Infancy

Infant developmental psychology addresses the critical stage of human

development from conception to roughly age 2, a time period when growth is
so rapid, and the consequences of neglect so damaging, that many believe
this to be the most important stage of a person’s life. At birth, a child’s
length roughly equals the distance from an adult’s elbow to the fingertips,
and by age 2 that child grows to half its adult height. Most remarkable, by
age 2, the child’s brain in weight equals 75 percent of an adult’s brain
weight. The rate of change occurring in the brain takes place mainly in the
brain’s outer layer – the cortex – where neurons are connecting and
changing at lightning fast speeds. Infancy is marked by rapid physical
growth, which aids an infant’s new abilities. An infant is able to roll over, sit
unaided at 6 months, and crawls or walks at age 12 months. At the end of
this stage, infants would have developed motor skills and skills to pick up
objects (Berger, 2011; Trawick, 2013). Also, infants would be able to say
simple words.
These changes that occur during infancy affect a person’s later stages of
development, creating a sort of “building block” approach for attaining key
skills and attributes. Those working in the field of Developmental Psychology
which essentially studies Human development, and who focus on infants,
research the following key components of human growth and development:
cognitive growth, linguistic acquisitions, social and emotional
capacities, as well as motor development. Researchers also try and sort
out environmental influences on infants in addition to genetic influences that
might affect a baby’s growth in each of these key areas.
When studying infants, the term “active learner” cannot be over-
emphasized. From the moment a child takes her first breath, it is trying to
assimilate all the sights and sounds that meet its senses. Jean Piaget (1896-
1980) pioneered the grand “cognitive theory” that psychologists continue to
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reference today to understand how children actively use sensory inputs to
learn how to think.
An infant’s flailing arms and other automatic reflexes start a process in the
child’s brain that initiates learning, according to Jean [Link] renowned
Swiss researcher showed that motor development and cognitive growth are
inextricably linked. And learning, he argued, from early relationships with
family and caregivers helps people form frameworks that they reference in
dealing with people in all other stages of their lives – in other words, growth
and learning in infancy affects emotional capacity and future social
interactions.
Development in Infancy and Childhood
Infancy is the period from birth to about two years of age, characterized by
rapid physical and cognitive development. During this time, infants learn
essential skills like crawling, laughing, and communicating, and they form
crucial emotional bonds with caregivers. It is a time of immense growth,
where babies typically triple their birth weight in the first year ey aspects of
infancy

Physical development:

This is a time of the fastest growth in a person's life. Infants typically triple
their birth weight by their first birthday and quadruple it by age two. They
develop motor skills, progressing from reflexes to walking and grasping
objects.

Cognitive and emotional development:

Infants are highly active learners, exploring their world and developing a
sense of security through interaction with caregivers. Their brains are
developing rapidly, making early experiences critical for later learning and
emotional health. They begin to communicate their needs, initially through
crying, and develop language skills through interaction.

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Although the rate of motor development can vary, the developmental
sequence is the same. On average, an infant will learn to roll over at 2-1/2
months, sit without support at 6 months, and walk alone at 12 months. The
growth and body development from infant to child occurs in a
cephalocaudal direction; that is, the head and upper trunk develop before
the lower trunk and feet.
Sensory and perceptual development: Newborn infants can and do
respond to a wide range of environmental stimuli. All human senses function
to some degree at birth; touch is the most highly developed and vision is the
least developed sense. At the age of 3 months, however, most infants can
recognize a photograph of their mother. An infant's ability to perceive depth
has been studied extensively with an apparatus called a visual cliff, a box
with a glass platform that extends over a drop of several feet. An adult
(mother or experimenter) stands on one side of the glass bridge and calls to
the child, who is on the other. Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk, in a well ‐
known study, found that at about 6 months babies balk at crawling over the
edge of the “cliff.” Such a response indicates that depth perception is
present at this age.
Cognitive development. The term cognitive development refers to the
development of the ability to think and to mentally represent events and to
manipulate symbols.
Jean Piaget, a pioneer in the study of children's thinking, was concerned with
the way a child organizes information from the environment and adapts to it.
He believed that every behavioral act requires two dynamic processes of
adaptation: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the process of
acquiring new information about the world and fitting it to already acquired
information. A child who calls all grown males “daddy,” based on the child's
perception that they and “daddy” are in some way similar, is practicing
assimilation. Accommodation is the process of creating a new concept to

