LO 7 Summarize the physical changes that occur in infancy.

Newborn babies exhibit several reflexes, or unlearned patterns of behavior. Some are necessary for survival; others do not serve any obvious purpose. A few fade away in the first weeks and months of life, but many will resurface as voluntary movements as the infant grows and develops motor control (Thelen & Fisher, 1982). Let’s take a look at two of these reflexes.

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ROOTING AND SUCKING REFLEXES What does a newborn do when you stroke her cheek? She opens her mouth and turns her head in the direction of your finger, apparently in search of a nipple. This rooting reflex typically disappears at 4 months, never to be seen again. The sucking reflex, evident when you touch her lips, also appears to be a feeding reflex. Sucking and swallowing abilities don’t fully mature until the gestational age of 33 to 36 weeks, so babies who are born before that time—like Jasmine’s son Eddie—may struggle with feeding (Lee et al., 2011). But that doesn’t mean they cannot enjoy the benefits of breast milk, which is thought to have important effects on growth and cognitive development (Chaimay, 2011; de Lauzon-Guillain et al., 2012; Horwood & Fergusson, 1998). Jasmine pumped her breast milk, making it possible for Eddie to get its nutritional benefits through his feeding tube.

A newborn spends most of his time eating, sleeping, and crying. Sounds like a simple routine, but waking every 2 to 3 hours to feed a wailing baby can be very exhausting. Nevertheless, this stage soon gives way to a period of change that is far more interactive, and includes waving, clapping, walking, and dangerous furniture climbing. Infographic 8.2 details some of the sensory and motor milestones of infancy. Keep in mind that the listed ages are averages; significant variation does exist across infants. The general sequence and timing, however, are fairly universal.

THE NEWBORN SENSES Babies come into the world equipped with keen sensory capabilities that seem to be designed for facilitating relationships. For example, infants prefer to look at human faces as opposed to geometric shapes (Salva, Farroni, Regolin, Vallortigara, & Johnson, 2011). Within hours of birth, they can discriminate their mother’s voice from those of other women, and they show a preference for her voice (DeCasper & Fifer, 1980). Research suggests babies come to recognize their mother’s voice while in the womb (Kisilevsky et al., 2003; Sai, 2005). Jocelyn came into the world crying but calmed down instantly when placed in Jasmine’s arms, as if she already knew the sound of her mother speaking and singing. Hearing is developed and functioning before a baby is born, but sounds are initially distorted. It takes some time for amniotic fluid to dry up completely before a baby can hear clearly (Hall, Smith, & Popelka, 2004).

Smell and taste are also well developed in newborn infants. These tiny babies can distinguish the smell of their own mothers’ breast milk from that of other women within days of birth (Nishitani et al., 2009). Babies prefer sweet tastes, react strongly to sour tastes, and notice certain changes to their mothers’ diets because those tastes are present in breast milk. If a mother eats something very sweet, for instance, the infant tends to breastfeed longer.

The sense of touch is evident before birth; as early as 2 months after conception, for example, a fetus will show the rooting reflex. It was once believed that newborns were incapable of experiencing pain. But research suggests otherwise. Newborns respond to pain with reactions similar to those of older infants, children, and adults (Gradin & Eriksson, 2011; Urso, 2007).

Sight is the weakest sense in newborns, who have difficulty seeing things that are not in their immediate vicinity. The optimal distance for a newborn to see an object is approximately 8–14 inches away from his face (Cavallini et al., 2002), which happens to be the approximate distance between the face of a nursing baby and his mother. Eye contact is thought to strengthen the relationship between mother and baby. A newborn’s vision can be blurry for several months, one reason being that the light-sensitive cones in the back of the eye are still developing (Banks & Salapatek, 1978).

