Psychology of Child Development

Erikson's Personality Theory

• Erikson's theory focuses on psychosocial aspects of personality development, emphasizing feelings and attitudes towards self and others.
• The theory consists of eight psychosocial stages, with the first five corresponding to Freud's psychosexual stages, and the last three being adult life stages.
• Each stage involves a different "crisis" or developmental task, initiated by biological maturation or decline, cognitive changes, and changes in others' attitudes and expectations.

Stages of Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy, 0-1 year)
  • Infants are "incorporative" and rely on caregivers to meet their needs.
  • Responsive caregivers help infants develop trust, feel valued, and view the world as a safe place.

Key Concepts

• Autonomy: Developed sense of autonomy emerges when others demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to individual needs.
• Initiative: Emerging sense of initiative is characterized by attitudes towards self and others that emerge together.
• Balance between positive and negative feelings: Successful resolution of a crisis involves finding the right balance between positive and negative feelings, with positive outweighing negative.
• Success and Failure: Successful resolution of a crisis at one stage helps smooth the way for successful resolutions of future crises, while unsuccessful resolution can stall progress and lead to maladaptive behavior.

Erikson's Personality Theory

• Erikson's theory focuses on psychosocial aspects of personality development, emphasizing feelings and attitudes towards self and others.
• The theory consists of eight psychosocial stages, with the first five corresponding to Freud's psychosexual stages, and the last three being adult life stages.
• Each stage involves a different "crisis" or developmental task, initiated by biological maturation or decline, cognitive changes, and changes in others' attitudes and expectations.

Stages of Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy, 0-1 year)
  • Infants are "incorporative" and rely on caregivers to meet their needs.
  • Responsive caregivers help infants develop trust, feel valued, and view the world as a safe place.

Key Concepts

• Autonomy: Developed sense of autonomy emerges when others demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to individual needs.
• Initiative: Emerging sense of initiative is characterized by attitudes towards self and others that emerge together.
• Balance between positive and negative feelings: Successful resolution of a crisis involves finding the right balance between positive and negative feelings, with positive outweighing negative.
• Success and Failure: Successful resolution of a crisis at one stage helps smooth the way for successful resolutions of future crises, while unsuccessful resolution can stall progress and lead to maladaptive behavior.

Erikson's Psychosocial Development Theory

• Others' sensitivity and responsiveness to children's needs create a context for positive psychosocial development
• A developed sense of autonomy and an emerging sense of initiative are demonstrated through the individual's needs
• Attitudes toward self and others emerge together, with trust in others also valuing the self
• Every psychosocial crisis involves finding a balance between positive and negative feelings, with the positive outweighing the negative
• Successful resolution of a crisis at one stage helps smooth the way for successful resolutions of future crises
• Unsuccessful resolution at an earlier stage may stall progress and make maladaptive behavior more likely

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust: Infancy (0-1 year)
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt: Toddlerhood (1-3 years)
• Initiative vs. Guilt: Preschool age (3-6 years)
• Industry vs. Inferiority: School age (6-12 years)
• Identity vs. Role Confusion: Adolescence (12-18 years)
• Intimacy vs. Isolation: Young adulthood (18-40 years)
• Generativity vs. Stagnation: Middle adulthood (40-65 years)
• Integrity vs. Despair: Late adulthood (65+ years)

Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

• Jean Piaget's theory was influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy of children's reasoning and understanding
• Piaget outlined four stages in the development of cognition, especially logical thinking
• Normal adults are capable of thinking logically about both concrete and abstract contents
• The first sensorimotor stage lasts for about two years, is characterized by an absence of representational thought
• Babies cannot yet symbolically represent their experiences and therefore cannot reflect on them
• Cognitive development results from the accrual of independent changes in many different domains of thought and skill

Classic Theories of Development

• Address a set of core issues, such as:
  • Is developmental change qualitative (stagelike) or quantitative (incremental)?
  • Are some developments restricted to certain critical periods in the life cycle, or are changes in brain and behavior possible at any time?
  • Are there important continuities across the life span, or is everything in flux?
  • Are people actively influencing the course and nature of their own development, or are they passive products of other forces?
  • Which is more important in causing developmental change, nature (heredity) or nurture (environment)?
  • Are there universal developmental trajectories, processes, and changes that are the same in all cultures and historical periods?