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handle new information; for example, children come to realize that all toys
don't belong to them, that some belong to other children.
Piaget, who had a strong biological background, proposed four stages of
development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational. According to Piaget, During the sensorimotor stage (birth to
age 2) infants develop their ability to coordinate motor actions with sensory
activity. At the start of this stage, children's behavior is dominated by
reflexes, but by the end of it, they can use mental images. Also during this
stage, children acquire the concept of object permanence, realizing that
objects still exist even when the objects are not present. During the
preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7 years), children improve in the use of
mental images and symbolic thought. Most of the thinking of children of this
age, however, is egocentric (self‐centered). During the concrete
operational stage (ages 7 to 11 years), children begin to develop many
concepts and to organize the concepts into classes and categories.
During the formal operational stage (ages 11 years and beyond), children
learn to use and to manipulate abstract symbolic concepts, develop and
mentally test hypotheses, and work mental problems. That is, they can
reason. Although Piaget's theories are subject to some criticism, they are
widely used and important in guiding research in childhood cognitive
development.
Language development. Language acquisition is one of the most
important aspects of a child's development.
Theories
The linguist Noam Chomsky is a believer in the nature approach to
language, arguing that human brains contain a LAD that includes a universal
grammar that underlies all human language (Chomsky, 1965, 1972). For the
90% of people who are right-handed, language is stored and controlled by
the left cerebral cortex, although for some left-handers this pattern is
reversed. Psychologists believe there is, Critical period a time in which

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learning can easily occur, for language. This critical period appears to be
between infancy and puberty (Lenneberg, 1967; Penfield & Roberts, 1959),
but isolating the exact timeline has been elusive. Children who are not
exposed to language early in their lives will likely never grasp the
grammatical and communication nuances of language. Noam Chomsky's
theory of language acquisition includes the concept of the LAD, a
hypothetical, innate mental tool that enables humans to learn language
rapidly. The LAD contains a set of universal grammar principles that help
children quickly grasp the syntactic structure of any language they are
exposed to, without needing extensive instruction. This innate ability is what
Chomsky argues allows children to understand and generate complex
grammar, a feat that would be impossible based on environmental exposure
alone. Noam Chomsky developed the language acquisition theory in
order to explain this phenomenon. According to Chomsky, the ability to learn
languages is an innate skill. Children are born with a language learning tool
that he called a language acquisition device. A language acquisition
device is a theoretical tool. It is used to explain how children learn and
understand language quickly. Now this is not a physical part of the brain like
the hypothalamus, or the medulla oblongata. The language acquisition
device (LAD) is a general term used to explain the many complex processes
the brain has for learning languages. Compared to other species, humans
have developed a complex language with structure and rules. The LAD is
part of the reason for this.
Key aspects of the LAD theory:

 Innate ability: The LAD is a biological predisposition, not a physical

organ, that gives humans a natural capacity for language.
 Universal grammar: The LAD contains universal grammatical
principles that are common to all human languages, allowing children
to “set the parameters” for a specific language based on the input they
receive.

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  Rapid learning: It helps explain why children can learn complex
grammar so quickly, even with inconsistent input from their
environment.
 Opposite of behaviorism: This nativist theory stands in contrast to
behaviorist ideas that language is learned solely through
reinforcement and imitation.
 Critical period: The LAD is most active during childhood, which is why
it is generally harder for adults to learn a new language than it is for
children.

Learning Theory

Perhaps the most straightforward explanation of language development is

that it occurs through the principles of learning, including association and
reinforcement (Skinner, 1953). Additionally, Bandura (1977) described the
importance of observation and imitation of others in learning language.
There must be at least some truth to the idea that language is learned
through environmental interactions or nurture. Children learn the language
that they hear spoken around them rather than some other language
Jean Piaget’s theory of language development suggests that children use
both Assimilation and accommodation to learn language. Assimilation is the
process of changing one’s environment to place information into an already-
existing schema (or idea). Accommodation is the process of changing one’s
schema to adapt to the new environment. Piaget believed children need to
first develop cognitively before language acquisition can occur. According to
him, children first create mental structures within the mind (schemas) and
from these schemas, language development happens.
Language development in infants begins at birth with communication
through crying, cooing, and responding to sounds. By 4-6 months, they start
babbling, and by 9-12 months, they can use simple gestures, understand

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"no," and may say their first words like "mama" or "dada". This early stage is
a critical period for language acquisition, where a baby's brain starts to
decode sounds and they learn language through interaction, such as being
talked to and having books read to them.

0-3 months

 Initial communication: Start by communicating with the world

through crying, cooing, and gurgling sounds to express needs.

 Responding to sounds: Turn their head toward the sound of voices

and become more alert to noises.

 Social interaction: Smile when spoken to and react to social cues.

4-6 months

 Babbling: Begin to babble with sounds like "ooo" and "aahh" and later
start combining consonant and vowel sounds like "ba ba ba" or "ma ma
ma".

 Vocal play: Babbling can be expressive, with sounds mimicking the

intonation of speech.

 Responding to name: Start responding to their name when it's

called.
7-12 months

 Understanding:

At around ten months of age, the infant can understand more than he
or she can say, which is referred to as receptive language. They also
understand simple words and phrases, such as "no".

 Gesture and imitation:

Use gestures like waving "bye-bye," pointing, and shaking their head
"no". They also try to imitate sounds and gestures of others.

