PSY 101    Class 03 Development I: Prenatal & Childhood Development (Outline)

Johnny W. (Kristof, 2014, Feb. 22 & 2014, Mar. 02, NY Times)

Alex R.

Johnny is a 3 year old, happy and friendly kid born to a single White mother. He lives in Point Pleasant, WV in a trailer with his mom who doesn't have enough money to fix her broken car. However, as an infant, Johnny was deaf but it was not noticed until he was 18 months old. While medical treatment allowed him to hear, he is still having difficulty speaking. In his community, 20% of children are actually born with alcohol or drugs in their systems. Johnny does attend preschool. 22% of the families in his town live below the poverty level (2019 data; 97.95% of t he community is White and 785 of the 830 (i.e. 95%) poor people in this town are White). 79.3% of the poor families are headed by females with no husband present. Another difficulty faced by children similar to Johnny W. is the danger of ingesting lead from peeling paint as a toddler. (66.7% of homes in Mason Co., WV built before 1980)

Alex is a 3 year old, happy, and friendly kid born to married White parents. He lives in Manlius, NY. His father is an engineer and his mother teaches school in the Fayettevile-Manlius (F-M) school system. As a newborn infant, he developed a bilateral ear infection and became significantly deaf because of fluid build-up. The problem remained even after a course of antibiotics. His parents first noticed at the age of 4 months that he didn't seem either to startle at loud sounds or to respond to his mother's voice. He was examined by his pediatrician and referred to a specialist around 5 months of age. He was fitted with ear tubes and his hearing was restored. His speech is normal for a child of his age. Alex R. is enrolled in a preschool program (one of the 7 to 10 programs available in Manlius, NY). 7.3% of the families in his community live below the poverty level (2019 data; but 0% of the children or adolescents in Manlius live below the poverty line).   The F-M school district that Alex will attend eventually is one of the best in NY State. About 98% of graduates go on to college. His home is about 15 years old and contains no lead-based paint.

How do you think each of these children will develop over the next twenty years?

What are the most important factors affecting how these children will develop?

Prenatal Development

Stages

1. Germinal: Conception to 2 weeks

• Zygote
  
• Placenta

2. Embryonic State: 2 to 8 weeks

3. Fetal State: 8 weeks to 38 weeks

Environmental Risk Factors to Fetal Development

1. Maternal Malnutrition

2. Stress & Emotion

3. Maternal Drug Usage

4. Maternal Alcohol Consumption

  

• Drinking may lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or other Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)

• In recent years, research has found far higher levels of FAS/FASD than previously thought
• Old estimate: 0.5 to 2-3 per 1000 births for FAS and 10 per 1000 births for FASD
• New (conservative) estimate: 11 to 50 per 1000 births for FASD (= 1.1 to 5% of all US child births)
  
• Many (even most) cases are probably not diagnosed
  
• Even "moderate" levels of drinking can have negative effects on developing child
• No safe level of drinking in pregnant women
  

5. Maternal Illness (Infections)

6. Environmental Toxins

7. Fetal Origins of Adult Diseases

Early Childhood

Physical & Motor Development: Exploring the world

Pattern = (1) cephalocaudal (head-to-foot) & (2) proximodistal (center-outwards)

Maturation = development which comes from the unfolding of genetic blueprint

Developmental Norms

• Typical form
  

• Variation in motor development

Cultural Variations

Temperament: Easy & Difficult Babies [Not in text, but important]

• Temperament = characteristic mood, activity level, & emotional reactivity

• Thomas & Chess: Longitudinal Study
  

• Easy (40%)
• Slow-to-Warm-Up (15%)
• Difficult (10%)

Early Emotional Development: Attachment

• Attachment = close, emotional bond of affection between child & caregivers
• Separation Anxiety = emotional distress shown by infant when separated from those whom they are attached to
• Patterns of Research by Harry Harlow & Mary Ainsworth

    

• Harlow's Baby Monkeys prefer cloth-covered to wire-covered "substitute mothers"
  

• The Strange Situation: Experimental study of children's attachment to parents
  

• Ainsworth devised an experimental situation in which children between the ages of 14 and 24 months of age could be observed.
  
• YouTube: 3'14"

1. Secure Attachment
2. Anxious-Ambivalent (Resistant)
3. Avoidant
4. Disorganized (not in book)

• Child develops an internal working model of the dynamics of close relationships

Cultural Differences in Attachment

Communicating: Language Development

Toward Words

Using Words

Parent-Infant Speech & Language Learning

• Talking to Children Matters => Early Language Experience Strengthens Processing and Builds Vocabulary

Personality Development: Erikson's Theory

• Stage = developmental period in which characteristic patterns of behavior are exhibited and certain capacities become established

1. Certain (invariant) order
2. Age-related
3. Qualitative change (discontinuous from past stages)

• Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development (Personality)
• Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development (Thinking): NEXT CLASS
• Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development (Moral Reasoning & Judgment; we will NOT cover this)  

   Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

We develop within a psychosocial world and face demands at each stage of development to grow and change.

Developmental Stage (Approx. Age)	Freudian Stage (Psychosexual)	Erikson's Stage  (Psychosocial)
Infant (0-1 yo)	Oral	Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
Toddler (2-3)	Anal	Autonomy vs. Self-Doubt
Early Childhood (4-6)	Phallic	Initiative vs. Guilt
Late Childhood (7-12)	Latency	Industry vs. Inferiority
Adolescence (13-18)	Genital	Ego Identity vs. Role Confusion
Adult Transition (19-26)	(Not examined by Freud)	Intimacy vs. Isolation
Early/Middle Adulthood (26-55)		Generativity vs. Self-Absorption
Later Adulthood/Old Age (55+)		Integrity vs. Despair

1. Trust versus mistrust (~ birth to about 2 years old)

2. Autonomy vs. Shame-Doubt (~ ages 2-3)

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (~ ages 4 to 6)

4. Industry vs. Inferiority (~ ages 7 through 12)

     Here is a diagram of the most important stage theories in current psychology (pdf version)

• Positive
• Negative