Environmental Influences on Fetal Development

• The environment plays an equal role with genes in human development from conception onwards.
• The earliest environment includes the mother's womb and the physical, social, and cultural context outside of the womb.

Teratogens

• Environmental substances and agents that can harm the developing fetus are called teratogens.
• The term "teratogen" comes from the Greek and means "monstrosity making".
• Teratogens can cross the placental barrier from mother to fetus and include:
  • Certain drugs and chemicals
  • Disease organisms
  • Radioactivity

How Teratogens Affect the Fetus

• The placenta allows nutrients and oxygen from the mother's blood to pass into the baby's blood, but usually keeps the two circulatory systems separate.
• Teratogens can cause harm to the developing fetus, including:
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Distinct facial structures
  • Cardiac, skeletal, and urogenital abnormalities
  • Growth deficiencies
  • Intellectual deficits and learning disorders

Examples of Teratogens

Alcohol

• Has been called "the most prominent behavioral teratogen in the world" due to its widespread use.
• Can cause:
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Distinct facial structure
  • Cardiac, skeletal, and urogenital abnormalities
  • Growth deficiencies
  • Broad intellectual deficits and learning disorders
  • Social perception problems
  • Language deficits

Tobacco

• Can cause:
  • Low birth weight due to constricted blood flow and reduced nutrition
  • Prematurity
  • Respiratory problems
  • Cleft palate
  • Learning problems
  • Hyperactivity
  • Disruptive behavior
  • Chronic tic disorders

Cocaine

• Can cause:
  • Prematurity or stillbirth
  • Low birth weight
  • Drug withdrawal after birth, including irritability, restlessness, and tremors
  • Medically and psychologically fragile
  • Higher rates of later learning problems and ADHD
  • Negative temperamental traits

Marijuana

• Can cause:
  • Moderations in brain development and function, making the child more vulnerable to postnatal stresses
  • Potential for cognitive and emotional problems
  • Enhancement of potential for cognitive and emotional problems

Environmental Influences on Fetal Development

• The environment plays an equal role with genes in human development from conception onwards.
• The earliest environment includes the mother's womb and the physical, social, and cultural context outside of the womb.

Teratogens

• Environmental substances and agents that can harm the developing fetus are called teratogens.
• The term "teratogen" comes from the Greek and means "monstrosity making".
• Teratogens can cross the placental barrier from mother to fetus and include:
  • Certain drugs and chemicals
  • Disease organisms
  • Radioactivity

How Teratogens Affect the Fetus

• The placenta allows nutrients and oxygen from the mother's blood to pass into the baby's blood, but usually keeps the two circulatory systems separate.
• Teratogens can cause harm to the developing fetus, including:
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Distinct facial structures
  • Cardiac, skeletal, and urogenital abnormalities
  • Growth deficiencies
  • Intellectual deficits and learning disorders

Examples of Teratogens

Alcohol

• Has been called "the most prominent behavioral teratogen in the world" due to its widespread use.
• Can cause:
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Distinct facial structure
  • Cardiac, skeletal, and urogenital abnormalities
  • Growth deficiencies
  • Broad intellectual deficits and learning disorders
  • Social perception problems
  • Language deficits

Tobacco

• Can cause:
  • Low birth weight due to constricted blood flow and reduced nutrition
  • Prematurity
  • Respiratory problems
  • Cleft palate
  • Learning problems
  • Hyperactivity
  • Disruptive behavior
  • Chronic tic disorders

Cocaine

• Can cause:
  • Prematurity or stillbirth
  • Low birth weight
  • Drug withdrawal after birth, including irritability, restlessness, and tremors
  • Medically and psychologically fragile
  • Higher rates of later learning problems and ADHD
  • Negative temperamental traits

Marijuana

• Can cause:
  • Moderations in brain development and function, making the child more vulnerable to postnatal stresses
  • Potential for cognitive and emotional problems
  • Enhancement of potential for cognitive and emotional problems

Environmental Influences on Fetal Development

• The environment plays an equal role with genes in human development from conception onwards.
• The earliest environment includes the mother's womb and the physical, social, and cultural context outside of the womb.