 First words:

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 May start to say their first words, like "mama" and "dada," by the end
of the first year, attaching meaning to them.

 "Jargon" phase:
Their babbling may sound like they are having a conversation, with a
mix of sounds, tones, and rhythms.
The main stages of language development are the pre-linguistic stage,
babbling, the holophrastic or one-word stage, the two-word stage,
and the telegraphic stage, followed by the development of complex
sentences. These stages build on each other, beginning with pre-verbal
communication like cooing and progressing to simple sentences and beyond
as a child's vocabulary and understanding grow.

1. Pre-linguistic stage (0–12 months)

 What it is: The period before a child speaks their first words.

Milestones:
o Birth to 8 weeks: Biological sounds like crying, fussing, and cooing.

o 2–5 months: Begins to coo and laugh, making more social sounds.

o 4–8 months: Engages in vocal play, experimenting with sounds.

o 6–13 months: Starts babbling, producing a series of consonant and vowel

syllables like "ma-ma" or "da-da".
2. Holophrastic or one-word stage (12–18 months)

 What it is: A child starts to speak their first recognizable words.

Milestones:
o Around 12 months: Utters first words like "mama" and "dada".

o Vocabulary is limited but grows; words often refer to familiar people or

objects.

o Understands more words than they can speak.

3. Two-word stage (18–24 months)

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 What it is: A child begins combining two words to form simple phrases.

Milestones:
o By 24 months: Vocabulary may reach 50 or more words.

o Phrases like "Daddy bye" or "more juice" are common.

4. Telegraphic stage (18–27 months)

 What it is:

Children string together three or more words to form more complex

sentences, but leave out smaller words like "the" or "and".

Milestones:
 Uses three, four, or even five-word sentences.

 Focus is on essential words, like a telegram.

5. Beyond the telegraphic stage (3+ years)

 What it is:

The final stage where children build on previous skills to develop more
complex language abilities.

Milestones:
 Forms longer and more grammatical sentences.

 Can ask questions using words like "what," "where," and "why".

 Develops more complex communication skills, including storytelling and

conversation.
What parents and caregivers can do

 Talk, read, and sing:

Engage with your baby by talking, reading, and singing to them to

provide a language-rich environment.

 Respond:

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 Respond to your baby's coos and babbles to encourage
communication.

 Exaggerate:

Use a higher-pitched, slower speech, known as "baby talk," which can

help them learn.

 Be patient:
Language development varies, and it's important to be patient and
supportive throughout the process.
Moral development. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed that moral
development occurs in three levels, with two stages at each level.
 The preconventional level:
 At stage 1, punishment orientation, judgments are guided by the
prospect of punishment.
 At stage 2, pleasure‐seeking orientation, activities are undertaken
primarily to satisfy one's own needs; needs of others are important
only as they relate to one's own needs.
 The conventional level:
 At stage 3, good girl/good boy orientation, behavior is engaged in
that brings approval or pleases others in a child's immediate group.
 At stage 4, authority orientation, behavior is influenced by respect
for authority, performing one's duty, and doing what is right.
 The postconventional level:
 At stage 5, contract and legal orientation, behavior is based on
support of rules and regulations because society's right to exact such
support is accepted.
 At stage 6, ethical and moral principles orientation, behavior is
directed by self‐chosen ethical and moral principles.

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Kohlberg found that the first two stages are reached by most children, that
stages 3 and 4 are reached by older children and most adults, but that the
stage 6 is reached by only 20% of the population.
Social development. Social development begins at birth as a child forms
an attachment (a strong emotional bond) with the primary caregiver(s),
usually the mother. Harry Harlow studied attachment deprivation with
baby monkeys raised in isolation. Although their physical needs were met
and they were given surrogate mothers made of cloth, these monkeys
suffered severe behavior pathologies. They recovered if the isolation was
limited to three months, but longer periods produced abnormal adults.
Ethically, this type of study could not be conducted with humans, but
parallels have been found with children reared in cold, isolated, emotionally
deprived environments. Emotional attachments to caregivers are thought to
be essential for social development.
Konrad Lorenz studied imprinting, a rapid and relatively permanent type of
learning that occurs for a limited time (called a critical period) early in life,
particularly in birds. Baby ducks learn to follow their mother if they see her
moving during the first 30‐hour period after their birth. If, however, they
don't see their mother, they can imprint on and follow a human or even a
moving object instead. Imprinting demonstrates that attachments by the
young to a parent can occur early and can have lifelong consequences.
The term gender stereotyping refers to patterns of behavior expected of
people according to their gender. The development of gender‐related
differences is complex. Gender stereotyping occurs not only because of
parental differences in rearing children of each gender but also because of
socialization experiences. Eleanor Maccoby has observed that children with
widely different personalities play together simply because they are of the
same gender.

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