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THE GROWING BRAIN The speed of brain development in the womb and immediately after birth is astounding. There are times in fetal development when the brain is producing some 250,000 new neurons per minute! The creation of new neurons is mostly complete by the end of the 5th month of fetal development (Kolb & Gibb, 2011). At the time of birth, a baby’s brain has approximately 100 billion neurons (Toga, Thompson, & Sowell, 2006)—roughly the same number as that of an adult. Meanwhile, axons are growing longer, and more neurons—particularly those involved in motor control—are developing a myelin sheath around their axons. The myelin sheath increases the efficiency of neural communication, which leads to better motor control, enabling a baby to reach the milestones described earlier (waving, walking, and so forth).

SYNAPTIC PRUNING Neurons rapidly sprout new connections to each other, a dramatic phase of synaptic growth that is influenced by the infant’s experiences and stimulation from the environment. The increase in connections is not uniform throughout the brain. Between the ages of 3 and 6, for example, the greatest increase in neural connections occurs in the frontal lobes, the area of the brain involved in planning and attention (Thompson et al., 2000; Toga et al., 2006). As more links are established, more associations can be made between different stimuli, and between behavior and consequences. A young person needs to learn quickly, and this process makes it possible.

However, the extraordinary growth in synaptic connections does not last forever, as their number decreases by 40% to 50% by the time a child reaches puberty (Thompson et al., 2000; Webb, Monk, & Nelson, 2001). In a process known as synaptic pruning, unused synaptic connections are downsized or eliminated (Chechik, Meilijson, & Ruppin, 1998).

Synaptic pruning and other aspects of brain development are strongly influenced by experiences and input from the outside world. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mark Rosenzweig and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrated how much environment can influence the development of nonhuman animal brains (Kolb & Whishaw, 1998). They found that rats placed in stimulating environments (furnished with opportunities for exploration and social interaction) experience greater increases in brain weight and synaptic connections than those put in nonstimulating environments (Barredo & Deeg, 2009, February 24; Kolb & Whishaw, 1998; Rosenzweig, 1984). Environmental stimulation (or lack thereof) also appears to influence the brain development of infants and children. Some research suggests that orphanage-raised babies who receive minimal care and human interaction experience delays in cognitive, social, and physical development. There is, however, a great deal of variability in later development when the children are placed in adoptive homes (Rutter & O’Connor, 2004).

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The brain development that occurs during childhood and the cognitive changes associated with it are remarkable. Consider the fact that babies come into the world incapable of using language, yet by the age of 6, most have amassed a vocabulary of about 13,000 words (Pinker, 1994). Let’s take a look at some of the theories that attempt to explain the language explosion.

LO 8 Describe the theories explaining language acquisition.

BEHAVIORISM AND LANGUAGE Behaviorists propose that all behavior—including the use of language—is learned through associations, reinforcers, and observation. Infants and children learn language in the same way they learn everything else, through positive attention to correct behavior (for example, praising correct speech), unpleasant attention to incorrect behavior (for example, criticizing incorrect speech), and the observation of others.

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE But the behaviorist theory may not explain all the complexities of language acquisition. If a young child tries to imitate a particular sentence structure, such as “I am going to the kitchen,” he might instead say something grammatically incorrect, “I go kitchen.” Children are not directly taught the structure of grammar, because its rules are too difficult for their developing brains to understand. Linguist Noam Chomsky (1959) suggested humans have a language acquisition device (LAD) that provides an innate mechanism for learning language. With the LAD, children compare the language they hear in their environment to a framework already hardwired in their brains. The fact that children all over the world seem to learn language in a fixed sequence, and during approximately the same sensitive period, is evidence that this innate language capacity exists.

INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH (IDS) More recent theories of language acquisition focus on parents’ and other caregivers’ use of infant-directed speech (IDS). High-pitched and repetitious, IDS is observed throughout the world (Singh, Nestor, Parikh, & Yull, 2009). Can’t you just hear Jasmine saying to baby Jocelyn in a high-pitched, sing-song voice, “Who’s my little girl?” Researchers report that infants as young as 5 months old pay more attention to people who use IDS, which allows them to choose “appropriate social partners,” or adults who are more likely to provide them with chances to learn and interact (Schachner & Hannon, 2011).

