Download Theories of Infant Development

Theories of
Infant
Development
Fogel
Chapter 2
Created by Ilse DeKoeyer-Laros
Overview Chapter 2
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Biological Approaches
Learning Theories
Cognitive Theories
Systems Theories
Clinical Theories
Experiential Exercises
What is a Scientific Theory?
“a set of concepts that explains the observable
world with structures, processes, or
mechanisms that are presumed to exist but
that cannot be observed directly” (p. 44)
1. Helps to organize systematic observations, using
accepted methods of observation and assessment
2. Phrased in terms of general principles that can be
applied to specific research findings and applications.
3. Should accurately predict future observations in a
majority of cases.
Theories of Human Development
Focus on describing and predicting the ways in
which children change over time & the origin of
individual differences
Biological Approaches
Charles Darwin:
natural selection: those who can successfully
adapt to the environment will live long enough
to reproduce & pass down their characteristics
to the next generation
• the environment influences which types of
characteristics will survive and continue to evolve
Biological Approaches
Genotype: raw genetic code, made up of DNA
molecules
– the actions of the genotype are affected
by the environment surrounding the genes
– this happens via the epigenome – biochemical markers
that turn on or off the actions of particular genes within
each cell
Phenotypes: the products of the genotypeenvironment interactions
– include tissues but also behaviors, intelligence,
temperament
Biological Approaches
the genotype
determines the opportunities
by which the environment
may have an influence on the
phenotype
Biological Approaches
Behavior Ecology Theory
The study of behavior from an evolutionary
perspective: all animals have species-specific
behaviors that evolved through the process of
natural selection
Biological Approaches
Behavior Ecology Theory
Critical period: limited period of time during which
learning can occur that has a permanent and
irreversible effect
– the first 6 prenatal
months (brain &
body)
– the early years
(attachment,
language)
Biological Approaches
Behavior Genetic Theory
the study of possible environmental and genetic
explanations for individual differences in behavior
and personality characteristics
Research compares individuals that vary in their
genetics and environments
– Genetics: twins (identical vs. fraternal), regular siblings,
adopted siblings
– Environment: shared or nonshared
Biological Approaches
Behavior Genetic Theory
• Heritability – the extent to which individual
differences are due to genetic factors
– the percentage of variability between individuals
explained by genetic variability
– appr. 30% of the differences between people can be
explained by genetic variability
• A certain set of genes increases the probability
of developing a particular characteristic – but
doesn’t determine it
Biological Approaches
Behavior Genetic Theory
• Often, environmental variability has a larger
probability of predicting individual phenotypes
than does genetic variability
– many genes, each with a small influence
• Sometimes, genetic variability between
individuals has a larger probability of predicting
phenotypes than does environmental variability
– e.g., inheriting or not inheriting color blindness genes
Problems with
Biological Approaches
• Harder to apply to phenomena that did not occur
in the original “species-typical” environment
• Difficult to sort out the relative effects of genetic
and environmental variability
• Behavior genetics does not tell us anything:
– about the probability that a particular individual will
inherit a genetic potential or show a characteristic
– about the ways in which genes and environment act
to produce a phenotype – no guidelines for
intervention or for enhancing development
Learning Theories
• Major contributions:
– discovered simple yet powerful ways to enhance
learning
– have shown that any species can be trained to
achieve more than expected by evolutionary models of
species-typical behavior
• Major types:
– Classical conditioning
– Operant conditioning
– Social Learning Theory
Learning Theories
Classical Conditioning
An unconditioned response will occur at a new,
conditioned stimulus after repeated exposure to
pairing of conditioned & unconditioned stimuli
Learning Theories
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Operant conditioning: the process by which the
frequency of an operant (spontaneous behavior)
is controlled by its consequences
Learning Theories
Operant Conditioning
• Reinforcers – consequences that increase the
frequency of the preceding behavior
– Positive reinforcer: an action or reward that follows the
operant and increases its frequency
– Negative reinforcer: the removal of an aversive
stimulus increases the frequency of an operant
• Punishment – unrewarding consequence that
decreases the frequency of an operant
• Extinction – the frequency of an operant
decreases when a reinforcing consequence is
removed
Learning Theories
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory proposes that:
– infants come to control not only their behavior but also
the behavior of other people around them
– entirely new behaviors could be acquired almost
immediately through observational learning
– the self (including cognitions and motivations) is an
intelligent actor and organizer of information
Albert Bandura (1925 - )
Problems with
Learning Theory
• Real life is more complex than laboratory!
