Early childhood Flashcards
brain development
Frontal lobe grows fastest during this time: advances in emotional regulation, foresight and planned behaviour during preschool years
Number of neurons continues to decline via synaptic pruning
Increase in brain size due to increase in dendrite connections and myelination
myelination
especially high in corpus callosum, cerebellum, reticular formation and hippocampus
Myelination peaks during early childhood and continues at slower pace in adolescence
myelination in these brain parts
corpus callosum
cerebellum
reticular formation
hippocampus
myelination in corpus callosum
enhances speed of functioning throughout the cerebral cortex
myelination in cerebellum
enhances connections between the cerebellum and cerebral cortex
myelination in reticular formation
myelination complete by 5, increase in attention span
myelination in hippocampus
complete by 5, autobiographical memory limited prior to this age
infantile amnesia
Inability to remember anything prior to age 2 is known as infantile amnesia
May be because awareness of self becomes stable at about 2
Maybe because encoding of memory is promoted by language development so it is only encoded after language development accelerates at 2
May also be partly cultural: white Americans remembered more events before 5 than Chinese adults
gross motor skills
Learn to hop on one leg, jump farther, climb stairs without support, alternating feet
Increase running speed and sudden direction changed, catch a ball better and throw it
Gender differences appear: boys better at strength or size skills and girls better at coordination skills
fine motor skills
just extends from toddlerhood
Scribbling becomes recognisable drawing
At 6 they can draw shapes and first letter
New fine motor skills include putting on and removing clothes, using scissors, and using a knife to cut soft food
handedness
Fetuses show preference when sucking thumb, and usually continue this to childhood (90% right)
Adopted children most likely to resemble biological parents handedness
Identical twins more likely than original siblings to differ in handedness (lie in opposite ways in the womb)
Many cultures see left handed as dangerous
Left handed more likely to have prenatal and post natal problems like learning disabilities
1/4 left handers process language in both hemispheres instead of primarily in left hemisphere
More likely to have lower life expectancy (not v convincing, just cultural prejudice)
Piaget’s stage
preoperational
Thinking becomes representational
Once we can represent the world through language, we are freed from sensorimotor experience
2-7 years old
Not yet able to perform mental operations (cognitive procedures that follow certain logical rules)
Preoperational: conservation
conservation limited
ability to understand that the quantity of a substance or material remains the same even if its appearance changes (pouring same amount of water into thinner but taller glass)
mistakes on conservation caused by
Centration: thinking is centres on one noticeable aspect of a cognitive problem to the exclusion of other important aspects (notice height changes but not width change of glass)
Reversibility is lacking: ability to reverse an action mentally
preoperational- egocentrism
egocentrism limited
inability to distinguish between own perspective and another’s (three mountain task: children pick photo with own point of view not doll’s)
preoperational animism
tendency to attribute human thoughts and feelings to inanimate objects and forces
preoperational classification
classification limited
have difficulty understanding that objects can be simultaneously part of more than one ‘class’ or group (are there more yellow flowers or more flowers? Yellow flowers), caused by lack in centration and reversibility
preoperational stage criticism
Underestimated children’s cognitive capacity
Development is more continuous and less stage like
Studies show that these kids are less egocentric than thought, and better at 3 mountain task
By 4, show perspective of others when trying to figure how to annoy a sibling
development of ‘theory of mind’
Ability to understand thinking processes in one’s self and others
Appears very early, in infancy
Through joint attention and use of prelanguage vocalisation, show that they understand that others have mental states such as intentionality
Age 2, use language and show recognition that others have thoughts and emotions that can be different to own
Age 2, begin to use words that refer to mental processes like think, remember and pretend
Age 3, children know it is possible for them and others to imagine something that is not physically present
Perspective taking ability advances from age 3 to 6
advances in vocab
2500 words by 6
Early childhood is a sensitive period for language development
Fast mapping: as young children learn new words they begin to form a mental map of interconnected sets of word categories
When they hear a word the first time they instantly connect it to one of these categories to help discern its meaning
cultural differences in language
Children learning eastern languages (asian) tend to learn more verbs than nouns at first
Children learning English and western languages fast map nouns earlier than verbs because nouns more prominent in language
advances in grammar
Learn grammar by hearing and using language in daily interactions
Children use correct grammar in 90% of statements by 4
Language acquisition device
language acquisition device
