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critical thinking essay; effects of touch on infants. It is said that there
is a sensitive period in infancy when an event or its ...
Submitted by thomps13 on April 18, 2008
Category: Psychology
Words: 2521 | Pages: 11
Views: 83
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It is said that there is a sensitive period in infancy when an event or its absence has the greatest impact on development. I’m wondering if the sense of touch has in impact on an infant’s development. Therefore, the purpose of my paper is to research the studies and effects of touch, or lack thereof, on an infant’s physical and cognitive development.
I chose the The New York Times as my first source of information because this is a well established newspaper and I was interested to see if the reporter, Daniel Goleman, had violated the critical thinking guidelines. I found this New York Times article on the internet.
The article starts off stating the experience of being touched has direct and crucial effects on the growth of the body as well as the mind. “In some of the most dramatic new findings, premature infants who were massaged for 15 minutes, three times a day, gained weight 47 percent faster than others who were left alone in their incubators - the usual practice in the past.” This statement defined the terms of the experiment very well. It states exactly how long these infants were massaged and how much faster they gained weight. “The massaged infants did not eat more than the others,” said a doctor who Goleman interviewed, Dr. Field. “Their weight gain seems due to the effect of contact on their metabolism.” These infants had the same amount to eat in calories and volume. In this case, the doctor had considered other interpretations for the weight gain and disproved that the food intake was a factor.
The terms of the kind of touch were also defined. Dr. Tiffany Field, a psychologist at the University of Miami Medical School who did the study, found that “a light massage of the babies backs, legs and necks and gentle movement of their arms and legs proved to have a tonic effect, immediately soothing them and eventually speeding their growth.” Different areas of an infant's body respond differently to touch. If...
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