Prenatal Development and the Newborn



Prenatal Development and the Newborn

Developmental psychologists examine how we develop physically, cognitively, and socially, from conception to death. The life cycle begins when one sperm cell, out of the some 200 million ejaculated, unites with an egg to form a zygote. Attached to the uterine wall, the developing embryo begins to form body organs. By the ninth week, the fetus becomes recognizably human. The mother eats, drinks, and breathes for two, so that any teratogens she ingests can reach the developing child and place it at risk. (Avery 2005).

The Competent Newborn

Using new methods, researchers have discovered that newborns are born with sensory equipment and reflexes that facilitate their interacting with adults and securing nourishment. For example, they quickly learn to discriminate the smell and sound of their mothers. (Shannon 2007).

Brain Development

Within the brain, nerve cells form before birth. Sculpted by maturation and experience, their interconnections multiply rapidly after birth.

Maturation and Infant Memory

We lose conscious memories of experiences from our earliest years. Experiments do, however, show that infants can retain learning over time.

Motor Development

Infants' more complex physical skills—sitting, standing, walking—develop in a

predictable sequence whose actual timing is a function of individual

maturation rate and culture (Kenner 2007).

Cognitive Development in Infancy and Childhood

Jean Piaget's observations of children convinced him—and almost everyone else—that the mind of the child is not that of a miniature adult. Piaget theorized that our mind develops by forming schemas that help us assimilate our experiences and that must occasionally be altered to accommodate new information. In this way, children progress from the simplicity of the sensorimotor stage in the first two years to more complex stages of thinking, which include a developing theory of mind.

Piaget believed that preschool children, in the preoperational stage, are egocentric and unable to perform simple logical operations. At about age 6 or 7 they enter the concrete operational stage and can perform concrete operations, such as those required to comprehend the principle of conservation. Finally, at about age 12, children enter the formal operational stage, in which abstract reasoning is within their grasp. Recent research indicates that human cognition, regardless of culture, tends to unfold basically in the sequence Piaget proposed. However, young children are more capable, and development more continuous, than Piaget believed. The cognitive abilities that emerge at each stage apparently begin developing in a rudimentary form in the previous stage (Avery 2005).

Origins and Effects of Attachment

Attachment style in infancy predicts later social development. Infants become attached to their mothers and fathers not simply because mothers and fathers gratify biological needs but, more importantly, because they are comfortable, familiar, and responsive. If denied such care, both monkey and human infants may become pathetically withdrawn, anxious, and eventually abusive. Once an attachment forms, infants who are separated from their caregivers will, for a time, be distressed (Shannon 2007).

Self-Concept and Child-Rearing Practices

As with cognitive abilities, a self-concept develops gradually. By 18 months, infants recognize themselves in a mirror. By age 8 or 10, children's selfimages are quite ...