Early Childhood Flashcards
brain and nervous system
- brain growth, synapse formation, myelinization continue
- lateralization
- maturation of hippocampus
- handedness
lateralization
- corpus callosum grows and matures most during this time
- genes provide mechanism for lateralization
- experience shapes pace
- language primarily centered in the left brain
maturation of hippocampus
probably accounts for improvements in memory functions across preschool years
handedness
- develops from 2 to 6 years old
- right = dominant gene
types of play and cognitive development
- sensorimotor (around 12 months)
- constructive (around 2 years)
- first pretend (around 15-21 months)
- substitute pretend (around 2-3 years)
- sociodramatic (around 3-4 years)
- rule-governed (around 4-5 years)
sensorimotor play
- exploring
- manipulating objects with senses
- trial and error
constructive play
- use objects to build or construct
- drawing, building, digging
first pretend play
- toy is used for its actual purpose
- later, recipients of pretend action becomes another person or toy
substitute pretend play
- begin to use objects to stand for something different
sociodramatic play
- start understanding roles and creating imaginary companions
rule-governed play
- must go through sociodramatic play first
- some rules are set for negotiation
- there is a reason behind the role
Piaget preoperational stage
- children become proficient in use of symbols and thinking/communicating
- have difficulty thinking logically
- centration
- conservation
- egocentrism
centration
children can only think of the world one variable at a time
conservation
- understanding that matter can change in appearance without changing in quantity
- not developed before 5 years old
egocentrism
- young child’s belief that everyone sees and experiences the world the way they do
- project their perspective
theory of mind
- understanding that people have thoughts, desires, feelings, beliefs, other than their own
- observable around 4-5 years old
- false belief principle
- important observations/tests: Sally and Anne test, Smarties Test
developing theory of mind
- correlated with performance on Piaget’s tasks
- enhanced by pretend play, shared pretense with other children
- some level of language facility may be necessary
the beginning of lies
- children start lying when they begin to develop ToM
- they understand the reality of others
emotional empathy and ToM
- emotional empathy not related to ToM
- development of aggression and prosocial behaviour early on
challenges to Piaget’s view
- observations are generally confirmed
- preschoolers are more cognitively developed than Piaget thought
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
- primitive stage
- naive psychology stage
- egocentric speech stage
- ingrowth stage
primitive stage
infant possesses mental processes similar to animals
naive psychology stage
- learns to use language to communicate
- does not understand symbols
egocentric speech stage
- uses language as guide to solve problems
- becomes internalized by the end of early childhood
ingrowth stage
- inner speech develops
- logical thinking results from internalization of speech acquired from children/adults in social world
inner speech in the modern world
has been theorized that not everybody has inner speech
fast-mapping
- vocabulary grows rapidly
- ability to categorically link new word’s meaning
- leads to child usingthe word often
- gains feedback on whether their hypothesis is correct
grammar explosion
- questions and negatives
- overregularization (overgeneralization)
questions and negatives
set of rules used that do not match adult speech
overregularization
using grammar rules when they do not apply
phonological awareness
- understand sound patterns of language they are acquiring
- knowledge of language’s system for representing sounds with letters
- can be learned in school through instruction
- increase in phonological awareness = faster rate of learning how to read
- invented spelling
phonological awareness primarily develops through ____
play
- nursery rhymes
- repetitive word games
invented spelling
strategy children use with phonological awareness skills when they write
psychoanalytic perspective
- autonomy vs shame and doubt
- centers around child’s new mobility and accompanying desire for mobility
- initiative vs guilt is ushered in by new cognitive skills
- key period = balance between emerging skills/desires for independence + parent’s need to protect and control child
social cognitive theory
socialand personality development in early childhood = related to improvements in cognitive domain
social cognitive theory: person perception
ability to classify others according to categories such as age, gender, race
social cognitive theory: understanding social conventions
able to distinguish social conventions and moral rules
social cognitive theory: understanding others’ intentions
children understand that intentional wrongdoing = deserving of greater punishment than unintentional rule transgressions
sociocultural theory: zone of proximal development
child depends on more knowledge guide to learn
attachment
- attachment quality predicts B during preschool years
secure attachments
increases likelihood of having positive relationships with teachers
insecure attachments
increases likelihood of having negative, critical attitudes towards teachers and themselves
attachment in school
insecure-avoidant = overly self-reliant
insecure ambivalent = attention seeker
disorganized = unpredictable, highly anxious
Baumrind’s parenting key components
- warmth or nurturance
- clarity + consistency of rules
- levels of expectations
- communication between parent and child
Baumrind’s parenting key components
- warmth or nurturance
- clarity + consistency of rules
- levels of expectations
- communication between parent and child
Baumrind’s parenting styles
- authoritarian
- permissive
- authoritative
- uninvolved
authoritarian parenting style
-low nurturance and communication
- high control and maturity demands
permissive parenting style
- high nurturance
- low maturity demands, control, communication
authoritative parenting style
high nurturance, maturity demands, control, communication
ininvolved parenting style
- low nurturance, maturity demands, control, communication
- produces the most consistently negative outcomes
discipline
- training that develops self-control, moral character, proper conduct
- difficult to establish effects of discipline
- different discipline styles work on different temperaments
parenting styles and outcomes: authoritative
energetic and friendly children
parenting styles and outcomes: authoritarian
conflicted and irritable children
parenting styles and outcomes: permissive
impulsive and aggressive children
parenting style causes
- ability to adapt to stressful situations
- children’s behaviour
- education
- family of origin
- family environment
- mental health
- personality
- perspective taking ability
- relationship between each other
ethnicity and SES effects on parenting styles
- style = dependent on cultural context
- style = common in all SES
- lower SES = increase in risk factors
peer relationships
- child’s family experience = central influence 2-6 years
- involves social skills
- involves play
social skills
- set of behaviours
- involve being accepted as a play partner or friend by peers
play in terms of peer relationships
- solitary play (all ages)
- parallel play (14-18months)
- associative play (18 months)
- cooperative play (3-4 years)
aggression
- behaviour intended to injure and harm another person
- aggressive B tends to run in families
- harsh punitive parenting is linked with aggression
- reinforcement and modeling play a role in aggression
- PA and IA almost always occur together
- low level of PA and IA between 2-8 years
physical aggression
- peaks at around age 2
indirect aggression
- peaks at around age 11
research on aggression
- vast majority of preschool children use physical aggression
- vast majority leans to use other means of solving problems with age
- girls learn more quickly than boys
- only 5% of male and a few females = chronically physically aggressive by adolescence
prosocial behaviour
- conduct intended to help and benefit other people
- typically measured/observed by the action taken by the person
altruism
- intrinsically motvated conduct intended to help others without expectation of reward
- can be detrimental to the person
parents of prosocial behaviour and altruistic children
- create a loving warm environment
- provide prosocial attributions
- look for opportunities for children to do helpful things
- model through generous behaviour
friendships (18 months)
- important changes in social behaviour
- early hints of playmate preference or individual friendships
friendships (3 years)
20% children have stable play mates
friendships (4 years)
more than 60% spend 30% of time with other child
importance of stable friendships in early childhood
related to social competence during elementary school years
