Psy 220 Exam 2

Front 1

Describe the three stages of the birth process and methods for easing its discomfort.

Back 1

The three stages of the birth process are labor, delivery, and expelling of the placenta and umbilical cord. During labor, the contractions of the muscles in the uterus cause the mother’s cervix to dilate in preparation for the baby’s exit. By the end of labor, the cervix has opened to about 10 centimeters (4 1/2 inches). During delivery, the woman pushes the fetus through the cervix and out of the uterus. In the final stage of the birth process, contractions continue as the placenta and umbilical cord are expelled. Both emotional support and physical methods such as breathing techniques and massage may help ease the discomfort of labor.

Front 2

Name two common types of birth complications and explain how they can be overcome by cesarean delivery.

Back 2

Two common birth complications are failure to progress, which occurs when the birth process is taking longer than normal, and the breech presentation of the fetus, which means the fetus is turned around so that the feet or buttocks are positioned to come first out of the birth canal. Both complications can be overcome through the use of a c-section, which today is generally safe for mothers and infants.

Front 3

Summarize the history of birth in the West from the 15th century to today.

Back 3

Midwives have assisted in most births historically, but during the 15th century many were accused of being witches and were put to death. In the 18th and 19th centuries, birth became increasingly medical, but deadly infections were often spread to mothers by doctors with unclean hands. In the early 20th century the attempts to make birth safer were overzealous and overly medical, as birth was taken over by doctors and hospitals, with the maternal experience disregarded. In the past 50 years most of the West has moved toward a more reasonable middle ground, seeking to minimize medical intervention but making it available when necessary.

Front 4

Describe cultural variations in birth beliefs and identify who may assist with the birth.

Back 4

Because birth is often dangerous, many traditional cultures have developed beliefs that childbirth puts a woman in a state of being spiritually unclean. The placenta is often disposed of carefully in traditional cultures because of beliefs that it is potentially dangerous or even semihuman. In most cultures, women giving birth are attended by female relatives and an older woman (“midwife” or similar title) who has experience assisting in the birth process.

Front 5

Compare and contrast cultural practices and medical methods for easing the birth process.

Back 5

In traditional cultures, midwives ease birth pain through massage techniques, reassurance, and herbal medicines. In developed countries, an anesthetic drug called an epidural is often injected into a woman’s spinal fluid to help manage the pain.

Front 6

Describe the differences in maternal and neonatal mortality both within and between developed countries and developing countries.

Back 6

In recent decades birth has become routinely safe and humane in developed countries, although there is considerable variation based on SES and ethnicity. Childbirth remains highly dangerous in developing countries where little medical intervention is available, although mortality rates are decreasing due to recent improvements in nutrition and access to health care.

Front 7

Identify the features of the two major scales most often used to assess neonatal health.

Back 7

Two of the most widely used methods of assessing neonatal health are the Apgar scale and the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). The Apgar scale, which is administered immediately after birth, assesses infants on five subtests with a total rating of 1–10. The NBAS, which is administered any time in the first 2 months, assigns infants an overall rating of “worrisome,” “normal,” or “superior.”

Front 8

Identify the neonatal classifications for low birth weight and describe the consequences and major treatments.

Back 8

Low-birth-weight neonates weigh less than 5.5 pounds and very low-birth-weight neonates weigh less than 3.3 pounds; extremely low-birth-weight babies weigh less than 2.2 pounds. Low birth weight is related to a variety of physical, cognitive, and behavioral problems, not just in infancy but throughout life. Close physical contact and infant massage can help ameliorate the problems.

Front 9

Describe neonates’ patterns of waking and sleeping, including how and why these patterns differ across cultures.

Back 9

Neonates sleep an average of 16 to 17 hours a day (in segments of a few hours each), about 50% of it in REM sleep. By 4 months old the typical infant sleeps for 14 of every 24 hours, including about 6 hours straight at night, and the proportion of REM sleep declines to 40%. These patterns may vary across cultures due to differences in parenting practices such as how much time mothers spend holding their babies.

Front 10

Describe the neonatal reflexes, including those that have a functional purpose and those that do not.

Back 10

There are 27 reflexes present at birth or shortly after, including some related to early survival (such as sucking and rooting) and others that have no apparent function (such as the Babkin and Babinski reflexes).

Front 11

Describe the neonate’s sensory abilities with respect to touch, taste and smell, hearing, and sight.

Back 11

Touch and taste develop prenatally to a large extent, and neonates’ abilities are similar to adults’. Neonates quickly begin to discriminate smells after birth, showing a preference for the smell of their mother’s breast. Hearing is also quite mature at birth, although neonates hear high-pitched sounds better than other sounds and their ability to localize sound does not mature until about one year old. Sight is the least developed of the senses at birth, due to the physiological immaturity of the visual system, but it reaches maturity by the end of the first year.

