Developmental Psychology and the Physical and Cognitive Development of Infants
The field of developmental psychology has made invaluable contributions in assessing the physical, cognitive, moral, social, and personality developments made by individuals. At the same time, developmental psychology might appear inadequate when applied to infants, who have not yet acquired a moral understanding of right and wrong or proper social behavior. Nevertheless, developmental psychology can nevertheless illuminate the physical and cognitive development of the infant child. Drawing from the professional theoretical perspectives of Kagan (2008) and Campos et al. (2008), this paper examines the particular ways in which principles and techniques of developmental psychology can be appropriately applied to infants between 3-12 months old.
One of the chief areas of focus when examining infants is the difference between motor development and motion development. Although there has historically been the tendency to conflate the two, the difference lies in that motion consists of the observable behavior exhibited by someone, while motor skills consist of the specific internal processes that inform the way in which people produce movement (Greenwood et al., 2002). Recognizing the difference between motor processes and motion is significant in that motor processes refer to the impact that one's cognitive faculties have in producing motion. In this regard, one must acknowledge that the actions people perform through movement do not exist in a vacuum but are instead related to one's mental state at a given time. Indeed, if a child is unable to produce the motion skills characteristic for someone their age, it would hint at the possibility of a broader developmental disorder. Developmental psychology is particularly useful in that it can provide ways of measuring and evaluating the progress of one's motion and motor functions in an effort to arrive at an understanding of their physical and mental acumen.
Infancy is an especially important...
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