My Virtual Life
Psych 290
Tara Cahoon
November 7, 2014
Describe and give examples of changes in your child's exploratory or problem solving behavior from 8 through 18 months and categorize them according to Piagetian and information processing theories. Note that 8 months is included, so you'll need to use the time-line to look back at 8 months for examples.
At age 8 months, Lexi is crawling and pulling up. At 9 months, she is walking, climbing, and beginning to point at the things she wants. At 12 months, she has begun to babble, and she is imitating new words. Unfortunately, we are struggling with adaptation to new foods and surroundings. At 18 months, she has begun to pretend during play and is attempting to potty train. She is also beginning to assert herself by saying no and throwing temper tantrums.
During each of these stages, we are modeling the actions and behaviors we wish to enforce in our daughter. She is using assimilation when she begins to crawl and develops a scheme regarding this new found freedom. Then she allows for accommodation when she begins to walk which changes her original scheme and allows her to adapt to the new information acquired.
Analyze your baby's temperament in more detail at 18 months than you did at 8 months. How would you describe your baby in terms of the five aspects of temperament utilized by the Virtual Child program (activity, sociability, emotionality, aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self control)? Has @NAME's temperament been stable over the first 18 months? A blurb defining and providing examples of the five aspects of temperament is provided at 12 months, but you should seek out further explanations of temperament from your textbook. Explain how the concept of goodness of fit (also discussed in the blurb on infant temperament) applies to your interactions with your child.
I perceive Lexi as a typical 18 month old. She is generally calm and friendly; however, she does seek