Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

Maureen Mena
Personal perspective paper
Brigham Young University

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

Throughout the semester the different stages of the baby human from infancy through
3 years old have been interesting to learn about. These stages are important to rest of human
development because during early childhood the infant learns how to act in the outside
world. Physical developments involve important milestones, which indicate the progression
in the infant. Parents can influence their children as much as they want, but it is up to the
child to make the important social interactions. The 10 core concepts outlined the course of
this semester. In this paper I will discuss 6 of those concepts and explain the importance of
them.
Human development is shaped by a dynamic and continuous interaction between biology
and experience.
Biology observes the physical development of the baby human, while the environment
influences the social and emotional development. The human development is a constant
interaction of a baby humans biology and experiences. The gene-environmental correlation
illustrates this idea by describing three specific gene-environmental correlations of an infant:
passive, evocative, and active. A Passive infant does not have control over its genetic influences,
yet the importance of its environment is crucial. For example, in Mollys family education has
always been a big deal. Both parents got their doctorates and are now professors in their
hometown. Mollys parents have always encouraged her to do well in school. She participates in
the debate team, math club, and student council, and even tutors some of her classmates during
the weekends. Creating a learning home for Molly, along with her parents genetics demonstrates
both genetic and environmental factors come together. The second gene-environmental
correlation is the evocative infant. The responses children suggest from others are influenced by
the childs heredity, and these responses strengthen the childs original style. For example, a

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

child who is disposed to depression tends to start arguments with people close to them. And
lastly there is the active infant who goes through experiences beyond their intermediate family.
They are given more freedom, which results in seeking environments that best fit with their
gender tendencies. For example a child who has a shy personality will seek out experiences that
are independent, instead of being with a whole group of people. A parent or an adult has an
extremely important role of children who are driven by adverse gene environmental correlation.
If its something in their gene that is provoking this behavior than there isnt much one can do in
the nature aspect. On the other hand, if the parent creates an atmosphere where the behavior is
suppressed than it will have impact on the child. Showing support and care makes a big
difference. Now not only does biology and the environment affect who we are, but the culture
one is born into also influences the human development.
Culture influences every aspect of human development and is reflected in childrearing
beliefs and practices designed to promote healthy adaptation.
There is no other philosopher that emphasized more the importance of cultural influences
than Vygotsky. Vygotsky believed the biggest influence for children was culture. He argued we
cannot understand human thinking without examining the signs that culture provide (Crain).
One of the main sign systems is speech. Speech frees thoughts and attention, which in turn helps
the development of human development because without speech one cannot interact with the rest
of society. Culture sign systems have a major impact on cognitive development because it
teaches how to react to others peoples opinion. But in order to understand an individuals
cognitive development temperament is a big influence. Temperament can be learned through
culture. Vygotsky also emphasized the need for children to socially interact with their community
to acquire their own thinking. When children are actively seeking out their own environment
they learn how to act around the world around them and pick up cultural cues in order to function

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

in society. This reflects childbearing beliefs and the influence of healthy adaptation because
children who are active in their environment demonstrate they have healthy relationships with
the adults in their lives. When infants have healthy relationships they are more prone to adapt to
different situations because they have learned how to socially interact with people of different
opinions. With the influence of culture infants learn how to act on their own. Self regulation
prepares them for the outside world.
The growth of self-regulation is a cornerstone of early childhood development that cuts
across all domains of behavior.
Self-regulation demonstrates the ability to control ones actions and function as an
individual. Without self-regulation children grow dependent on the adult and exhibits in their
ability to fully develop. One of the forms of self-regulation is emotional development. Infants
relay a lot on adults for the development of emotions, but infants regulate their own emotions by
having self-regulating mechanisms. For example looking away demonstrates the infant
unhappiness with a given situation. This is their way of protecting themselves. Another
emotional mechanism infants use is self-comforting. When the infant is a state of discomfort
having the ability to self- sooth helps them balance their emotions. In the movie Baby Human: to
feel it explains that when there is no help infants cope through internal distractions and distinct
tools on their own. For example in the emotion regulation experiment the little girl at twentyfour months was able to cope with fear by singing the itzi bitsy spider song. In contrast the
child who was only a couple months older cried because they didnt have these internal
distractions. Other forms of self-regulation according to Piaget are when children exhibit pride
and shame. These emotions show the child is conscious of their actions and therefore can act
accordingly. Embarrassment and guilt are also self-conscious emotions that are center the

