© San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

Module 6
Infancy

PSY04
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY

I. MODULE OVERVIEW

In this module we will examine the life of the

newborn and infant. We will begin by considering the
newborn’s capabilities at birth and then see how the infant’s
senses, perceptions, motor development and learning
mature through the period of infancy.

II. MODULE SCHEDULE

COLLEGE OF ARTS
3 Units Course
AND SCIENCES
Synchronous Meeting : 1. 5 hours per week
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
PSYCHOLOGY Asynchronous Meeting : 1.5 hours per week
Date : November 21-26, 2021

III. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the module, you are expected to:

1. List the characteristics of the infancy period and explain

how they differ from the characteristics of other periods in
the life span;
2. Discuss physical growth and reflexes among newborn
and infants;
3. Describe the extent and development of an infant’s
sensory and perceptual abilities in terms of the senses of
hearing, vision, taste, smell and touch
4. Identify the early milestones in motor development.

MARICEL L. ABAYA, LPT, RGC

abaya.smmc2021@gmail.com
09569917040
Part-time Instructor

San Mateo Municipal College

Gen. Luna St. Guitnang Bayan I, San Mateo, Rizal
Tel. No. (02) 997-9070
No part of this module may be reproduced or used in any manner without
www.smmc.edu.ph
written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a
review.

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
 © San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

IV. INPUT INFORMATION

I. INFANCY
“Infant” - derive from the latin word in-fans - meaning “unable to speak”
In basic English usage, an infant is defined as a human child at the youngest stage of life, specifically before they
can walk and generally before the age of one.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INFANCY

1. Infancy is the shortest of all developmental periods.

Infancy begins with birth and ends when the infant is approximately two weeks old, by far the shortest of
all the developmental periods. It is the time when the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the
mother where it has lived for approximately nine months.

SUBDIVISION OF INFANCY

⚫ Period of Partunate - from birth to fifteen to thirty minutes after birth

This period begins when the fetal body has emerged from the mother’s body and last until the
umbilical cord has been cut and tied.
⚫ Period of the Neonate - from the cutting and tying of the umbilical cord to approximately the end of
the second week of postnatal life
The infant is now a separate, independent individual and is no longer a parasite. During this period,
the infant must make adjustments to the new environment outside the mother’s body.

According to medical criteria, the adjustment is completed with the fall of the umbilical cord from the navel;
according to physiological criteria, it is completed when the infant regained the weight lost after birth; and
according to psychological criteria, it is completed when the infant begins to show signs of developmental progress
in behavior.

2. Infancy is a time of radical adjustments.

Although the human life span legally begins at the moment of birth, birth is merely an interruption of the
developmental pattern that started at the moment of conception. It is the graduation from the internal to an external
environment. Like all graduations, it requires adjustments on the individual’s part. It maybe easy for some infants
to make these adjustments but so difficult for others that they will fail to do so.

3. Infancy is a plateau in development.

There is a slight regression, such as loss of weight and a tendency to be less strong and health that at
birth. Normally this slight regression lasts for several days to a week, after which the infant begins to improve.
The halt in growth and development is due to the necessity for making radical adjustments to the post
natal environment.

4. Infancy is a preview of later development

The newborn’s development provides a clue as to what to expect later on.

5. Infancy is a hazardous period

Infancy is hazardous period, both physically and psychologically.
Physically, because of the difficulties of making the necessary radical adjustments to the totally new and
different environment.
Psychologically, because it is the time when the attitudes of significant people toward the infant are
crystallized.

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
 © San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

I. Newborn Reflexes
In the past, newborns were often characterized as fragile and helpless little organisms who were simply not
prepared for life outside the womb.The surprising fact is that newborns are much better prepared for life than many doctors,
parents, and developmentalists had initially assumed. All of a newborn’s senses are in good working order and she sees
and hears well enough to detect what is happening around her and respond adaptively to many of these sensations. Very
young infants are also quite capable of learning and can even remember some of the particularly vivid experiences they
have had.
Two other indications that neonates are quite well adapted for life are their repertoire of inborn reflexes and their
predictable patterns, or cycles, of daily activity.

