Question

Describe the major physical, cognitive, and social developmental changes that occur from infancy to adulthood.

Describe different types of psychological disorders, schools of thought on possible causes, and how society responds to people living with mental disorders.

Answer 1

Development in Infancy and Childhood:

In utero, the brain develops rapidly, and an infant is born with essentially all of the nerve cells it will ever have; brain development is particularly rapid during the third trimester. However, after birth, neural connections must form in order for the newborn ultimately to walk, talk, and remember.

Infants are born with a surprising number of unlearned (innate) reflexes, that is, unlearned responses to stimuli.

The Moro reflex is an outstretching of the arms and legs in response to a loud noise or sudden change in the environment. The infant's body tenses; arms are extended and then drawn inward as if embracing.

The Babinski reflex is an outward projection of the big toe and fanning of the others when the sole of the foot is touched.

The sucking reflex occurs when an object touches the lips.

The rooting reflex is the turning of an infant's head toward a stimulus such as a breast or hand.

The grasping reflex is the vigorous grasping of an object that touches the palm.

The plantar reflex is the curling under of the toes when the ball of the foot is touched. Physicians sometimes use these reflexes to assess the rate of development.

Although the rate of motor development can vary, the developmental sequence is the same. On average, an infant will learn to roll over at 2-1/2 months, sit without support at 6 months, and walk alone at 12 months.

Cognitive development. The term cognitive development refers to the development of the ability to think and to mentally represent events and to manipulate symbols.

During the sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2) infants develop their ability to coordinate motor actions with sensory activity. At the start of this stage, children's behavior is dominated by reflexes, but by the end of it, they can use mental images.

During the preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7 years), children improve in the use of mental images and symbolic thought. Most of the thinking of children of this age, however, is egocentric (self‐centered).

During the concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11 years), children begin to develop many concepts and to organize the concepts into classes and categories.

During the formal operational stage (ages 11 years and beyond), children learn to use and to manipulate abstract symbolic concepts, develop and mentally test hypotheses, and work mental problems. That is, they can reason.

Language development. Language acquisition is one of the most important aspects of a child's development.

Moral development. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed that moral development occurs in three levels, with two stages at each level.

The preconventional level:

At stage 1, punishment orientation, judgments are guided by the prospect of punishment.

At stage 2, pleasure‐seeking orientation, activities are undertaken primarily to satisfy one's own needs; needs of others are important only as they relate to one's own needs.

The conventional level:

At stage 3, good girl/good boy orientation, behavior is engaged in that brings approval or pleases others in a child's immediate group.

At stage 4, authority orientation, behavior is influenced by respect for authority, performing one's duty, and doing what is right.

Social development. Social development begins at birth as a child forms an attachment (a strong emotional bond) with the primary caregiver(s), usually the mother. Harry Harlow studied attachment deprivation with baby monkeys raised in isolation. Although their physical needs were met and they were given surrogate mothers made of cloth, these monkeys suffered severe behavior pathologies.

Personality development. Developmental psychologists also study personality development in children.

Different types of disorder are:

Neurodevelopmental disorders are those that are typically diagnosed during infancy, childhood, or adolescence. These psychological disorders include:

Intellectual disability (or Intellectual Developmental Disorder) was formerly referred to as mental retardation.1 This type of developmental disorder originates prior to the age of 18 and is characterized by limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors.

Global developmental delay is a diagnosis for developmental disabilities in children who are under the age of five. Such delays relate to cognition, social functioning, speech, language, and motor skills.

Communication disorders are those that impact the ability to use, understand, or detect language and speech. The DSM-5 identifies four different subtypes of communication disorders: language disorder, speech sound disorder, childhood onset fluency disorder (stuttering), and social (pragmatic) communication disorder.2

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by persistent deficits in social interaction and communication in multiple life areas as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors.

-Society respond to people with disabilities are:

Society take this as a disability and consider it as a crime. They don't understand that it is not in person s hand. We should help disabled people in life. Society discriminate between normal people and disabled people. They see them with different perspective. The perspective which is negative as well as not acceptable.