Teratogens

• Environmental substances and agents that can harm the developing fetus are called teratogens.
• The term "teratogen" comes from the Greek and means "monstrosity making".
• Teratogens can cross the placental barrier from mother to fetus and include:
  • Certain drugs and chemicals
  • Disease organisms
  • Radioactivity

How Teratogens Affect the Fetus

• The placenta allows nutrients and oxygen from the mother's blood to pass into the baby's blood, but usually keeps the two circulatory systems separate.
• Teratogens can cause harm to the developing fetus, including:
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Distinct facial structures
  • Cardiac, skeletal, and urogenital abnormalities
  • Growth deficiencies
  • Intellectual deficits and learning disorders

Examples of Teratogens

Alcohol

• Has been called "the most prominent behavioral teratogen in the world" due to its widespread use.
• Can cause:
  • Brain abnormalities
  • Distinct facial structure
  • Cardiac, skeletal, and urogenital abnormalities
  • Growth deficiencies
  • Broad intellectual deficits and learning disorders
  • Social perception problems
  • Language deficits

Tobacco

• Can cause:
  • Low birth weight due to constricted blood flow and reduced nutrition
  • Prematurity
  • Respiratory problems
  • Cleft palate
  • Learning problems
  • Hyperactivity
  • Disruptive behavior
  • Chronic tic disorders

Cocaine

• Can cause:
  • Prematurity or stillbirth
  • Low birth weight
  • Drug withdrawal after birth, including irritability, restlessness, and tremors
  • Medically and psychologically fragile
  • Higher rates of later learning problems and ADHD
  • Negative temperamental traits

Marijuana

• Can cause:
  • Moderations in brain development and function, making the child more vulnerable to postnatal stresses
  • Potential for cognitive and emotional problems
  • Enhancement of potential for cognitive and emotional problems

Object Permanence and Representational Thinking

• Babies as young as 2 1/2 months old understand object permanence, showing surprise when a doll reappears in a different location without being visible in the space between screens.
• This suggests that young babies have some sense that objects continue to exist when they cannot be seen.
• Researchers, such as Baillargeon and her colleagues, have created controversy about when representational thinking begins and what the nature of early representations might be.

Symbols and Representation

• Words and props used in pretend play are symbols that represent something else, requiring children to mentally represent the things being symbolized.
• As babies' representational skills grow, especially over the second year, language skills and pretend play begin to blossom.

Cognitive Development in Early Years

• Piaget celebrated the growth of thinking skills in the preschool years, but argued that young children are "preoperational" or prelogical.
• Children's early thought tends to be slow and centered on one salient feature of an experience or event at a time, a tendency called centration.
• As children interact with the world and practice representing events, their thinking speeds up and becomes more efficient, eventually allowing them to "decenter" and consider multiple pieces of information simultaneously.

Mental Activity in Infancy

• Piaget believed that mental activity in early infancy is sensorimotor, depending on sensory input and ending in motor output.
• Eventually, these early organizational patterns are transformed into mental images and other products that support "true" representational thought.
• Other theorists, such as Allen and Bickhard, have described similar ideas, while others argue that there is "something more" to infants' earliest mental activity.

Development of Thinking and Conceptual Skills

• Thinking and conceptual developments, such as object permanence, gradually improve through the first and second years of life and beyond.
• Studies of infant memory and babies' abilities to plan their actions indicate the same kind of gradual development.

Imitation and Recall

• At 4 months, babies can imitate actions like clapping hands, but this doesn't necessarily indicate recall.
• Deferred imitation, where there is a time delay between observation and imitation, is necessary to demonstrate the ability to form mental representations of previously experienced events.
• According to Piaget, deferred imitation begins around 16 months, but more precise testing methods show that infants as young as 9 months can recall actions they witnessed previously.

