1. Social and Cultural Context
1.1. "When the Rough Breaks" (Mod 4B) highlights how the effects of growing up as a Black woman in America contribute to their chronic stress & the prenatal development of their child (i.e, the life course perspective). Despite the SES status of Black women, they have premature babies at twice the rate of white women because of the daily stress racism has on their lives.
1.1.1. Teratogens impact the prenatal development of a child (Mod 4B). Mothers who took Thalidomide during the embryonic period to reduce their nausea, had children born with underdeveloped limbs.
1.1.1.1. Lynn's adopted son suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, as his birth mother took alcohol when she was pregnant with him. He struggles with learning disabilities in school. She worries that she won't have the resources to give him the learning support he needs. (Mod 4B)
1.1.1.1.1. The Active Child theme is more prominent in environments that have resources to allow their child to take advantage of all the opportunities they have. Ex's: Growing up in a highly funded school district, having the means to join extracurriculars, and having a strong support network.
2. Active Child
2.1. Fetuses actively contribute to their own development. Children are active sources of their own development.
2.1.1. They react differently to similar events of environments. They evoke certain responses from others (e.g, calm cute babies).They actively select surroundings and experiences based on their interest, talents, and personal characteristics.
2.1.1.1. (Mod7): Children with parents of different parental styles are adjusting over time how to respond to one of the four styles that best fits. Some other third variable are family size, siblings, birth order that affects children's learning and behavior as they get older.
2.1.1.1.1. (Mod8A): The four categories of identity status--identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement--is an emergent of self-awareness allowing the child to act on the ways they see life and move accordingly.
2.2. Infants shape their own development through selective attention. They're more likely to react to objects that move and make sounds, and have a preference towards faces they know like their mothers. This preference leads to interactions that strengthen the bond between the mother and child.
2.3. (8B): Referring to the Supernanny video, the twins took initiative to handle their own actions without parent supervision.
3. Continuous vs. Discontinuous
3.1. Continuous over time (small changes over time). EXAMPLE: The development of a tree. Discontinuous is abrupt changes and qualitative. EXAMPLE: The development and the process of a caterpillar into the cocoon than into a butterfly.
3.1.1. In terms of prenatal development, this situation would be defined as BOTH continuous and discontinuous because it depends on the process of prenatal development the fetus/infant is in.
3.1.1.1. Rules of Thumb: Cephalocaudal refers to the pattern of development observed in the earliest years of postnatal development ranging from infant to toddler. In other words, the gradual change of head to toe growth. Proximodistal refers to internal growth [inner} to outer.
3.1.1.1.1. Proximodistal Example: Pencil Grip for an infant --> muscles of the arm develop to grip the pencil.
4. Nature AND Nurture
4.1. Description (Mod.3A) : A person's innate factors (genes/biological factors) and experimental factors (environment/socio-emotional factors) work together to affect a child's growth and development.
4.1.1. "When the Bough Breaks" (Mod.4B) - clearly exemplifies impact of environment. Racism within American society has a direct impact on the chronic stress developed in women of color. If ever pregnant, the stress accumulated throughout their life makes these mother more susceptible to experiencing early delivery, which in turn, can cause the child to have low-birth weight and issues with cognitive development.
4.1.1.1. Environmental Impacts to Prenatal Development (Mod.4B): 1) Mother's nutrition, education, age all impact child, alongside stress levels. 2) Teratogens --> mother's consummation of alcohol can inhibit cognitive development and cause physical deformities for their infant.
4.1.1.1.1. Multiple Risk Model (Mod. 4B): Works to describe how environmental factors work together to impact birth outcomes. If a child is born prematurely, this can create health issues that later on will impact their overall physical and cognitive development. Another environmental risk factor is poverty, but it is important to understand that growing up in an impoverished community does not destine a child to have learning issues due to a lack of resources, but puts them at higher risk.
4.2. Thinking In Infancy (Mod.12A) - Statistical Learning: infants look for patterns and regulate in environment to form conclusions + Contingency Learning: infants learn a relationship between their behavior and relations to environment
4.2.1. Conceptual Development (Mod.12B) - Infants are born with processes that help them figure out things or understand. In terms of the nature aspect, children with siblings develop theory of mind earlier. Talking to children about feelings and their cues support their theory of mind.
4.2.1.1. Intelligence (Mod.13A) - Nature: inherited qualities of the child (sex/temperament) Nurture: qualities of the environment (home/birth order/economic based environment/school/expectations or values)
4.2.1.1.1. Language Development (Mod.14A) - children are more inclined to first pronounce "m" sounds and overtime the interaction of the child's phenotype with the environment (mother encouraging this behavior, thinking they said mama) promotes development.
5. Individual Differences
5.1. Individual differences exist within ranges of development. The differences could be in the timing of when milestones develop or in what way these milestones are expressed. These individual differences could be influenced by environment or genetics. The Active Child theme can also influence individual differences.
5.1.1. Physical and Motor Development: There can be individual differences in the growth of height and weight. Those outsides of the normal growth range can have socioemotional effects. For example, in the video, there was this girl who was growing way too early for her age and as a result, she felt different from other girls around her age. She was bigger and taller. On the other hand of the spectrum, this boy was not hitting his growth spurt at the time it should. As a result, it made him out of place because all the other boys were way taller than them. The smaller boy might also be a target for bullying.
5.1.1.1. Dweck's Theory for Self-Attribution and Achievement Motivation: When faced with a hard math problem and initially failing, one child might work persistently to get the right answer whereas another child might feel demotivated and only work half-heartedly. This individual difference comes from parents or teachers. Parents or teachers who praise a child for their intelligence might make the child feel that they should only do problems that they know they can get it right in order to live up to the praise. Parents and teachers who praise a child for their hard work would make a child feel fine that they cannot get the answer to the hard problem right away but encourage them to try.
5.1.1.1.1. Temperament: There are differences in children's emotional functioning, some are mellow while some are emotional. How children express and deal with their emotions can be influenced by their genes and environment.
5.2. Theories of Cognitive Development: In Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of cognitive development individual differences can be attributed to the different cultural contexts children grew up in.
5.2.1. Whereas, in the information processing theory individual differences be attributed to the memory and processing of the child based on the type of task given.
5.3. Attachement Styles: Parental Senstivity, genetic dispostions, and culture
5.3.1. Parental Senstivity: caregiving behavior that involves expression of warmth as well as contingent and consistent responsiveness to children's needs
5.3.2. Genetic Disposition: Epigenetics have been found to play a role in the expression of attachment behavior
5.3.3. Culture: infant behavior in Strange Situation are similiar across numerous culutres (secure attachment, avoidant, etc). However, there are some behaviorhal differences (remaining in close physical proximity to mother)
5.4. When the Bough Breaks: The child of the mother who being interviewed was born prematurely. However, because of the child's resilience the child lived and grew up to be healthy. The child's environment also allowed it to be successful. By being able to afford two months in ICU, the child was allowed to be healthy. On the other hand, if another child was born preterm too but without all these factors helping them then that child may not be able to reach milestones in the correct time frame
5.4.1. Countries where children are placed in seating that offer less postural support also tend to sit independently earlier. In countries where caregivers massage the muscles of babies, the babies also tend to walk earlier. Shows that infants who train muscles more can develop skills of fine-tuning earlier than infants who did not.