• Many other processes (e.g., genetics) may
influence the way behavior is acquired
• Cannot explain the sequence and timing of
developmental stages
• Cannot explain the spontaneous emergence of
new behaviors
– E.g., stranger anxiety even when children have no
experience with strangers, or smiling in blind infants
Cognitive Theories
• Focus on the mental experience of the person
and aim to understand intelligence – how people
of different ages know about, perceive, plan, and
remember their experiences
• Behavior is considered a form of intelligence:
– most of what people do is goal directed and depends
on knowing what to do in certain circumstances
• Types
– Constructivist Theory
– Information Processing Theories
Cognitive Theories
Constructivist Theory
• Intelligence is a form of
adaptation to the
environment
• Knowledge is an active
process of coconstruction between the
knower and what is to be
known
Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
Cognitive Theories
Constructivist Theory
Two principles of biological adaptation:
– Assimilation: individuals use their existing abilities in
response to challenges from the environment – the
application of what one already knows or does to the
current situation
– Accommodation: the alteration of existing abilities to
better fit the requirements of the task or situation
Most actions involve
both assimilation and accommodation
Cognitive Theories
Constructivist Theory
• Piaget’s main goal was to apply his theory to the
development of human intelligence – he looked
for the origins of intelligence in infancy
• First two years of life: sensorimotor substage
– explore & learn through movements and senses
– main feature: the growth of infants’ understanding of
their bodies and how these relate to other things
– six substages (see Chapters 5–10)
Cognitive Theories
Constructivist Theory
Piaget’s Substage
1
Appr. age
(in months)
0–2
2
2–4
Primary circular reactions
3
4–8
Secondary circular reactions
4
8 -12
5
12 – 18
Coordination of secondary circular
reactions
Tertiary circular reactions
6
18 - 24
Reflex schemes
Invention of new means through
mental combinations
Cognitive Theories
Constructivist Theory
• Individuals play an active role in their own
development – motivation for developmental
change comes from the experience of
disequilibrium
• Infants develop knowledge by means of their
own actions on the environment – it is
constructed
• Infants will learn better from experiences that
can be assimilated to their current level
– schemes: available set of skills and knowledge –
sensorimotor or conceptual
Problems with
Constructivist Theory
• Development does not always occur in the
stages defined by Piaget
– research has shown that certain behaviors may
appear earlier than Piaget’s stages suggest that they
should (e.g., imitation in newborns)
• Piaget did not take into account the effects of
adults on infants
Cognitive Theories
Information-Processing Theories
Goal: to specify the way in which the mind handles
the information presented by the environment
Research usually with sophisticated technology
– e.g., to measure such things as visual fixation time,
eye movement patterns, auditory sensitivities
Problems with
Information-Processing Theory
• Few clues about how each component
develops – more a theory of how infants act
and think than a theory of how action and
thought develop
• Many different approaches and thousands of
research studies – difficult to interpret,
especially since there is no broad theoretical
framework
Systems Theories
• Goal: to understand developmental change in
the whole child in the whole environment
• System: a set of interdependent components,
each of which affects the others in reciprocal
fashion
• Theories include:
– Ecological Systems Theory
– Interactive Systems Theory
– Dynamic Systems Theory
Systems Theories
Transaction: the process by which systems
components affect each other in a bidirectional
and reciprocal way
Example:
Infant:
smiles
Parent:
relaxed, attentive,
& smiles
Systems Theories
Systems have the property of self-organization:
organized patterns emerge out of the mutual
influences of each component of the system on
the others
Systems Theories
Feedback: components of a system have an effect
on their own behavior during their transactions with
other components
– deviation-correcting feedback (or negative feedback)
– deviation-amplifying feedback (or positive feedback)
Systems Theories
– deviation-correcting feedback maintains a
system’s characteristics over time in spite of
small deviations
Parent:
stressed
Infant:
smiles
Parent:
relaxed
– deviation-amplifying feedback changes a