Recall Development

• In one study, 9-month-old babies who witnessed button-pushing the previous day were more likely to push the button themselves than those who hadn't seen it before.
• Deferred imitation improves dramatically over the second year, with 20-month-olds able to imitate more complex sequences up to 12 months later.
• Recall enables observational learning, or modeling, and supports language learning.

Object Permanence and Separation Anxiety

• Around 8 months, babies begin searching for hidden objects, indicating they believe objects are permanent and can recall hidden objects.
• Separation anxiety starts around 8 months, where babies watch for missing parents, cry, and become distressed when left with another caregiver.

Recognition and Habituation

• Recognition is the feeling of familiarity when an experience is repeated, while recall is remembering an experience when it's not being repeated.
• How quickly babies habituate to a new stimulus is an indicator of later intelligence and academic test performance.
• Recognition speed by 4 months is an indicator of the efficiency of later information processing.

Imitation and Recall

• At 4 months, babies can imitate actions like clapping hands, but this doesn't necessarily indicate recall.
• Deferred imitation, where there is a time delay between observation and imitation, is necessary to demonstrate the ability to form mental representations of previously experienced events.
• According to Piaget, deferred imitation begins around 16 months, but more precise testing methods show that infants as young as 9 months can recall actions they witnessed previously.

Recall Development

• In one study, 9-month-old babies who witnessed button-pushing the previous day were more likely to push the button themselves than those who hadn't seen it before.
• Deferred imitation improves dramatically over the second year, with 20-month-olds able to imitate more complex sequences up to 12 months later.
• Recall enables observational learning, or modeling, and supports language learning.

Object Permanence and Separation Anxiety

• Around 8 months, babies begin searching for hidden objects, indicating they believe objects are permanent and can recall hidden objects.
• Separation anxiety starts around 8 months, where babies watch for missing parents, cry, and become distressed when left with another caregiver.

Recognition and Habituation

• Recognition is the feeling of familiarity when an experience is repeated, while recall is remembering an experience when it's not being repeated.
• How quickly babies habituate to a new stimulus is an indicator of later intelligence and academic test performance.
• Recognition speed by 4 months is an indicator of the efficiency of later information processing.

Oxytocin and Dopamine in Caregiving

• Infant behaviors like crying, smiling, and vocalizing stimulate the release of oxytocin in caregivers, which triggers increases in dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward.
• The combination of oxytocin and dopamine makes caregiving behaviors more rewarding for parents.

Brain Development and Caregiving

• Environmental factors, including caregiving, play a significant role in shaping brain structures and functions before and after birth.
• Research by Laurent et al. (2016) found that sensitive mothers have children with faster cortisol response normalization when frightened.
• Cicchetti et al. (2016) discovered that infants of mothers with major depressive disorder show different DNA methylation patterns, suggesting that caregiving quality affects brain development.

Theories of Attachment and Caregiving

• John Bowlby (1969/1982, 1973, 1980) and Erik Erikson (1950/1963) propose that early relationships with caregivers shape an infant's working model of self and others.
• This working model influences future interactions, self-concept, and outlook on life.
• Erikson suggests that timely, sensitive, and consistent caregiving enables a child to form basic trust, seeing others as dependable and trustworthy.

Importance of Sensitive Caregiving

• Sensitive caregiving is linked to infant security and attachment quality across cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Key ingredients of sensitive caregiving include:
  • Prompt responsiveness to distress
  • Interactional synchrony
  • Affectional warmth and positivity
  • Moderately stimulating but nonintrusive interactive involvement with the infant

Oxytocin and Dopamine in Caregiving

• Infant behaviors like crying, smiling, and vocalizing stimulate the release of oxytocin in caregivers, which triggers increases in dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward.
• The combination of oxytocin and dopamine makes caregiving behaviors more rewarding for parents.

Brain Development and Caregiving

• Environmental factors, including caregiving, play a significant role in shaping brain structures and functions before and after birth.
• Research by Laurent et al. (2016) found that sensitive mothers have children with faster cortisol response normalization when frightened.
• Cicchetti et al. (2016) discovered that infants of mothers with major depressive disorder show different DNA methylation patterns, suggesting that caregiving quality affects brain development.

