Infancy and Childhood
Research Methods
As you can tell, humans go through a lot of stages during development. Developmental psychology seeks to understand and study how people change throughout their life span. By understanding these changes, researchers gain insight into normal development. While many research methods exist, some of the main research methods used by developmental psychologists include the longitudinal method and the cross-sectional method.
Longitudinal Method
The longitudinal method involves researchers observing a group of participants over an extended period of time. These individuals participate in a study for years and sometimes even decades in an attempt to identify patterns and changes throughout their lifespan. This method proves very time consuming and expensive, but it also produces fascinating data.
Cross-Sectional Method
The cross-sectional method compares people of different ages. This allows researchers to collect data from people at various stages of life all at once, rather than having to wait for participants to advance through the different stages of life over many years. This method is less time consuming and less expensive than longitudinal studies; however, the data is also less reliable.
Memories are like photographs in the mind. If you were a researcher who wanted to study memory abilities at different stages of life, you would need to make a decision about whether to use a longitudinal method or cross-sectional method. Take a moment to consider how each of the different research methods could be used to set up your study. Discover positive and negative consequences of using longitudinal and cross-sectional methods for this study. Which method would you prefer to use?
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Prenatal Development
Many people call new life a miracle. It is quite remarkable that at the end of nine months, life has grown from one cell into the billions of cells that form a new human. The entire process is programmed by genetic information in each cell. Some cells become the eyes, while others become hands, toes, or organs. A growing fetus makes an average of 4,000 nerve cells per second. Take a moment to learn more about the beginnings of life. Click the player to begin.
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Newborns
At first glance, you may assume newborns do little except sleep, eat, and fill their diapers. They actually come equipped with several abilities and a variety of automatic reflexes necessary for survival. These include grasping, blinking, swallowing, and sucking, which is also known as the rooting reflex.
Furthermore, newborns are smarter than you may realize. For instance, if you show a newborn an interesting black and white design like a swirl, they stare at it longer than something more basic. They seem to be preprogrammed to discover their environment.
Newborns also will turn their heads to the sound of a human voice. They particularly respond to the sound of their mother, which is a voice they become familiar with during their time in the womb. They can also respond to strong odors and tastes they dislike. For example, newborns can frown at the smell of rotten eggs. Five days after their birth, newborns are able to distinguish between their mother’s odor and that of another person.
Interestingly, newborns all have their own temperament. This means they each have their own behavior style, disposition, and emotional reactivity. A child's temperament will remain relatively stable over time. In this interactivity, you will examine some of the different types of temperaments of newborns. Click the player to begin.
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Defining Age Ranges
As this topic moves forward, it becomes important that you understand the age range between infancy and childhood. The following image will serve as a reference for defining infancy, toddlers, and childhood.
Physical Development from Infancy to Childhood
Imagine a father is a huge sports fan. He is eager for his son to begin walking, so he can start teaching his child sports. Do you think this dad can help his ten-month-old son walk sooner by working with him and trying to make his child’s legs stronger? The answer is no. The physical development of children is largely a genetic, biological unfolding called maturation. Parents are not able to speed up the process, but deprivation can definitely slow it down.
The following chart illustrates the necessary steps for an infant and toddler to achieve before he or she can gain the motor skills necessary to begin walking. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the progression.
| Infant and Toddler Motor Skills Development (0-3 Years) | ||
| 0-6 months |
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| 7-9 months |
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| 10-12 months |
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| 13 months-3 years |
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As you can see from the chart, an infant's development is largely the same for every child, due to maturation. This sequence allows the muscles necessary for particular tasks to develop. The same is true for physical skills other than walking, such as bladder and bowel control.
Another important term is critical period, which describes the time in a person's life when he or she is most likely able to gain a skill or characteristic. For example, many research studies have shown the possibility of a critical period for the development of language. Specifically, children seem to acquire language skills more readily than adults.
Social and Emotional Development from Infancy to Childhood
As infants begin to develop, they form emotional ties with other people. These bonds are called attachment. For infants, attachment is critical for social and emotional development. In this interactivity, you will learn more about this period of social and emotional development. Click the player to begin.
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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was fascinated by the way his children thought, solved problems, and reached conclusions. This fascination lead Piaget to develop an intelligence test specifically for children. While he developed the test, Piaget paid more attention to the wrong answers provided by children from various age groups, rather than the right answers. Eventually Piaget developed a theory about how children think. In this interactivity, you will examine his theory. Click the player to begin.
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Moral Development from Childhood Onward
As you have grown older, you may have noticed that your morals have changed. Your ideas of "good" and "bad" have developed along with your body and your brain. The psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg, researched the idea of moral development. In this interactivity, you will examine parts of his theory. Click the player to begin.
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Infancy and Childhood Review
Now that you have finished exploring infant and childhood development, it is to review your knowledge. Take some time to complete this non-graded interactivity, to test your understanding of the information covered in this topic. Click the player to get started.