Jennifer Gerali

Unit 2 Objectives
Chapter Four

1 ) The cerebral cortex contains the most number of neurons and synapses. The cerebral cortex is
divided into four lobes and within these lobes contains a region that controls specific functions.
Over the first year of life a great amount of activity occurs in several of these lobes. The
temporal lobe is where the auditory cortex is and its responsible for auditory perception. The
occipital lobe is where the visual cortex is and its responsible for visual perception. The frontal
lobe is where body movement and coordination is and its responsible for motor skills.
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for thought and functions effectively beginning at 2 months
of age. It goes through rapid myelination and formation and pruning of synapses until it reaches
an adult level of synaptic connections (Nelson, 2002; Nelson, Thomas, & de Hann, 2006; Sowell
et al., 2002).
The cerebral cortex consists of a left and right hemisphere which processes information and
controls the opposite side of the body. The left hemisphere is responsible for verbal abilities and
the right is responsible for spatial abilities and negative emotion. A lateralized brain helps us
cope with the changing environment and allows more functions to be carried out, than if both
sides processed the information the same way.
Brain plasticity refers to areas in the cerebral cortex that dont have a specific function but can
learn to take over tasks if another part of the brain is damaged. The brain is more plastic during
the first few years of life than later in life; however some reorganization can occur in the adult
brain after an accident.
2) Malnutrition in children causes an enlarged stomach, swollen feet, hair loss and a skin rash.
Two dietary diseases associated with malnutrition are marasmus and kwashiorkor. Marasmus is
a condition that affects the mother and child. If the mother is malnourished she doesnt have
enough essential nutrients in her breast milk to provide to her baby. The baby becomes thin and
can die.
Kwashiorkor is caused by a diet low in protein and it shows up after the baby is weaned from his
mother between 1-3 years of age. This forces the childs body to break down its own protein
reserves causing swelling and other symptoms.
Malnutrition survivors have lasting damage to their brain, heart, liver and other organs. They
also suffer from learning and behavior problems and have a more intense stress response.
3) Failure to thrive is when a child isnt growing like he should be during the first three years of
his life because of poor nutrition. This is common in low SES households because they dont
have the money to provide enough food for the family. Food insecurity is high among single

parent families and low income minorities. There is a lot of food assistance in the United States,
but it doesnt reach everyone. Is it estimated that 21% of kids in the U.S. go hungry because of
not getting food assistance.
4) Infants learn through classical conditioning by making a connection with an environmental
stimulus and a natural stimulus. A neutral stimulus is presented that doesnt cause a response.
The order for classical conditioning is that a neutral stimulus is presented that doesnt cause a
response. Then a new stimulus is presented, which is the unconditioned stimulus, causing an
innate, unconditioned response. As you repeat this process, the subject will be conditioned to
reply to the stimulus causing the conditioned response.
I used to have a fear dogs because when I was 8 years old, I got bit and had to get stitches. The
neutral stimulus was the dog and the unconditioned stimulus was being bit when I tried to pick
him up. My unconditioned response was crying in pain, dropping the dog and running home to
my mom. I had to go to the emergency room and get stitches. Thankfully, my parents knew who
owned the dog and was able to proof of his vaccination; otherwise they said I would need to get
a rabies shot. For a long time I was afraid of dogs because of what happened. Later in life I was
able to get over that fear and 6 months ago rescued an abused german shepherd that has turned
out to be the gentlest dog I have ever met.
Operant conditioning uses a rewards and punishments to learn the desired behavior. When I took
a class in research and methodology in 1991, we used operant condition to teach rats how hit a
small ball that hung down from the cage. The first step was to deny them water for a certain
period of time. If I remember right it was a day or two. Then, we transferred them to a special
cage that had a lever. Our job was to observe our rat and if he went near the ball we would give
him a drop of water. I remember thinking that this will never work but it did. After he was given
the drop of water he would wander around the cage and when he went back to the spot he was
before he would get another drop of water. The next step was to get him closer to the ball. He
would wander around the cage and when he got even closer to the ball he would get another drop
of water. Gradually, he stood up by the ball and received another drop of water. Soon, he was
hitting the ball with his paw. Our next step was to teach him basketball but my group was never
able to obtain that goal.
Imitation is a form of social learning that allows the child to develop acceptable behaviors and
customs, although they will imitate bad behaviors as well. As a young child when I was about 2
years old I remember my mom smoking all the time. I would imitate her by putting something in
my mouth and pretending like I was blowing smoke out. My mom would scold me and tell me
not to do that. Im sure I didnt understand why and it made me want to imitate that behavior
even more. One day, my mom was smoking a cigarette and put it in the ashtray so she could do
something. She said that I went over to the ashtray, picked up the cigarette, took a drag and blew
it out. She couldnt believe that I had done it so perfectly. It must have been from all the times I
watched her. That was the only time I ever smoked and my mom hates when I tell the story
because I was so young and shes embarrassed by it. It goes to show how much influence a
parent has on a child and how much that child wants to be like their parent and will mimic what
that person does, good or bad.

