DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY PYC4805

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY PYC4805

1. Identify Factors that contribute to memory development, attention and metacognition 2. Present Research findings on group formation in middle childhood and adolescence

Child Development ASSIGNMENT 01, UNIQUE NUMBER - 836372 (15 April 2016)

Ms. Ndlovu Brightness STUDENT NUMBER – 32932715

Hearing

The infants’ responsiveness to different sounds support for the new born babies to explore and understand their environment.

Touch can be an effective means of communication between an infant and the parent. Parents can develop an interaction by stroking their child gently. This assist in stimulating early physical growth and emotional development.

Touch

Tasting actions are essential for survival of new born. Mother’s breast milk is important for an infant to grow healthy and strong. After 3 months the baby is ready for semi solid foods like porridge, Nestum and Purity products. Smell assists the infants to recognise the food that they are fond of from foods they don’t like much, e.g. some infants do not like salty foods in their developmental stage.

Perceptual

Taste and Smell

Development in Infancy

Vision

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Speech Perception

Hearing

Young babies pay more attention to human speech, e.g. their parents than structurally similar non speech sounds. It is where they learn their home (native) language (mother tongue). They usually follow the movement of the lips.

Analysing the Speech Stream Young infants have an amazing way of learning sounds. They develop statistical learning capacity that enables them to detect speech patterns from which they later develop meanings of certain words. Babies start learning their first words at twelve months. Babies are innately supported with this ability from nurturing received from primary care givers (i.e. parents).

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Object Perception

Depth Perception

Size constancy is a perception of an object’s size as the same regardless of the changes in size of its retinal image.

Structural acuity explains that a new-born’s vision is not very acute or coordinated, though it improves over the next several months. Depth perception, or a three-dimensional view of the world, develops between 5 and 8 months. This helps an infant identify edges and determine the proximity of an object. The development of depth perception occurs around the time an infant might be starting to crawl.

Shape constancy is a perception of an object’s shape as consistent/stable regardless of a change in its retinal image.

Intermodal Perception Pattern Perception Contrast sensitivity explain infants’ pattern preferences. Infants stare at high-contrast features then they proceed to the internal features and then move to complex patterns. Infants do not show an immediate preference for well-structured patterns. They develop sensitivity towards well-structured patterns around 4 months.

Vision

Occurs when perception is formed from running streams of light, sounds, odours, and taste information and perceiving them as an integrated whole. Amodal sensory properties is information that is not specific to a single modality but that overlaps two or more sensory systems, such as rate, rhythm, duration, texture intensity, temporal synchrony (for vision and hearing), and texture and shape (for vision and touch).

Face Perception Understanding Perceptual Development

Infants show selective attention to faces from birth. New-born infants preferentially look longer at face-like configurations than non-face-like configurations.

Differentiation theory explains how infants actively search for invariant features of the environment, those that remain consistent in a perceptual world. 3

Factors Contributing to the Formation of the First Social Relationships

Motor Development in Infancy

Reflexes

Fine Motor Development – grabbing and touching of objects within reach. Their fine motor skills develop as their whole body starts to move and become more stable. Pre-reaching is when they practice poorly coordinated swipes and Ulnar Palmar grasp object held on the ulnar (pinkie side) side of the palm using fingers on that side of the hand. Radial Palmar Grasp: object held in on the radial (thumb side) of the palm using fingers on that side of the hand.

Adaptive Value of Reflexes       

Cultural factors in Motor Development - While there are genetic aspects to consider when evaluating gross and fine motor skills, most researchers agree that non-genetic factors have an equal effect, these are opportunities and stimulating environment affect motor development, cultural values and child-rearing customs used

Rooting reflex Swimming reflex Moro reflex Palmar grasp Stepping reflex Babinski reflex Suck reflex

Reflexes and the development of the motor Tonic neck reflex- voluntary turning the baby's head to one side while he lies on his back Palmer grasp when swimming, stepping reflex promotes development areas of the cortex that govern voluntary movements.

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Why it is important to Assess Reflexes

Motor Skills as Dynamic System

The presence and strength of a reflex is an important sign of nervous system development and function.

It involves self-organizing and autonomous properties of muscle synergies and the ability to control the movement of their muscles. Abilities for physical movement change through childhood from the largely reflexive (unlearned, involuntary) movement patterns of the young infant.

Infant reflexes are responses that are normal in infants and will give an indication if there is any neurological abnormality and can reveal if the infant is in perfect health and their nervous system are working properly. Weak, absent, rigid, or overly exaggerated reflex indicates some sort of brain abnormality.

Sequence of motor development Sequence of motor development refers to the rapid development the infant go through during the development stages, from grasping to crawling, standing by grasping onto nearby objects, walking and fine motor skills. The motor skills are innate and fixed sequences of motor development are interrelated. The babies and children develop motor skills in their own unique ways.