system as a result of a small deviation
Parent:
stressed
Infant:
fussy
Parent:
more
stressed
Infant:
cries more
Systems Theories
Ecological Systems Theory
The ecology of human development
“the study of the progressive, mutual
accommodation, throughout the life span,
between a growing human organism and the
changing immediate environments in which it
lives, as the process is affected by relations
obtaining within and between those immediate
settings, as well as the larger social contexts …
in which the settings are embedded”
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
Systems Theories
Ecological Systems Theory
Systems Theories
Ecological Systems Theory
4 levels of system functioning
– Microsystem: all direct relationships between child &
environment
• Examples: the family, play groups, church groups
– Mesosystem: relationships between the microsystems
• Example: interaction between family & day care center
– Exosystem: social systems that affect (but don’t
include) the child
• Examples: parents’ work, media, school board
– Macrosystem: written & unwritten principles (e.g.,
beliefs, values, rules) that regulate everyone’s
behavior
Problems with
Ecological Systems Theory
• Does not specify how these systems affect the
child
• No guidance concerning which of the
ecological factors are most likely to affect a
family & under what circumstances
• Is not developmental – does not explain how
how infants develop from one age to the next
Systems Theories
Interactive Systems Theory
Louis Sander: recognized that parent and infant
develop together as a system in relationship to
each other over time
Picture: http://www.ama.ab.ca/cps/rde/xchg/ama/web/insurance_Having-a-Baby-6351.htm
Systems Theories
Interactive Systems Theory
Vygotsky:
• all individuals are defined by the
social group and that knowledge is an
active social construction
Lev Vygotsky
(1896-1934)
• adults do not directly socialize the child but follow the
child’s own motivations to learn
• mutual, cooperative transaction is at the heart of
Vygotsky’s theory, which is why it is sometimes called
sociocultural theory
Systems Theories
Interactive Systems Theory
Zone of proximal development: the time during
which the next achievement in skill is about to
occur but has not occurred yet
Systems Theories
Interactive Systems Theory
The concept of the zone of proximal development
suggests that children will acquire culturally
acceptable practices only if parents can adjust
the timing and level of their actions to the
ongoing motivational state of the children
Systems Theories
Interactive Systems Theory
• Guided participation: the active role that children
play while observing and participating in the
organized activities of the family/society in the
company of adults
• Cultural differences
– In one study, Mayan mothers
maintained adult status level, while
U.S. mothers acted more like peers
Pictures:
http://www.free-toddlers-activity-and-discipline-guide.com/toddlers-activity-free-kids-game.html
http://www.wycliffe.org/FeatureStories/DentalRestorationSmilesandSouls.aspx
Problems with
Interactive Systems Theory
• Focuses on short-term developmental changes
and does not provide a framework for
understanding developmental change
• Focuses on parent-infant relationships, or
small groups of co-participants, and not on
broader issues (e.g., family systems)
– research inspired by Vygotsky’s work, however,
explicitly focuses on cultural factors and differences
Dynamic Systems Theory
• How does novelty emerge? Dynamic systems
theory gives conceptual & methodological tools
to understand this
• Ilya Prigogine: interested in
phenomena that make their own
energy & become increasingly
complex by generating novel forms
– Self-organization: the ability of
systems to maintain themselves
and to develop new forms
Ilya Prigogine (1917 - 2003)
Picture from Wikipedia.com
Dynamic Systems Theory
Many dynamic systems display two properties
1. They form predictable and stable patterns in their
macroscopic behavior
2. They are relatively unpredictable in their
microscopic behavior
Examples
• Seasons are generally expected to occur around the
same time each year, but day-to-day weather patterns
are hard to predict precisely
• Infant development can be described in general stages,
an individual infant’s behavior on a given day and
pattern of development cannot be predicted
Dynamic Systems Theory
Chaos: microscopic unpredictability in the
context of macroscopic stability
Figure 2.7 – trajectory of a mathematical equation that traces a path in 3-dimensional
space that is similar on each cycle but never exactly the same
Dynamic Systems Theory
