2P10: How Children Develop - Textbook Notes PDF

2P10: How Children Develop Chapter 1 Key Terms 1.​ Amygdala: Part of the brain that processes emotions like fear and pleasure. 2.​ Clinical interview: A research method where the interviewer asks open-ended questions to gather in-depth information. 3.​ Cognitive development: The...

2P10: How Children Develop Chapter 1 Key Terms 1.​ Amygdala: Part of the brain that processes emotions like fear and pleasure. 2.​ Clinical interview: A research method where the interviewer asks open-ended questions to gather in-depth information. 3.​ Cognitive development: The process of how children think, learn, and understand the world. 4.​ Continuous development: The idea that development happens gradually, with small changes over time. 5.​ Control group: A group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment, used for comparison. 6.​ Correlation: A relationship between two variables, where they change together but one doesn’t necessarily cause the other. 7.​ Correlational designs: Research methods that look for patterns of relationships between variables, without showing cause and effect. 8.​ Cross-sectional design: A research method that compares different groups of people at one point in time. 9.​ Cumulative risk: The idea that multiple risks or negative factors increase the likelihood of problems. 10.​ Dependent variable: The variable being measured or tested in an experiment. 11.​ Direction-of-causation problem: The issue in correlational studies where it’s unclear which variable is causing the other. 12.​ Discontinuous development: The theory that development happens in distinct stages, with sudden changes. 13.​ Epigenetics: The study of how environmental factors can change how genes are expressed without changing the DNA sequence. 14.​ Experimental control: Keeping all factors the same, except the one being tested, to ensure accurate results. 15.​ Experimental designs: Research methods where a researcher manipulates a variable to see its effect on another. 16.​ Experimental group: The group in an experiment that receives the treatment or intervention. 17.​ External validity: The extent to which study findings can be generalized to the real world. 18.​ Genome: The complete set of genes or DNA in an organism. 19.​ Hypotheses: Testable predictions about what will happen in an experiment. 20.​ Independent variable: The variable that is manipulated or changed in an experiment. 21.​ Internal validity: The extent to which the results of an experiment are due to the independent variable and not other factors. 22.​ Interrater reliability: The consistency of measurements or observations between different researchers. 23.​ Longitudinal design: A research method that studies the same group of people over a long period of time. 24.​ Meta-analysis: A study that combines the results of multiple studies to draw overall conclusions. 25.​ Methylation: A process by which genes are turned on or off based on environmental influences.  26.​ Microgenetic design: A research method that looks at small changes in development over a short period of time. 27.​ Naturalistic observation: Observing behavior in its natural environment without interference. 28.​ Nature: The genetic or biological influences on development. 29.​ Neurotransmitters: Chemicals in the brain that transmit signals between nerve cells. 30.​ Nurture: The environmental influences on development, such as upbringing, culture, and experiences. 31.​ Prefrontal cortex: The part of the brain responsible for decision-making, planning, and controlling behavior. 32.​ Questionnaire: A method of collecting data where people answer written questions about themselves. 33.​ Random assignment: Assigning participants to different groups by chance to avoid bias. 34.​ Reliability: The consistency of a measure or result over time. 35.​ Replicability: The ability for a study's results to be repeated by other researchers. 36.​ Scientific method: A process of systematic observation, measurement, and experimentation to answer questions. 37.​ Sociocultural context: The social and cultural environment in which a person grows up and lives. 38.​ Socioeconomic status (SES): A person's social and economic standing, often based on income, education, and occupation. 39.​ Stage theories: Theories that suggest development occurs in distinct stages, each with its own characteristics. 40.​ Structured interview: An interview with a set of pre-determined questions, asked in a specific order. 41.​ Structured observation: Observing people in a controlled setting with specific behaviors being looked for. 42.​ Test–retest reliability: The consistency of a test's results when it is given to the same person at different times. 43.​ Third-variable problem: The issue in correlational studies where a third factor may be influencing both variables being studied. 44.​ Validity: The extent to which a test or study measures what it is supposed to measure. 45.