Chapter 9 - Biosocial Preschool Flashcards
The development in early childhood is influenced by the same epigenetic factors that were influential in infancy:
- Biologically driven: experience-expectant
- Socially guided: experience-dependent
Between the ages of 2 and 6, children grow steadily ___ and gradually ___
taller, slimmer
Radical change in the proportion between ages 2 and 6: lower body gets ___ and fat turns to ___.
Center of gravity ___ => enabling swinging, gymnastics etc.
longer, muscle
lowers
BMI (body mass index) lower at - years than any other time.
5-6
New shape & abilities occur as weight and height increases: Posture and balance improve, resulting in gains in ___ coordination.
motor
A typical child gains . cm in height & about _ kg in weight each year.
7.5 cm, 2 kg
By the end of the preschool years, a typical 6 year old Is at least __ cm and weighs between _ and _ kg. Has ___ like body proportions (legs constitute about half the total height).
106 cm, 18 and 22 kg
adult
A typical 6 year old starts to lose their ___ ____ during this period.
primary teeth
What does it mean to say physical growth is an asynchronous process?
Different body systems have their own timed patterns of maturation.
Biosocial factors: entailing the interaction or combination of social and biological factors.
Genetic background (e.g., ethnicity) Health care
Nutrition
SES
Individual differences within ethnic groups _ individual differences across ethnic groups
>
The quality and the quantity of nutrition is important for:
Bodily growth
Brain growth
Building an immune system
Growth is ___ during early childhood, children need ___ calories per kilogram of body weight; consequently, their appetites are smaller.
slower, fewer
Low income correlated with _____
malnourishment
Overfeeding of children or low quality feeding is the major cause of the global epidemic of adult heart disease and ___.
diabetes
A common problem among American families of all social classes is children’s overindulgence in sweets, which spoil their appetite for good foods and cause ___ ____
tooth decay
harms permanent teeth
jaw malformation which might affect speech and overall health.
During childhood, the ___ develops faster than any other part of the body.
brain
Between ages 2 and 6, the brain grows from __ percent to __ percent of its adult weight.
75, 90
Myelination
process that insulates the axons of neurons and speeds transmission of neural impulses
Myelination enables the child to think and react much ___ than the toddler can.
quicker
What accounts for this rapid brain growth?
Rapid increase in new communication pathways.
Coordination of sensory perception, thoughts and actions.
Information-processing capacity is developin
Lateralization
The specialization of the two sides of the body and brain is called lateralization (prompted by genes, prenatal hormones, and early experiences).
Left hemisphere -
Language: around 2 yrs.
Right hemisphere -
Recognition of visual shapes: 4- 5 yrs.
All thinking requires ___ sides of the brain!
both
At about the age of 5, children show important gains as a result of growth and myelination in the ____ ____, a band of nerve fibers connecting the right & left hemispheres of the brain.
corpus callosum
The final part of the brain to reach maturity is the ____ ____ (executive brain)
prefrontal cortex
two signs of an undeveloped prefrontal cortex are _____ and _____, the tendency to stick to a thought or action for a long time.
impulsiveness and perseveration
Perseveration
repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence of a stimulus
How old does a child have to be when they can start to change form task to task?
4 yrs
Amygdala
A tiny part of the brain that registers emotions (positive and negative), particularly fear and anxiety.
Hippocampus
Part of the brain that is a central processor of memory, especially the memory of locations.
Hypothalamus
A brain area that controls the the functioning of the endocrine system by responding to the signals from amygdala and hippocampus to produce hormones that activate other parts of the brain and body.
HPA Axis? What is it responsible for?
Involves the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands.
This complex system is responsible for effectively handling stress by regulating the production of cortisol, neurotransmitters and key hormones.
What happens when the HPA axis is not functioning properly?
When the HPA axis is not functioning correctly, a variety of neurological symptoms develop, such as anxiety, depression, intolerance to stress, suicidal ideation, sleep disturbance, and mood disorder
The myelination of the corpus callosum and lateralization of the brain permit better ___ coordination.
physical
Gross motor skills
The abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body for walking, running, sitting, crawling, jumping, throwing etc.
- Need hand- and foot-eye coordination.
- Sociocultural theory: Learned best from other children.
Fine motor skills
Skills involving control of the small muscles of the body (fingers, hands, and arms).
- Need two hands, incorporating both sides of the brain.
- Encouragement by activities; crafts, puzzles, building
blocks, engagement in everyday domestic activities.
Motor skills are mostly equal in boys and girls at this stage, except that boys have more ___ ____ and girls have greater ____.
forearm strength
flexibility
Child’s artwork reflects their unique ____ and ____.
perception and cognition
Factors related to childhood injuries:
What is the strongest risk factor of all?
