Infancy Development
Infancy Development
Developmental psychology is the study of the psychological changes that occur in human beings in their life span. The field focuses on studying the development of infants and children. The field also studies adult development, aging among elderly people and adolescents. Psychologists study the changes that occur in each development stage. Psychologists have developed theories to explain the development categories. For example, psychologists have developed theories to explain child development like Piaget’s theory. Developmental psychology analyzes various features of human development. For example, it addresses physical, Cognitive and social development. Also, developmental psychology addresses moral and personality development. This paper focuses on infancy development. It analyzes factors that affect cognitive, social and physical development in relation to infancy development (Dunbar, 2010).
Most children experience rapid growth during Infancy. There are various changes that occur during infancy stage. Examples of the changes are cognitive, physical and social development. Though there is difference in the rate of growth among infants, a large percentage of infants follow similar stages of development. Infancy development occurs at the age of one month to twelve months. Psychologists argue that the development is influenced by genetic factors and environmental factors (Dunbar, 2010).
Cognitive development is common among infants and it is vital. Jean Piaget’s developed the theory of cognitive development to explain infant development. The theory has different stages and infants show different signs in each stage. From birth to one month, infants responds using reflex. There is no cognitive process during this period. During this stage infants are not able to use symbols and images to represent the external environment. This is because the children are not yet developed. At the age of one month to four months, infants start to notice things in the environment. For example, the child is able to notice a bottle. At this age children learn how to trust people or not. Infants grow mentally at the age of one month to twelve month. There are various factors that affect cognitive development in infants. Environmental factors and hereditary factors affect cognitive development in infants. Environmental factors are the major cause of poor development among infants. The kind of environment the child is exposed to influences his or her growth (Dunbar, 2010).
Poverty leads to poor cognitive developed in infants. This is because poverty affects the development of the brain. Researchers argue that children from poor families have slow brain development or poor brain development as the infants and mothers are exposed to stressful situations that affect the development of a young child. Stress and depression influence how children grow. Women from poor families are always depressed and they lack basic needs like food, shelter. They only depend on casual jobs to earn their income. In addition, researchers claim that the kind of food an infant is exposed to determines the development of the brain. Poor families mostly depend on a diet that is not balanced as they cannot afford a balanced diet. Infants who do not have a balanced diet at the infant stage have poor cognitive development (Dunbar, 2010).
This affects cognitive process in infants. For example, it affects the learning process and memory. It also affects speech synthesis. This makes the infants have difficulties in reading comprehension and vocabulary. Also, the infants lack general knowledge when they grow up (Bowden& Greenberg, 2009).
The behavior of the mother and the family members affect the cognitive development among infants. Mothers from poor families are prone to various types of behavior like cigarette smoking and excessive use of alcohol. The substances influence the cognitive development. They affect unborn babies and infants. For example, the substances cause children to have deformities in the brain and slow the development of the brain (Bowden& Greenberg, 2009).
Maternal depression among mothers from poor families affects cognitive development. Most mothers suffer from depressions and they do not have good brain development. Also, the mothers do not have enough time to take care of the young children. The mothers find it difficulty to rear the children in a positive environment. The children in turn have poor cognitive development as they are not active and are always withdrawn. Social inequalities have also affected cognitive development. Poor families are not able to provide stimulating materials to the infants unlike rich families. Researchers argue that lack of stimulating materials affects cognitive growth among infants. This is because the child is less active and may withdraw from other children or family members (Bowden& Greenberg, 2009).
Apart from the environmental factors, hereditary factors affect cognitive development. There are various infections that affect the development of infants. Parents may transfer genetic materials that affect cognitive development among infants. This influences memory and learning in infants. Genetic factors are not easy to change, but environmental factors can be changed to ensure the child has good cognitive growth (Bowden& Greenberg, 2009).
Environmental and hereditary factors affect physical development in infants. Environmental factors like poverty affect physical development. Children from poor families are likely to have poor physical development unlike children from rich families. This is because the children do not get good nutrition. A balanced diet is important for physical development. Researchers argue that malnutrition causes poor development in young children. It hinders growth in infants and the children end up having retarded growth. Poverty has led to poor development among infants as the infants are exposed to stressful conditions and children do not have stimulating materials. The children find it difficulty to grow physically. Children who live in mining environments do not have good physical growth. This is because the chemicals released from mining areas affect the children and hinder them from growing well. For example, lead affects cognitive and physical development (Waal, 1993).
Hereditary affecters influence physical growth in young children. Parents pass different genes to their children. The genetic material determines characteristics like weight and height. Researchers argue that parents pass genetic materials that contribute to physical development disorders. For example, genetic materials are responsible for cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities. The disorders affect physical development (Waal, 1993).
There are various factors that affect personality, social and moral development. The rearing environment influences the personality, moral and social characteristics of the child. A child who is brought up in a good family will learn to be social and responsible. This is because the family members influence the child’s behavior. Mothers should provide children with good care so as to prevent the child from being socially withdrawn or having bad behavior. Mothers and other family members are important as they socialize with the child. Personality traits differ from one child to another. The family members determine the kind of traits the child will have. Children who are brought up well learn to respect, trust and love other people. In contrast, children who are not brought up well will have bad personality traits like hatred, anger and they do not trust the world. This is according to development theories like Piaget’s theory. In Piaget’s theory mothers influence how children grow up socially. They influence the personality traits and moral characters the child has (Bowden& Greenberg, 2009).
Reference
Bowden, V.R., Greenberg, C.S. (2009).Children and Their Families: The Continuum of Care. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Dunbar, F.(2010).effects of the mother’s emotional attitude on the infant. Retrieved from http://www.consciousparentingguide.com/Conscious_Parenting_Guide/%E2%9C%99_Articles_files/Dunbar%20Mother%27s%20thoughts%20on%20infant.pdfon 10/08/2010.
Waal,H.D.(1993).Environmental factors influencing growth and pubertal development. Department of Pediatrics, Free UniversityHospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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