LANGUAGE IN THE ENVIRONMENT It’s not only the type of voice that matters but also the amount of talking. Infants may not be the best conversation partners, but they benefit from a lot of chatter. It turns out that the amount of language spoken in the home correlates with socioeconomic status. Children from high-income families are more likely to have parents who engage them in conversation. Just look at these numbers for parents of toddlers: 35 words a minute spoken by high-income parents; 20 words a minute spoken by middle-income parents; 10 words a minute spoken by low-income parents (Hoff, 2003). The consequences of such interactions are apparent, with toddlers from high-income households having an average vocabulary of 766 words, and those from low-income homes only 357 (Hart & Risley, 1995). How might this disparity impact these same children when they start school? Research suggests that children from lower socioeconomic households begin school already lagging behind in reading, math, and academic achievement in general (Lee & Burkan, 2002), all of which could potentially be linked to decreased verbal interactions.

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LO 9 Outline the universal sequence of language development.

THE SEQUENCE OF ACQUISITION Coo. Babble. Talk. No matter what language infants speak, or who raises them, you can almost be certain they will follow the universal sequence of language development (Chomsky, 2000). At the age of 2 to 3 months, infants typically start to produce vowel-like sounds known as cooing. These “oooo” and “ahhh” sounds are often repeated in a joyful manner.

When infants reach the age of 4 to 6 months, they begin to combine consonants and vowels in the babbling stage. These sounds are meaningless, but babbling can resemble real language (“ma, ma, ma, ma, ma” Did you say . . . mama?). Jasmine distinctly remembers Jocelyn as a tiny infant repeating “da, da, da, da,” as if she were saying “Dadda” over and over. Amused by the irony of the situation (Jasmine was a single mother), she would put her face close to Jocelyn’s and repeatedly say, “ma, ma, ma, ma.” Nonhearing infants also go through this babbling stage, but they move their hands instead of babbling aloud (Petitto & Marentette, 1991). For both hearing and deaf infants, the babbling stage becomes an important foundation for speech production; when infants babble, they are on their way to their first words.

When do real words begin? At around 12 months, infants typically begin to utter their magical first words. Often, these are nouns used to convey an entire message, or holophrase. Perhaps you have heard an infant say something emphatically, such as “JUICE!” or “UP!” What she might be trying to say is “I am thirsty, could I please have some juice?” or “I want you to pick me up.”

At about 18 months, infants start to use two-word phrases in their telegraphic speech. These brief statements might include only the most important words of a sentence, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, but no prepositions or articles. “Baby crying” might be a telegraphic sentence meaning the baby at the next table is crying loudly. As children mature, they start to use more complete sentences. Their grammar becomes more complex and they pack more words into statements. A “vocabulary explosion” tends to occur around 2 to 3 years of age (McMurray, 2007; Figure 8.3). By 5 to 6, most children are fluent in their native language, although their vocabulary does not match that of an adult.

There are two important components of normal language acquisition: (1) physical development, particularly in the language-processing areas of the brain (Chapter 2); and (2) exposure to language. If a child does not observe people using language during the first several years of life, normal language skills will not develop. Evidence for this phenomenon comes from case studies of people who were deprived of language in childhood (Goldin-Meadow, 1978). One of the most well-documented—and deeply troubling—cases of childhood deprivation centers on a young girl known as Genie.

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LO 10 Summarize the key elements of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development.

Language is just one domain of cognitive development. How do other processes like memory and problem solving evolve through childhood? As noted earlier, psychologists do not always agree on whether development is continuous or occurs in steps. Swiss biologist and developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (pyä-'zhā; 1896–1980) was among the first to suggest that infants have cognitive abilities, a notion that was not widely embraced at the time. Children do not think like adults, suggested Piaget, and their cognitive development takes place in stages.

