+
Developmental Psychology
Rogie Mae Anub
Lethbridge College
Psych 1170

+ What’s interesting about Developmental psychology ?
The study of:
 Infant- directed speech and how it affects language
development in early childhood
 The importance of secure attachment in early
childhood
 Caregiver characteristics that affect child
development
 Effects of non parental care to children
 Parenting styles

+ Language Development
Use of Infant Directed Speech (IDS)
 Simplified, higher pitched speech that grown- ups use
when conversing with young kids.
 Babies as young as a few days old are able to
distinguish between IDS and adult- directed speech.
 They show preference to IDS whether spoken by male
or female.
 IDS helps infants identify sounds in their mother’s
speech that is specific to the language they are
learning.
 IDS is important for grammar development

+
Language Development
 Children talk sooner, develop more vocabularies, use more
complex sentences and learn to read more promptly if parents
constantly talk, read and use wide variety of words when
conversing with them.

+ Attachment theory
 Infants are genetically endowed to have the ability and need to
form emotional bonds with their caregivers.
 The first two years of life is a critical time for forming such
relationship. Failure to do so may cause social and personality
problems in the future.

+
Caregiver Characteristics
 Patients must be emotionally available
and willing to form an emotional
attachment to the infant
 Contingent responsiveness- being able to
respond to and being sensitive to child’s
verbal and nonverbal cues. Infants with
parents who demonstrate contingent
responsiveness in early months after birth
are more likely to be securely attached at
12 months.
 Infants whose parents are married are more
likely to be securely attached than with
those who have single or cohabiting parent.

+
Caregiver Characteristics
 Infants who interact with a depressed
parent express more negative and lesser
positive emotions, exhibit
undernourishment and develop insecure
attachment. These infants are at a higher
risk of developing later problems such as
aggression or social withdrawal in
school.
 Depressed mothers tend to either be
 Less affectionate
 Overstimulating by being overly
involved with the infant
 Overreacting and responds to the
infant’s undesirable behavior with
anger.

+ Long- term Consequences of
Attachment Quality
Children who are securely attached during
infancy are
 more sociable
 more behaviorally positive toward friends
and siblings
 less dependent on teachers
 less aggressive
 more empathetic
 more emotionally mature with interactions
in school and other settings

+
Adolescents who were considered as
securely attached during infancy are
 more socially skilled
 have more intimate relationships
 are more likely to be considered as
leaders
 have higher self- esteem and better
grades.
Those who are insecurely attached have
less supportive friendships and are more
likely to engage to sexual activities
earlier.
Long- term Consequences of
Attachment Quality

+
Long- term Consequences of
Attachment Quality
Mothers who are
securely attached
themselves are more
sensitive and responsive
to their infants and young
children.
Parents with history of
insecure attachment
often lack confidence in
their ability to perform
parenting role efficiently,
and are more likely to
view infants negatively.

+ Effects of Non-parental Care
 High quality enriched daycare are beneficial for children’s overall cognitive
and language development.
 Children show significant lasting gains in IQ and later school performance
after attending high quality enriched daycare.
Tips for choosing a Daycare Centre
 Low child to staff ratios
 Caregivers who are highly trained in child
development, first aid and CPR and are warm,
friendly and patient
 Safe, clean and stimulating environment
 Variety of enjoyable activities that support
healthy development
 Nutritional meals
 Good hygiene promotions

+
Parenting Styles
Four important aspects of family functioning by Diana Baumrind:
1. Warmth/ nurturance. Children with nurturing parents are more securely
attached, have more positive behaviors, are better in school and are less likely to
conduct delinquent actions.
2. Clarity and consistency of rules. Parents with clear and consistently applied
rules have children who are much less likely to be defiant
3. Level of expectations. Children show high self- esteem and show more
generosity if their parents are not overly restrictive, explain things well, avoid the
use of physical punishment and have high expectations.
4. Communication. Open and regular communication between parent and child
leads to more positive outcomes.

+ Parenting Styles
 Authoritarian: children under this kind of
parenting do less well in school, have lower
self- esteem, and are typically less skilled
 Permissive: children will be more
aggressive and immature, less likely to take
responsibility and are less independent
 Authoritative: children show most
consistent positive outcome and have
higher self- esteem, more independent and
are more likely to comply with parental
requests.
 Uninvolved: children show most negative
outcome and are more impulsive, antisocial
and have less achievement in school when
they reach adolescence.

+
How is this relevant to me
personally?
 I was always curious about what influences kids to act the way they
do, and this activity helped me gain more knowledge about some
factors that affect child development.
 What I learn here will help me in my future life as a mother. This will
help me identify how I need to act and how to properly guide my
child in his/ her development.

+
Professional Life
 Having a background knowledge about human
development will help me in my future nursing practice.
 I have always been interested in working in pediatrics
and having this knowledge will help me with my daily
interaction with kids and help me provide the best
possible care.
 There will also come a time that I need to educate a
patient about how to properly take care of her baby and
having a background knowledge about child
development will be helpful.

+
References
Boyd, D., Johnson, P. & Bee, H. (2015). Lifespan development (5th Can.
Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.
Images retrieved from Google Images