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Neonatal Behavioural Assessment

Types of Learning Capacities

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The Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) was developed in 1973 by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton. The Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) evaluates the baby’s reflexes muscle tone, reports changes in responsiveness to physical and social stimuli and other reactions such as motor development.

The organised Infant

States of an Organised Infant

Habituation – occurs when visual stimulus presented to an infant elicits looking behaviour that habituates with repeated presentations of the stimulus. It acts as an early predictor of novelty and intelligence. New-born imitation- infants imitate the parents’ behaviour by using reflexes. They mirror the adults’ facial expressions by demonstrating different forms of reflexes. Infants will imitate intention of adults but not intention of machines. Classical Conditioning - An unconditioned stimulus (UCS), say, a nipple inserted into the mouth, elicits a reflexive unlearned response (unconditioned response, UR), sucking. The infant can become conditioned to the nipple (now a conditioned stimulus, CS) so that sucking occurs as soon as the baby sees a nipple (now a conditioned response, CR).

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State of Arousal Sleep with Regular or NREM (non-rapid eye movement) Irregular or REM (rapid eye movement) Drowsiness Quiet alertness Waking Activity and crying Crying – Parents respond by soothing the infant Abnormal crying

Influences on Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Role Adoption

Treatment by Teachers

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting Style differ according to the gender of the child Observational learning Children learn by observing gender type models in their immediate environment and aim to emulate this later in life. Media also play a role in children wanting to associate themselves with certain gender roles.

Treatment by Parents

Middle Childhood to Adolescence Stages Teachers reinforce children of both genders for feminine behaviour while encouraging traditional gender roles. For example, teachers will assign the task that requires physical strength to boys. Boys are also attracted to activities where results are not involved

Parents have higher expectations from boy child in terms of academic performance compared to girls. They are expected to be the one to assist the girls. There is difference in treatment between boys and girls. Fathers tend to be close to boys but have high expectancy on them; and they have low expectancy on their girls but show them much affection. Mothers are the ones expected to teach girls appropriate behaviour.

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Infancy and Early Childhood From as early as infancy, parents hold gender stereotyped perceptions of children. Parents do this by assigning different play activities according to a child’s gender, thus highlighting gender distinction early on i.e. by buying doll toys for girls and car toys for boys.

Environmental Influences on Gender Roles and Stereotyping

Perception and Expectation from parents

Other influences

Parents’ perceptions and expectations lead the children to display the characteristics of a boy or a girl from infancy until adolescence, that automatically assign them to different gender orientations. They instil personality traits in a gender-stereotyped fashion. For boys they will allocate gender appropriate toys and activities e. g. taking them to soccer practice on Saturdays, and instil values that will elicit emotional control and achievement driven behaviours. Rearing values instilled in girls is to display appropriate ladylike behaviour and encourage girl-appropriate activities, e.g. sign them up for speech therapy and modelling courses.

Cultural Differences - Where a child grows up and who her parents are will influence the “cultural wisdom,” or emphasis of certain values and skills, that are passed to her. In early childhood, these cultural differences become increasingly significant. Gender Segregated Peer groups – children learn about the social expectations, attitudes and behaviours typically associated with boys and girls and will form interaction based on what type of gender they identify with. Siblings – Impact of siblings on gender varies with birth order and family size. In larger families where there is same sex there is level of trust and connection amongst siblings.

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Biological influences on Gender Stereotyping

Cross-cultural similarities in gender stereotypes and gender role adoption

Play styles and Preferences within the same gender children

Evolutionarily, on gender roles male child assume a more dominance role and females assumes cooperation and responsiveness. In cross cultural Instrumental traits are more found in boys and girls tend to be more expressive in their views. Boys have more mature muscular development but are more vulnerable to disease and hereditary anomalies. Girls excel early in verbal skills, but boys excel in visual-spatial and math skills.

Androgen sexual orientation affects play style. Boys tend to interact roughly with their peers, while girls assume a calmer and gentle approach in playing activities.

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Biological influences on Gender Stereotyping

Exception in Sexual Development The greater (AHg) exposure to prenatal androgens, the child will emulate masculine behaviour and lean towards careers like Engineering and Construction, whilst a reduction in prenatal androgen exposure predicted feminine gender typed behaviour including the type of games they will play with their peers.

Sex Hormones and Gender Typing

Prenatal gender orientation contribute to play styles differences in children from an early age. Children develop gender-based beliefs, largely on the basis of gender stereotypes; the latter are reflected in gender roles. Children adopt a gender identity early in life and develop gender-role preferences as well. Girls are more physically and neurologically advanced at birth.

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