One of the neonate’s greatest strengths is a full set of useful reflexes.

Reflex - an involuntary and automatic response to a stimulus
Ex. when the eye automatically blinks in response to a puff of air.

Some of these graceful and complex patterns of behavior are called survival reflexes because they have clear
adaptive value (Berne, 2003).
Examples:
➢ the breathing reflex
➢ the eye-blink reflex (which protects the eyes against bright lights or foreign particles)
➢ the sucking and swallowing reflexes, by which the infant takes in food
➢ the rooting reflex—an infant who is touched on the cheek will turn in that direction and search for something
to suck
Other so-called primitive reflexes are not nearly as useful; in fact, many are believed to be remnants of our
evolutionary history that have outlived their original purpose.
Example:
➢ The Babinski reflex is a good example. Why would it be adaptive for infants to fan their toes when the bottoms
of their feet are stroked? We don’t know.

Other primitive reflexes may still have some adaptive value, at least in some cultures (Bowlby, 1969; Fentress &
McLeod, 1986).
Example:
➢ The swimming reflex - may help keep afloat an infant who is accidentally immersed in a pond or a river.
➢ The grasping reflex - may help infants who are carried in slings or on their mothers’ hips to hang on.
➢ The stepping reflex - may be forerunners of useful voluntary behaviors such as crawling and walking that
develop later in infancy
Primitive reflexes normally disappear during the first few months of life. Why? Because they are controlled by the lower
“subcortical” areas of the brain and are lost once the higher centers of the cerebral cortex mature and begin to guide voluntary
behaviors.
But even if many primitive reflexes are not very useful to infants, they are important diagnostic indicators to
developmentalists. If these reflexes are not present at birth—or if they last too long in infancy—we have reason to suspect
that something is wrong with a baby’s nervous system.

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
 © San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

Infant States
Newborns also display organized patterns of daily activity that are predictable and foster healthy developmental
outcomes. In a typical day (or night), a neonate moves in and out of six infant states, or levels of arousal. During the firs t
month, a baby may move rapidly from one state to another, as mothers observe when their wide-awake babies suddenly
nod off to sleep in the middle of a feeding. Neonates spend about 70 percent of their time (16 to 18 hours a day) sleeping
and only 2 to 3 hours in the alert, inactive (but attentive) state, when they are most receptive to external stimulation (Berg
& Berg, 1987; Thoman, 1990). Sleep cycles are typically brief, lasting from 45 minutes to 2 hours. These frequent naps
are separated by periods of drowsiness, alert or in alert activity, and crying, any of which occur (as red-eyed, sleep-
deprived parents well know) at all hours of the day and night. Babies move into and out of six infant states in a typical
day.
INFANT STATES OF AROUSAL

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
 © San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

Developmental Changes in Infant States

Two of the states —sleeping and crying—show regular patterns of change over the first year and provide important
information about the developmental progress a baby is making.

Changes in Sleep

As infants develop, they spend less time sleeping and more time awake, alert, and attending to their surroundings.
By age 2 to 6 weeks, babies sleep only 14 to 16 hours a day; and somewhere between 3 and 7 months of age, many
infants reach a milestone that parents truly appreciate—they begin to sleep through the night and require but two or three
shorter naps during the day (Berg & Berg, 1987; St. James-Roberts & Plewis, 1996).

From at least 2 weeks before they are born throughout the first month or two of life, babies spend at least half
their sleeping hours in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, a state of active irregular sleep characterized by REM under
their closed eyelids and brain-wave activity more typical of wakefulness than of regular (non-REM) sleep (Groome et al.,
1997; Ingersoll & Thoman, 1999).
However, REM sleep declines steadily after birth and accounts for only 25 to 30 percent of total sleep for a 6-
month-old.