Theories of Attachment and Caregiving

• John Bowlby (1969/1982, 1973, 1980) and Erik Erikson (1950/1963) propose that early relationships with caregivers shape an infant's working model of self and others.
• This working model influences future interactions, self-concept, and outlook on life.
• Erikson suggests that timely, sensitive, and consistent caregiving enables a child to form basic trust, seeing others as dependable and trustworthy.

Importance of Sensitive Caregiving

• Sensitive caregiving is linked to infant security and attachment quality across cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Key ingredients of sensitive caregiving include:
  • Prompt responsiveness to distress
  • Interactional synchrony
  • Affectional warmth and positivity
  • Moderately stimulating but nonintrusive interactive involvement with the infant

Quality of Caregiving

• The quality of caregiving during the baby's first year is crucial for the development of attachment.
• Ainsworth's study (1978) observed 26 babies and mothers in their homes at regular intervals from birth to establish the importance of caregiving quality.

Securely Attached Infants

• Mothers of securely attached infants respond promptly and consistently to crying during the first year.
• They handle their infants with sensitivity and hold them tenderly and often.
• Their face-to-face interactions are responsive to the baby's signals, which creates a sense of security or trust.

Insecurely Attached Infants

• Mothers of insecurely attached infants are insensitive to their infant's needs in various ways.
• The mothers of ambivalent babies are affectionate but awkward in holding and inconsistent in responding to crying.
• They often fail to respond to their babies' signals, leading to insecurity.

Avoidant Babies

• Mothers of avoidant babies actively avoid holding their babies.
• When separated from their mothers, avoidant babies show distress, crying, and trying to go after them.
• However, they greet their mothers happily on return and seek comfort, using them as a secure base to explore the world.

Anxious Ambivalent Babies

• Anxious ambivalent babies (10% of samples) seem stressed, even in the initial episode, and are highly distressed when separated from their mothers.
• They often act angry or listless in response to their mothers' efforts to comfort them.
• They seem preoccupied with their mothers and rarely return to exploration after a separation.

Attachment Quality

• Mary Ainsworth's study (1978) found that infants form different kinds of attachments to their primary caregivers.
• The "strange situation test" was developed to measure attachment, involving 12-month-olds and their mothers in a series of eight 3-minute episodes.
• The test introduced changes in the social situation, some of which were likely to be stressful to an infant.

Types of Attachment

• Ainsworth identified three patterns of infant response, now considered indicative of three different kinds of infant attachment:
  • Securely attached
  • Anxious ambivalent
  • Avoidant
• A fourth category was later identified by Main and Soloman (1990).

Self-Regulation of Behavior and Emotion

• Mastering behavior and emotions is a complex, long-term process that begins in early childhood.
• Self-regulation involves the movement from dyadic emotion regulation to self-regulation of behavior and emotion.

Emotional Regulation

• Emotional regulation is essential for controlling behaviors and involves establishing physiological balance or control over fluctuating levels of arousal.
• Infants experience affective tension when their homeostatic "set point" is altered, motivating them to return to a balanced state.
• Emotional regulation is critical for success in all aspects of life, including relationships, learning, and achievement.

Development of Self-Regulation

• Self-regulation becomes more complex as children grow, involving the management of emotional reactions and actions in response to changes in the physical and social environment.
• Children begin to develop self-regulation skills through interactions with caregivers, who provide critical ingredients for the development of the affect-regulation system.

Behavior Regulation

• Behavior regulation emerges with two major cognitive and emotional advances: representational thought and associated abilities, and emotional response to wrongdoing.
• By 9-10 months, babies show some capacity for representational thought, and by 18 months, their representational thought is progressing rapidly, supporting language development.
• Language is important for self-regulation, as toddlers begin to understand and produce language, including parents' requests and rules.