One of the basic units of cognition, according to Piaget (1936/1952), is the schema, a collection of ideas or notions representing a basic unit of understanding. Young children form schemas based on functional relationships. The schema “toy,” for example, might include any object that can be played with (such as dolls, trucks, and balls). As children mature, so do their schemas, which begin to organize and structure their thinking around more abstract categories, such as “love” (romantic love, love for one’s country, and so on). As they grow, children expand their schemas in response to interactions with the environment and other life experiences.

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Piaget (1936/1952) believed humans are biologically driven to advance intellectually, partly as a result of an innate need to maintain cognitive equilibrium, or a feeling of cognitive balance. Suppose a kindergartener’s schema of airplane pilots includes only men, but then he sees a female pilot on television. This experience shakes up his notion of who can be a pilot, causing an uncomfortable sense of disequilibrium that motivates him to restore cognitive balance. There are two ways he might accomplish this. He could use assimilation, an attempt to understand new information using his already existing knowledge base, or schema. For example, the young boy might think about the female bus drivers he has seen and connect that to the female pilot idea (Women drive buses, so maybe they can fly planes too). However, if the new information is so disconcerting that it cannot be assimilated, he might use accommodation, a restructuring of old notions to make a place for new information. With accommodation, we remodel old schemas or create new ones. If the child had never seen a female driving anything other than a car, he might become confused at the sight of a female pilot. To eliminate that confusion, he could create a new schema (Women drive all sorts of vehicles). This is how we make great strides in cognitive growth. We assimilate information to fit new experiences into our old ways of thinking, and we accommodate our old way of thinking to understand new information.

Piaget (1936/1952) also proposed that cognitive development occurs in four periods or stages, and these stages have distinct beginnings and endings (Infographic 8.3).

SENSORIMOTOR STAGE From birth to about 2 years old is the sensorimotor stage. Infants use their sensory abilities and motor activities (such as reaching, crawling, and handling things) to learn about the surrounding world, exploring objects with their mouths, fingers, and toes. It’s a nerve-racking process for parents (“Please do not put that shoe in your mouth!”), but an important part of cognitive development.

One significant milestone of the sensorimotor stage is object permanence, or an infant’s realization that objects and people still exist when they are out of sight or touch. Have you ever watched a young infant play peekaboo? Her surprise when your face reappears suggests that she forgot you were there when your face was hidden. Jasmine tried to play peekaboo with Eddie when he was a baby, but he had a mixed reaction to the game, crying when she hid her face behind a blanket and laughing as soon as she pulled it away. Eddie’s fear of his mother’s disappearance and surprise at her reappearance didn’t last; he learned about object permanence.

PREOPERATIONAL STAGE The next stage in cognitive development is the preoperational stage, which applies to children from 2 to 7 years old. During this time, children start using language to explore and understand their worlds (rather than relying primarily on sensory and motor activities). In this stage, children ask questions and use symbolic thinking. They may use words and images to refer to concepts. This is a time for pretending and magical thinking. Eddie, for example, likes to pretend he is Harry Potter. He drives Jasmine and Jocelyn crazy, racing around the house with a wand. Children in this stage are somewhat limited by their egocentrism. They can only imagine the world around them from their own perspective (see the Three Mountains task in Infographic 8.3).

According to Piaget (1936/1952), children in this stage have not yet mastered operations (hence, the name preoperational stage), which are the logical reasoning processes that older children and adults use to understand the world. For example, these children have a difficult time understanding the reversibility of some actions or events. They may have trouble comprehending that vanilla ice cream can be refrozen after it melts, but not turned back into sugar, milk, and vanilla. This difficulty with operations is also apparent in errors involving conservation, which refers to the unchanging properties of volume, mass, or amount in relation to appearance (Figure 8.4). For example, if you take two masses of clay of the same shape and size, and then roll only one of them out into a hotdog shape, a child in this stage may think that the longer-shaped clay is now made up of more clay than the undisturbed clump of clay. Or, the child may see that the newly formed clump of clay is skinnier and therefore assume it is smaller. Why is this so? Children at this age generally focus on only one characteristic of an object. They do not understand how the object stays fundamentally the same, even if it is manipulated or takes on a different appearance.