- Immaturity of the prefrontal cortex
- Risk-taking (especially boys)
- Irritability, inattentiveness, and negative mood
- Poverty and low parental education are strongly associated with injury deaths.
The strongest risk factor of all is low Socioeconomic status (SES)!
Childhood injuries can be reduced through:
Legislation
Improvement of the physical environment
Public education
Steps to injury control..
Think prevention -> Think protection -> Analyze injuries -> Advocate safety
Three levels of prevention for avoidable injuries
- Primary prevention focuses the overall situation to be
structured to make injuries less likely.
-> e.g., Sidewalks and overpasses - Secondary prevention averts harm in high risk situations, such as stopping a car before it hits a pedestrian.
- > e.g., salt on roads, crossing guards
- Tertiary prevention begins after the injury, limiting the damage
it causes.
-> e.g., emergency room procedures
Child maltreatment includes all intentional ___ to or avoidable endangerment of someone under age 18.
harm
Child abuse
Deliberate physical, emotional, or sexual harm
Child neglect
Failure to meet physical, educational or emotional needs
Since 1993, the number of reported maltreatment cases has ranged from about 2.7 million to . million per year.
3.5 million
Symptoms of maltreatment
Delayed development Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Injuries Fantasy play – violence and sexual Hostility Impulsive reactions Fear of caregiver Hypervigilance
Physical abuse and all forms of neglect fall most heavily on children under 6 who have the following risk factors; (4)
two or more siblings
an unemployed or absent father
a mother who did not complete high school
a home in a poor, highcrime neighborhood
Differential response
deciding to respond either one way or another, depending on the particular situation.
Permanency Planning
devising a plan for a child’s long-term care that does not remove the child from the parents unless doing so is necessary
Foster Care
a legally sanctioned, publicly supported arrangement in which children are officially removed from their parents and entrusted to another adult or family which is paid to nurture them
Kinship Care
a form of foster care in which a relative of a maltreated child takes over from the abusive or neglectful parents
What % of foster children in the US are currently in kinship care?
40%
Prevention of maltreatment
Primary prevention:
Stable residents of a neighborhood Home ownership (not renting) Support of churches or community centers Two parent families with children who were planned for & desired Communities that cherish young people High income
Secondary prevention:
Home visiting Education for teen parents Crisis hotlines Respite care Drop in child care Education to help people recognize signs of maltreatment
Tertiary prevention:
Removal of the child from home & placement in alternative care Counseling for parents & child.
Emotion regulation
the ability to control when and how emotions are expressed.
Emotion regulation involves what?
Connections between limbic system and prefrontal cortex (not ready in infancy).
When does emotion regulation require?
Needs practice, maturation and work
Children learn which emotions to regulate from their families and culture.
US Puerto Rico China Japan Native American communities
Overcome fear (United States) Modify anger (Puerto Rico) Temper pride (China) Control aggression (Japan) Be patient and cooperative (Native American communities)
Lack of emotional regulation may be an early sign of _____ (disorder of the mind).
psychopathology
Externalizing problems
Expressing powerful feelings through uncontrolled physical or verbal outbursts, as by lashing out at other people or breaking things.
Internalizing problems
Turning one’s emotional distress inward, as by feeling excessively guilty, ashamed, or worthless
Who tends to externalize problems and who tends to internalize problems?
Boys tend to be aggressive (externalizing)
Girls tend to be anxious (internalizing)
Erikson’s third developmental stage
Initiative vs guilt
Children start undertaking new skills and activities and feel guilty when they do not succeed at them.
During these years, children develop a strong self-concept, an understanding of who he or she is, incorporating self-esteem, appearance, personality, and various traits (e.g. gender, size).
Protective Optimism
Preschoolers predict that they can solve impossible puzzles, remember long lists of words, and control their dreams.
- Helps them try new things
- Protects from feelings of guilt and shame
Intrinsic motivation
Occurs when people do something for the joy of
doing it.
Extrinsic motivation
Occurs when people do something to gain praise or some other reinforcement.
Between ages 2 and 6, children learn how to make and keep friends as a consequence of many hours of social ___.
play
Solitary play
A child plays alone, unaware of any other children playing nearby.
Onlooker play
A child watches other children play.
Parallel play
Children play with similar toys in similar ways, but not
together.
Associative play
Children interact, observing each other and sharing material, but their play is not yet mutual and reciprocal.
Cooperative play
Children play together, creating and elaborating a joint activity or taking turns.