Importance of Caregiving

• Good caregiving in infancy and beyond involves scaffolding the child's developing ability to regulate both emotional and behavioral expression.
• Caregivers provide critical ingredients for the development of the affect-regulation system, helping children regain affective control during periods of high arousal or distress.

Self-Regulation of Behavior and Emotion

• Mastering behavior and emotions is a complex, long-term process that begins in early childhood.
• Self-regulation involves the movement from dyadic emotion regulation to self-regulation of behavior and emotion.

Emotional Regulation

• Emotional regulation is essential for controlling behaviors and involves establishing physiological balance or control over fluctuating levels of arousal.
• Infants experience affective tension when their homeostatic "set point" is altered, motivating them to return to a balanced state.
• Emotional regulation is critical for success in all aspects of life, including relationships, learning, and achievement.

Development of Self-Regulation

• Self-regulation becomes more complex as children grow, involving the management of emotional reactions and actions in response to changes in the physical and social environment.
• Children begin to develop self-regulation skills through interactions with caregivers, who provide critical ingredients for the development of the affect-regulation system.

Behavior Regulation

• Behavior regulation emerges with two major cognitive and emotional advances: representational thought and associated abilities, and emotional response to wrongdoing.
• By 9-10 months, babies show some capacity for representational thought, and by 18 months, their representational thought is progressing rapidly, supporting language development.
• Language is important for self-regulation, as toddlers begin to understand and produce language, including parents' requests and rules.

Importance of Caregiving

• Good caregiving in infancy and beyond involves scaffolding the child's developing ability to regulate both emotional and behavioral expression.
• Caregivers provide critical ingredients for the development of the affect-regulation system, helping children regain affective control during periods of high arousal or distress.

Self-Regulation of Behavior and Emotion

• Mastering behavior and emotions is a complex, long-term process that begins in early childhood.
• Self-regulation involves the movement from dyadic emotion regulation to self-regulation of behavior and emotion.

Emotional Regulation

• Emotional regulation is essential for controlling behaviors and involves establishing physiological balance or control over fluctuating levels of arousal.
• Infants experience affective tension when their homeostatic "set point" is altered, motivating them to return to a balanced state.
• Emotional regulation is critical for success in all aspects of life, including relationships, learning, and achievement.

Development of Self-Regulation

• Self-regulation becomes more complex as children grow, involving the management of emotional reactions and actions in response to changes in the physical and social environment.
• Children begin to develop self-regulation skills through interactions with caregivers, who provide critical ingredients for the development of the affect-regulation system.

Behavior Regulation

• Behavior regulation emerges with two major cognitive and emotional advances: representational thought and associated abilities, and emotional response to wrongdoing.
• By 9-10 months, babies show some capacity for representational thought, and by 18 months, their representational thought is progressing rapidly, supporting language development.
• Language is important for self-regulation, as toddlers begin to understand and produce language, including parents' requests and rules.

Importance of Caregiving

• Good caregiving in infancy and beyond involves scaffolding the child's developing ability to regulate both emotional and behavioral expression.
• Caregivers provide critical ingredients for the development of the affect-regulation system, helping children regain affective control during periods of high arousal or distress.

Executive Functions in Children

• Children from Asian countries (e.g., Japan, China) develop executive functions more rapidly than children from Western countries (e.g., Great Britain, United States) during early childhood and adolescence.
• Despite this difference, adults from different countries eventually achieve similar levels of performance on executive function tasks.
• Culturally based differences in socialization practices, such as Asian parents emphasizing the inhibition of desires to conform to collectivist norms, may contribute to these differences.

Working Memory and Information Processing

• Working memory is a crucial executive function that holds and processes information, enabling attention, planning, problem-solving, and learning.
• Information processing occurs at two levels: automatic, intuitive, and unintentional (bottom-up processes) and controlled, intentional, and effortful (top-down processes).
• Working memory plays a central role in executive functions, as depicted in Figure 6.2.

ADHD and Brain Development

• ADHD may comprise more than one disorder, with different frontal brain areas affected in different types.
• Many children not diagnosed with ADHD exhibit behavioral differences, such as better or worse attentional control, impulsivity, or activity level, which may be related to brain development.
• Research suggests that ADHD lies on a continuous distribution of symptoms and cognitive impairments, with brain changes occurring at a slower rate in more active and impulsive children.

Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

• Children's cognitive development is characterized by unevenness, both between and within individuals, during middle childhood.
• Domain-specific knowledge (e.g., dinosaurs, chess) influences logical thinking and problem-solving abilities within that domain.
• Logical thinking is at least somewhat domain-specific, rather than strictly domain general and determined by stage of development, as Piaget's stage theory implies.

Information Processing Approach

• The information processing approach examines cognitive development, including conceptual change, logical reasoning, memory, and executive functions, in middle childhood.
• Research combining insights from Piagetian, information processing, and other research traditions provides a comprehensive understanding of children's cognitive abilities.

Executive Functions in Children

• Children from Asian countries (e.g., Japan, China) develop executive functions more rapidly than children from Western countries (e.g., Great Britain, United States) during early childhood and adolescence.
• Despite this difference, adults from different countries eventually achieve similar levels of performance on executive function tasks.
• Culturally based differences in socialization practices, such as Asian parents emphasizing the inhibition of desires to conform to collectivist norms, may contribute to these differences.

Working Memory and Information Processing

• Working memory is a crucial executive function that holds and processes information, enabling attention, planning, problem-solving, and learning.
• Information processing occurs at two levels: automatic, intuitive, and unintentional (bottom-up processes) and controlled, intentional, and effortful (top-down processes).
• Working memory plays a central role in executive functions, as depicted in Figure 6.2.

ADHD and Brain Development

• ADHD may comprise more than one disorder, with different frontal brain areas affected in different types.
• Many children not diagnosed with ADHD exhibit behavioral differences, such as better or worse attentional control, impulsivity, or activity level, which may be related to brain development.
• Research suggests that ADHD lies on a continuous distribution of symptoms and cognitive impairments, with brain changes occurring at a slower rate in more active and impulsive children.

Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

• Children's cognitive development is characterized by unevenness, both between and within individuals, during middle childhood.
• Domain-specific knowledge (e.g., dinosaurs, chess) influences logical thinking and problem-solving abilities within that domain.
• Logical thinking is at least somewhat domain-specific, rather than strictly domain general and determined by stage of development, as Piaget's stage theory implies.

Information Processing Approach

• The information processing approach examines cognitive development, including conceptual change, logical reasoning, memory, and executive functions, in middle childhood.
• Research combining insights from Piagetian, information processing, and other research traditions provides a comprehensive understanding of children's cognitive abilities.

Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

• Children can be given complex responsibilities, participate in discussions, and appreciate humor due to cognitive developments.
• Jean Piaget's theory describes cognitive change in middle childhood as the emergence of concrete operations.

Piaget's View

• Knowledge is constructed; it is not just "stamped in" by experience or teaching.
• Children assimilate new information, interpreting it in ways that fit their existing knowledge or thinking structure.
• They accommodate or adjust their existing knowledge structures simultaneously.

Media and Cognitive Development

• Exposure to violent content can promote aggressive behavior in individuals prone to aggression.
• Exposure to explicit sexual content, sexism, and commercial propaganda can affect children's beliefs and values about sexual behavior, gender, and what is important in life.
• Adults can mitigate the negative effects of media by helping children choose content, joining them in media use, and discussing and interpreting media messages.

Educational Programs and Media

• Educational programs can mimic the pacing of parentese, making them more effective for learning.
• Interactions with sensitive, responsive adults are central to acquiring language skills, building event and autobiographical memories, and learning about emotions, self, and others.

Technology and Cognitive Development

• Interactive media, such as computers and gaming devices, can displace time that could be spent on critical activities for cognitive development.
• There is a need for skilled adult "coaches" who can guide children in using technology effectively.
• Learning to use basic computer software and the Internet as tools for acquiring, organizing, storing, and communicating information is an important educational goal.

This quiz assesses understanding of how caregivers' responsiveness affects children's psychosocial development, including autonomy and initiative. It covers attitudes towards self and others in childhood development.