Developmental Psychology

Achieve Test Prep: Developmental Psychology

Chapter 4: Infancy and Toddlerhood

Overview: This chapter will explore the physical, cognitive, and social development of infants and toddlers. Following the framework of exploring the various categories of development (physical, cognitive, etc.) during the stages of the lifespan, this chapter will discuss infancy and toddlerhood. Objectives: By the end of this chapter you should be able to recognize, understand, and explain: • Stages of physical development of an infant • Development of various reflexes • Role of nutrition in infant development • Categories of attachment in children and adults Physical Development: Despite newborn children’s dependence on others for their basic needs, they come with certain skills ready to further their development. These skills, which aid in development, help a child to survive and thrive. Some of these skills are: • Reflexive behaviors: coughing, blinking, suckling • Inherited behaviors: these include behaviors that are ‘programmed’ without prior experience • Motor skills: skills learned later in childhood (at around six months of age) include chewing, swallowing, and self-feeding In infancy, cephalocaudal and proximodistal development continues. The cephalocaudal principle states that infant’s development moves from head to feet. An infant will learn to control their head, then eyes, and face before they learn to control their arms, torso, legs, or feet. The proximodistal principle states that infants develop from the center of the body outward. An infant will learn to control muscles in the upper arm, then lower arm, and then the hands and fingers. The nervous system continues developing in the postnatal period. The neurons (a type of nerve cell) that are present at birth undergo many changes. The axons (neural fibers which carry messages away from one neuron to another) grow longer and the dendrites (neural fibers which receive messages) become more numerous. The connections between neurons grow stronger as the brain grows. There are approximately one hundred billion brain cells present at birth, most of which

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