Front 12

Describe the cultural customs surrounding breast-feeding across cultures and history.

Back 12

In the human past, evidence indicates that in most cultures children were fed breast milk as their primary food for 2 to 3 years. To ease the burden of frequent feedings, the custom of wet nursing (hiring a lactating woman other than the mother to feed the infant) is a widespread custom as old as recorded human history. Using animal substitutes (cow’s or goat’s milk) also has a long history.

Front 13

Identify the advantages of breast-feeding and where those advantages are largest.

Back 13

Breast-feeding is associated with protection from disease in infancy and better health in childhood and adulthood, healthy cognitive development, and reduced obesity. For mothers, breast-feeding helps their bodies return to normal after pregnancy. The advantages are especially pronounced in developing countries. Nevertheless, worldwide only about half of all infants are breast-fed even for a short time.

Front 14

Describe neonates’ types of crying and how crying patterns and soothing methods vary across cultures.

Back 14

Three distinct kinds of crying signals have been identified: fussing, anger, and pain. Crying frequency rises steadily beginning at 3 weeks of age and reaches a peak by the end of the second month, then declines. This pattern is similar across cultures, but duration and intensity of crying are lower in cultures where babies are held or carried throughout much of the day and night.

Front 15

Describe the extent to which human mothers “bond” with their neonates and the extent to which this claim has been exaggerated.

Back 15

Some physicians have claimed on the basis of animal studies that the first few minutes and hours after birth are critical to mother–infant “bonding.” This has now been shown to be false, but the claims had the beneficial effect of changing hospital policies to allow more contact between mothers, fathers, and neonates.

Front 16

Describe the reasons for postpartum depression and its consequences for children.

Back 16

Many mothers experience mood fluctuations in the days following birth as their hormones return to normal levels, but some mothers experience an extended period of postpartum depression, as do some fathers. The basis of postpartum depression appears to be a combination of genetic vulnerability to depression and a social and cultural context that does not provide enough social support.

Front 17

Describe how the infant's body changes in the first year, and explain the two basic principles of physical growth.

Back 17

The physical developments of infancy include a tripling of weight and an inch-per-month growth in height. The cephalocaudal principle means that physical growth tends to begin at the top, with the head, and then proceeds downward to the rest of the body. The proximodistal principle means that growth proceeds from the middle of the body outward. For most infants the first tooth appears between 5 and 9 months of age. Teething pain can be soothed with something to bite or chew on or something cold to drink or eat, or by using topical medications.

Front 18

Identify the different parts of the brain and describe how the brain changes in the first few years of life.

Back 18

The brain is separated into two hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum, and each hemisphere has four lobes with distinct functions. Brain development in infancy is concentrated in the expansion of dendritic connections and myelination. Studies of infants and children exposed to extreme deprivation indicate that the brain is especially vulnerable in the first year of life.

Front 19

Describe how infant sleep changes in the course of the first year and evaluate the risk factors for SIDS, including the research evidence regarding cosleeping.

Back 19

Sleep needs decline during the first year. SIDS is most common at age 2–4 months. Sleeping on the back rather than the stomach greatly reduces the risk of SIDS. In cultures where infants sleep alongside their mothers on a firm surface the risk of SIDS is very low. Historically and worldwide today, mother–infant cosleeping is far more common than putting babies to sleep in a room of their own.

Front 20

Describe how infants' nutritional needs change during the first year of life and identify the reasons for and consequences of malnutrition in infancy.

Back 20

The best way to obtain good high-fat nutrition during infancy is through breast milk. The timing of the introduction of solid food varies among cultures, from the first weeks of life to sometime in the second half of the first year. Malnutrition in infancy is usually due mainly to the mother being unable or unwilling to breast-feed.

Front 21

List the major causes and preventive methods of infant mortality and describe some cultural approaches to protecting infants.

Back 21

Malnutrition is a common source of infant mortality, but the most common source is diarrhea. Diarrhea can be cured by oral rehydration therapy (ORT), though access to clean water makes this treatment unavailable in some parts of the world. The cultural practices of secluding infants in their early weeks, cosleeping with them, and constantly carrying them developed out of long and painful human experience with high infant mortality.

Front 22

Describe the major changes during infancy in gross and fine motor development.

Back 22

Achievements in gross motor development in infancy include rolling over, crawling, and standing. Cultural practices restricting or encouraging gross motor development make a slight difference in the timing of gross motor achievements, but little difference in the long run. Reaching and grasping are two of the fine motor milestones of the first year.

Front 23

Describe when and how infants develop depth perception and intermodal perception.

Back 23

Increased adeptness at binocular vision around 3 months of age enables infants to develop depth perception during the first year. Infants also become better at intermodal perception or coordinating their senses.

