Darwin’s Biographical Sketch of an Infant and its Contribution to Modern Psychology

Darwin’s a Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877) Contributes to modern psychology
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Darwin’s A Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877) Contributes to Modern Psychology
Introduction
Charles Darwin’s Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877) makes a fundamental contribution to modern psychology. Through Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877), Charles Darwin lays the foundation for growth and development across different spectra and faculties from infancy. Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877) demonstrates the intricacy of developmental psychology. Through scrutiny of Darwin’s Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877), this paper presents three significant contributions to modern psychology drawn from Darwin’s work. First, growth and development from infancy is not only a functional and developmental outcome of muscle and centers of coordination functionalities but are also instinctively -linked phenomena. Second, the development of various faculties considerably differs amongst different infants. Third, it contributes to modern psychology's nature vs. nurture discourse, where Darwin demonstrates how nature and nurture interact during childhood development. From analysis, this paper points out that childhood’s developmental psychology, as a phenomenon of nature and nurture, differs across various ages and tends to optimize as age increases, where functionalities in emotional responses and cognitive functioning become more superior in relation to progressing age. 
Three major contributions to Modern Psychology from Darwin’s Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877)
Critical analysis of Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877) lays a firm foundation for expanding modern developmental psychology accords different faculties. M. Taine's descriptive narration of an infant's mental development demonstrates various realms of development, with variations showing across different infants and times (Darwin, 1971). Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877) portrays both perfections and imperfections of development psychology, which sets in from infancy. Darwin’s seminal work, as expressed via Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877), paints a complex intertwining trajectory in infant development psychology.
Reflex Development
Reflect actions are well depicted in Biographical Sketch of an Infant. For instance, on the seventh day, the infant had various reflexes such as sneezing and yawning, plus response to sensitivities as evidenced by curling the toes and jerking away upon being touched at the foot sole (Darwin, 1971). The child could also wink, which could be interpreted as a protection mechanism. These reflexes are part of growth and development. In infancy, growth and development are attributed to functionalities in coordination centers and muscles. Besides this, the concept of instinct or seat of will plays a critical role. Due to the established role of coordination centers and muscles, infants can undertake different reflex actions such as sneezing, yawning, sucking, jerking, screaming, and curling. However, the perfection of these reflex movements infers the imperfection of the voluntary ones, which do not result from the state of coordinating centers or the muscles but is the result of the seat of the will. For instance, a warm, soft hand applied to an infant’s face elicited sucking. This sucking phenomenon is more of a reflex or an instinctive action because it is not possible to contemplate how experience and association with the touch of mother’s breast could influence sucking activity.
Development Psychology across different times and faculties in children
The development of various faculties considerably differs amongst different infants and times. From Darwin’s Biographical Sketch of an Infant (1877), different forms of emotions such as anger, affection, and fear, with the ability to demonstrate the association of ideas, moral sense, shyness, pleasurable sensations, unconsciousness, and communication, occurring at various times. These aspects tend to grow in functionality and versatility as the child ages. As the child ages, there are more visible emotional responses such as anger and fear. It is also clear that advanced progress and establishment of moral sense, shyness, pleasurable sensations, communication, and the ability to understand the association of ideas occur in correlations with age.
A vision appeared well developed on the 9th day because the infant's eyes were fixed on a candle, while on the 49th day, his eyes were attracted to a bright-colored tassel (Darwin,1877). The vision advances as age increases. The expression of anger is likely to be fully expressed at a specific period. The infant’s frowning and wrinkling before a cry, as observed on the eighth day, could be attributed to distress and pain, but not anger (Darwin,2010). However, as the infant approach ten weeks, he could slightly frown when given cold mild during breastfeeding, which suggests advanced anger response, while at four months, the infant could fully express anger. Thus, the child’s first expression may not show anger feelings, but it suggests distress or pain rather than anger. However, the child may express emotions of discontent and unhappiness, which represents anger at ten weeks. As time progress, a child may show clearer evidence of anger, such as increased intensity of aggression.
 It is also about four months that an infant could depict fear as a result of something threatening. Responses such as fear emotions were made during the first weeks when the child could appear startled by sudden sounds such as noise before crying. Unfamiliar fig...