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CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE Around age 7, children enter what Piaget called the concrete operational stage. They begin to think more logically, but mainly in reference to concrete objects and circumstances: things that can be seen or touched, or are well defined by strict rules. Children in this stage tend to be less egocentric and can understand the concept of conservation. However, they still have trouble with abstract concepts. Around age 8 or 9, Jocelyn tended to take everything literally. Once she asked to go outside when it was pouring rain, and Jasmine replied, “Are you crazy? It’s raining cats and dogs!” Jocelyn became distressed and cried, “The poor little kitties are gonna get hurt when they fall from the sky!” Children in this stage also have trouble thinking hypothetically. A 7-year-old may respond with a blank stare if you ask her a “what if?” type of question. (If you were able to travel to the future, what kind of animals would your great-grandchildren see in the wild?)

FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE Children enter the formal operational stage at age 11; they begin to think more logically and systematically. They can solve problems such as those in the Third Eye task in Infographic 8.3. This activity asks a child where she would put a third eye, and why. (I’d put it in the back of my head so that I could see what is going on behind my back.) These types of capabilities do not necessarily develop overnight, and logical abilities are likely to advance in relation to interests and to skills developed in a work setting. Piaget suggested that not everyone reaches this stage of formal operations. But to succeed in most colleges, this type of logical thinking is essential; students need to think critically and use abstract concepts to solve problems.

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THE CRITICS Critics of Piaget suggest that although cognitive development might occur in stages with distinct characteristics, the transitions from one stage to the next are likely to be gradual, and do not necessarily represent a complete leap from one type of thinking to the next. Some believe Piaget’s theory underestimates children’s cognitive abilities. For example, some researchers have found that object permanence occurs sooner than suggested by Piaget (Baillargeon, Spelke, & Wasserman, 1985). Others question Piaget’s assertion that the formal operational stage is reached by 11 to 12 years of age, and that no further delineations can be made between the cognitive abilities of adolescents and adults of various ages. One solution is to account for cognitive changes occurring in adulthood by considering stages beyond Piaget’s original formulation.

One other major criticism of Piaget’s work is that it does not take into consideration the social interactions that influence the developing child. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (vī-'gät-skē; 1896–1934) was particularly interested in how social and cultural factors affect a child’s cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1934/1962).

How might social interactions impact a child’s cognitive development? Children are like apprentices in relation to others who are more capable and experienced (Zaretskii, 2009). Those children who receive help from older children and adults progress more quickly in their cognitive abilities. For example, when parents help their children solve puzzles by providing support for them to succeed on their own, the children show advancement in goal-directed behavior and the ability to plan ahead (Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, 2010; Hammond, Müller, Carpendale, Bibok, & Liebermann-Finestone, 2012).

One way we can support children’s cognitive development is through scaffolding: pushing them to go just beyond what they are competent and comfortable doing, but also providing help in a decreasing manner. A parent or caregiver provides support when necessary, but allows a child to solve problems independently: “Successful scaffolding is like a wave, rising to offer help when needed and receding as the child regains control of the task” (Hammond et al., 2012, p. 275).

Vygotsky also emphasized that learning always occurs within the context of a child’s culture. Children across the world have different sets of expected learning outcomes, from raising sheep to weaving blankets to playing basketball. We need to keep these cross-cultural differences in mind when exploring cognitive development in children.

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Until now, we have mostly discussed physical and cognitive development, but recall we are also interested in socioemotional development. When thinking about Jocelyn and Eddie, it is important to consider their relationships, emotional processes, and temperaments.