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

development of a child because it shows they are aware with their actions and can be held
accountable.
Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building
blocks of healthy development.
Being able to self regulate ones emotions is crucial, but where else would infants learn
the difference in emotions? They couldnt do it alone. The importance of human relationships coexists with the ability to self regulate. From the time the baby is born until the infant is a toddler
infants depend on their caregiver to develop. In the Baby Human movie the infant responds to
the mothers touch. The communication is simple, but it is effective for the time being. Once the
infant begins to get older they use other forms of communication such as smiling to show they
are happy. The most important things for an infant are feeling safe and loved. When children are
born they learn relay on mothers touch and smell. It gives them a sense of comfort and
familiarity. To Piaget, infants go through different period of sensorimotor. In stage 2, an infant
master circular reaction which when baby chances up a new experience and tries to repeat it. The
baby imitates these behaviors through the relationship in their lives. The infant-child relationship
is crucial for all other relationships. The bond between the caregiver and infant will influence
how children build relationships with other people. For example according to Erickson, if the
infant does not develop trust with the caregiver in early infancy they will suffer mistrust with
future relationship later on. It is important that in these relationships parents provide a safe
environment where infants can explore and develop skills. It is only through the example of
others that children learn how to act physically and emotionally. Children develop their moral
values according to the relationships they have when they are younger. Attachment is a big factor
in human relationships. Building a secure base between the infant and parent demonstrates the
value of the relationship. Children who form secure attachments with caregivers have a better

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

self esteem about themselves. Those who have a disorganized attachment usually come from a
disorganized home where relationships are not strong. But in order to fully develop children must
learn through the experiences to develop skills.
The timing of early experiences can matter, but, more often than not, the developing
child remains vulnerable to risks and open to protective influences throughout the early
years of life and into adulthood.
During the early development infants learn these skills with the help of their caregiver.
On the other hand these early experiences put the baby human infants at more at risk than any
other period in life. Physically, teratogens can put infants at risk. Teratogens are substances that
can damage the development of the infant. In the Berk textbook it talks about 3 factors that affect
the impact of teratogens: dose, heredity, age, and other negative influences. Dose effects the
parental development because the larger the dose is over a longer period of time, the more
negative effects it will have. For example if your having alcohol during your whole pregnancy
the more damage that will be doing to the baby. Drinking itself is damaging to the baby, but the
more it happens the worse the effects will be. Heredity is probably the most difficult factor to
deal with because it is something you cannot control. According to the genetic make up of the
mother, the individual may be able to tolerate harmful environments. Another factor that we hear
a lot about is age. Depending on a certain time of the development of the baby the exposure to
different teratogens may have a different result, than if it happened at another time. This
introduces the idea of sensitive period. When the baby is growing, there are specific times
where different parts of the bodies are more sensitive than others. Because of this, time is crucial
the environment can easily damage the baby if one is not aware of these sensitive periods.
This is why when you are pregnant you visit the doctor so often because the baby grows so
quickly, that if you dont pay attention to individuals development something can go horribly

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

wrong. This is also why doctors tells pregnant women to stay away from certain things
throughout different times of their pregnancy. This includes the last factor, which is other
negative influence. If there is one teratogen that is affecting the body and the mother is not taking
care of the other given factors like nutrition than it worsen the impact of that one teratogen
(102-103 Berk).
The course of development can be altered in early childhood by effective interventions that
change the balance between risk and protection, thereby shifting the odds in favor of more
adaptive outcomes
In the movie, Science of babies there is a section on the importance of the outside
influence. Early intervention prevents further damage that may occur if not detected earlier. In
the movie clip they show an example of infant who had a problem with her eye. Her mom was
able to detect the problem early and took her daughter straight to the doctor. This demonstrates
the importance of early intervention because if the little girl had not been brought to the doctor
early she may have never recovered the chance of vision in her both eyes. Throughout the
semester temperament was another big factor that was talked about. Although temperament for
the majority can be genetic the environment can play a role in the protection of certain types of
temperament. A difficult child can be influenced by the environment by creating a place of calm
and by creating different mechanisms that can control this type of behavior. In the article
temperament, development, and personality it talks about attention control and inhibitory
control. Attention control is the ability to focus attention and shift attention when it is needed.
This is important to the early intervention of a risk factor because it shows the capacity a human
to adapt to a certain situation. The Inhibitory control is the ability to plan future actions and
subdue inappropriate actions. This is an important mechanism because it helps children adapt to
situations like in attention control.
The core concepts of this course all contribute to the development of the baby human.

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

There is no one-way of explaining the development of a child. On the other hand it is a dynamic
system that requires the constant effort of the child, caregiver, and environment/culture.

Running head: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

Works Cited
Berk, L. (2011). Infants, children, and adolescents. (7th ed., pp. 102-103). Pearson.
Crain, W. (2010). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. (6th ed.). Pearson.
The science of humans [Theater].
The baby human [Theater].
Rothbart, K. (2007). Temperament, development, and personality. current direction in
psychological science, 16,