Early Childhood: Ages 2-5

Question 1

Identify physical changes in early childhood.

Answer 1

1. Height & Weight: gain ~3 inches and ~3-5 lbs per year
2. Locomotion: more coordinated movements like skipping and climbing
3. Self Care: personal hygiene on their own like brushing hair and teeth and getting dressed
4. Sleeping: ~10-12 hrs per day with 1-2 naps
5. Writing/Drawing: scribbles to intentional drawings to letters and their name

Question 2

What does Piaget’s preoperational stage include?

Answer 2

Ages 2-7

1. Operations referring to logical thought
2. Egocentrism: inability to take the perscpective of other people, only their own
   - limitation to empathesize and understand that others have thoughts and feelings

Sub-stages: symbolic function substage and intuitive thought substage

Question 3

What occurs during Piaget’s Preoperational Stage: Symbolic Function Substage?

Answer 3

Ages 2-4

1. Symbolic thought - understanding symbols
2. Language development
3. Limitations to cognitive function - lake of perspective taking and animism
4. Three Mountains Task - examines perspective taking by recalling what is another person’s view

Question 4

What is Animism?

Answer 4

understanding with makes something alive

Question 5

What occurs during Piaget’s Preoperational Stage: Intuitive Thought Substage?

Answer 5

1. Intuitive thought - based on gut feelings and connections that may not exist
2. Centration - lack of conservation and simple classification
3. Language development - focused in early childhood but continues to develop through adulthood
4. Language components
5. Words as symbols
6. Language production

Question 6

Differentiate between receptive language and productive language.

Answer 6

Receptive language - understanding what others are communicating to you
Productive language - being able to communicate in ways other can understand

Both are equally important, but receptive language tends to come first

Question 7

How is language development related to evolution?

Answer 7

Communication is essential for survival

Question 8

What are the five language components?

Answer 8

1. Phonemes
2. Morphemes
3. Semantics
4. Syntax
5. Pragmatics

Question 9

What is a phoneme?

Answer 9

language component of basic distinctions and sounds

Question 10

What is a morpheme?

Answer 10

language component where the smallest units have meanings
- morphemes are phonemes, but not all phonemes are morphemes

Question 11

What is a semantic?

Answer 11

language component of the meaning behind something
- a new car: is it an old car new to the person or new to the world
- includes slang and understanding that we are not always literal

Question 12

What is syntax?

Answer 12

language component for the organization of words
- order of sentences matter for meanings
- children learn this quickly

Question 13

What is a pragmatic?

Answer 13

language component for the practical application of language
- relationship: varies depending on who you are speaking with
- situation: sporting event vs. classroom vs. home
- societal rules: different cultures have different language norms
- implications and inferences: varying speech based on situation and relationship

Question 14

How do children use words as symbols?

Answer 14

they learn what the sound means and what it correlates with
- saying “bye, bye” when wanting someone to leave

Question 15

Describe the progression of language production.

Answer 15

~1 year: first recognizable words
2 years: few hundred words
6 years: 10,000 words

Question 16

What is fast-mapping?

Answer 16

making associations between the sound of a word and an action extremely fast
- 15-mo: 3 words/week
- 18-mo: 10 words/week

Question 17

What are three contributors to word learning differences?

Answer 17

1. phonological memory
2. language learning environment
3. errors

Question 18

What is phonological memory?

Answer 18

children with better event memory can typically do better with word memory

Question 19

In what ways can a childs’ language learning environment be affected?

Answer 19

1. SES (socioeconomic status): lower SES families tend to see less language and cognitive development
2. Support for language development: general support and interacting with the child
3. Word learning style: referential and expressive

Question 20

Differentiate between the two word learning styles.

Answer 20

1. Referential: name objects, persons, or actions (“What’s that?”) - base for language development
2. Expressive: social phrases (“Give me that!”) - children tend to develop more based on situations

Question 21

Describe the three types of errors associated with word learning differences.

Answer 21

1. Underextension: not being able to tell that different breeds of dog still make both of the animals dogs (not cognitive, more organizational)
2. Overextension: not being able to tell a difference between a dog and a cat because they are both four legged furry animals (calling every male in the store “dada”)
3. Overregularizations: applying plurals and different renses incorrectly (sometimes they will say the words correctly and later overregulate)

Question 22

What would Bandura say about overregularization?

Answer 22

children use models to learn language, imitating what they hear and then becoming more cognitive about it

Question 23

Describe Freud’s Psychosexual Development stage associated with early childhood.

Answer 23

Anal stage (18mo - 3 years)
1. focused on behaviors, like toilet training, that will allow for more independence
2. personality - favorite words being “no” and “mine”
3. fixations - anal expulsiveness (waiting too long and associated with those who are more laid back) and anal retention (before they are ready and associated with those who are strict)
4. Id directs a child in the anal stage

Question 24

Describe Erikson’s Psychosocial Development stage associated with early childhood.

Answer 24

1. Autonomy vs. shame and doubt - children are focused on independence (social influences from the primary caregiver, accidents during toilet training, and frustrations/tantrums)
2. next class