can affect the brain causing child to be antisocial, intellectually disabled…—this is called behavioral teratogens.
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Risk Analysis
life requires risks. Like crossing the street can be dangerous, but you have to take the risk of crossing the street in order to develop properly. Knowing the danger though, we look both ways. Like pregnancy after age 35 increases chances of many disorders, but at the same time, mature parents are more likely to be have happy marriages. So it can be a risk, but it causes happiness too. Risk analysis is needed; many problems can be prevented.
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Teratology
a science of risk analysis. Although all teratogens increase the risk of hard, none always cause damage—there are probabilities, not certainties. The impact of teratogens depends on the interplay of many factors.
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What are some examples of factors that determine whether a teratogen will be harmful or not?
Timing of Exposure. Amount of Exposure/Threshold Effect, Combination of harmful substances, Genetic Vulnerability
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How does the critical time of teratogens affect the level of harm?
timing is crucial. Some teratogens cause damage only during a critical period. Like before pregnancy, women should avoid drugs, have a good diet, gain or lose weight if needed.
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How do dose or frequency of exposure to teratogens affect how harmful they are?
Some teratogens have a Threshold Effect=they are virtually harmless until exposure reaches a certain level, which at that point they cross the threshold and become damaging. Dose, timing, and frequency and other teratogens affect when the threshold is crossed.
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Innate Vulnerability
genes are a third factor that influences the effects of teratogens. Like a woman who is pregnant with twins and drinks alcohol, the twins will have equal blood alcohol levels, but one twin can be more affected by it than the other due to different alleles for the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol. Genes are not only important at conception, but also during the pregnancy.
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What is a reflex?
an involuntary response to a particular stimulus. Their strength varies between newborns depending on genes, drugs in bloodstream, and overall health.
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Which 3 categories of reflexes are critical to newborn survival?
Reflexes that maintain oxygen supply,
reflexes that maintain constant body temp,
and reflexes that manage feeding.
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Reflexes that maintain oxygen supply:
1. The Breathing Reflex which begins even before the umbilical cord (which gives oxygen) is cut.
2. Reflexive hiccups and sneezes and thrashing (moving arms and legs to escape something that covers their face) also maintain oxygen
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Reflexes that maintain constant body temp:
when babies are cold, they cry, shiver, and tuck their legs. When hot, they try to push away blanket
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Reflexes that manage feeding:
The sucking reflex causes newborns to suck anything that touches their lips. In the Rooting Reflex, babies turn their mouth towards anything that brushes against their cheeks (reflexive search for food). Swallowing is also reflexive and aids feeding. Also crying and spitting up.
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Other infant reflexes that signify normal brain and body functioning:
1. Stepping Reflex: when babies are held upright and feet touch the ground, they move their feet as if to walk.
2. Swimming reflex: when held horizontally on their stomachs, they stretch out their arms and legs.
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Neurons
Neurons are connected to each other by network of nerve fibers called axons and dendrites. Each neuron has many dendrites and one axon. The axon of one neuron meets the dendrites of other neurons at intersections called synapses, which are the communication links within the brain.
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The axon
transmits electrochemical impulses from a neuron to the dendrites of other neurons.
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Dendrites
fibers that extend from a neuron and receive electrochemical impulses transmitted from other neurons via their axons.
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Synapses
the intersections between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites of other neurons
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How do neurons communicate?
Neurons communicate by firing and sending electrochemical messages through their axons to synapse to be picked up by dendrites of other neurons. Dendrites bring the messages to the cell body of the neuron, which are then fired through their axons to other neurons. Axons and dendrites don’t touch, the electrochemical impulses in axons cause the release of neurotransmitters which stimulate other neurons.
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Neurotransmitters
All neurotransmitters are crucial to human development. Neurotransmitters carry information from the axon to the dendrites (process is speeded up by myelin—coating on outside of axon.)
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The limbic system
Pleasure and pain may arise from the limbic system, a cluster of brain areas deep in the forebrain that is heavily involved in emotions and motivation. 3 crucial parts of limbic system are amygdala, hypothalamus and hippocampus.
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Amygdala:
a tiny structure that registers strong emotions, both positive and negative (like fear). The amygdala is present in infancy, but growth depends on experience.
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Hippocampus:
central processor of memory. It responds to the amygdala by summoning memory. Like some places feel comforting (like home) or some evoke fear (like doctor’s office).
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Hypothalamus:
Responds to signals from the amygdala and to memories from the hippocampus by producing hormones like cortisol, a hormone that increases with stress. It controls that maintenance functions such as eating, it helps govern endocrine system, linked to emotion and reward. The pituitary Gland responds to the hypothalamus by sending out hormones to various body parts.
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Corpus Callosum
axon fibers that connect the two cerebral hemispheres.
