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Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development Fogel Chapter 1 Created by Ilse DeKoeyer-Laros

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Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development. Fogel Chapter 1. Created by Ilse DeKoeyer-Laros. Overview Chapter 1. The Importance of Infancy A Brief History of Babies The Scientific Perspective Research Methods in Developmental Science Experimental Research Methods - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and

Development

FogelChapter 1 Created by Ilse DeKoeyer-Laros

Page 2: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Overview Chapter 1

• The Importance of Infancy• A Brief History of Babies• The Scientific Perspective • Research Methods in Developmental Science• Experimental Research Methods• Observational Research Methods • Qualitative Research Methods• Policies and Practices

Page 3: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

The Importance of Infancy

• Education for parents, caregivers, & clinicians• Infancy Is a unique period in life• Preverbal experience of the body is uniquely

human• Reexperiencing infant-like states can be healing

& rejuvenating• Improving health by early prevention• Informed public policy• Origins of individual differences

Page 4: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

A Brief History of Babies

• Early Civilizations– Greeks & Romans advocated harsh practices to

shape infants’ bodies (to build moral character) and practiced infanticide

• Middle Ages & Renaissance

– urbanization & the spread of Christianity brought changes

– Renaissance (1450–1650): first written child-rearing philosophies

Page 5: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

A Brief History of Babies

• The Enlightenment (18th century)– Romanticism (Rousseau) & Empiricism (Locke)

– both emphasized the value of children & revived the importance of the body

• 19th century– the nuclear family emerged (mainly in white ethnic

groups)

– social changes related to medical advances in infant care

Page 6: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Infants Enter the World of Science

Nature-nurture debate sparked scientific study

– Arnold Gesell (1880-1961)

• believed in genetic maturation (nature)

• focused on the “average” child

– John B. Watson (1878–1958)

• children can be trained to do almost anything (nurture)

• lasting imprint on North American society

– Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

• focused on psychological experience

• recognized that infants experience emotions, feel the need for love, & possess powerful desires

Page 7: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Today

Theories of infant care & development spread rapidly through Western culture & demand for

expert behavioral scientists rose

Page 8: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Today

1970s research was in the empiricist tradition, but focused on learning & cognitive development – not the whole child

• The Competent Infant (1973) reflected desire to discover the earliest signs of intelligence & belief that education is the best guarantee of child success

• The individual child became lost

• Emphasis on mental development led to a less balanced view of the whole child (body, emotions & social connections)

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Page 9: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Today

Since 1990s, shift back to the whole child

– parent-child relationships

– emotional development

– the role of the body & touch

– communication & language;

– also, focus on neuroscience, behavior genetics

Page 10: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

The Scientific Perspectiveon Infancy

Scientists strive to understand infants in their own right, detached from social & cultural

conceptions about infancy –

but this is not completely possible

Page 11: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Topics in infancy research

• perceptual/sensorial• sensorimotor/tool using• conceptual/thinking• representational/symbolic• communicative/linguistic• social/interactive• expressive/emotive• self-regulatory/coping

Page 12: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Stages & Changes

Developmental changes • are not reversible – earlier patterns of behavior, thought,

& feeling cannot be easily recognized• are stable – new organized patterns that persist over

relatively long periods of months or years• occur in a sequence that is similar across infants

The division of infancy into stages of development is somewhat arbitrary & depends on the

purposes of the culture or group

Page 13: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Research Methods in Developmental Science

Scientists– rely on many sources of evidence

– try to separate what is repeatable & stable from what is coincidental

– attempt to rid observations of bias

Research methods– Quantitative – representing complex behavioral

processes with a numerical index (a variable)

– Qualitative – attempting to capture the meaning or quality of the behavior while maintaining a scientific stance

Page 14: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Experimental Research Methods

Experiment – a study in which one aspect of the situation is manipulated while all other aspects are held constant or controlled

– independent variable: that which is controlled or manipulated – the presumed cause of the phenomenon

– dependent variable: the outcome behavior that is observed in response to the changes in the independent variable

Page 15: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Experimental Research Methods

Standard experimental procedures – control groups that do not receive any manipulation

are compared to groups that receive the experimental manipulation

– contrast groups: different groups that each receive a different type of manipulation are compared

– random assignment: a random process, like a flip of a coin, used to assign subjects to groups

