Unit FiveInfancy and Childhood Psychology 30 Bill Cosby

Unit Five—Infancy and Childhood Psychology 30

Bill Cosby Natural Childbirth Video

Parenthood… A good idea? What are the benefits of being a parent? What are the struggles involved with being a parent? What are the feelings involved with being a parent? Should teenagers be encouraged to have children? Why or why not? What do people need to know before deciding to have a child?

Parenting Brochure Assignment You will create a brochure for individuals thinking of having a baby. Based on what you’ve already learned in psychology and other important knowledge you have about children, parenting, and a child’s environment, create a brochure that includes: What are the benefits of being a parent? What are the struggles involved with being a parent? What are the feelings involved with being a parent? Should teenagers be encouraged to have children? Why or why not? What do people need to know before deciding to have a child? What sorts of support systems to parents have? What are the prenatal influences and issues for healthy development? (Reading included) A visually appealing set up, proper grammar, and all of the above information.

Reading Assignment Reading: Looking through the eyes of the systems of supports, what do you see? After reading this article, please answer the following questions to be handed in: • What influence does the microsystem have on prenatal development? • What influence does the exosystem have on prenatal development? • What influence does the macrosystem have on prenatal development?

What do you already know about babies? Group activity Class discussion Developmental Psychology: Psychology The study of changes that occur as people grow up and grow older.

The Beginning Newborn babies are capable of the following inherited, automatic reflexes: Ø The grasping reflex Ø The rooting reflex (she will move her head and mouth toward the source of the touch) p. 184

Babies Growing What do psychologists call internally programmed growth? ØMaturation: internally programmed growth. Ø Journal Entry: What is maturation? What sorts of maturation have you acquired? What sorts of maturation exists? Do we ever stop maturing?

Babies Growing Maturation includes: Ø Lifting his head Ø Smiling Ø Grasping objects Ø Crawling Ø (Eventually) walking

Babies Growing In addition to going through the process of maturation, infants can also learn new behaviours. They can learn Ø To avoid punishments and produce rewards Ø By imitating other people

Intellectual Development In Psychology, plans for knowing are called: Schemes: Plans for knowing. Reading: Page 189 -193

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Stage: (Birth to two years) Thinking is displayed in action, such as the grasping, sucking, and looking schemes. Preoperational Stage (Two to six years) beginning of symbolic representation. Language first appears; child begins to draw pictures that represent things.

Schemes include the following processes: ØAssimilation We try to fit the world into our scheme ØAccommodation We change our scheme to fit the characteristics of the world

Baby steps—or giant steps? Steps in a baby’s intellectual development include: Ø Understanding object permanence ØRepresentational thought A child can picture something in her mind Ø Understanding the principle of conservation A given quantity does not change when its appearance changes

Children Acquiring Language When children learn to speak, they don’t learn complete sentences right away. Instead, they use what psychologists call: ØTelegraphic speech (they leave out words but still get the message across) For example, when trick-or-treating, my daughter said repeatedly, “I go next house. ”

Emotional Development Observations of animals have shown that some newborns become attached to their mothers in a sudden, virtually permanent learning process called: Imprinting There is sometimes a particularly sensitive period just after birth where whatever the animal learns makes a deep impression that resists change. This is called the: Critical Period

Human Babies Do human babies experience imprinting? Some psychologists think so, although it might not be exactly the same as with other animals, especially in terms of timing. This would explain the concept of separation anxiety (fear and anxiety at the prolonged absence of the primary caregiver, usually after a baby is one year old).

Socialization is: Ø Learning the rules of behaviour of the culture in which you live. Ø Theories of socialization include: Freud’s theory of psychosexual development Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Freud’s stages Ø Ø Ø The oral stage: In the first few years of life, erotic pleasures are obtained through the mouth The anal stage: The anus is the source of erotic pleasure The phallic stage: Between the ages of 3 and 5, children discover the pleasure they can obtain from their genitals, and they become aware of the differences between themselves and the opposite sex

Freud’s stages The phallic stage leads to desiring the parent of the opposite sex, and being in conflict with the parent of the same sex. For boys, this is referred to as the Oedipus complex. For girls, this is called the Elektra complex Also, the child adopts the values of the same sex parent; this is called identification

Freud’s stages Latency stage: Sexual desires are pushed into the background, and children explore the world and learn new skills This process of redirecting sexual impulses into learning tasks is called sublimation Genital stage: One derives as much satisfaction from giving pleasure as from receiving it.

Erikson’s Stages Age 0 -1—Trust vs. Mistrust Age 2 -3—Autonomy vs. Doubt Age 4 -5—Initiative vs. Guilt 5 -Puberty—Industry vs. Inferiority Adolescence—Identity vs. Role Confusion Early Adulthood—Intimacy vs. Isolation Middle Age—Generativity vs. Stagnation Later Adulthood—Integrity vs. Despair

Kohlberg’s stages- Moral Development Stage 1—Children are completely egocentric, with no sense of right and wrong; their only concern is to avoid punishment. Stage 2—Children learn to “work the system” to receive rewards as well as avoid punishment. Stage 3—Children become sensitive to what others want and think.

Kohlberg’s stages Stage 4—Children are less concerned with the approval of others, but have a strong belief in established authority. Stage 5—A person is concerned with justice, and believes that laws are not absolute. Stage 6—A person accepts that certain ethical principles apply to everyone; for example, the “Golden Rule. ”

Group Assignment Each group will research one of the stages, and create a dramatic presentation which will outline the meaning of that theorist’s beliefs to the class. Hints: All group members must work together to research the stage/theory One person should act as the narrator throughout the dramatization so that audience members know what is going on. Many people are visual learners, and require seeing something more than once to understand. Consider doing your presentation for the class twice so that people fully understand.

Language Acquisition Can Animals acquire language? How do children acquire language? Textbook: Pages 198 -200 Video: How Children Acquire and Produce Language (BBC, 2001

Child Abuse- Class Discussion Remember Genie? What sorts of influence did the child abuse that she experienced have on her life? Who is required to report child abuse? How should child abuse be dealt with/questioned?

What is SIDS? FASD? SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Is SIDS child abuse? Why or why not? http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=NUuf. N 52 TKr 8 What is FASD? Should this be classified as abuse if it occurs before a child is born? http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=m 7 zf. JCW 9 Yco

What is shaken baby syndrome? http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=kg. HRWH 4 USmw&feature=related

Video: The Wild Child François Truffaut's fascinating 1970 film, based on a real-life, 18 th-century behavioral scientist's efforts to turn a feral boy into a civilized specimen, is an ingenious and poignant experience. In a piece of resonant casting that immediately turns this story into an echo of the creative process, Truffaut himself plays Dr. Itard, a specialist in the teaching of the deaf. Itard takes in a young lad (Jean-Pierre Cargol) found to have been living like an animal in the woods all his life. In the spirit of social experiment, Itard uses rewards and punishments to retool the boy's very existence into something that will impress the world. Beautifully photographed in black and white and making evocative use of such charmingly antiquated filmmaking methods as the iris shot, The Wild Child has a semidocumentary form that barely veils Truffaut's confessional slant. What does it mean to turn the raw material of life into a monument to one's own experience and bias? The question has all sorts of intriguing reverberations when one considers that Truffaut's own wild childhood was rescued by love of the cinema and that a degree of verisimilitude factors into his films starring Jean-Pierre Leaud--the troubled lad who grew up in Truffaut's work from The 400 Blows onward. (The Wild Child is dedicated to Leaud. ) --Tom Keogh