​ Variables: Factors or characteristics that can change or vary in a study (e.g., age, behavior, treatment). Reasons to Learn About Child Development ​ Learning about child development is valuable for many reasons: it can help us become better parents and more empathetic caregivers and service providers for children, inform our views about social issues that affect children, and improve our understanding of human nature. Enduring Philosophical Issues in the Study of Child Development  ​ Great thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Locke, and Rousseau raised basic questions about child development and proposed interesting hypotheses about them, but they lacked the scientific methods to answer the questions. Enduring Themes in Child Development ​ The field of child development is an attempt to answer a set of fundamental questions: ​ How do nature and nurture together shape development? ​ How do children shape their own development? ​ In what ways is development continuous, and in what ways is it discontinuous? ​ How does change occur? ​ How does the sociocultural context influence development? ​ How do children become so different from one another? ​ How can research promote children’s well-being? ​ Every aspect of development, from the most specific behavior to the most general trait, reflects people’s biological endowment (their nature) as well as the experiences that they have had (their nurture). ​ Even infants and young children actively contribute to their own development through their patterns of attention, use of language, and choices of activities. ​ Many developments can appear either continuous or discontinuous, depending on how often and how closely we look at them. ​ The mechanisms that produce developmental changes involve a complex interplay among experiences, genes, and brain structures and activities. ​ The contexts that shape development include the people with whom children interact directly, such as family and friends; the institutions in which they participate, such as schools and religious organizations; and societal beliefs and values, such as those related to race, ethnicity, and social class. ​ Individual differences, even among siblings, reflect differences in children’s genes, in their treatment by other people, in their interpretations of their own experiences, and in their choices of environments. ​ Principles, findings, and methods from child-development research are being applied to improve the quality of children’s lives. Methods for Studying Child Development ​ The scientific method has made possible great advances in understanding children. It involves choosing a question, formulating a hypothesis relevant to the question, developing a method to test the hypothesis, and using data to decide whether the hypothesis is correct. ​ For a measure to be useful, it must be directly relevant to the hypotheses being tested, reliable, and valid. Reliability means that independent observations of a given behavior are consistent. Validity means that a measure assesses what it is intended to measure.  ​ Replication, which combines properties of reliability and validity, is the degree to which subsequent experiments, using the same procedures but with different people, will yield the same results as the original experiment. In recent years, the “replicability crisis,” which describes the low percentage of findings that can be replicated, has prompted scientists working in various fields, including psychology, to adopt measures to increase methodological rigor and encourage collaboration. ​ Among the main situations used to gather data about children are interviews, naturalistic observation, and structured observation. Interviews are especially useful for revealing children’s subjective experience. Naturalistic observation is particularly useful when the primary goal is to describe how children behave in their everyday environments. Structured observation is most useful when the main goal is to describe how different children react to the identical situation. ​ Correlation does not imply causation. The two differ in that correlations indicate the degree to which two variables are associated, whereas causation indicates that changing the value of one variable will change the value of the other. ​ Correlational designs are especially useful when the goal is to describe relations among variables or when the variables of interest cannot be manipulated because of technical or practical considerations. ​ Experimental designs are especially valuable for revealing the causes of children’s behavior. ​ Data about development can be obtained through cross-sectional designs (examining different children of different ages), through longitudinal designs (examining the same children at different ages), or through microgenetic designs (presenting the same children repeated relevant experiences over a relatively short period and analyzing the change process in detail). ​ It is vital for researchers to adhere to high ethical standards. Among the most important ethical principles are striving to ensure that the research does not harm children physically or psychologically; obtaining informed consent from parents and, where possible, from children; preserving participants’ anonymity; and correcting any inaccurate impressions that children form during the study. Chapter 9 Key Terms Achievement motivation: The desire to achieve goals and be successful. Anal stage: In Freud’s theory, a stage of development when children focus on controlling their bladder and bowel movements. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A condition where a person has difficulty paying attention and controlling impulses, often accompanied by hyperactivity. Behavior modification: A technique used to change behavior through reinforcement or punishment. Chronosystem: In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the dimension of time, including changes over the life course and historical events. Ego: In Freud’s theory, the part of the personality that deals with reality and tries to meet the desires of the id in a socially acceptable way. Entity theory: The belief that abilities and intelligence are fixed and cannot change much. Entity/helpless orientation: A mindset where individuals believe their success or failure is due to fixed abilities, leading to helplessness when they face challenges. Erogenous zones: Areas of the body that are particularly sensitive to stimulation and play a key role in sexual development. Ethology: The study of animal behavior in natural environments, which influences understanding human development. Exosystem: In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the larger social system that indirectly influences the child, such as a parent’s workplace. Genital stage: In Freud’s theory, the final stage of development, when individuals focus on mature sexual relationships. Hostile attributional bias: The tendency to interpret others’ actions as having hostile intent, even when it’s not the case. Id: In Freud’s theory, the part of the personality driven by basic instincts and desires, particularly for pleasure. Imprinting: A form of learning where young animals become attached to the first moving object they see, usually their mother. Incremental theory: The belief that abilities and intelligence can grow and improve with effort and practice. Incremental/mastery orientation: A mindset where individuals believe their abilities can improve with effort and view challenges as opportunities to learn. Intermittent reinforcement: A type of reinforcement where rewards are given at irregular intervals, making behaviors more resistant to extinction. Latency period: In Freud’s theory, the period between the phallic and genital stages when sexual development is less prominent and social skills are developed. Macrosystem: In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the cultural, societal, and institutional influences on development. Mesosystem: In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the interactions between different parts of a child’s environment, such as family and school. Microsystem: In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the immediate environment in which a child lives, such as home and school. Oral stage: In Freud’s theory, the first stage of development, where the mouth is the primary focus for pleasure and exploration. Parental-investment theory: The theory that suggests parents invest time and resources in their offspring to ensure their survival and success. Phallic stage: In Freud’s theory, the stage of development when children focus on their genitals and experience attraction to the opposite-sex parent. Reciprocal determinism: The idea that a child’s behavior, environment, and personal factors all influence each other in a continuous cycle. Role taking: The ability to understand and adopt the perspective of others. Self-socialization: The process by which children actively shape their own social development, including their understanding of gender, identity, and social rules. Superego: In Freud’s theory, the part of the personality that holds moral standards and acts as a conscience. Vicarious reinforcement: Learning through observing the consequences of others’ behavior, rather than direct experience. Psychoanalytic Theories ​ Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has had an enormous impact on developmental psychology, primarily through Freud’s emphasis on the importance of early experience, unconscious motivation and processes, and the importance of close relationships. ​ Erikson extended Freud’s theory by identifying eight stages of psychosocial development characterized by a developmental crisis that, if not successfully resolved, will continue to trouble the individual. Learning Theories ​ Watson believed strongly in the power of environmental factors, especially reinforcement, to influence children’s development. ​ Skinner held that all behavior can be explained in terms of operant conditioning. He discovered the importance of intermittent reinforcement and the powerful reinforcing value of attention. ​ Bandura’s social-learning theory stresses the importance of observational learning and cognition in social learning. Theories of Social Cognition ​ Social cognitive theories assume that children’s knowledge and beliefs are vitally important in social development. ​ Selman’s theory proposes that children go through a sequence of stages in the development of the ability to take the role or perspective of another person. ​ The social information-processing approach emphasizes the importance of children’s attributions regarding their own and others’ behavior. ​ Dweck’s theory of self-attribution focuses on how children’s achievement motivation is influenced by their attributions about the reasons for their successes and failures. Ecological Theories ​ Ethological theories examine behavior within the evolutionary context, trying to understand its adaptive or survival value. ​ Evolutionary psychologists apply Darwinian concepts of natural selection to human behavior. ​ Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model conceptualizes the environment as a set of nested contexts, with the child at the center. Chapter 3 Key Terms Alleles: Different forms of a gene that can exist in a population. Arborization: The process of branching out of dendrites in neurons to form connections. Association areas: Brain regions involved in higher-level functions like thinking, memory, and decision-making. Axons: Long, threadlike parts of a neuron that transmit signals to other neurons or muscles. Behavior genetics: The study of how genetic factors influence behavior. Carrier genetic testing: Testing to see if someone carries a gene for a recessive genetic disorder, though they may not show symptoms. Cell body: The central part of a neuron that contains the nucleus and other organelles. Cerebral cortex: The outer layer of the brain involved in many functions, including perception, thought, and decision-making. Cerebral hemispheres: The two halves of the brain, each controlling opposite sides of the body. Cerebral lateralization: The process by which certain brain functions become more specialized in one hemisphere. Chromosomes: Structures made of DNA that contain genetic information, humans have 23 pairs. Corpus callosum: A thick band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Crossing over: The process during reproduction where chromosomes exchange segments, contributing to genetic diversity. Dendrites: Branch-like structures of neurons that receive signals from other neurons. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): The molecule that carries genetic information. Dominant allele: An allele that expresses its trait even when only one copy is present. Endophenotypes: Internal characteristics, such as brain function, that are related to genetic traits or behaviors. Environment: All external factors, including family, culture, and experiences, that influence development. Epigenetics: The study of changes in gene expression due to environmental factors, without altering the DNA sequence. Experience-dependent plasticity: The ability of the brain to form new connections based on individual experiences. Experience-expectant plasticity: The brain’s ability to organize itself in response to expected, universal experiences (like visual stimuli). Frontal lobe: The part of the brain involved in decision-making, problem-solving, and voluntary movement. Genes: Units of heredity made up of DNA that influence traits and characteristics. Genome: The complete set of genes or genetic material in an organism. Genotype: The genetic makeup of an organism, including all its genes. Glial cells: Cells in the nervous system that provide support and protection for neurons. Heritability: The extent to which genetic factors contribute to variation in a trait within a population. Heritable: A trait or characteristic that can be passed down from parents to offspring through genes. Heterozygous: Having two different alleles for a particular gene. Homozygous: Having two identical alleles for a particular gene. Mutation: A change in the DNA sequence that can lead to variations in traits. Myelin sheath: A fatty layer that covers and insulates axons, speeding up nerve signal transmission. Myelination: The process by which myelin sheaths form around axons, improving the efficiency of neural communication. Neurogenesis: The process of forming new neurons in the brain. Neurons: Nerve cells that transmit signals throughout the body. Newborn screening: Testing newborns for genetic or metabolic disorders to enable early treatment. Occipital lobe: The part of the brain responsible for processing visual information. Parietal lobe: The part of the brain responsible for processing sensory information like touch, temperature, and pain. Phenotype: The observable characteristics or traits of an individual, shaped by both genetics and the environment. Phenylketonuria (PKU): A genetic disorder in which the body cannot break down the amino acid phenylalanine, leading to brain damage if untreated. Plasticity: The brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to experience. Polygenic inheritance: The inheritance of traits determined by the combined effects of multiple genes. Prenatal testing: Testing done during pregnancy to check for genetic or health problems in the fetus. Recessive allele: An allele that expresses its trait only when two copies are present, one from each parent. Regulator genes: Genes that control the activity of other genes. Secular trends: Long-term changes in health or physical development observed over generations, often related to environmental factors. Sex chromosomes: The chromosomes that determine an individual’s biological sex (X and Y in humans). Spines: Small protrusions on dendrites where synapses form, allowing for connections between neurons. Synapses: The gaps between neurons where signals are transmitted from one neuron to another. Synaptic pruning: The process by which unused synapses are eliminated, improving brain efficiency. Synaptogenesis: The formation of new synapses between neurons. Temporal lobe: The part of the brain responsible for processing auditory information and memory. Nature and Nurture ​ The starting point for development is the genotype — the genes inherited at conception from one’s parents. Only some of those genes are expressed in the phenotype, one’s observable characteristics. Whether some genes are expressed at all is a function of dominance patterns. Most traits studied by developmental scientists are influenced by multiple genes. ​ The eventual outcome of a given genotype is always contingent on the environment in which it develops. Parents and their behavior toward their children — which is influenced by the parents’ own genotypes — are a salient part of the children’s environment. Similarly, children’s development is influenced by the aspects of the environment they seek out and the different responses their characteristics and behavior evoke from other people. ​ Epigenetic effects — the switching on and off of genes — underlies many aspects of development and individual differences. This process is affected by experience via methylation. Behavior Genetics ​ Behavior genetics is concerned with the joint influence of genetic and