Chapter Five

1) Schemes change as the child gets older. Schemes start out as sensorimotor, such as when
they drop something on the floor on purpose to see what happens. As the child starts
thinking before he does something, he goes from sensorimotor to preoperational thought.
Adaption and organization are two processes that make changes in schemes.
Adaption builds schemes through the childs interaction with their environment and
consists of assimilation and accommodation. As the child learns new schemes they link
them together connecting them. The child uses current schemes during assimilation and
then accommodates them to fit in his environment. A child learns by exploring the world
around him and through trial and error.
2) Mental representation refers to images and concepts our mind can manipulate. We have the
ability to visualize pictures, objects and spaces. Our minds can group similar objects or events
that have happened in our lives. An example is attending a friends birthday party and being
able to picture things that you saw such as the cake, decorations, people that were there, etc.
Deferred imitation appears in children 18 to 24 months and they repeat or mimic a behavior they
saw from their parents, friends, siblings and even strangers at a later time. An example I
remember as a child is watching my dad shave before he left for work. Later that day when my
mom busy cooking, I went into the bathroom, put shaving cream on my face just like my dad
did, found the razor and shaved my face. My mom was hysterical when she saw my little face
bleeding. I must have been about 2 years old at the time and I still remember it like it was just a
few years ago.
3) As infants get older their attention span gradually increases. It takes preterm and newborn
babies a longer time to adapt to a stimulus so they focus their attention on it for 3 to 4 minutes,
unable to shift their focus on another stimulus that is presented in addition to the first stimulus.
This usually frustrates them, causing them to cry. Around 4-5 months, their attention span
increases dramatically to about 5 to 10 seconds and they can tell the difference between the new
stimulus and a previous stimulus. This is because their cerebral cortex continues to develop and
they are able to control their eye movements better, making it easier to focus on a particular
stimulus and then shifting that focus to a different stimulus.
Toddlers improve their sustained attention when they play with toys, stack blocks, or put the
blocks into the container. As they engage in more complex activities, their attention increases.
Operant conditioning and habituation show that memory increases over infancy and toddlerhood.
With operant conditioning researchers study memory by teaching the infants to do something and
then record how long the infant retained that information. As infants get older, their memory
gets better and even if they forget how to do a particular task, they will remember it after a brief
prompt. At 2 months old an infant can retain information on how to do a particular task when
taught for 1-2 days after being taught. At 3 months, it increases to a week and by 6 months their
memory increases to 2 weeks (Rovee-Collier, 1999; Rovee-Cikkuer & Bhatt, 1993). At 18
months old a child can remember how to do something up to 13 weeks after being taught. Every
time a child does a task, their memory extends for a longer period of time.