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Why is the brain half as large at birth?
At birth, the brain has way more neurons than a person really needs. Some die. But a newborn has way less dendrites, axons and synapses than one needs.
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Transient Exuberance
Early dendrite growth is called Transient Exuberance—it is so rapid (exuberant) and some of it is temporary (transient).
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Pruning
The expansive brain growth characterized by transient exuberance is followed by Pruning (cut unused brain connections in order to enable more growth.) pruning is essential. As brain matures, the process of extending and eliminating dendrites is attuned to experience, as the appropriate links in the brain are established, protected, and strengthened. Thinking and learning require connections among many parts of the brain. This process is made more efficient because some potential connections are pruned. Your brain connections develop as needed to fit your environment (like in an environment where you need to read, your brain will make those connections).
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Necessary and Possible Experiences: Greenough identifies 2 experience-related aspects of brain development:
Experience expectant growth and experience dependent growth
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Experience-expectant Growth:
certain functions require basic experience in order to develop. Those experiences are part of the infant’s life, so all human brains grow as their genes direct. Brains need and expect such experiences and development would suffer without them. The expected experiences must happen for normal brain maturation to occur—all babies need to see objects and people to love, no matter which environment and culture they are in. babies automatically look around and allow for those experiences to happen to them. as a result, their brains develop.
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Experience-dependant Growth:
some brains function on particular experiences, which are not essential. They happen in some families and cultures but not in others. Because of experience-dependent experiences, humans can be different from one another. Dependent experiences may happen, depending on the environment. Like which language the baby hear, what faces they see. Depending on these experiences, the brain functions differently for each baby. This is what makes everyone different.
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sensation vs perception
Sensation occurs when a sensory system detects a stimulus. Sensations begin when outer organ (eye, tongue, nose, ear, skin) meets anything that can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched. Perception requires paying attention to a sensation—most of what we see and hear are not perceived because they are meaningless to us. But with experience, perception builds and visual scanning proves.
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the extent of an infant’s sensory abilities in hearing
at birth, certain sounds trigger reflexes, even without conscious perception. Like sudden noises startle newborns, making them cry. Soon, newborns can pinpoint the source of the noise
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the extent of an infant’s sensory abilities in vision
vision is immature at birth. Newborns are legally blind, they only focus on thing between 4-30 inches away from them. experience combines with maturation of the visual cortex to improve the ability to see shapes and notice details. Vision improves rapidly.
Binocular vision (coordinating both eyes to see one image) is impossible in the womb (nothing is far away), many newborns seem to use their two eyes independently. Experience leads to binocular vision. Between 2 and 4 months, both eyes can focus on one thing.
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the extent of an infant’s sensory abilities in taste and smell
Adaptations occur for the sense of smell and taste—the smell you like and taste you like usually go back to what you were exposed to when you were a baby. Babies also learn to recognize a person’s scent. They prefer to sleep next to their caregivers
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the extent of an infant’s sensory abilities in touch and pain
sense of touch is acute in infants. Wrapping, rubbing, massaging, and cradling are soothing for new babies. Touching the baby in a soothing way lower’s baby’s heart rate.
Pain and temperature—babies cry when being changed because of coldness of skin
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Motor Skills
(any movement ability): most dramatic motor skill is independent walking. All basic motor skills like lifting up head and stair climbing all develops in infancy. Motor skills begin with reflexes
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Gross motor skills
deliberate actions that coordinate many parts of the body, producing large movements. These skills emerge directly from reflexes and process in a cephalocaudal (head down) and proximodistal (center out) direction. Infants first control their heads, lifting them up to look around. Then they control their upper bodies, their arms, and then their legs and feet.
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Gross motor skills of infants
By 3 months most babies can sit propped up in a lap. By 6 months, they can sit unsupported.
Crawling is an example of head-down center-out direction of skill mastery. As they gain muscle strength, infant wiggle, attempting to move forward by pushing their arms, shoulders, and upper bodies against the surface they are lying on.
Interaction between strength, maturation, and practice. 🡪Like for walking: as they gain muscle strength, they stand and then walk. As brain matures, deliberate and coordinated leg actions become possible. Unbalanced walking becomes smooth steady walking with practice.
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Fine motor skills
small body movements. Like finger movements that allow us to write and draw…
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Fine motor skills of infants
Newborns have strong reflex grasp but lack control. So for first 2 months usually babies swing their arms around by 3 months, they can usually touch objects, but not yet grab because of limited eye control. By 4 months, they can grab, but timing is off (close hands to early). Towards end of first year, finger skills improve.
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Cultural variations of development
Sequence of development is universal, but there are individual and cultural variations for age of acquisition. all healthy infants develop skills in the same sequence, but the age of acquisition varies because each culture encourages certain kinds of practice. Importance of context/environment. Cultural patterns affect acquisition of every sensory and motor skill. Like in some cultures, babies are discouraged from walking if dangerous animals are around (snakes).