environmental factors on behavior. ​ Quantitative behavior geneticists use a variety of family-study designs to generate heritability estimates, examining the relative contributions of heredity and environment for individual differences for a range of traits and behaviors in a population. ​ Molecular behavior genetics approaches permit the field to move beyond family designs to investigate patterns of genes across large groups of people. Brain Development ​ Neurons, the basic units of the brain’s informational system, transmit information between the brain and body via electrical signals. The brain’s cortex is composed of several major areas, or lobes, specialized for different functions. ​ Brain development involves several processes, beginning with neurogenesis and differentiation of neurons. In synaptogenesis, an enormous profusion of connections among neurons is generated, starting prenatally and continuing for the first few years after birth. Through synaptic pruning, excess connections among neurons are eliminated. Myelination, another important process for neural processing, begins before birth and continues through adulthood. ​ Experience plays a crucial role in the strengthening or elimination of synapses and hence in the normal wiring of the brain. The fine-tuning of the brain involves experience-expectant processes, in which existing synapses are preserved as a function of stimulation that virtually every human encounters, and experience-dependent processes, in which new connections are formed as a function of experience and learning.  ​ Plasticity makes it possible in certain circumstances for the brain to rewire itself in response to damage. It also makes the developing brain vulnerable to the absence of stimulation at sensitive periods in development. The ability of the brain to recover from injury depends on the age of the child. The Body: Physical Growth and Development ​ Humans undergo a particularly prolonged period of physical growth, during which growth is uneven, proceeding more rapidly early in life and in adolescence. Secular trends have been observed in increases in average weight and height. ​ The nutritional value of breast-feeding for infants is well established, though social and cultural barriers often discourage parents from breast-feeding beyond 6 months, if at all, particularly in wealthier countries. Public health efforts have focused on education and advocacy to encourage breast-feeding. ​ Food preferences begin with innate responses by newborns to basic tastes, but additional preferences develop as a result of experience. Obesity is clearly related to both environmental and genetic factors. ​ Inadequate nutrition is closely associated with poverty, and it leads to a variety of behavioral and physical problems in virtually every aspect of the child’s life. Prevention of undernutrition is needed to enable millions of children to develop normal brains and bodies. ​ Vaccines help to protect vulnerable infants and children from a range of diseases, including the more severe effects of COVID-19. Highly publicized claims about links between autism and vaccines are based on falsified data; vaccines do not cause autism. Chapter 4 Key Terms 1.​ A-not-B error: A mistake infants make in which they search for an object where they first found it (A), rather than where they last saw it (B). 2.​ Accommodation: Adjusting existing knowledge structures to incorporate new information. 3.​ Assimilation: Integrating new information into existing knowledge structures without changing them. 4.​ Basic processes: Simple mental operations like encoding, remembering, and retrieving information. 5.​ Centration: The tendency to focus on one aspect of a problem, ignoring others, common in the preoperational stage. 6.​ Computer simulation: A method of modeling human cognition using a computer program to replicate how people process information. 7.​ Concrete operational stage: Piaget's third stage of cognitive development (7–11 years) when children develop logical thinking about concrete events. 8.​ Conservation concept: The understanding that quantity remains the same even when its appearance changes (e.g., liquid in different shaped glasses). 9.​ Constructivism: The theory that children actively construct their own understanding of the world through experiences. 10.​ Core-knowledge theories: Theories suggesting that children are born with innate knowledge in specific domains, like language or math. 11.​ Cultural tools: Physical objects (like books) or psychological tools (like language) that help people interact with the world and each other. 12.​ Deferred imitation: The ability to reproduce an action observed earlier, even if it was not immediately after the observation. 13.​ Domain specific: Referring to knowledge or skills that apply to a particular area, such as language or math. 14.​ Dynamic-systems theories: Theories that focus on how different factors (biological, environmental, etc.) interact over time to shape development. 15.​ Egocentrism: The inability to see things from another person's perspective, typical of the preoperational stage. 16.​ Encoding: The process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory. 17.​ Equilibration: The process by which children balance assimilation and accommodation to achieve cognitive stability. 18.​ Formal operational stage: Piaget's fourth stage of cognitive development (12+ years) when individuals develop abstract reasoning skills. 19.​ Guided participation: A process where more knowledgeable individuals (like parents or teachers) help children learn through interactions. 