Habituation studies show that infants learn and increase their memory by observing. They are
like sponges and soak up everything they see and hear. They are very observant and can
remember things that intrigue them.
4) Intelligence testing is used to determine how infants remember, reason and process
information. It is used to measure their developmental behaviors so they have an idea how they
will perform in the future. Most infant intelligence testing is done by presenting them with a
stimulus, encouraging them to respond and observing their behavior. Previous tests have focused
on the infants perceptual and motor responses. New tests are focusing on early language,
cognition and social behavior.
The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development is a test used for children between 1
month and 3 years of age. The newest version of this test has three subsets. The cognitive
scale is to determine how the child thinks by giving him tasks where he has to look for an object
that fell on the ground. The second is the language scale, which evaluates the understanding and
expression of language. The third is the motor scale that tests the childs gross and fine motor
skills. There are two additional scales that are dependent on the person taking care of the child.
The social-emotional scale measures behaviors such as social responsiveness and the adaptive
behavior scale asks how the child is adapting to daily life such as following rules.
It is hard to perform intelligence tests on infants and toddlers because of their short attention
span. Therefore, these tests dont accurately predict future intelligence. It may be helpful as a
screening to children who score extremely low in determining if they have developmental
problems.
5) Many children living in poverty experience a stressful home environment, making it hard for
them to learn. These children score low on intelligence tests and do poorly in school. There are
intervention programs in place to help low income individuals. Center based interventions gives
children and their families access to childcare and schooling that is organized, providing them
with education, nutrition and health services. In addition, their parents get helpful information
with child rearing and social service support.
Home based interventions are done in the individuals home. A trained person comes into their
home and teaches them how to help their childs development. Both of these programs have
shown promise and the children who participated scored higher on mental tests by the age of 2.
The earlier the intervention takes place helping these young children and their family, the longer
it lasts and the better their cognitive and academic performance is throughout childhood and
adolescence.
6) Vygotskys concept of the zone of proximal development teaches the child how to perform a complex
task with the help of an adult to strengthen their mental strategies. This allows the child to problem solve
and improves their cognitive and motor skills by the end of the first year. During the second year they are
able to perform these tasks with simple verbal cues and gesters, improving their problem solving skills
even more.

7) The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) and affluence of the
familys neighborhood greatly contributes to a childs mental development. The HOME gathers
information about the quality of the childs home life by observing them and interviewing their
parents. The person observing and interviewing notes how well the parent and child interact
with each other, how accepting the parent is of the child, how safe their environment is, the
parents involvement, and daily stimulation such as taking the child to the store them or eating a
family meal. Children that have involved parents that provide emotional support, encourage them
to learn new skills, shows affection and talks to them have better language skills and a higher IQ
then children that are neglected.
Childcare is another factor that has an influence on childrens mental development. Children
learn through interaction so if they are exposed to a trained caregiver that provides the right
stimulation for their age, spends adequate time with them, talks to them and encourages play,
they will have higher cognitive and social skills than children who are exposed to poor quality
care.
Middle SES families suffer the most from childcare because they tend to bring their children to
for profit center where quality is the lowest. They have too high of a teacher/child ratio making
it hard to give the kids the attention and instruction they need. Low SES families go to nonprofit
centers provided by the government and are better regulated. The teacher/child ratio is smaller,
giving the teachers more time to spend teaching and helping the children.
The higher the care, the better the score is for cognitive and language development in the
children. Early intervention for at risk infants and toddlers is very important to help them with
their development. Parents benefit by being taught coping skills, getting advice on how to raise
their kids and support from social services.
I think we are on the right track but more needs to be done. Im amazed that you have to go to
school to learn how to drive but anyone can have a child with no instruction. I think raising
children is one of the hardest jobs anyone will ever have and society needs to make sure every
child has the same chance at getting the best possible care. When someone decides to have a
baby or is pregnant there should be a mandated curriculum that they have to take.
Chapter Six
1) The first stage of Ericksons psychosocial theory is Basic trust versus mistrust. If a
caregiver is warm, loving and receptive to the child during their first year of life, the child feels
good and is trusting toward the world around them. If the child feels neglected, they develop
mistrust for people and become withdrawn.
The second stage is autonomy versus shame and doubt. When the child enters toddlerhood
they become more independent and want to do things by themselves such as eating, using the
bathroom, etc. A child gains confidence if he has parents who support and encourage his new
skills even if he fails at it. If a child is criticized for failing it will affect their confidence and the
way they feel about themselves.

