Psychology Preoperational Stage

Preoperational Stage

• This stage of development is characterized by partially logical thinking and thought.

• Occurs between the ages of 2 - 7.

• Includes several key aspects:

  Symbolic Function

    - Ability that develops between 2 and 7 years.
    - Allows children to represent objects and events with symbols.
    - A symbol can be a drawing, written word, or spoken word.
    - Young children can engage in pretend play and use objects symbolically even without them being present.
  

  Egocentrism

    - Child can only see their own point of view.
    - Assumes others have the same point of view.
    - Inhibits the ability to empathize with others.
  

  Centration

    - Tendency to focus on only one aspect of an object or situation, ignoring others.
    - Children in this stage struggle with understanding concepts like conservation of mass or volume due to their limited focus.
  

  Reversibility

    - Children struggle with reversing their thinking.
    - Can understand simple arithmetic but cannot reverse the operation. 
    - This inhibits the development of more complex mathematical concepts.
  

  Animism

    - Children attribute human-like traits and characteristics to inanimate objects.
    - This is reflected in common sayings like "The sun is asleep"
  

  Transductive Reasoning

    - Children engage in reasoning that is neither deductive nor inductive.
    - Reasoning goes from particular to particular.
    - For example, associating a mother coming home at a specific time with it getting dark outside.
  

Concrete Operational Stage

• This stage is characterized by logical thinking but only within the context of concrete objects and experiences.

• This stage covers children between 8-11 years old.

• Key aspects of this stage include:

  Decentering

    - Children develop the ability to perceive different features of objects and situations.
    - They become less focused on one dimension and can consider multiple aspects simultaneously, leading to greater logical reasoning.
  

  Reversibility

    - Children can now understand the reversibility of operations.
    - They comprehend the commutative property of addition and that subtraction is the reverse of addition.
  

  Conservation

    - Children develop the ability to understand that certain properties of objects remain constant even if their appearance changes.
    - This is due to the development of decentering and reversibility.
    - Children can now understand concepts like conservation of mass, volume, and area.
  

  Seriations

Language Development in Young Children

• Children acquire an average of 5-8 word meanings daily between the ages of 1 and 6.

• Six key principles guide vocabulary development:

  • Children learn words they hear most often.
  • Children learn words for things that interest them.
  • Children learn words better in interactive contexts than passive ones.
  • Children learn words best in meaningful contexts, not as isolated facts.
  • Children learn words best when they access clear information about word meaning.
  • Children learn words best when grammar and vocabulary are considered together.

Language Development in Elementary School

• Children’s vocabularies expand significantly, growing from 14,000 words at 6 to an average of 40,000 words by 11.
• Advancements in grammar occur during these years, allowing children to understand and use complex constructions like comparatives, subjectives, and more connected discourse.
• Metalinguistic awareness, the understanding of language itself, develops considerably during this period.
• Pragmatic development allows children to use language appropriately in different social contexts.
• They learn the rules of polite conversation and understand what is appropriate to say in various situations.