Human Behavior Child Development

Infants We don't really know everything a newborn infant is capable of, but we know that mother and infant relate to each other within the first few minutes of life (Klaus, 1998). When we think of infancy, in my opinion we have to keep in mind that we cannot observe brain activity. The baby that can reach for a toy at seven months was learning things all along that brought him or her to that point. So I believe infancy to be a crucial part of child development.

If this is true, then the role of the caregiver is crucial. We know that babies are cared for in different ways by members of different cultures. In the United States, a mother is likely to place the baby in some kind of stroller and push the child in front of her. However in some African and Asian cultures, the mothers carry their babies either on their backs or on their hips, providing direct contact (Small, 1997).

The American approach may indicate an importance placed on independence and self-reliance (Small, 1997), while the other cultures may feel that more dependence by a child on his or her mother may be more appropriate. It is easy to see that caregiving practices can affect how the child develops socially and in personality (Gonzalez-Mena, 1997).

In one study, researchers demonstrated that the more social a mother was with her baby, the more likely the baby was to respond to the mother by touching and by reacting positively to being held (Mogilner, 1995), so it appears that caregiver behavior is important in many ways to the young infant. I believe that an infant needs lots of interaction with a caregiver so that child can know that his or her needs will be met and so the child will have many experiences to take in.

The child may not be able to display what he or she has learned when the child is two or.