Developmental Psychology

Chapter 4: Infancy and Toddlerhood

Overview In this chapter, we will be looking at the physical, cognitive, and social development of infants and toddlers. We will explore the various categories of development that occur through the lifespan. Learning Objectives At the end of this chapter, you should be able to: • Describe the different stages of physical development of infants • Understand the development of the various reflexes • Explain what the role of nutrition plays in infant development • Describe the different categories of attachment regarding children and adults 4.1 Physical Development Some newborns come equipped with some skills that help with their development. Let’s look at some of the skills in the chart below Name of Behavior or Skills Examples Reflexive Behaviors Coughing, Blinking, and Suckling Inherited Behaviors These behaviors include those that have already been programmed without having any experience with the behavior Motor Skills These are the skills that begin being learned around 6 months of age. Some things include: Chewing, Swallowing, and Self-feeding During infancy, the cephalocaudal and proximodistal development will continue. When talking about the cephalocaudal principle, this is when the infant develops movements starting at the head and moving to the feet. Infants will learn how to control head movements, eye movements, and their face, and usually learn this prior to learning how to control the arms, legs, feet and torso. When talking about the proximodistal principle, this means that an infant’s body is developing from the center of the body and outward. Infants will learn how to control their muscles first in the upper arm and then will work on the lower arm, eventually learning how to control their hands and fingers. After the fetus has been born, the nervous system will continue to develop. The neurons which are a type of nerve cell will begin undergoing plenty of changes. The axons which are neural fibers that carry message away from neuron to another neuron will start growing longer. The Dendrites which are the neural fibers that receives messages will begin to multiply. The connections between the neurons will growmuch stronger as the brain develops more. An interesting fact to know is that when someone is born, they have approximately one hundred billion brain cells and most of them are

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