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What Is Development?
Prenatal Development
1. The Course of Prenatal Development
a. Conception occurs when a single sperm from the male penetrates the female’s egg.
b. The germinal period is the time from conception until the zygote attaches to the uterine wall.
c. The embryonic period is the time period from 3 to 8 weeks after conception.
1. By the eighth week, the spinal cord, eyes, heart, arms, legs,
and intestinal tract appear.
2. The embryo weighs about 1/30th of an ounce and is just over
1 inch long.
d. The fetal period begins two months after conception and lasts, on average, 7 months.
1. heroin, cocaine
2. alcohol
3. thalidomide
4. HIV
c. Preterm infants are at higher risk for developmental problems
and learning disabilities.
d. New techniques show promise in helping premature babies
develop healthily.
B. Physical Development in Childhood (pp. 125–127)
1. The infant enters the world equipped with a variety of reflexes.
2. Many reflexes weaken or disappear around six months of age,
including grasping, sucking, stepping, and startle reflexes.
3. Physical development in the first two years is dramatic: by 12
months, infants can sit, stand, climb, and walk.
4. Interconnections between neurons dramatically increase as
dendrites branch out.
5. Early Childhood
a. Growth rate begins to slow in early childhood.
b. Children develop an increasing sense of control over large and fine motor skills.
c. The brain attains 75% of its adult weight by age 3; 90% by age 5.
d. Increased myelination and synaptic connections continue through age five and even into
adolescence.
4. Attachment in Infancy
a. Attachment is the close emotional bond between the infant and
caregiver.
b. Harlow and Zimmerman empirically demonstrated that contact
comfort, not feeding, is the crucial element in the attachment
process.
c. Konrad Lorenz used (or perhaps “hatched”) the term imprinting to
refer to the finding that an infant animal becomes attached to the
first moving object it sees or hears.
d. John Bowlby believed that humans have an instinctive drive
toward attachment, but psychologists agree that it is more flexible
(a “sensitive” period) than in other animals.
e. Mary Ainsworth and attachment theory
1. Secure attachment: The infant uses the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore. Their
mothers/caregivers are responsive, accepting, and affectionate.
2. Insecure attachment: The infant fears strangers and is easily upset by everyday sensations.
3. Attachment patterns early in life predict for competence or lack of competence in life.
f. Jerome Kagan argues that children are resilient and adaptive and are influenced by genetics and temperament as
much as by caregiver styles.
Temperament
a. Temperament refers to an individual’s behavioral style and
characteristic way of responding.
b. Thomas and Chess believe there are three basic temperament
types: easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm.
c. Other researchers argue that the temperament types are
emotionality, sociability, and activity level.
6. Parenting
a. Parenting Styles
1. Authoritarian: parents are restrictive and punishing.
2. Authoritative: parents encourage independence but set clear limits.
3. Neglectful: parents ignore or are uninvolved in the child’s life.
4. Indulgent: parents place few demands on the child.