Dynamic systems theory is unique in that it allows
for the possibility of indeterminism
– Determinism: all events have a cause, which can be
found with enough scientific work
• we are unable to predict events in a person’s life because we
simply do not have sufficient data
– Indeterminism: even if we could measure all the
relevant variables, we still could not completely predict
future behavior & development
• Butterfly effect – a very small perturbation creates
unpredictable novelty in a system, which results in macroscopic
developmental change in the system
Dynamic Systems Theory
Self-organization
spontaneously creates novelty
Dynamic Systems Theory
Esther Thelen and Alan Fogel applied dynamic
systems theory to explain infant development
– Infant development is not entirely predictable from
biological, social, or cognitive factors
Dynamic Systems Theory
• New abilities emerge through the dynamic
indeterminacy of self-organization
– Thelen: 6-month-olds have all the skills for walking,
except for the ability to balance. When this ability
develops – by about 10 months – infants walk
spontaneously (self-organization)
– Fogel: many forms of interpersonal communication
are transactional (there is feedback between the
participants) and this transaction is characterized by
continuous mutual adjustment of action and creativity
Dynamic Systems Theory
Co-regulation: the continuous mutual adjustment
and co-creativity that appears in spontaneous
communication
– synonym for self-organization as applied to
interpersonal communication
– explains both stability and change
• frames: repeating patterns of co-activity such as greetings,
games, conversation topics
• creativity is inherent in communication and provides the
seeds for spontaneous change
Problems with
Dynamic Systems Theory
• Relatively new theory – description of infant
development is still rather general and it could
take years of research to further develop the
theory
• Due to origins in physics, sometimes uses
complicated mathematical models, but human
development is not easily reduced to
measurable quantities
Clinical Theories
• Observed infant:
– based upon direct observations of infants,
constructed from quantitative research methods
• Clinical infant:
– constructed from clinical work with older children and
adults and based primarily on qualitative research
methods and participant observations
Clinical Theories
Clinical infant:
– Participatory memories: nonconceptual
• composed of emotions, desires, and a sense of familiarity,
without any specific time or place, felt as a being with or a
reliving of past experiences (e.g., the feeling of what it was
like to be cuddled)
– Conceptual memories: recall about an event
• communicated in the form of a verbal narrative, composed of
specific categories for type of event, time, and place
Clinical Theories
No matter what research method is used,
infants’ psychological experience will
always be unobservable by adults
Clinical Theories
• Infantile amnesia: the inability to have
conceptual memories of infant experiences
• Participatory memories
– likely to be unconscious, because they occurred when
we did not have language or because they were
traumatic
– nonverbal and often involve the whole body
– often transformed over time
• for example, the memory of being ignored in infancy may be
changed into feelings of depression in the adult
Clinical Theories
Psychotherapeutic Approaches
• Freud wanted to explore whether patients with
psychosomatic complaints had any memory of a trauma
that might have occurred early in life
– free association: asking clients to lie down and encouraging
them to relax and say anything without fear
– psychoanalysis: the use of free association along with
interpretation in psychotherapy
• Infants
– are dominated by the id (irrational needs and desires)
– gradually learn to control their impulses through the ego – the
ability to tolerate discomfort & frustration and to moderate the
pursuit of pleasure
Clinical Theories
Psychotherapeutic Approaches
• Erik Erikson: viewed each stage of development
as a potential crisis of the personality leading to
a new sense of individual identity
– development might progress or get sidetracked
• More social emphasis – focused on the way in
which the infant’s body related to the family and
to society
Clinical Theories
Psychotherapeutic Approaches
Freud
0 - 1½ Oral: Focus on
experiences of the
mouth (e.g., sucking,
eating, crying, biting)
1½ - 3 Anal: Focus on
experience in anal
region such as
elimination and
retention
Erikson
Trust vs. mistrust:
Development of
expectancy for either
gratification or frustration
Autonomy vs.