Page 16: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Experimental Research Methods

Testing perception & cognition in infants

– paired-preference tests: researchers determine which of two stimuli is preferred by the infants

– habituation procedures: decline in looking time over repeated trials of the same stimulus

• recovery is the abrupt increase in looking time after a change in the stimulus

– response-contingent procedures: infants are trained to change their behavior if they can detect certain features of stimuli & will alter their behavior in order to receive their favorite stimulus (e.g., a certain taste)

Page 17: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Physiological Recording

One method of discovering more about babies, since they cannot report on their internal states

can be used for experimental & observational research

Page 18: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Physiological Recording

Automatic recording of behavior includes

– measurements of heart rate, respiration, brain activity, hormonal activity, & aspects of behavior (movement, gaze direction)

Limitations

– hard to know the precise meaning of a change in a physiological measure

– physiological activity is itself a response; it is impossible to say when & where a response originates or is encoded in the body

Page 19: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Observational Research Methods

Rely on natural variations & create contrast groups

Types of studies

Longitudinal studies: the same children at different ages

Cross-sectional studies: different children at different ages

Types of variables

Predictor variable: the presumed cause

Outcome variable: the presumed effect

Page 20: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Bias & Research Ethics

• Bias is reduced by attention to reliability, validity, observer bias, & representative samples

• Researchers need to observe ethical guidelines when using human subjects in research

– since infants cannot provide informed consent to participate in research, their parents must do so

– researchers must pledge to keep the subjects’ identity confidential & to limit access to their data only to those persons directly involved with the research

Page 21: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Observational Research Methods

• Microanalysis focuses on minute changes in behavior– For example, coding emotional expressions of an

infant second by second

• Macroanalysis focuses on the overall or summary features of behavior, usually with the use of rating scales– For example, rating the main emotional quality of

an infant’s expression over a 10-minute period

Page 22: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Qualitative Research Methods

• Characterized by one or both of the following

1. the observers focus on the meaning of the situation for the participants

2. the role of the researcher is taken explicitly into account

• Examines the situation in its broader context

• Credibility depends upon researcher’s skill, experience, & rigor

Page 23: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Qualitative Research Methods

• Constant comparative method – the same observers go over the data many times to check & revise their interpretation

• Case study: the same child is observed over a long period of time

– more information about individual children, but not generalizable to larger groups

Page 24: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

To conclude

Research on infants is above all a human enterprise, a relationship between scientist-

persons and subject-persons. Every research study is, therefore, a particular

point of view on nature (p. 37)

Page 25: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Policies and PracticesResearch for the Real World

Parens patriae (legal concept) – children are viewed as their parents’ possessions; the government may only interfere in extreme circumstances of abuse & neglect

– public funds are typically allocated for only the most needy cases

– there are very few government programs to guarantee basic health care & education for the majority of children under 3 years

Page 26: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Program PurposeMedicaid Covers pre-natal care for mothers &

postnatal for infants

Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, & Children (WIC)

Provides food vouchers up to 5 years old

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

Provides some financial support to families of children under 3 years

Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC)

Provides tax refunds for working poor families

State programs of child welfare

Prevents or protects children from abuse & neglect

Early Head Start Promotes early child development for poor children under 3 years-old

Parental Leave Parents can take up to 12 weeks off work without penalty but usually without pay.

Sources: Barrett (2001), Phillips & McCartney (2005)

Table 1.2 Federal Programs in the United States to Assist Infants and their Families

Page 27: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Policies and PracticesResearch for the Real World

Societies differ in how much of their public funds go to the welfare of children & their families.

– many countries use tax funds to support infant health care & nutrition, child care, and parental leave

– the U.S. is unique in its reluctance to support infant development as a national policy & its reliance on volunteer child and family advocacy

• for the benefit of children & their families, advocates must help change policies and researchers & policy makers need to work together

Page 28: Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

Policy Makers Scientists

Serve their constituencies Seek the “truth”

Act & decide Understand & explain

Based on relationships between key players

Non-personal, unbiased

Based on power & influence

Based on knowledge

Immediate actions Long-term work

Mistakes are punished Rewarded for experimenting

Communication is oral Communication is written & reviewed

Sources: Maton & Bishop-Josef (2006), Solarz (2001)

Table 1.3 Differences between policy makers and scientists