TEMPERAMENT From birth, infants display characteristic differences in their behavioral patterns and emotional reactions, that is, their temperament. Some babies and toddlers can be categorized as having an exuberant temperament, showing an overall positive attitude and sociability (Degnan et al., 2011). “High-reactive” infants exhibit a great deal of distress when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli, such as new sights, sounds, and smells. “Low-reactive” infants do not respond to new stimuli with great distress (Kagan, 2003). Classification as high- and low-reactive is based on measures of behavior, emotional response, and physiology (such as heart rate and blood pressure; Kagan, 1985, 2003).

These different characteristics seem to be innate, as they are evident from birth and consistent in the infants’ daily lives. There is also evidence that some of these characteristics remain fairly stable throughout life (Kagan & Snidman, 1991). However, the environment can influence temperament (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005). Factors such as maternal education, neighborhood, and paternal occupation through adolescence can predict characteristics of adult temperament, such as persistence, shyness, and impulsiveness (Congdon et al., 2012).

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EASY, DIFFICULT, OR SLOW TO WARM UP Researchers have found that the majority of infants can be classified as having one of three fundamental temperaments (Thomas & Chess, 1986). Around 40% are considered “easy” babies; they are easy to care for because they follow regular eating and sleeping schedules. These happy babies can be soothed when upset and don’t appear to get rattled by transitions or changes in their environments. Jasmine would put Jocelyn in this category. Baby Jocelyn’s crying was usually for an obvious reason, and she settled down when the problem was resolved.

“Difficult” babies (around 10%) are more challenging because they don’t seem to have a set schedule for eating and sleeping. And they don’t deal well with transitions or changes in the environment. Difficult babies are often irritable and unhappy, and compared to easy babies, they are far less responsive to the soothing attempts of caregivers. They also tend to be very active, kicking their legs on the changing table and wiggling like mad when you try to put on their clothes.

“Slow to warm up” babies (around 15%) are not as irritable (or active) as difficult babies, but they are not fond of change. Give them enough time, however, and they will adapt. Jasmine would place Eddie in this category. Eddie was not keen on the new day-care environment, but he eventually adjusted. He was just slow to warm up to the unfamiliar place and people.

These categories of baby temperaments are useful, but we should remember that 35% of babies are considered hard to classify because they share the characteristics of more than one type.

Nature and Nurture

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As you can see, parents have the power to steer the development of their children in positive and negative directions. But what exactly makes a good parent? The adjectives or phrases that come to our minds are “patience,” “sensitivity,” “acceptance,” “strength,” and “unconditional love.” It also helps to be soft, warm, and snuggly—especially if you happen to be a monkey.

THE HARLOWS AND THEIR MONKEYS Research suggests that physical touch is a very important part of infant development. Among the first to explore this topic in an experimental situation were Harry Harlow, Margaret Harlow, and their colleagues at the University of Wisconsin (Harlow, Harlow, & Suomi, 1971). The researchers were initially interested in learning how physical contact affects the development of loving relationships between infants and mothers. But they realized this would be difficult to study with human infants; instead, they turned to newborn macaque monkeys (Harlow, 1958).

Here’s how the experiment worked: Infant monkeys were put in cages alone, each with two artificial “surrogate” mothers. One surrogate was outfitted with a soft cloth and heated with a bulb. The other surrogate mother was designed to be lacking in “contact comfort,” as she was made of wire mesh and not covered in cloth. Both of these surrogates could be set up to feed the infants. In one study, half the infant monkeys received their milk from the cloth surrogates and the other half got their milk from the wire surrogates. The great majority of the infant monkeys spent most of their time clinging to or in contact with the cloth mother, even if she was not the mother providing the milk. The baby monkeys spent 15 to 18 hours a day physically close to the cloth mother, and only 1 to 2 hours touching the wire mother.