Front 24

Describe the meaning of maturation, schemes, assimilation, and accommodation.

Back 24

Maturation is the biologically-based program of development. Piaget proposed that the child’s construction of reality takes place through the use of schemes, which are cognitive structures for processing, organizing, and interpreting information. The two processes involved in the use of schemes are assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation occurs when new information is altered to fit an existing scheme. In contrast, accommodation entails changing the scheme to adapt to the new information.

Front 25

Describe the first four sensorimotor substages and explain how object permanence develops over the course of the first year.

Back 25

Substage 1 is based on neonatal reflexes; 2 is based more on purposeful behavior; 3 entails the repetition of movements that first occurred by chance; and 4 is based on intentional, goal-directed behavior. Object permanence has begun to develop by the end of infancy, but it is not complete until the end of the second year.

Front 26

Summarize the major critiques of Piaget’s sensorimotor theory.

Back 26

Some critics argue that the theory may have underestimated infants’ cognitive abilities. Another criticism of Piaget is cultural, because nearly all research has been on children in the West.

Front 27

Describe the elements of the information processing model of cognitive functioning.

Back 27

In contrast to the cognitive-developmental approach initiated by Piaget, which divides cognitive development into distinct stages, the information-processing approach investigates the processes of cognitive functioning that occur at all ages. The focus is on the components of cognitive functioning, especially attention and memory.

Front 28

Explain how attention and habituation change during infancy.

Back 28

Infants pay more attention to a stimulus they have not seen before. Habituation develops more quickly during the course of the first year, and at any given age, quickness of habituation is positively related to later cognitive achievements. Increasingly during the first year, infants learn through joint attention with others.

Front 29

Explain how short-term and long-term memory expand during infancy.

Back 29

Both short-term and long-term memory improve notably over the course of the first year, though recognition memory comes easier than recall memory, as it does at later ages.

Front 30

Describe the major scales used in measuring infant development and explain how habituation assessments are used to predict later intelligence.

Back 30

The Bayley scales are widely used to measure infants’ development, but scores on the Bayley do not predict later cognitive development except for infants with serious deficits. Efforts to predict later intelligence using information processing approaches have shown greater promise. These assessments measure habituation by distinguishing between “short-lookers” and “long-lookers,” with short-lookers higher in later intelligence.

Front 31

Evaluate the claim that educational media enhance infants’ cognitive development.

Back 31

Many studies investigating this question have concluded that educational media products have no effect on infants’ cognitive development and may even be detrimental.

Front 32

Describe the course of language development over the first year of life.

Back 32

Infants begin cooing when about 2 months old. When they first begin to babble at about 6 months, infants use a wide range of sounds, but within a few months they more often make the sounds from the main language they hear around them. First words are usually spoken around the end of the first year; infants can already understand about 50 words by this time.

Front 33

Describe how cultures vary in their stimulation of language development.

Back 33

Many cultures use infant-directed (ID) speech, and babies appear to enjoy hearing it. However, even in cultures that do not use ID speech children become adept users of language by the time they are a few years old.

Front 34

Define infant temperament and its main dimensions.

Back 34

Temperament includes qualities such as activity level, attention span, and emotionality. Thomas and Chess conceptualized temperament by classifying infants as easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up. Other theorists rate temperament on the basis of dimensions rather than categories. However, in all cases infant temperament is difficult to measure, due to the frequent changes in infants’ states.

Front 35

Explain how the idea of goodness-of-fit pertains to temperament on both a family level and a cultural level.

Back 35

Goodness-of-fit means that children develop best if there is a “good fit” between the temperament of the child and environmental demands. It varies culturally, given that different cultures have different views of the value of personality traits such as emotional expressiveness.

Front 36

Identify the primary emotions and describe how they develop during infancy.

Back 36

The original primary emotions of distress, interest, and pleasure develop into anger, fear, surprise, and happiness within a few months after birth, but sadness tends to appear after infancy.

Front 37

Describe infants’ emotional perceptions and how their emotions become increasingly social over the first year.

Back 37

Infants are socially aware of others’ emotions from the first days of life, and respond with distress to the distress of others. Toward the end of the first year they draw emotional cues from how others respond to ambiguous situations, a process called social referencing.

Front 38

List the main features of infants’ social worlds across cultures.

Back 38

Infants are typically cared for by their mothers (in early months) and then by older siblings. They are surrounded by other people and held or carried often. In Western developed countries infants have a smaller social world and more time alone, but they also learn to function socially.

Front 39

Compare and contrast the two major theories of infants’ social development.

Back 39

The key to healthy social development, according to Erikson and Bowlby, is a strong, reliable attachment to a primary caregiver. The theories differ in their origins and Bowlby’s theory has inspired thousands of studies.