❖ Why do fetuses and newborns spend so much time in REM sleep and why does it decline so dramatically over the fi
rst few months?

The most widely accepted theory is that this active REM sleep early in life provides fetuses and very young infants,
who sleep so much, with enough internal stimulation to allow their nervous systems to develop properly (Boismier, 1977).
Consistent with this autostimulation theory is the finding that babies who are given lots of interesting visual
stimuli to explore while awake will spend less time in REM sleep than infants who do not have these experiences
(Boismier, 1977).

Perhaps the reason REM sleep declines sharply over the first 6 months is that the infant’s brain is rapidly maturing,
the infant is becoming more alert, and there is simply less need for the stimulation provided by REM activity.

One of the major causes of infant mortality is a very perplexing sleep-related disorder called crib death, or sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS),the unexplained death of a sleeping infant who suddenly stops breathing.

The Functions and Course of Crying

A baby’s earliest cries are unlearned and involuntary responses to discomfort—distress signals by which the infant
makes caregivers aware of his needs. Most of a newborn’s early cries are provoked by such physical discomforts as
hunger, pain, or a wet diaper, although chills, loud noises, and even sudden changes in illumination (as when the light
over a crib goes off ) are often enough to make a baby cry.
An infant’s cry is a complex vocal signal that may vary from a soft whimper to piercing shrieks and wails.
Experience clearly plays a role in helping adults to determine why an infant may be crying, for parents are better than non
parents at this kind of problem solving, and mothers (who have more contact with infants) are better than are fathers
(Holden, 1988).
Pediatricians and nurses are trained to listen carefully to the vocalizations of a newborn infant because congenital
problems are sometimes detectable by the way an infant cries. Brain damage may be indicated by a baby’s shrill and
nonrhythmic cries.

Crying diminishes over the first 6 months as the brain matures and caregivers become better at preventing the
infant’s distress.

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
 © San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

Early Sensory Capacities

The rearward regions of the developing brain, which control sensory information, grow rapidly during the first few
month of of life, enabling newborn infants to make fairly good sense of what they touch, see, smell, taste, and hear
(Gilmore et al., 20017).

Touch and Pain

⚫ Touch is the first sense to develop, and for the first several months it is the most mature sensory system.
⚫ When a newborn’s cheek is stroked near the mouth, the baby responds by trying to find a nipple, probably
an evolved survival mechanism (Rakison, 2005).
⚫ There is evidence that the capacity for pain perception may emerge by the third trimester of pregnancy
(Lee et al., 2005).
⚫ Newborns can and do feel pain, and they become more sensitive of it during the next few days.

Smell and Taste

⚫ The senses of smell and taste also began to develop in the womb.
⚫ A preference for pleasant odors seems to be learned in utero and during the first few days after birth, and
the odors transmitted through the mother’s breast milk may further contribute to this learning (Bartoshuk &
Beauchamp,1994). This attraction to the fragrance of the mother’s milk maybe another evolutionary survival
mechanism (Rakison, 2005).
⚫ Newborns prefer sweet tastes to sour, bitter or salty tastes.
⚫ Newborns rejection of bitter tastes is probably a survival mechanism, as many bitter substances are toxic
(Bartoshuk & Beauchamp,1994)
⚫ Taste preference developed in infancy may last into early childhood. Exposure to the flavors of healthy foods
through breast-feeding may improve acceptance of healthy foods after weaning and later in life.

Hearing
⚫ Hearing, too, is functional before birth; fetuses respond to sounds and seem to learn to recognize them.
⚫ Neonates are capable of discriminating sounds that differ in loudness, duration, direction, and frequency
(Bower, 1982). They hear rather well indeed. And they impart meaning to sounds fairly early.
For example, at 4 to 6 months, infants react to a rapidly approaching auditory stimulus in the same way
that they react to approaching visual stimuli: they blink in anticipation of a collision (Freiberg, Tually, & Crassini,
2001).

