1.0 Introduction
The study of human development remains widely varied and complex, thus giving rise to many debates, controversies and issues. As each developmental theory tries to explain a limited area of development, the end result is a wide range of competing theoretical views leading to a major controversial issue of continuity vs. discontinuity. At the core of the controversy is whether human development is solely and evenly continuous or it consists of age-specific stages. The proponents, for instance the environmental or behavioral theorists, of the continuous model believe that development is a linear increase in abilities and competences that is smooth throughout a person’s lifespan without distinct stages. As such, development takes the form of gradual and mainly quantitative changes. On the other hand, the proponents of the discontinuous model postulate that development is a series of distinct stages and the change from a stage to another involves qualitative change in the process underlying human competencies. Suffice to say that early developmentalists prescribed to the discontinuous model and then there was a paradigm shift to the continuous model in the mid 20th century.
Of critical importance to this discourse is whether infancy plays a critical role in human development, which remains debatable. On one side, some researchers believe infancy experiences predict human behavior, temperaments and thoughts hence is infancy is significant in human development. On the other hand, there are those who hold the opinion that experiences in infancy exert little or no enduring effect on development (Bornstein, 1999). This paper will focus on the role of experiences in infancy in human development particularly the existance of continuity from infancy.
2.0 Overview of human development theories
The theories that attempt to explain human development have been broadly categorized as maturational theories, dynamic system theories, cognitive theories, behavioral and social learning theories, evolution and ethological theories, psychoanalytical and humanistic theories.
2.1 Theories related to the discontinuity model(organismic theories)
The maturation theory was advanced by Arnold Gesell to explain motor development. From extensive longitudinal studies, he concluded that human development is regulated by an intrinsic maturation timetable linked to the CNS and musculoskeletal development. He argued that the changes in motor abilities is programmed to follow a specific sequence (eg. crawling, walking and running) and neither the environment or experiences plays a role in the development. According to this discontinuous theory, experiences in infancy play no role in development. The maturation theory divided motor development into motor milestones as seen in table 1 (appendices). This was later disputed in 1945, Myrtle McGraw who found that training accelerated development and hence maturation (nature) alone cannot account for motor development.
The next set of theories is the psychoanalytical theories advanced by Freud and modified by Anna Freud and Erik Erikson. While Freudian psychoanalysis divided development in stages referred to as psychosexual Erik Erikson used psychosocial stages. These set of theories are discontinuous in nature and proposes that behavior is shaped by unconscious forces. Freudian theory underlies the importance of early childhood in affecting and predicting later development. This is the basis of psychoanalysis, in which the analyst attempts to trace a present problem to something that went wrong in the patient’s early childhood . Freudian theory has been has three weaknesses: the assumption that we are mainly motivated by unconscious forces (which are can’t be measured); it is impossible to predict a person’s personality based on their infant experience (there are cases where people rebel against their background hence reversing the effects) and it is not sufficiently supported by scientific data to support the theory. Erikson and Anna Freud attempted to mitigate these weaknesses (see table 2 for the Freudian and Erikson’s stages).
The next level of discontinuous theories propose that infants actively participate in acquisition of their skills and they do so through day-to-day solving of problems. The cognitive theories, which began with Piaget emphasizes on the child’s ability to adapt to his/her environment due cognitive developments that enable them to better understand their world. Therefore children shape their development through their interaction with the environment. Suffice to say that cognitive development occurs through stages of increasing complexity with each stage relying on the achievement of the previous (see table 3 on the stages of cognitive development). With regard to the present discourse, of the role of infancy, it is vital to mention that Piaget theory supports the view that infant experiences are vital in predicting cognitive development to adulthood.
2.2 Theories related to the continuity model (mechanistic theories)
Behavioral and social learning theories attempt to explain the origin and development of behavior patterns. These theories are based on the concept of reward, punishment (negative reward) and establishment. The underlying principle is that the probability of repeating an action increases if the action leads to a reward and decreases if it leads to punishment and as the action is repeated it becomes established as a behavior. As such, development of human behavior and social skills correlates with rewards starting at infancy. The social learning theory retained vital parts of behaviorism (behavior is learnt through reinforcement and punishment) but added the component of learning behavior through observation. As such, the interaction of an infant with the adults and others can predict the behavior because behavior is learnt (through a continuous manner) by imitation of models.
Another set of theories is the evolutional and ethological theories which proposes a genetic origin of behavior and the survival and adaptive value of the behaviors. Recent studies point to an intricate interaction of the genetic predisposition and the environment. A recent report by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2010) indicates that environmental factors determine if and how genes are expressed. Of significant importance is the finding that early experiences (infant and childhood) have an impact on the turning on and off of genes. As such, the environment and the experiences in infancy are crucial in predicting the future personality/temperaments. These theories are based on the continuous model.
