Abay Bektursun
Psychological Development in Infancy and Childhood It is the development of an individual’s cognitive, intellectual, social, and emotional functioning and capabilities over the life span, from the infancy to old age. It is a subject matter of a discipline called developmental psychology. Initially, child psychology was the main focus of research. However, since the 20th century, people have learnt much about infancy psychology as well as adulthood psychology. Infancy is the period birth of an infant and the period of language acquisition one or two years later. Apart from the inherited reflexes that protect them from danger and help them to obtain nourishment, they possess predilection for certain visual patterns such as the human face. They may also be able to recognize certain sounds such as a human voice. After a few months, they can identify their mother by sight and exhibit striking sensitivity to rhythmic flow, individual sounds, and tones, which constitute human speech. Young infants are able to perceive complex judgments such as shape, direction, sound, depth, and distance. Sooner than later, they are capable of organizing their experience through the creation of categories of events and objects in a similar …show more content…
By the first year, the baby starts showing new emotional states such as sadness, anger, and fear. The emotional life of an infant is centered on attachments it forms toward his mother or other primary caregivers. They learn to trust, depend on other people, and love. A baby takes about two months to start smiling at other people. By six months, the baby has developed an attachment to his mother and other caregivers. These attachments form the basis for healthy social and emotional development throughout