Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Lecture Notes
Chapter 3: Infancy and Toddlerhood
Learning Objectives
3.1: Compare one’s own emotional and cognitive reactions to three case studies.
3.2: Identify aspects of the developmental niche that affect infant and toddler
development.
3.6: Compare the childcare arrangements in infancy and toddlerhood in the United
States with the arrangements in other wealthy countries.
3.7: Identify issues that face multigenerational families with infants and toddlers.
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Chapter Summary
As you read this chapter, take note of these central ideas:
1. Although growth and development in young children have some predictability and logic, the timing
and expression of many developmental skills vary from child to child and depend in part on the
environment and culture in which the child is raised.
4. Erikson describes two stages of psychosocial development relevant to infants and toddlers, each
with its own central task: trust versus mistrust (birth to age 1.5) and autonomy versus shame and
doubt (1.5–3 years).
5. The attachment relationship between infants and toddlers and their caregivers can affect brain
development.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
A. Case Studies 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3
i. 3.1 Holly’s Early Arrival
iii. 3.3 Overprotecting Henry
II. Developmental Niche and Typical Infant and Toddler Development
i. Infants: young children within their first year of life
ii. Toddlers: children in their second and third year of life who are
III. Physical Development
A. Growth Patterns
i. Depend upon genetics, environment, and nutrition
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
ii. Cephalocaudal development
B. Self-Regulation
C. Sensory Abilities
i. Sensory system: the senses of hearing, sight, taste, smell, touch, and
sensitivity to pain
D. Reflexes
i. Reflexes: involuntary muscle responses to certain stimuli
a. Sucking and rooting reflexes
ii. Exhibit 3.2 Infant Reflexes
E. Motor Skills
i. Motor skills: the ability to move and manipulate
ii. Exhibit 3.3 Windows of Milestone Achievement in Months
F. The Growing Brain
i. Neurons: specialized nerve cells that store and transmit information
ii. Neurogenesis: the creation of new neurons
vii. Myelination: process in which axons and neurons are coated with a
fatty substance called myelin
viii. Brain plasticity: (neuroplasticity) the brain changes throughout life
and the brain changes as a result of what it experiences
G. Vaccinations
i. The role of vaccine in reducing the risk of diseases infants and toddlers
are especially vulnerable to
IV. Cognitive Development
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
problems
B. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
i. Sensorimotor stage (reflex activity, primary circular reactions,
secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary circular
reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and mental representation)
v. Object permanence: the ability to understand that an object or person
exists even when they don’t see it
vi. Stranger anxiety: infants react with fear and withdrawal to unfamiliar
persons
C. Information Processing Theory
i. Information processing theory: concerned with the mechanisms
through which learning occurs, focusing specifically on memory
encoding and retrieval
D. Language Development
i. Exhibit 3.5 Information Processing System
V. Socioemotional Development
A. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development
i. Exhibit 3.7 Selected Milestones in Emotional Development
ii. Trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt
B. Emotion Regulation
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
i. From infancy to toddlerhood, children develop ways to cope with
C. Temperament
i. Temperament: the characteristic way in which individuals approach
and react to people and situations
ii. Activity level, rhythmicity, approach-withdrawal, adaptability, intensity
of reactions, threshold of responsiveness, quality of mood,
D. Attachment
i. Attachment: the ability to form emotional bonds with other people
ii. Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment
v. Ainsworth’s Theory of Attachment
a. Insecure attachment, insecure anxious attachment, and insecure
avoidant attachment
b. Insecure disorganized/disoriented response
c. Criticisms of Ainsworth’s theory
vi. Attachment and Brain Development
a. Attachment is an organizer in brain development and anxiety
VI. The Role of Play
i. The function of toys matters more than the cost
ii. Play assists in motor, cognitive, language, emotional, social, and moral
development
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
d. 12 months to 18 months
e. 18 months to 24 months
VII. Developmental Disruptions
i. Developmental delay: a situation in which an infant or toddler has a
significant lag in development in any dimension(s)
VIII. Childcare Arrangements in Infancy and Toddlerhood
A. Parental Leave
i. Increased presence of mothers in the workforce
B. Paid Childcare
i. Shifts in childcare throughout history
ii. Controversies over alternative childcare
IX. Infants and Toddlers in the Multigenerational Family
i. Cultural variations in who is involved in caregiving within the family
X. Risks to Healthy Infant and Toddler Development
i. Linkages between early exposure to adversity or dysfunction and the
development of fatal disease later in life
B. Poverty
i. Rates of children living in poverty worldwide
C. Inadequate Caregiving
i. Causes of inadequate caregiving
ii. Nonorganic failure to thrive (NOFTT)
D. Child Maltreatment and Trauma
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
i. Risk of memory problems, difficulty regulating emotions, problems
iii. Link between temperament and abuse
XI. Protective Factors in Infancy and Toddlerhood
A. Maternal Education
B. Social Support