Sight
⚫ Vision is the least developed sense at birth.
⚫ The eyes of newborns are smaller than those of adults, the retinal structures are incomplete, and the optic
nerve is under developed.
⚫ A neonate’s eyes focus best from 1 foot away-just about the typical distance from the face of a person
holding a new born.
⚫ Newborns blink at bright lights.
⚫ Their field of peripheral vision is very narrow; it more than doubles between 2 and 10 weeks and is well
developed by 3 months (Maurer & Lewis,1979;E.Tronick,1972)
⚫ The ability to follow a moving target also develops rapidly in the first months, as does color perception (Haith,
1986).
⚫ Visual acuity at birth is approximately 20/400 but improves rapidly, reaching 20/20 level by about 8
months (Kellman & Arterberry, 1998; Kellman & Banks, 1998)
⚫ Binocular vision - the use of both eyes to focus, enabling perception of depth and distance - usually does
not develop until 4 or 5 months (Bushnell & Boudreau, 1993)
⚫ From an evolutionary developmental perspective the other senses are more directly related to a newborn’s
survival.
⚫ Visual perception and the ability to use visual information - identifying caregivers, finding food, and avoiding
dangers-become more important as infants become more alert and active (Rakison, 2005).

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
 © San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

Motor Development
Babies do not have to be taught such basic motor skills as grasping, crawling, and walking. They just need room
to move and freedom to see what they can do. When the central nervous system, muscles, and bones are ready and the
environment offers the right opportunities for exploration and practice, babies keep surprising the adults around them with
new abilities.
Motor development - is marked by a series of milestones: achievements that develop systematically, each newly
mastered ability preparing a baby to tackle the next.

Babies first learn simple skills and then combine them into increasingly complex systems of action, which permit
a wider or more precise range of movement and more effective control of the environment.

Example:
⚫ In developing the precision grip, an infant first tries to pick things up with the whole hand, fingers closing
against the palm.
⚫ Later the baby masters the pincer grip, in which thumb and index finger meet at the tips to form a circle,
making it possible to pick up tiny objects.
⚫ In learning to walk, an infant gains control of separate movements of the arms, legs, and feet before putting
these movements together to take that momentous first step.

Denver Developmental Screening Test

➢ Is used to chart progress between ages 1 month and 6 years and to identify children who are not
developing normally.
➢ The test measures gross motor skills - those using large muscles, such as rolling over and catching
a ball, and fine motor skills - using small muscles and eye-hand coordination, such as grasping a
rattle and copying a circle.
➢ It also assesses language development ( for example, knowing the definition of words) and personality
and social development ( such as smiling spontaneously and dressing without help).
V. LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Instructions: Do the following activity using Microsoft word format and submit your answer to our google classroom.

Define the following reflexes.

1. Moro reflex
2. Tonic neck reflex
3. Babinski reflex
4. Rooting reflex
5. Righting reflex
6. Walking reflex
7. Grasping reflex
8. Tongue-thrust reflex
9. Withdrawal reflex
10. Sucking reflex

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
© San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

VI. ASSESSMENT/ EVALUATION

Online quiz will be given during asynchronous learning session.

VII. ASSIGNMENT

Instructions: Do the activity using Microsoft Word format and submit your answer to our google classroom.

Based on our discussion about new born reflexes, do infants need other people for anything more
than food and physical care? Depend your answer.

VIII. LEARNING RESOURCES

Textbooks:

Gines, Adelaida G., et.al. (2004). Developmental Psychology. Quezon City,

Philippines: Rex Printing Company Inc.
Hurlock, Elizabeth, B. (1982). Developmental Psychology: A Lifespan Approach (5th
ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Papalia, Diane E. and Feldman, Ruth Duskin (2012). Experience Human Development.
New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

Online Resources:
https://www.pdfdrive.com/search?q=developmental%20psychology&pagecount=&pub
year=&searchin=&page=4

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
© San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG
© San Mateo Municipal College All Rights Reserved

San Mateo Municipal College DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bachelor of Science in Psychology Maricel L. Abaya, LPT, RG