Prenatal Prenatal DevelopmentDevelopment

Prenatal Prenatal DevelopmentDevelopment

prenatal development:prenatal development: Development from conception to Development from conception to

birth.birth.embryo:embryo: 2 weeks after conception 2 weeks after conception

to 3 months.to 3 months.fetus:fetus: 3 months after conception 3 months after conception

to birth.to birth.

Neonate Reflexes• rooting reflex: A baby turns its head

toward something touching its cheek and gropes around with its mouth.

• sucking reflex: Sucking on any object placed in a baby’s mouth.

• swallowing reflex: Enables the neonate to swallow liquids without choking.

Neonate Reflexes• grasping reflex: Neonates close

their fists on anything that is placed in their hands.

• stepping reflex: The light stepping motions made by neonates if they are held upright with their feet just touching a surface.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

• Heavy alcohol consumption by the mother during pregnancy results in facial deformities, heart defects, stunted growth, and cognitive impairments.

Temperment•The physical/emotional

characteristics of the newborn child and young infant.

3 Types of Temperment

• easy: good-natured and adaptable, easy to care for and please

• difficult: moody and intense, reacting to new people and new situations negatively and strongly

• “slow-to-warm-up”: relatively inactive and slow to respond to new things, and when they do react, their reactions are mild

Developmental Trends• cephalocaudal: Development occurs in

areas near the head (cephalo) first and areas farther from the head develop later (caudal means tail).

• proximodistal: Development occurs near the center of the body (proximal) first and near the extremities (distal) later.

Developmental Trends• gross to specific development:

Children tend to gain control of gross (large muscle) movement before they gain control of specific (or fine motor control) movement.

Cognitive Development (Piaget)

• sensory-motor stage (birth-2)• preoperational stage (2-7)• concrete operations (7-11)• formal operations (11-15)

Sensory-Motor Stage (birth to 2 years)

• object permanence: The concept that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight.

• mental representations: Mental images or symbols (such as words) used to think about or remember an object, a person, or an event.

Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)

• A child becomes able to use mental representations and language to describe, remember, and reason about the world.

• egocentric: Unable to see things from another person’s point of view.

Concrete-Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)

• A child can attend to more than one thing at a time and understand someone else’s point of view, though thinking is limited to concrete matters.

• A child can understand conservation.

Formal-Operational Stage (11 to 15 years)

•The individual becomes capable of abstract thought.

Criticisms of Piaget• Piaget underestimated the cognitive

ability of infants.• Cognitive milestones are reached

sooner than Piaget believed.• He did not take the role of social

interaction into account.• His theory does not address human

diversity.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

• preconventional: Interpreting behavior in terms of its concrete consequences.

• conventional: Interpreting behavior in terms of social (and societal) approval.

• postconventional: Emphasis on abstract principles (e.g., justice, liberty, and equality).

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

• Many people never progress beyond the conventional level.

• His theory does not take into account cultural differences in morals.

• Possible gender bias in his theory (Carol Gilligan’s research).

Imprinting• A form of primitive bonding seen

in some species of animals. • The newborn animal has a

tendency to follow the first moving thing it sees after it is born or hatched.

Social Development• attachment: The emotional bond that

develops in the first year of life that makes human babies cling to their caregivers for safety and comfort.

• socialization: The process by which children learn the behaviors and attitudes appropriate to their family and their culture.

Parenting StylesParenting

StyleStyle of

DisciplineEffect onChildren

Authoritarian strict andrigid

withdrawnand

distrustful

Permissive too littlediscipline

overlydependentand lack

self-control

Authoritative firm and fairself-reliantand sociallyresponsible

Play as Social Development

• solitary play: A child engaged in some activity alone; the earliest form of play.

• parallel play: Two children playing side by side at the same activities, paying little or no attention to each other; the earliest form of social interaction between toddlers.

Play as Social Development

• cooperative play: Two or more children engaged in play that requires interaction.

• peer group: A network of same-aged friends and acquaintances who give one another emotional and social support.

Sex Roles/Gender Identity

• gender identity (age 3): The knowledge that one is male or female.

• gender constancy (age 4 or 5): The realization that gender cannot be changed.

Sex Role Development• gender-role awareness: Knowledge of

what behavior is appropriate for each gender.

• gender stereotypes: General beliefs about characteristics that men and women possess.

• sex-typed behavior: Socially prescribed ways of behaving that differ for boys and girls.