I. PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT (THREE PHASES)
1. PHASE 1: THE GERMINAL PERIOD (ZYGOTE)
A. FROM CONCEPTION UNTIL IMPLANTATION INTO
UTERUS
a. ectopic pregnancy
B. LASTS ABOUT 8-14 DAYS & INVOLVES CELL
DIVISION
2. PHASE 2: THE PERIOD OF THE EMBRYO
A. WEEK 3 THROUGH WEEK 8.
B. MAJOR ORGANS FORM & THE HEART BEGINS
TO BEAT.
a. cephalocaudal development:
head to tail
b. proximodistal development:
midline to extremities
C. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACENTA: SEMIPERMEABLE
BARRIER
D. MOST SENSITVE TO TERATOGENS DURING FIRST
2 MONTHS
3. PHASE 3: THE PERIOD OF THE FETUS
A. 9TH WEEK OF PREGNANCY UNTIL BIRTH.
B. MAJOR ORGAN SYSTEMS BEGIN TO FUNCTION
C. FETUS IS ACTIVE & RESPONDS TO STIMULI
BY END OF 3 MO.
II. Infance Reflexes (handout)
III..Cognitive development: Jean Piaget was interested in howchildren
think & behave. He suggested 4 qualitatively different
stages in cognitive development.
1. sensorimotor (birth-2 years): coordinating sensations
with physical movements
A. problem solving skills: learning cause
& effect
B. imitative abilities:
C. object permanence: objects continue to
exist when not in view
D. beginning of symbolic functioning
2. preoperational (age 2-7): expansion of symbolic functioning
A. problem with conservation (focus on most
salient features)
a. they need either reversibility
or compensation
3. concrete operational (age 7-11): the child can think
logically
A. begin to acquire conservation
B. metacognition: how mental processes work
4. formal operational (age 12-adult)
A. think abstractly (understand metaphors
& jokes)
B. think scientifically (conjure up hypotheses
& test them)
C. everyone does not make it
IV. METHODS USED TO STUDY INFANT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
1. WATCH EYE MOVEMENTS, HEART RATE, BRAIN ACTIVITY
A. HABITUATION
B. NOVELTY PREFERENCE
2. THE VISUAL CLIFF
3. CONDITIONING
V. Theories of attachment
1. Freud: attachment to those who feed them
2. Erikson: attachment to those that they trust
3. Bowlby: a highly evolved system of regulation
4. Harlow: those who provide soothing tactile sensations