The Developing Person
Through the Life Span 8e
by Kathleen Stassen Berger
CHAPTER 5-7
THE FIRST TWO YEARS:
•
•
•
BIOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Body Changes
Body Size
 Average weight: double the birthweight by month 4, triple it by
age 1, much of it is fat
 Average height: grow 14 inches from birth to age 2
 Head-Sparing
If nutrition temporarily inadequate, body stops
growing but not the brain
Sleep
 Average newborn sleeps 16 hours per day
 Ample sleep correlates with normal brain maturation, learning,
emotional regulation, academic success and psychological adjustment
 Between birth and 36 months total sleep time decreases
Brain Development
Neuron- the billions of nerve cells in the
central nervous system.
Cortex- the outer layers of the brain.
Axon- a fiber that extends from a neuron and
transmits electrochemical impulses from that
neuron to the dendrites of other neurons.
Dendrite- a fiber that extends from a neuron
and receives electrochemical impulses
transmitted from other neurons via their
axons.
Synapse- the intersection between the axon
of one neuron and the dendrites of other
neurons.
Neurotransmitter- a brain chemical that
carries information from the axon of a
sending neuron to the dendrites of a receiving
neuron.
Transient Exuberance
 The great but temporary
increase in the number of
dendrites in an infant’s
brain from birth to age 2
 Enables neurons to connect
and communicate with
other neurons
 This is followed by pruning
where unused neurons and
misconnected dendrites die
Stress and the Brain
 If it produces too many
stress hormones in infants,
the brain will not be able
to have normal stress
responses.
 Occurs in infants who are
terrified and experience
other forms of stress.
 Can continue to occur
when the infant is an adult
Necessary and Possible Experiences
Experience-related aspects of brain function:
 Experience-expectant : MUST happen for
normal brain maturation. Require basic common
experiences in to develop normally (i.e. people who
love them)
 Experience-dependent: these happen to some
infants but not all, not necessary for brain function
(i.e. language baby hears)
Brain Development
Prefrontal Cortex: the last part of the brain to
mature. The area for anticipation, planning, and
impulse control
Shaken baby syndrome- a life-threatening injury
occurring when an infant is forcefully shaken back and
forth, rupturing blood vessels and breaking neural
connections .
Self-righting- inborn drive to fix a developmental
deficit
 All people have self-righting impulses for physical
and emotional imbalances.
Sensation and Perception
Sensation- The response of a
sensory system (eyes, ears, skin,
tongue, nose) when it detects a
stimulus.
Perception- The mental
processing of sensory
information when the brain
interprets a sensation.
(i.e. “At First Sight”)
Sensation and Movement
Hearing develops during the last trimester of pregnancy and is already
quite acute at birth; the most advanced of the newborn’s senses.
Vision is the least mature sense at birth.
Newborns focus only on objects between 4 and 30 inches away.
Binocular vision, the ability
to coordinate the two eyes to
see one image, appears at
3 months.
Sensation and Movement
 Gross motor skills-
Physical abilities involving
large body movements, such
as walking and jumping.
Fine motor skills- Physical abilities
involving small body movements,
especially of the hands and fingers,
such as drawing and picking up a coin.
Gross Motor Skills
Ethnic Variations
 Cultural patterns of child rearing affect, perception,
and motor skills
Breastfeeding
Nutrition
 For every infant disease
(including SIDS), breastfeeding reduces risk and
malnutrition increases it.
 Breastfed babies are less likely
to develop allergies, asthma,
obesity, and heart disease.
 As the infant gets older, the
composition of breast milk
adjusts to the baby’s changing
nutritional needs.
Malnutrition
 Protein-calorie: when not enough food of any
kind is consumed
 Stunting: being too short for your age due to severe
and chronic malnutrition
 Wasting: being very underweight due to
malnutrition
 Marasmus (muh-raz-muh): severe malnutrition
during infancy where child stops growing, tissues
waste away and then usually dies
Over 50 million children under 5 years old
 Kwashiorkor (kwah-shee-awr-kawr): disease of
chronic malnutrition resulting from a lack of protein
during childhood where child becomes more likely to
get other diseases such as measles, diarrhea and
influenza
Cognitive Development
First Two Years
Sensorimotor Intelligence
Piaget’s term for the way infants
think—by using their senses and motor
skills—during the first period of cognitive
development.
Begins at birth and
ends at about 24 months
Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget’s first stage involving Sensorimotor Intelligence
subdivided into six stages grouped into pairs:
Primary Circular Reactions
Stage One (birth – 1 month)
Stage Two (1 – 4 months)
Secondary Circular Reactions
Stage Three (4 – 8 months)
Stage Four (8 – 12 months)
Tertiary Circular Reactions
Stage 5 (12 – 18 months)
Stage 6 (18 – 24 months)
Primary Circular Reactions
The first of three types of feedback loops in
sensorimotor intelligence
Involves the infant’s responses to its body
Stage 1: (Birth – 1 month)
stage of reflexes (i.e. sucking, grasping, staring,
listening)
Stage 2: (1 – 4 months)
stage of first habits
Adaptation & Accommodation
Secondary Circular Reactions
The second type of feedback loops in sensorimotor intelligence
Involves the infant’s responses to objects and
people
Stage 3: (4 – 8 months)
Making interesting sights last:
responding to people and objects
(i.e. clap hands when told)
Stage 4: (8 – 12 months)
new adaptation and anticipation
(i.e. putting dad’s hands together in order to make him start
playing patty-cake)
Secondary Circular Reactions
Stage 4
new adaptation and anticipation…means to an end
Goal Directed Behaviors
1. enhanced awareness of cause and effect
2. Memory for actions already completed
3. Understanding other’s intentions
These coincide with
new motor skills
(i.e. crawling, grabbing)
Secondary Circular Reactions
Object permanence:
the realization that objects (including people) still
exist when they can no longer be seen, touched, or
hear.
Secondary Circular Reactions
Separation Anxiety:
An infant’s distress when a
familiar caregiver leaves,
most obvious between 9 and
14 months
Tertiary Circular Reactions
The third type of feedback loops in sensorimotor intelligence
Most creative, first with action then with ideas
Stage 5: (12 – 18 months)
New means through active experimentation
“little scientist” using trial & error
Stage 6: (18 – 24 months)
New means through mental combinations
(i.e. considering before acting)
Deferred Imitation: when infants copy behavior they
noticed hours or days earlier
Piaget and Modern Research
Habituation
The process of getting used to an object or event
through repeated exposure to it
Evidence of habituation is loss of interest
By using habituation and then introducing a new
stimulus, we can find more of what babies know and
learn
Information Processing
Information-processing Theory
 Modeled on computer functioning
 Information-processing theorists believe that a step-by-
step description of the mechanisms of thought adds insight
to our understanding of cognition at every age.
 Contrast with Piaget’s stages
advances occur faster
 Affordances
 Memory
Affordances
The environment affords opportunities for
interactions with what is perceived based on
o
o
o
o
sensory awareness
motivation
development
past experiences
Affordances
 The visual cliff was designed to
provide the illusion of a sudden
drop-off between one horizontal
surface and another.
 Mothers were able to urge their
6-month-olds to wiggle forward
over the “cliff”, but 10-montholds fearfully refused.
Memory
Early Memory
 According to classic developmental
theory, infants store no memories
in their first year.
 Developmentalists now agree that
very young infants can remember if
the following conditions are met:
 Experimental
conditions are similar to
real life.
 Motivation is high.
 Special measures aid memory retrieval.
Language: The Universal Sequence
Child-directed speech: the high-pitched, simplified, and
repetitive way adults speak to infants (called baby talk)
Babbling: the extended repetition of certain syllables, such
as ba-ba-ba, that begins when babies are between 6 and 9
months old
 At about 1 year, babies speak a few words.
 Spoken vocabulary increases gradually (about one or two
new words a week).
 Holophrase- A single word that is used to express a
complete, meaningful thought.
 All new talkers say names and utter holophrases.
First Words
 Naming explosion- A sudden increase in an
infant’s vocabulary, especially in the number of
nouns, that begins at about 18 months of age.
Psychosocial Development
First Two Years
Emotional Development
 Smiling and Laughing