3.0 Evidence of continuity from infancy
The early months and years of life have a great impact on later psychological development. An important aspect that plays a critical role in the development and expression of social behavior is what is referred to as infant temperament. Infant temperaments have been defined as behavioral styles that occur due to neurobiological factors early in life. High reactive/positive and high reactive/negative temperaments in infants can be used to predict social behavior. A statistically significant portion of infants with the latter temperament has been found to display social reticence and behavioral inhibition through preschool years. On the other hand, the former temperament is linked positive interaction and enthusiasm through preschool. There is a large body of data indicating that perceptual and visual developments largely depend on early visual stimulation and verbal input respectively. The attachment theory asserts that the development of social skills and relationships depends on experiences in the early years of life. At the heart of this theory is the belief that a good relationship between older children and parents begins at infancy. Therefore, infancy experiences lays a foundation for later competences. The individual differences in infant traits creates the environment for social interaction and development thus infancy is vital because the different individual traits appear at this stage first and begins to set the developmental trajectory. The said differences can be traced to biological factors such as the responsivity of the nervous system to a stimulation. The behavioral expression of the two temperaments mentioned earlier is as much continuous as it is discontinuous. Environmental pressures, among other factors, have been blamed for discontinuity in temperament, particularly in infants with high negative reactivity. Studies in different cultural framework show that initial temperament disposition may be modified by cultural and environmental factors. Conversely, fox and Henderson (1999) found that there is greater continuity in the high reactive positive temperament mainly because the group is less heterogeneous and the underlying the high positive reactive temperaments are less prone to change as compared to the high negative reactive temperaments. In this study Fox and Henderson, used a homogenous sample group and thus it remains doubtful that the high degree of continuity would appear. They concluded that although the structure of temperaments varies with age (hence discontinuous); it is more continuous and early appearing temperament differences set the stage for later personality and emotional development.
Another study used the concept of continuity to elaborate the individual differences in temperaments from the infancy to middle childhood. The study identified six different temperaments i.e differences in motor activity, smiling and laughter, attention span, soothability, fearful distress and anger proneness (Rothbart’s conceptualization), which are categorized into positive and negative affectivity (the first four being positive and the latter two negative). These six infant temperaments are interrelated in terms of the behaviors and traits that they predict. It has been established that infant motor activity predicts later activity, lack of shyness, impulsivity, laughter and smiling and high intensity pleasure. Infant smiling and laughter predict the same temperament in middle childhood as well as low intensity of pleasure and perceptual sensitivity, high levels of soothability. Negative affectivity predicted high levels of sadness, discomfort and fear and low levels of low intensity pleasure in middle childhood.
There is also a growing body of knowledge indicating that the parent-child relationship in infancy and middle childhood predicts friendship competence in later years. A connection between the early attachment relationship system and later parent-child communication has been established. In other words, supportive parenthood and family during infancy and the subsequent attachment predict good communication with parents, family and friends in the future. The same study, established a correlation between friendship competence (social skills) and child-mother communication. These findings points to the importance of infancy experience (in terms of parenting) in predicting social skills. In addition, the findings underscore the value of parents in social development which begins at infancy to adulthood in a continuous manner.
Moderate continuity in mental/cognitive development has also been documented beginning in infancy into childhood. Although, the early cognitive development theories favored the discontinuous model, the basis of the discontinuity views on cognitive development has been questioned recently so that the current understanding, based on new assessment tools, of mental development support continuity. Suffice to say that the dynamics of mental development are poorly understood and hence the controversy on continuous and discontinuous basis of cognitive development. However, Bornstein and Sigman (1986), through extensive experiments using different assessment tools established that cognitive development occurs continuously as a function of interaction between organism and the environment. The paradigm shift has been informed by the use of modern assessment tools that are refined, sophisticated and sensitive and thus there is need to carry out more longitudinal studies using the new tools. There are more studies that show that there is continuity in the development of behavior and emotions.
In conclusion, it is clear that infancy experiences play a vital role in predicting and determining development. Most of the materials reviewed pointed towards continuous models of developmental theories that explain cognitive, mental and motor development. However, it is vital to note that child development is enormously complex and thus no single theory or model can account for all areas of development. Thus, different theorists explain motor, cognitive, perceptual, emotional, personality and emotional development. Though there are more organismic theories, the continuous model (mechanistic theories) are more adequately supported by empirical data and rely on more refined assessment tools.
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APPENDICES
Adopted from Bremner & Slater (2003)