Rough-and-tumble play
Mimics aggression through wrestling, chasing or hitting, but in which there is no intent to harm
Correlates with peer acceptance and a healthy self-concept and may help regulate emotions.
Sociodramatic play
Children act out various roles and themes in stories of their own creation
This type of play helps children explore and rehearse social roles and develop self-concept in a nonthreatening context.
Parents differ on four important dimensions:
Expressions of warmth: From very affectionate to cold and critical
Strategies for discipline: Parents vary in whether and how they explain, criticize, persuade, ignore, and punish.
Communication: Some parents listen patiently to their children; others demand silence.
Expectations for maturity: Parents vary in the standards they set for their children regarding responsibility and self-control.
Parenting styles
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Uninvolved/neglectful
Permissive
Problems with parenting style classification?
- Lack of economic, ethnic, or cultural diversity.
- Focused more on attitudes than daily
interactions.
-> Some authoritarian parents are very loving toward their children.
-> Some permissive parents guide their children intensely, but with words, not rules. - Overlooking the child’s contribution (e.g., temperament) to the parent-child relationship.
Most 2- year-olds know whether they are boys or girls and apply ___ labels.
gender
By age 4, children tend to regard certain toys and roles as appropriate for one ___ but not the other.
gender
Electra complex
The unconscious desire of girls to replace their mothers and win their fathers’ exclusive love.
Oedipus complex
The unconscious desire of young boys to replace their fathers and win their mothers’ exclusive love.
Identification
defense mechanism that lets a person symbolically take on behaviors and attitudes of someone more powerful than himself or hersel
Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud) phallic stage is what stage of development?
Third stage of psychosexual development
Behaviorism
While psychoanalytical theory focuses on the innate mechanisms, behavorism on the other hand attributes children’s gender development to environmental input.
Gender differences are the product of ongoing reinforcement and punishment.
–>”Gender-appropriate” is rewarded more frequently than “gender-inappropriate” behavior
Social learning theory
Children notice the ways men and women behave and internalize the standards they observe.
Through observation, children develop gender schema.
Based on this gender scheman, young children categorize themselves and everyone else as either male or female, and then they think and behave accordingly.
Gender schema
cognitive concept or general belief about sex differences, which is based on his or her observations and experiences
Gender typed behavior is shaped by BOTH ___ differences between male and female brains, and _____ influences
genetic, environmental
Empathy
The ability to understand the emotions and concerns of another person, especially when they differ from one’s own.
Prosocial behavior
Actions that are helpful and kind but that are of no obvious benefit to the person doing them.
-> Increases from age 3 to 6
Antipathy
Feelings of dislike or even hatred for another person.
Antisocial behavior
Actions that are deliberately hurtful or destructive to another person.
-> Declines beginning at age 2
By age 4 or 5, most children can be deliberately ____ or ____. This occurs as a result of brain maturation, emotional regulation, advances in theory of mind, and interactions with caregivers.
prosocial or antisocial
Instrumental aggression? When does it increase?
Hurtful behavior intended to get something that another person has and to keep it.
increases from age 2 to 6; involves objects more than people.
Reactive aggression? At what age is there a lack of emotional regulation?
An impulsive retaliation for another person’s
intentional or accidental action, verbal or physical.
Lack of emotional regulation; common among 2-year-olds. Older children can stop and thinkl before they act.
Relational aggression
Nonphysical acts, such as insults or social rejection, aimed at harming the social connection between the victim and other people.
Bullying aggression
Unprovoked, repeated physical or verbal attack,
especially on victims who are unlikely to defend themselves.
What should parents remember when disciplining?
Remember theory of mind: Young children gradually come to understand things from other viewpoints.
Remember emerging self-concept: When the sense of self is developing, sharing becomes more difficult.
Remember fast-mapping: Young children are eager to talk and think, but they say more than they really understand. Explanations and discussion before and after misbehavior help children learn.
Remember that young children are not logical: Children may disconnect a misdeed from the punishment.
effortful control
ability to control emotions through effort
self concept
understanding of who you are
psychopathology
an illness of the mind
authoritarian parenting
an approach to child rearing that is characterized by high behavioral standards, strict punishment for misconduct, little communication from child to parent
permissive parenting
an approach to child rearing that is characterized by high nurturance and communication but little guidance/control/discipline
authoritative parenting
an approach to child rearing in which parents set limits but listen to the child and are flexible
neglectful/uninvolved parenting
an approach to child rearing in which the parents are indifferent towards their children and unaware of what is going on in their kid’s life
gender schema
child’s understanding of male or female
corporal punishment
punishment that physically hurts body
induction
a disciplinary technique where the parent tried to make the child understand what they did wrong