shame/doubt: Selfassertiveness and selfcontrol or uncertainty and
shame
Table 2.5 Psychoanalytic Stages of Development
Clinical Theories
Psychotherapeutic Approaches
• Margaret Mahler (1975): psychoanalyst who
believed that many psychopathologies could be
prevented by early intervention; worked with
infants and young children
• Infant psychiatry: the application of clinical
psychology to work with infants & their families
– most clinical interventions in infancy focus on the
parent-infant relationship and on parent education
Clinical Theories
Psychotherapeutic Approaches
Daniel Stern (1985) infants have early senses of self that
remain with the person throughout life
– Emergent self (0-2 months): awareness of how the different
movements, sensations, and feelings cohere into recognizable
states
– Core self (2-8 months, also called the ecological self ): the
experience of being an active agent that does things in the
world, has feelings, and has a history of prior experiences
– Subjective self (8-15 months): infants discover that they have
inner experiences that are different from others around them,
and they can choose to share feelings and experiences with
others
– Verbal self (after 15 months): use language to talk about inner
states and to construct a coherent identity in the company of
other people
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
May use talk, but typically use body movement &
touch as a way to access the participatory
memories of early childhood
– since infants experience their world via movement
and touch, this seems to be a more direct route to
an adult’s infant experience than merely talking
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
Watsu: clients are moved freely in the water,
stretched gently, and cradled in the
practitioner’s arms
“By being moved so freely through the
water, by being stretched and repeatedly
returned to a fetal position, the adult has
the opportunity to heal in himself
whatever pain or loss he may still carry
from that time” (Dull, 1995, p. 65).
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
Rosen method: by listening to the client’s body
with gentle touch and to the words they use
to describe their experience, the practitioner
can help the client to relax, relieve pain, and
breathe easier
the body tells its own story
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984), originally a
physicist and judo instructor, invented The
Feldenkrais Method
– organic learning: very young children use all their
senses and every part of their bodies, while adults
appear to involve less of themselves
– Feldenkrais believed that alienation from the body
contributes to habitual, usually unconscious, patterns
of muscular tension and psychosomatic illnesses
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
Two Feldenkrais methods
– Awareness through Movement
• students are asked to make small, slow movements )often
based on the movements observed in babies), reduce their
efforts, and sense how even simple movements are connected
with every part of the body
– Functional Integration
• students lie on a padded table as a
practitioner gently touches and moves
them, promoting deep relaxation,
kinesthetic awareness, and new ways to
move
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
Bodymind centering (BMC):
– adults do exercises based on normal infant
sensorimotor development
– has been used in the treatment of parent-infant
relationships at risk & and with infants who
experience sensorimotor difficulties
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
• dance teacher & physical therapist
• could help many clients by taking
them through the sensorimotor
stages of prenatal and infant
development, step by step
Clinical Theories
Somatic Awareness Approaches
• Dance Movement Psychotherapy – expressive
dance-like movements to foster a more
integrated sense of self in relation to others
– successful for infants and children with autism, communication
delays, sensory integration difficulties, hyperactivity, and trauma
(Tortora, 2006)
– kinesthetic empathy: the ability to feel another person’s feelings
by moving like that other person
• Somatic psychotherapy: focuses on felt bodily
sensations, breathing, and movement on the
pathway to psychological well-being
Problems with
Clinical Theories
• More could be learned by combining systematic
qualitative with quantitative methods
• Hard to prove whether participatory memories of infancy
are what that adult actually experienced as a baby
– memories of early infancy are typically about feelings and body
states, not about particular incidents
– the adult’s parents would find it difficult to remember whether a
particular event happened, and even if they did, their experience
of it as a parent would not be the same as the infant’s
experience
• Psychoanalytical theories tend to focus reward or blame
on the parents, but the child contributes as well
• No one approach can treat all behavioral and
psychological issues of children and adults
Experiential Exercises:
Exploring the Clinical Infant
The infant’s psychological experience is
unobservable – so how can we understand
the “clinical infant”?
– by re-experiencing infant-like movements,
sensations, and states of being
– by interacting with infants as a participant
observer
– by talking to your parents or caregivers about
your own infancy
Experiential Exercises:
Exploring the Clinical Infant
This book includes Experiential Exercises – simple
exercises that allow an opportunity to experience
the clinical infant for yourself
– Do these in a quiet room where you can feel what is
happening in your body.
– Many students feel self-conscious when first doing
this. It is, after all, unusual for adults to act like babies!
– Almost all students, however, change their minds
after actually doing the exercises for a while.
Experiential Exercises:
Finger painting
• Done individually or in groups
• Need materials, space and time
• Just start painting!
– Notice the concrete feelings in yourself such as
emotions or sensations of color, temperature, texture.
– Notice if any memories come back to you. Are they
pleasant or unpleasant?
– What does this experience tell you about yourself
today? About yourself as a child?