innate capacity for quickly grasping a language’s rules; could apply grammar to nonsense words
pragmatics
Please and thank you
Learned even before they speak (waving bye)
pragmatics by 2
know pragmatics of a basic conversation, including taking turns speaking
Tend to change topics without awareness of other person’s perspective
pragmatics by 4
more sensitive to characteristics of conversational partner and adjust speech accordingly
Differs based on culture
pragmatics by middle childhood
most children learn what is culturally appropriate to speak
emotional regulation
Learn to understand the source of other people’s expressed emotions, can explain emotions in situations on cue cards
Also able to understand how emotional states are the basis for consequent actions
Emotional self regulation is a major development at this time
Expectations for emotional self regulation increase
From age 2-6, extremes of emotional expression decrease
Development of frontal cortex promotes this
Learn strategies to regulate emotions (leaving situation, talking to themselves, directing attention to different activity, seeking comfort etc.), AKA effortful control
problems with emotional regulation
Success in this depends on temperament and socialisation provided by parents and others
Children with problems of under control in early childhood have inadequately developed emotional self regulation, At risk for externalising problems such as aggression in childhood
Overcontrol can lead to internalising problems like anxiety
Internalising more common in females and externalising in males
erikson’s stage
initiative vs guilt
empathy development
better at perspective taking; as empathy increases, prosocial behaviour increases over the course of early childhood
moral development
Know when other approve or disapprove of something they have done, and usually respond with the appropriate sociomoral emotion
In a study by age 5, children already grasp moral standards of their culture, and their views change little to adulthood
Moral rules can be taught explicitly, through stories, or custom complexes
Custom complex: every customary practice of a culture contains not just the customary practice itself but the underlying cultural beliefs, often including moral beliefs
Modelling
By 3 or 4, can make moral judgements on justice and fairness
By 4, can tell difference between truth and lying and believe lying is wrong even if not caught regardless of circumstances
Moral judgements based more on fear of punishment
gender development
At age 2, attain gender identity
By 3-4, associate things with either males or females
Rigid in gender roles
At 6 or 7, attain gender constancy (gender is biological and cannot change)
Earlier may believe that changing gender roles might cause them to change gender
Fathers more insistent on gender conformity than mothers, especially for boys
Peers reinforce each other for gender appropriate behaviours and reject those who do not
As a result of gender socialisation, use gender schemas to understand and interpret world around them
In early childhood, children tend to believe that their own preferences are true for everyone in their gender
Self socialisation
self socialisation
once young children possess gender schemas, they seek to maintain consistency between their schemas and their behaviour
parental demandingness
degree to which parents set down rules and expectations for behaviour and require their children to comply with them
parental responsiveness
degree to which parents are sensitive to their children’s needs and express love, warmth and concern for them
authoritative
high in demandingness and responsiveness, explain reasons for their rules and engage in discussions sometimes leading to compromise
authoritarian
high in demandingness but low in responsiveness; punish without compromise; show little love
permissive
low in demandingness high in responsiveness
disengaged
low in both; minimal time spent parenting
effects of authoritative
independent
creative
self assured
socially skilled
effects of authoritarian
dependent
passive
conforming
effects of permissive
irresponsible
conforming
immature
effects of disengaged
impulsive
behaviour problems
early sex, drugs
parenting styles in other cultures
Authoritative style rare in non western cultures
Asian cultures and developing countries expect their rules to be obeyed
Most American minority cultures have been studied as being authoritarian but this is inaccurate as they have their own parenting models
parenting in other cultures: filial piety
tradition in asian cultures meaning that children are expected to respect, obey and revere their parents thought life
parenting in other cultures: respecto
Latin culture; emphasises respect for and obedience to parents and elders
parenting in other cultures: familismo
Latino culture, emphasises love, closeness and mutual obligations of latino family life
Mead: lap child
0-2
needs constant care
doted on by others
Mead: knee child
3-4
still cared for mainly by mothers
spends more time with other children
Mead: yard child
more time spent with same sex peers
sometimes unsupervised
Mead’s classifications of childhood social stages
Found similarities among cultures
More nurturance from mothers and older children needed for knee children than lap children
Older children exercise more dominance over knee children as perceives as better able to understand and follow commands
Yard children allowed more freedom; 20% of time outside home area
Most cultures share view that children cannot reason well until 6