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Piaget’s stage of Sensorimotor Intelligence
refers to the earliest stage (birth to 2 years) in Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This stage is characterized as the period of a child's life when learning occurs through a child's sensory and motor interactions with the physical environment. The sensorimotor stage of development can be broken down into six additional sub-stages
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Primary circular reactions
interplay of sensation, perception, action, and cognition are circular reactions (no beginning and no end). Each experience leads to the next. In Primary Circular Reactions, the circle is within the infant’s body. There are 2 stages of primary reactions- The stage of reflexes and First Acquired Adaptations. These first two stages involve the infant’s responses to its own body. First stage is about reflexes (sucking, grasping, staring, listening). Stage Two involves accommodation and assimilation.
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stage 1: The stage of reflexes
Stage 1 of the development of primary reactions. Lasts only a month and it is when reflexes become deliberate actions, sensations leads to perception, perception leads to cognition, and then cognition leads back to sensation.
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stage 2: first aquired adaptations
Stage 2 of the development of primary reactions. First Acquired Adaptations: begins because reflexes adjust to whatever responses they elicit. Adaptation is cognitive and it includes repeating new patterns (Assimilation) and developing new ones (accommodation).
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Secondary Circular Reactions
development advances in these 2 stages. These reactions extend beyond the infant body. This circular reaction is between the baby and something else. Third and fourth stage involve the infant’s response to objects and people.
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Stage Three
(4-8 months): infants attempt to produce exciting experiences. Making interesting sights last, responding to people and objects. (like clapping hands when sing a song).
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Stage Four
(8m-1yr): new adaptations and anticipation. Babies may ask for help to accomplish what they want. becoming more deliberate and purposeful in responding to people and objects. (like putting moms hand together to make her sing a song.)
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Tertiary Circular Reactions:
Stages Five and Six: in their second year, infants start experimenting in thought and deed—they act first and think later. This stage begins when infant takes independent actions to discover the properties of other people, animals, and things. they don’t respond only to their own bodies anymore (primary reactions) or to other people (secondary). Their cognition is not a circle anymore, it’s more a spiral—increasingly creative with each discovery.
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Stage 5
(12-18m): new means through active experimentation. Now they are goal directed and purposeful activities become more expansive. Like drawing on the wall—they experiment in order to see.
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Stage 6
(18-24m): toddlers use mental combinations, intellectual experimentation via imagination that can supersede the active experimentation of stage five. They combine ideas, think about consequences (use memory—like before drawing on wall they remember how mom got mad. Ability, so in this stage of development, they will hesitate before drawing on wall), to combine ideas allows them to pretend—like pretend a doll is a baby.
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Object Permanence:
until 8 months, babies don’t search for an object that is out of sight. They don’t understand object permanence—concept that objects continue to exist when they aren’t visible. At 8 months, babies begin looking for toys
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Affordances
Perception is not automatic. For infants, perception is a cognitive accomplishment that requires selectivity. The environment Affords (offers) many opportunities to interact with whatever is perceived. Each of these opportunities is called an affordance. Which affordance is perceived and acted on depends on 4 factors—the senses, motivation, maturation, and experience.
Experiences always affect which affordances are perceived. Like some infants don’t realize that crawling over an edge affords falling, some do. The difference is in processing affordances. Later on, they learn that you do fall. Also age and past experience influence one’s reaction to the environment.
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Infant Memory:
within the first weeks after birth, infants recognize their caregivers by face, voice, and smell. Sensory and caregiver memories are apparent in the first month, motor memories by 3 months, and then at about 9 months more complex memories are apparent.
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Conditions of infant memory:
memories are evident if motivations and emotions are high and if retrieval is strengthened by reminders and repetitions.
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Proof of infant memory
1. an experiment in which 3 month old infants learned to move a mobile by kicking their feet. They realized kicking made it move so they kicked more vigorously. A week later, they were in the same situation and they began kicking immediately. They remembered their previous experiment. But 2 weeks later, they didn’t kick (only random kicks). They didn’t remember—evident that memory is fragile.
2. Reminders and repetitions: another experiment that showed that 3 month old babies could remember after 2 weeks if they had a reminder session before they were retested. In the reminder session, two weeks after initial training, the infants watched the mobile move but were not ties to it (in order to kick it). The next day they were connected to mobile and they kicked just like they learned to do 2 weeks ago!
3. A little older, a little more memory: older infants retain more information for a longer time than younger babies do. 9 month old babies have better memory and can repeat things after observing them. one year olds can transfer learning from one object/experience to another, can learn from strangers, and copy what they see in movies or books.