Parents who are over or under controlling have children that feel forced and ashamed of their
abilities. Trust and autonomy are dependent on the parents interaction and expectations for their
children. A loving, caring, helpful household will help mold the way their child interacts with
others and how he feels about himself.
2) Temperament refers to our behavioral style and the way we react toward people and situations.
Thomas and Chess believe there are three types of temperament. The easy child has adjusted to
a regular routine and is upbeat and adapts well to new situations.
The difficult child doesnt have a daily routine and doesnt respond well to new situation. These
children are at high risk for adjustment problems such as anxious withdrawal and aggressive
behavior. They have a negative attitude and react negatively to people and situations.
The slow to warm up child is easy going toward stimuli but is negative and adjusts slowly to new
situations. These children have few problems in their early years but become fearful by the time
they reach preschool and have to participate in group activities.
3) Attachment refers to an emotional bond we have with another person that we trust and who
can comfort us in time of need. The most accepted view is Bowlbys ethological theory which
states that an infant develops an emotional tie to his caregiver because its dependent on his
survival. Bowlby believes this is an innate behavior that has evolved through the years.
There are four phases in the attachment process. During the preattachment phase, the newborns
innate capacity allows them to grasp, smile, cry and look into the parents eye for comfort. They
recognize the smell, voice and face of their mother but they arent attached to her yet. They
dont mind being left with someone not familiar to them.
The attachment-in-the-making phase lasts from 6 weeks to 6-8 months. At this age, the child
develops trust for the person that is taking care of him and responding to his cues. They
recognize a familiar face and respond to that person differently than they would a stranger. They
begin to develop trust at this age but dont mind being left with someone unfamiliar to them.
The clear-cut phase lasts from about 6-8 months until 18 months to 2 years of age. During this
time babies get attached to their parent and may develop separation anxiety. It depends a lot on
the temperament of the child and situation. They may cry and throw tantrums because they fear
that the parent will not return.
The formation of a reciprocal relationship occurs at 18 months to 2 years and beyond. By this
age, the children know that when their parent leaves they will come back, so they are alright with
having someone else watch them for a few hours. A childs attachment to his parent gradually
increases as he learns he can trust them and knows that when they leave they will come back.
The quality of the childs relationship with their parent or main caregiver depends on the level of
trust. Some children develop a strong bond and know they can count on them for love and

protection and others may feel uncertain and anxious if they had a stressful relationship with
their caregiver.
Mary Ainsworth and her colleagues came up with the strange situation, which assesses the
quality of attachment in children between 1 and 2 years old. The strange situation is set up into
eight episodes in which the children are separated from their caregiver for a short period of time
and introduced to a stranger that tries to comfort them. Then they are reunited with their
caregiver to determine the childs reaction and if that child displayed separation anxiety.
After the episodes with the strange situation the children were classified into one of four groups.
The children that displayed secure attachment were mainly in middle SES families. The infants
didnt like to be separated from their parent and didnt care too much for the stranger but when
the parent returned, the child was happier.
Children that displayed avoidant attachment react to the parent and the stranger the same way.
They didnt care that the parent left and when the parent returns they are slow to warm up to the
parent.
Children with resistant attachment stay close to their parent and when the parent leaves they are
distressed. When the parent comes back the child expresses anger and lash out on that parent by
hitting or exhibiting resistive behavior and they are harder to comfort.
The child displaying disorganized/disoriented attachment is very insecure. They may exhibit
strange behavior such as approaching the parent with a flat emotion or looking away when the
parent tries to hold them.
4) Early attachment and the quality of the parent-child relationship have a huge effect on the
childs cognitive, emotional, and social development. Children feel more secure when they have
well-adjusted mothers and family members who spend time holding them and making them feel
protected. Children living in poverty deal with a lot of family stressors and feel insecure so they
dont develop a strong attachment to their caregiver. They dont get the love and attention they
need mainly due to stress the parent is feeling or that the parent doesnt know how to interact
with their child.
There are several factors that affect attachment security. First attachments can develop as late as
4-6 years of age if the child has been deprived of a close relationship. This is common in
children who have been given up by their families and placed in an orphanage. This can cause
the child to be overfriendly to unfamiliar people and an overwhelming need for attention when
someone adopts them. Children that have spent their first year in an orphanage and denied love
and attention showed signs of attention insecurity. These kids have emotional and social
difficulties along with mental health problems such as depression, aggressive behavior, cognitive
impairments and hyperactivity.
Attachment security is partially related to sensitive caregiving, which is responding to infants
needs in a timely manner and holding them in a way that makes them feel safe. Insecurely