20.​ Information-processing theories: Theories that compare the mind to a computer, focusing on how children process, store, and retrieve information. 21.​ Intersubjectivity: The shared understanding between people during communication or interaction. 22.​ Joint attention: The ability to focus on the same object or event as another person, essential for learning. 23.​ Long-term memory: The storage of information for extended periods of time, including everything we know. 24.​ Nativism: The idea that certain abilities or knowledge are innate, or present from birth. 25.​ Object permanence: The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen or heard, a key development in the sensorimotor stage. 26.​ Overlapping waves theory: The idea that children use multiple strategies to solve problems, and these strategies coexist and change over time. 27.​ Piaget’s theory: A theory of cognitive development that suggests children go through four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational) as they actively construct knowledge. 28.​ Preoperational stage: Piaget’s second stage (2–7 years) when children begin to use language and symbols but are limited in logical thinking. 29.​ Private speech: Self-directed speech children use to guide their own thinking and behavior, often seen in early childhood. 30.​ Problem solving: The mental process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues. 31.​ Rehearsal: A memory strategy where information is repeated to improve retention. 32.​ Selective attention: The ability to focus on specific aspects of information while ignoring others. 33.​ Sensorimotor stage: Piaget’s first stage (birth to 2 years) when infants learn about the world through their senses and actions. 34.​ Social scaffolding: The support and guidance provided by others to help children accomplish tasks they cannot do alone. 35.​ Sociocultural theories: Theories that emphasize the role of culture and social interaction in cognitive development, especially through tools like language. 36.​ Symbolic representation: The use of symbols (like words or images) to represent objects, ideas, or concepts. 37.​ Task analysis: Breaking down a complex task into smaller, manageable parts to better understand how it is performed.  38.​ Working memory: The system that holds and manipulates information temporarily to perform cognitive tasks, like problem-solving or reasoning. Chapter Summary Theories of development are important because they provide a framework for understanding important phenomena, raise major issues regarding human nature, and motivate new research. Five major theories of cognitive development are Piagetian, information-processing, core-knowledge, sociocultural, and dynamic-systems. Table 4.3 provides an overview of the main themes, change mechanisms, and metaphors for children’s nature in all five theories. Piaget’s Theory ​ Among the reasons for the longevity of Piaget’s theory are that it vividly conveys the flavor of children’s thinking at different ages, extends across a broad range of ages and content areas, and provides many fascinating and surprising observations of children’s thinking. ​ Piaget’s theory is often labeled constructivist because it depicts children as actively constructing knowledge for themselves in response to their experience. The theory posits that children learn through two processes that are present from birth — assimilation and accommodation — and that the contribution of these processes is balanced through a third process, equilibration. These processes produce continuities across development. ​ Piaget’s theory divides cognitive development into four broad stages: the sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2), the preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7), the concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 12), and the formal operational stage (age 12 and beyond). These stages reflect discontinuities in development. ​ In the sensorimotor stage, infants’ intelligence is expressed primarily through motor interactions with the environment. During this period, infants gain understanding of concepts such as object permanence and become capable of deferred imitation. ​ In the preoperational stage, children become able to represent their experiences in language, mental imagery, and thought; but because of cognitive limitations such as egocentrism and centration, they have difficulty solving many problems, including Piaget’s various tests of conservation and egocentrism. ​ In the concrete operational stage, children become able to reason logically about concrete objects and events but have difficulty reasoning in purely abstract terms and in succeeding on tasks requiring hypothetical thinking, such as the pendulum problem.  ​ In the formal operational stage, children become able to think systematically, test hypotheses in valid ways, and reason about hypothetical situations. ​ Four weaknesses of Piaget’s theory are (1) it only vaguely describes the mechanisms that give rise to thinking and cognitive growth; (2) it underestimates infants’ and young children’s cognitive competence; (3) it understates the contribution of the social world to cognitive development; and (4) it depicts children’s thinking as being more consistent than it is. Each shortcoming has motivated a theory intended in large part to address it. Information-Processing Theories ​ Information-processing theories focus on the specific mental processes that underlie children’s thinking. Even in infancy, children are seen as actively pursuing goals; encountering physical, social, and processing limits; and devising strategies that allow them to surmount those limits and attain their goals. ​ The memory system includes working memory, long-term memory, and executive functioning. ​ Working memory is a system for actively attending to, gathering, maintaining, briefly storing, and processing information. ​ Long-term memory is the enduring knowledge accumulated over a lifetime. ​ Executive functioning is crucial for inhibiting inadvisable actions, enhancing working memory, and flexibly adapting to changing situations. It develops greatly during the preschool and early elementary school years and is related to later academic achievement and occupational success. ​ The development of memory, problem solving, and learning reflects improvements in basic processes, strategies, and content knowledge. ​ Basic cognitive processes allow infants to learn and remember from birth onward. Among the most important basic processes are association, recognition, recall, generalization, and encoding. ​ Acquisition of strategies and content knowledge enhances learning, memory, and problem solving beyond the level that basic processes alone could provide. ​ Important contributors to the growth of problem solving include the development of planning and encoding. ​ Overlapping waves theory characterizes development of problem solving as involving acquisition of new strategies, increasingly efficient execution of existing strategies, and increasingly frequent choice of strategies that fit particular situations. Core-Knowledge Theories ​ Core-knowledge theories are based on the view that children begin life with a wide range of specific cognitive competencies. ​ Core-knowledge approaches also hypothesize that children are especially adept at acquiring evolutionarily important information, such as language, spatial and numerical information, understanding of other people’s thinking, and face recognition. ​ These approaches further posit that from early ages, children organize information about the most important areas into domain-specific knowledge structures. ​ Nativism is a type of core-knowledge approach that posits that infants are born with substantial knowledge of evolutionarily important domains. ​ Core-knowledge constructivism proposes that children generate increasingly advanced theories of areas such as physics, psychology, and biology by combining basic innate knowledge with subsequent learning produced by both domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms. Sociocultural Theories ​ Starting with Vygotsky, sociocultural theorists have focused on how the social world molds development. These theories emphasize that development is shaped not only by interactions with other people and the skills learned from them but also by the artifacts with which children interact and the beliefs, values, and traditions of the larger society. ​ Sociocultural theories view humans as differing from other animals in their propensity to teach and their ability to learn from teaching. ​ Sociocultural theories describe people as learning through guided participation and social scaffolding, in which others who are more knowledgeable support the learner’s efforts. ​ Establishing intersubjectivity between people through joint attention is essential to learning. Dynamic-Systems Theories ​ Dynamic-systems theories view change as the one constant in development. Rather than depicting development as being organized into long periods of stability and brief periods of dramatic change, these theories propose that there is no period in which substantial change is not occurring. ​ These theories view each person as a unified system that, in order to meet goals, integrates perception, action, categorization, motivation, memory, language, and knowledge of the physical and social worlds. ​ Dynamic-systems theories view development as a self-organizing process that brings together components as needed to adapt to a continuously changing environment, a process known as soft assembly. ​ Attaining goals requires action as well as thought. Thought shapes action, but action also shapes thought. ​ Just as variation and selection produce biological evolution, they also produce cognitive development. Chapter 6 Key Terms 1.​ Babbling: The early stage of speech development in infants, where they produce repetitive consonant-vowel combinations (like "ba-ba-ba"). 2.​ Bilingualism: The ability to speak and understand two languages. 3.​ Categorical perception: The ability to distinguish speech sounds into categories, even if the sounds vary slightly. 4.​ Connectionism: A theory that suggests learning occurs through the creation of connections between different pieces of information. 5.​ Cross-situational word learning: The ability to learn the meaning of a word by observing it in different contexts or situations. 6.​ Dialect: A variation of a language spoken by a particular group of people, distinguished by vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation. 7.​ Distributional properties of speech: The patterns in which certain sounds or words occur in speech, helping children figure out the meanings of words. 8.​ Dual representation: The ability to understand that an object can have two meanings, such as a toy car being both a real car and a symbolic representation. 9.​ Generative: The idea that language is created using a set of rules, allowing for an infinite number of sentences to be formed. 10.​ Infant-directed speech (IDS): The way adults speak to infants, characterized by a higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, and slower tempo. 