6.2: Infancy and Childhood Development
6.2.1: Childhood
Read this article and think about the importance of attachment and trust in the development of a human being throughout their lifespan.
6.2.2: Attachment Theory
Read this chapter and think about how our early attachment experiences with our primary caregiver influence the adult that we become.
These experiences forge our patterns of communication, emotional experience, intimate relationships, and way of living in the world. If our early attachments are secure, we learn to access and communicate adaptive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. In contrast, if our early attachment experiences are insecure, we may struggle with dysregulated, maladaptive emotions and have difficulties in our intimate relationships – leading to anxiety, depression, and excessive or misdirected anger.
As you move forward with this reading, think about how cultural contexts and socialization, such as warmth and contingency, beginning in the early stages of human development impact a person over their lifetime.
Watch this lecture from Dr. Alison Gopnik's "Developmental Psychology" course at the University of California, Berkeley.
6.2.3: Psychological Problems of Childhood
Read this section, in which you will review psychological disorders commonly diagnosed in childhood. While children can have similar mental health problems that adults have, like anxiety or depression, children may have difficulty with changes associated with growing up, such as beginning school. They may lag behind in comparison to how other children their age are progressing, or during stressful times, they may behave like a younger child would. Even when children do have problems that also appear in adults, the problem tends to look different in a child. Think about the differences and similarities in childhood psychological problems as those compared with adults.
Read this optional article to learn more about childhood behavior disorders, especially ADHD, from the perspective of different phases of typical child development. Think about the similarities and differences between children and adults in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.