Harlow and colleagues also created situations in which they purposefully scared the infants with a moving toy bear, and found that the great majority of the infant monkeys (around 80%) ran to the cloth mother, regardless of whether she was a source of milk. In times of fear and uncertainty, these infant monkeys found more comfort in the soft and furry mothers. Through their experiments, Harlow and his colleagues showed how important physical contact is for these living creatures (Harlow, 1958; Harlow & Zimmerman, 1959).

ATTACHMENT Physical contact plays an important role in attachment, or the degree to which an infant feels an emotional connection with primary caregivers. Using a design called the Strange Situation, Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999) studied the attachment styles of infants between 12 and 18 months (Ainsworth, 1979, 1985; Ainsworth & Bell, 1970; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The Strange Situation goes roughly like this: A mother and child are led into a room. A stranger enters, and the mother then exits the room, leaving the child in the unfamiliar environment with the stranger, who tries to interact with the child. The mother returns to the room but leaves again, and then returns once more. At this point, the stranger departs. During this observation, the researchers note the amount of anxiety displayed by the child before and after the stranger arrives, the child’s willingness to explore the unfamiliar environment, and the child’s reaction to the mother’s return. The following response patterns were observed:

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Ideally, parents and caregivers provide a secure base for infants, and are ready to help regulate emotions (soothe or calm) or meet other needs. This makes infants feel comfortable exploring their environments. Ainsworth and colleagues (1978) suggested that development, both physical and psychological, is greatly influenced by the quality of an infant’s attachment to caregivers. But much of the early research in this area focused on infants’ attachment to their mothers. Subsequent research suggests that we should examine infants’ attachment to multiple individuals (mother, father, caregivers at day care, and close relatives), as well as cross-cultural differences in attachment (Field, 1996; Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake, & Morelli, 2000).

Critics of the Strange Situation method suggest it creates an artificial environment and does not provide good measures of how infant-mother pairs act in their natural settings. Some suggest that the temperament of infants predisposes them to react the way they do in this setting. Infants prone to anxiety and uncertainty are more likely to respond negatively to such a scenario (Kagan, 1985). More generally, attachment theories are criticized for not considering cross-cultural differences in relationships (Rothbaum et al., 2000).

Attachments are formed early in childhood, but they have implications for a lifetime: “Experiences in early close relationships create internal working models that then influence cognition, affect, and behavior in relationships that involve later attachment figures” (Simpson & Rholes, 2010, p. 174). People who experienced ambivalent attachment as infants have been described as exhibiting an “insatiability for closeness” in their adult relationships. Those who had secure attachments are more likely to expect that they are lovable and that others are capable of love. They are aware that nobody is perfect, and this attitude allows for intimacy in relationships (Cassidy, 2001). Infant attachment may even have long-term health consequences. One 32-year longitudinal study found that adults who had been insecurely attached as infants were more likely to report inflammation-based illnesses (for example, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes) than those with secure attachments (Puig, Englund, Simpson, & Collins, 2013).

LO 11 Describe how Erikson’s theory explains psychosocial development through puberty.

One useful way to understand socioemotional development is to consider its progression through stages. According to Erik Erikson (1902–1994), human development is marked by eight psychosocial stages, spanning infancy to old age (Erikson & Erikson, 1997). Each of these stages is marked by a developmental task or an emotional crisis that must be handled successfully to allow for healthy psychological growth. The crises, according to Erikson, stem from conflicts between the needs of the individual and the expectations of society (Erikson, 1993). Successful resolution of a stage enables an individual to approach the following stage with more tools. Unsuccessful resolution leads to more difficulties during the next stage. Take a look at Table 8.3 to see the stages associated with infancy, childhood, and beyond.

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Question 1

Question 2

1. theories of behaviorism

2. Chomsky’s language acquisition device

3. infant-directed speech

4. telegraphic speech

Question 3

1. the rooting reflex.

2. schemas.

3. accommodation.

4. assimilation.

Question 4

Question 5

1. scaffolding.

2. physical maturation.

3. developmental tasks or emotional crises.

4. conservation.

Question 6