Chapter Six: Infancy
After completing Chapter Six students will be able to:
- Discuss physical development and growth in infancy
- Outline the course of sensory and perceptual development
- Summarize Piaget’s theory of infant development
- Describe how infants learn and remember
- Discuss the assessment of intelligence in infancy
- Characterize early environmental influences on cognitive development
- Describe the nature of language and how it develops in infancy
- Discuss emotional and personality development in infancy
- Describe how attachment develops in infancy
- Explain how social contexts influence the infant’s social and emotional development
“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” Fred Rogers Children learn through play. They experience their world in a hands-on way. Infants are intrinsically motivated to explore their world and these multisensory experiences are the foundation of development in all domains: physical, cognitive, social and emotional.
Infants are curious and want to explore the world around them and connect with the people in it. They are “active participants in their own development, reflecting the intrinsic human drive to explore and master one’s environment” (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2000, 1). In this chapter we will discuss the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth of infants.