attached infants receive less physical contact with a caregiver and are held in a way that makes
them feel uneasy causing distress in the infant.
A longitudinal study found that securely attached infants had higher self-esteem, social skills and
empathy toward others as they entered preschool and as they got older seemed to be socially
competent. They were able to form more meaningful and lasting romantic relationships and
continued on to higher education. Insecurely attached infants had more behavior problems and
didnt attain a high level of education or meaningful relationships with others.
The findings in longitudinal studies indicate that although secure attachment in infancy is linked
to cognitive, emotional and social development it is not always the case. The continuity of
caregiving determines whether attachment security is linked to later development (Lamb et al,.
1985; Thompson, 2006). Children who are exposed to a positive home environment and
supportive parents developed better than children who were exposed to a negative home
environment with parents that were insensitive to their needs.
An early positive child-parent relationship helps the child adjust throughout his life to complex
situations and has more confidence and social skills.
5) Factors that affect attachment security are early availability of a consistent caregiver, the
quality of caregiving, the babys characteristics and the family context (Development through the
lifespan, Laura E Berk, 2014, p. 199). If a child doesnt establish a close relationship with his
caregiver he will experience lower emotional development. Children who are neglected and are
not shown the love and support that other children are shown will result in that child having
issues with his mental health. They are at a higher risk for emotional and social problems as they
get older and have a hard time bonding with people. If a child experiences a high quality of
caregiving where the caregiver responds to his needs and shows them love they will have less
stress than infants who are insecurely attached to their caregiver. The sense of security a child
feels depends on how attentive their caregiver is toward them.
6) Self-awareness begins at birth when the infant is able to distinguish himself from other people
and objects. During the first few months they can tell the difference between themselves and
other stimuli but they have limited self-awareness. At age 2, they become aware of their physical
features and can recognize themselves in the mirror and at age 3 they can recognize their shadow.
Toddlers are known for making scale errors, not realizing how big they are. They may try to put
on their doll clothes or try to climb in their doll stroller.
Experiences that contribute to a childs self-awareness are the amount of time a parent or other
caregiver gives a child with face to face communication, object stimulation, body contact and
physical stimulation. As a toddler gets older they develop empathy and may offer a hug or their
favorite toy to the person that is sad. They also know have an understanding on how to upset
others.
Between 18 and 30 months, they develop a categorical self and are able to classify themselves
and other people on the basis of age, sex, the way the person looks, and if they are nice.

Between 12 and 18 months, children are capable of compliance. They understand the
expectations of their caregivers and can obey simple commands.
Self-control is studied by delaying a childs gratification for an object or food. Delayed
gratification is influenced by biologically based temperament and the quality of caregiving
(Kochanska & Aksan, 2006; Kochanska & Knaack, 2003). Children with responsive parents
were able to control themselves and redirect their attention to something else until they were able
to get the toy or food they wanted. Children with unresponsive parents had less self-control and
became angry when they didnt get what they wanted.