Integrating the Field of Developmental Psychology: A Review of the Literature
Developmental Stage/Age Group: Infancy and toddlerhood (0 - 3 years)
In the development stage of infancy to toddlerhood, the child is changing and responding to its environment and social setting. As Levinson (1986) notes, the home is the child’s immediate social and physical environment. The mother tends to be the child’s source of security and the child grows in confidence through connection to the mother. Between the ages of one and two the child is like a “young scientist,” according to Piaget in the sense that the child explores and demonstrates cognitive development (Thomas, Warner & Foster, 2000). According to Freud, the child is developing a sense of pleasure, first through oral stimulation which is connected to feeding initially but also through relief by way of bowel movements and urination. According to Erickson, the child is developing trust during this developmental period and moving from a position of security and comfort to a position of exploration and independence by the end of this period.
Physical Changes
The physical changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood occur rapidly in the first two years of the child’s life—indeed, this is the fastest rate of growth the body will experience in its life. A healthy child will grow in length by 75% in the first two years of development. The child’s head is disproportionate to the rest of the body in size but will grow at a rate of an inch per year and by toddlerhood the child will resemble adults, proportion wise. (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2007)
During infancy, the child will communicate by using cries. By toddlerhood, these cries turn into sound words as the child begins to practice mimicking the sounds made by adults to indicate meaning and desire. Vision improves over the course of the first four months. Rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and then walking follow between the months of four and twelve for most children. Older infants/toddlers will began mimicking adult voices and making their first sound words as indicators.
Cognitive Changes
The cognitive changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood occur as a result of the child’s interaction with surroundings. At two months of age, the child should be paying attention to faces, following movement with the eyes and fussing if no new activities are provided after a while. By six months of age, the child should be bringing objects to the mouth to obtain a sense of them. Signs of the child being curious about objects should be apparent, as the child reaches for things and uses the hands to explore. At one year of age, the child is copying adults,...
At two years, the child is able to find objects that are hidden, tell the difference between shapes and colors, engage in imaginative play, stack blocks, and follow more complex commands. At three years of age, the child should be able to use crayons to color or draw a circle, work buttons and moving parts and enjoy storybooks that are read to the child. These are important milestones because as Murray, Jones, Kuh and Richards (2007) point out, if they are not reached it could be an indication of a cognitive disability that needs to be addressed.
Emotional Changes
The emotional changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood demonstrate development from a need for security to a need for independence. During infancy, the child needs to feel safe, secure, comforted and loved. The child responds positively to being held and will smile when happy. By one year of age, the child will be walking and enjoying a degree of independence and freedom with the newfound ability to explore. By two, toddlers will test their boundaries and will also be learning how to self-regulate their feelings. Emotional outbursts or tantrums are not uncommon between the ages of two and three (Potegal, Kosorok & Davidson, 2003).
Social Changes
The social changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood reveal progression from attachment to independence and one-on-one play. Erickson shows that children learn to trust during this period of development (Austrian, 2008). They develop from a trust that comes from the parental guardian-child bond to a trust for others who do not show aggression and threat. This trust provides them with a feeling of security and allows them to approach other children their own age with confidence and engage in play. They can also demonstrate independence by playing comfortably alone. Between the age of 1 and 2, the child will be watching others and learning from them. This frequently included observational play in which the child watches other children play but does not engage. By age 3 the child is more likely to be engaging other children in play—i.e., playing alongside them but not necessarily “with” them.
Evaluating and Appraising the Effects
By evaluating the developmental changes and appraising the effects of the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social environments, one can see that at this stage of development, the child is forming a sense of surroundings as well as a sense of others and of self. The child becomes comfortable with the environment thanks to the security provided by the guardian (typically the mother). The child develops a sense of pleasure, a sense of trust, and a sense of will—i.e., a desire to explore and to engage…
Developmental Stages Developmental Stage/Age Group: Infancy and toddlerhood (0 - 3 years) Erickson maintains that the first human developmental stage involves an individual’s interactions with his/her surroundings, normally the baby’s immediate social and physical environment, which is made up of home and family (Levinson, 1986). Especially important at this point (i.e. infancy) is the mother- baby relationship – the very first social bond one forms. Receptive mothers sensitive to the distinctive requirements
Of course, Spears is still very young, and may face numerous future changes. However, at this time, she appears to have found some stability. Cognitive While Spears spent much of her early life in the public spotlight, it is actually difficult to assess her early cognitive development. This should come as no surprise when one looks at various theories of cognitive development. For example, Piaget discusses cognitive development, but all of
Toddlers also consistently failed to recognize the importance of the shelf being inserted into the screen when searching for the ball. When asked to find the ball, however, they consistently searched in the location where they initially saw the object (Hood, et al. 2000, 1540). These startling finds suggest the need for further research and study into this topic. Initially, research must determine whether or not these results are mistakes.
Cognitive Development Children are complex creatures who develop in various ways at various developmental stages. According to Thompson (2001), children grow in four interrelated areas (body, person, mind, and brain), and these four components involve the complex interplay of many factors: physical size, motor coordination, general health, thinking, language, symbolism, concepts, problem-solving, relationships, social understanding, emotions, neural and synapse. With respect to overall cognitive development in infants and toddlers, while
This will present a break from the norm set by most researchers who concentrate on studying the relationship between a child's ability and development, and the actions and environment surrounding the child. For instance, the study conducted by Berger and Adolph just considers how changing the size of the bridge makes a child to adopt a different strategy (using the handrail) in crossing the bridge but does not asses
The child can hold a bottle, and he or she can also pick up soft bits of vegetables and fruits (Satter, 2000). He or she can also eat biscuits or crackers that are specifically designed for children of that age. (Fomon, 2001) There are a lot of foods that a baby should not be eating because it is too easy to choke on them, and an adult should always