11.​ Language comprehension: The ability to understand spoken or written language. 12.​ Language production: The ability to produce spoken or written language. 13.​ Morphemes: The smallest units of meaning in a language (e.g., "cat" or "un-" in "undo"). 14.​ Narratives: Stories or descriptions of events, usually involving a sequence of actions or occurrences. 15.​ Overextension: The error children make when they apply a word too broadly, like calling all animals "dog." 16.​ Overregularization: The error children make when they apply grammar rules too rigidly, such as saying "goed" instead of "went." 17.​ Phonemes: The smallest units of sound in a language, like the "b" in "bat" or the "sh" in "shoe." 18.​ Pragmatic cues: Social and contextual hints that help people understand the meaning of language, such as tone of voice or body language. 19.​ Pragmatics: The study of how language is used in social contexts, including understanding meaning beyond the words (e.g., interpreting sarcasm or politeness). 20.​ Prosody: The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech that help convey meaning and emotion. 21.​ Symbols: Things that stand for or represent something else, such as words representing ideas or objects. 22.​ Syntactic bootstrapping: The process by which children use the grammatical structure of a sentence to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. 23.​ Syntax: The rules and structure of how words are arranged in sentences.  24.​ Telegraphic speech: Short, simple sentences, often used by toddlers, where non-essential words (like "is" or "the") are left out (e.g., "Want cookie"). 25.​ Underextension: The error children make when they apply a word too narrowly, such as calling only their dog "dog" and not recognizing other dogs. 26.​ Universal Grammar: The theory that all humans are born with an innate ability to learn language, and that all languages share a common structure. 27.​ Voice onset time (VOT): The length of time between the release of a consonant sound and the start of vocal cord vibration, important in distinguishing sounds like "b" and "p." 28.​ Word segmentation: The process by which infants break continuous speech into individual words. Chapter Summary A critical feature of what it means to be human is the creative and flexible use of one or more of a variety of languages and other symbols. The enormous power of language comes from the fact that it is generative — a finite set of words can be used to generate an infinite number of sentences. Language Development Acquiring a language involves learning the complex systems of phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics that govern its sounds, meaning, grammar, and use. Language ability is species-specific. The first prerequisite for its full-fledged development is a human brain. Nonhuman animals do not learn full-fledged human languages. The early years constitute a sensitive period for language acquisition; many aspects of language are more difficult to acquire thereafter. A second prerequisite for language development is exposure to language. Much of the language babies hear takes the form of infant-directed speech (IDS). The Process of Language Acquisition Infants have remarkable speech-perception abilities. Like adults, they exhibit categorical perception of speech sounds, perceiving physically similar sounds as belonging to discrete categories. As they learn the sounds that are important in their language(s), infants’ ability to distinguish between non-native sounds declines. Infants are remarkably sensitive to the distributional properties of language and use them to segment words from fluent speech. Infants begin to babble at around 7 months of age, either repeating syllables (“bababa”) or, if exposed to sign language, using repetitive hand movements. During the second half of the first year, infants learn how to communicate with other people, including developing the ability to establish joint attention. Infants begin to recognize highly familiar words at about 6 months of age, and they begin to produce words at about 1 year of age. Infants use a variety of strategies to figure out what new words mean. By the end of their second year, most toddlers produce short sentences. The length and complexity of their utterances gradually increase. In the early preschool years, children exhibit generalization, extending such patterns as “add s to make plural” to novel nouns, and making overregularization errors. Children develop their burgeoning language skills as they learn how to engage in sustained conversation. Theoretical Issues in Language Development All current theories agree that there is an interaction between innate factors and experience. Nativists such as the influential linguist Noam Chomsky posit an innate knowledge of Universal Grammar, the set of highly abstract rules common to all languages. Theorists focused on social interaction emphasize the communicative context of language development and use.Other perspectives argue that language learning requires powerful general-purpose cognitive mechanisms. Nonlinguistic Symbols and Development Symbolic artifacts like maps or models require dual representation. To use them, children must represent both the object itself and its symbolic relation to what it stands for. Drawing and writing are popular symbolic activities. Young children’s early scribbling quickly gives way to the intention to draw pictures of something. Early attempts at writing, while illegible, contain some characteristics of mature writing systems.