Social smile (6 weeks): Evoked by viewing human faces
Laughter (3 to 4 months): Often associated with curiosity
 Anger


First expressions at around 6 months
Healthy response to frustration
 Sadness
Indicates withdrawal and is
accompanied by increased
production of cortisol
 Stressful experience for infants

Emotional Development
Fear: Emerges at about 9 months in response to
people, things, or situations
Stranger wariness:
 Infant no longer smiles at any friendly face but
cries or looks frightened when an unfamiliar
person moves too close
Separation anxiety:
 Tears, dismay, or anger when a familiar caregiver
leaves.
 If it remains strong after age 3, it may be
considered an emotional disorder.
Emotional Development
Toddlers’ Emotions
 Anger and fear become less frequent and more
focused
 Laughing and crying become louder and more
discriminating
 New emotions appear: pride, shame,
embarrassment, guilt
 Require an awareness of other people
 Emerge from family interactions, influenced by
the culture
Emotional Development
 Self-awareness
 The realization that one’s body, mind, and actions
are separate from those of other people.
 First 4 months: Infants have no sense of self;
may see themselves as part of their caregiver
 5 months: Begin to develop an awareness of
themselves as separate from their mothers.
Emotional Development
Mirror Recognition
 Classic experiment (M.
Lewis & Brooks, 1978)



Babies aged 9–24 months
looked into a mirror after a
dot of rouge had been put on
their noses.
None of those younger than 12
months old reacted as if they
knew the mark was on them.
15- to 24-month-olds showed
self-awareness by touching
their own noses with
curiosity.
Social Impulses
 Emotional Self-regulation
 Directly connected to maturation of the cortex
(anterior cingulate gyrus)
 Particular people begin to arouse specific
emotions
Toddlers get angry when teased by an older sibling or
react with fear when entering the doctor’s office.
 Memory triggers specific emotions based on previous
experiences.

