Basic Concepts of Infant Behavior and Development

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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. Today Theories of infant care & development spread rapidly through Western culture & demand for expert behavioral scientists rose

8. 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) INSERT PICTURE OF THIS BOOK?

9. 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

10. 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

11. Topics in infancy research • perceptual/sensorial • sensorimotor/tool using • conceptual/thinking • representational/symbolic • communicative/linguistic • social/interactive • expressive/emotive • self-regulatory/coping

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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)

17. Physiological Recording One method of discovering more about babies, since they cannot report on their internal states can be used for experimental & observational research

18. 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

19. Observational Research Methods Rely on natural variations &create contrast groups

20. 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

21. 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

22. Qualitative Research Methods • Characterized by one or both of the following • the observers focus on the meaning of the situation for the participants • 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

23. 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

24. 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)

25. 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

26. Table 1.2 Federal Programs in the United States to Assist Infants and their Families Sources: Barrett (2001), Phillips & McCartney (2005)

27. 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

28. Table 1.3 Differences between policy makers and scientists Sources: Maton & Bishop-Josef (2006), Solarz (2001)