Stress
 Hypothalamus


Regulates various bodily functions and hormone production
May grow more slowly if an infant is often stressed
 Abuse (form of chronic stress)


Potential long-term effects on a child’s emotional development
Excessive stress in infants must be prevented
Temperament
Temperament
•
•
Inborn differences between one person and another in
emotions, activity, and self-regulation
Temperament is epigenetic, originating in the genes but
affected by child-rearing practices
4 categories of temperament
 Easy (40%)
 Difficult (10%)
 Slow to warm up (15%)
 Hard to classify (35%)
Additional findings:
 Parenting practices are crucial, temperament can change or
be changed
Goodness of Fit
 A similarity of temperament and values that produces
a smooth interaction between an individual and his or
her social context

includes family, school, and community.
 With a good fit
 parents of difficult babies build a close supportive
relationship
 parents of exuberant, curious infants learn to protect them
from harm
 parents of slow-to-warm-up toddlers give them time to
adjust
Proximal and Distal Parenting
 Proximal parenting

Caregiving practices that involve being physically close to the
baby, with frequent holding and touching
 Distal parenting

Caregiving practices that involve remaining distant from the
baby, providing toys, food, and face-to-face communication
with minimal holding and touching
Synchrony
 A coordinated, rapid, and
smooth exchange of
responses between a
caregiver and an infant
 Synchrony in the first few
months



Becomes more frequent and
more elaborate
Helps infants learn to read
others’ emotions and to
develop the skills of social
interaction
Synchrony usually begins with
parents imitating infants
When Synchrony Disappears
 Experiments using the still-face technique
An experimental practice in which an adult keeps his or her face
unmoving and expressionless in face-to-face interaction with an
infant
 Babies are very upset by the still face and show signs of
stress
Conclusions:
A parent’s responsiveness to
an infant aids psychological and
biological development
Infants’ brains need social
interaction to develop to their
fullest
Secure and Insecure Attachment
1. Secure attachment: An infant obtains both comfort and
confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver.
2. Insecure-avoidant attachment: An infant avoids
connection with the caregiver, as when the infant seems not to
care about the caregiver’s presence, departure, or return.
3. Insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment: An infant’s
anxiety and uncertainty are evident, as when the infant becomes
very upset at separation from the caregiver and both resists and
seeks contact on reunion.
4. Disorganized attachment: A type of attachment that is
marked by an infant’s inconsistent reactions to the caregiver’s
departure and return.
Measuring Attachment
 Strange Situation
 A laboratory procedure for measuring attachment by
evoking infants’ reactions to the stress of various adults’
comings and goings in an unfamiliar playroom.
 Key behaviors to observe:
 Exploration of the toys. A secure toddler plays happily.
 Reaction to the caregiver’s departure. A secure toddler
misses the caregiver.
 Reaction to the caregiver’s return. A secure toddler
welcomes the caregiver’s reappearance.
Measuring Attachment
Measuring Attachment
Theories of Infant Psychosocial
Development
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud: Oral and Anal Stages
 Oral stage (first year): The mouth is the young infant’s
primary source of gratification
 Anal stage (second year): Infant’s main pleasure comes from
the anus (e.g. sensual pleasure of bowel movements and
the psychological pleasure of controlling them)
Potential conflicts:
 Oral fixation: If denied the infant urge to suck, may become
an adult who is stuck (fixated) at the oral stage (e.g. eats,
drinks, chews, bites, or talks excessively)
 Anal personality: Overly strict or premature toilet training
may result in an adult with an unusually strong need for
control, regularity and cleanliness
Theories of Infant Psychosocial
Development
Erikson: Trust and Autonomy
 Trust versus mistrust

Infants learn basic trust if the world is a secure place
where their basic needs are met
 Autonomy versus shame and doubt
 Toddlers either succeed or fail in gaining a sense of selfrule over their actions and bodies
 Early problems can create an adult who is
suspicious and pessimistic (mistrusting) or who is
easily shamed (insufficient autonomy)
Theories of Infant Psychosocial
Development
Behaviorism
 Parents mold an infant’s emotions and personality
through reinforcement and punishment
 Social learning
The acquisition of behavior patterns by observing the
behavior of others
 Demonstrated in the classic Bobo Doll study by Bandura

Theories of Infant Psychosocial
Development
Cognitive Theory
 Working model: a set of assumptions used to
organize perceptions and experiences

The child’s interpretation of early experiences is more
important than the experiences themselves.

New working models can be developed based on new
experiences or reinterpretation of previous experiences.
Theories of Infant Psychosocial
Development
Ethnotheory
 A theory that underlies the values and practices of
a culture but is not usually apparent to the people
within the culture.