Chapter 05: Cognitive Development in Early Years PDF

CHAPTER 05: Cognitive Development during the First Three Years There are **six approaches** to address their study: 1. **Behaviorist Approach** studies the basic mechanics of learning. 2. **Psychometric Approach** measures quantitative differences in abilities that make up intelligence. 3...

CHAPTER 05: Cognitive Development during the First Three Years There are **six approaches** to address their study: 1. **Behaviorist Approach** studies the basic mechanics of learning. 2. **Psychometric Approach** measures quantitative differences in abilities that make up intelligence. 3. **Piagetian Approach** looks at changes, or stages, in the quality of cognitive functioning. 4. **Information-processing Approach** focuses on perception, learning, memory, and problem solving. 5. **Cognitive Neuroscience Approach** seeks to identify what brain structures are involved. 6. **Social-contextual Approach** examines the effect of environmental aspects of the learning process. **Behaviorist Approach** Infants are born with the fundamental ability to perceive their environment through their senses. The behaviorist approach is primarily concerned with how learning occurs through environmental interactions. - Classical Conditioning is a learning based on associating a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit the response. - Operant Conditioning is a learning based on association of behavior with its consequences; and based on reinforcement or punishment. **Psychometric Approach** The psychometric approach seeks to quantitatively assess intelligence through standardized tests, which compare individual performance against established norms. - The **Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development** is a developmental test designed to assess children from 1 month to 42 months (3 ½ years). It evaluates five developmental areas: 1) Cognitive, 2) Language, 3) Motor, 4) Socio-emotional, and 5) Adaptive behavior. - The **Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)** inventory assesses the level of intellectual stimulation and emotional support within a child\'s home. Findings suggest that high HOME scores correlate positively with cognitive abilities, language skills, and academic achievement. - Early intervention is a systematic approach designed to provide therapeutic and educational services to families needing support for their infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children. **Piagetian Approach** The first of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development is the sensorimotor stage (birth to approximately 2 years) that consists of six substages that flow from one to another as a baby's schemes: **Substage 1:** Use of Reflexes (Birth to 1 month) - Behavior: Infants practice reflexes (e.g., sucking). - Development: Modify sucking behavior; do not yet coordinate sensory information. **Substage 2:** Primary Circular Reactions (1 to 4 months) - Behavior: Infants intentionally repeat pleasurable bodily sensations. - Development: Begin to coordinate sensory input, such as turning towards sounds. **Substage 3:** Secondary Circular Reactions (4 to 8 months) - Behavior: Infants manipulate objects for effects (e.g., shaking a rattle). - Development: Actions are intentional but not goal-directed; learning about object properties. **Substage 4:** Coordination of Secondary Schemes (8 to 12 months) - Behavior: More complex, goal-directed behavior emerges. - Development: Anticipate events, crawl or manipulate objects to achieve goals, generalize past experiences. **Substage 5:** Tertiary Circular Reactions (12 to 18 months) - Behavior: Experimentation with actions to see outcomes (e.g., different ways to squeeze a toy). - Development: Use trial and error to discover effective actions. **Substage 6:** Mental Combinations (18 months to 2 years) - Behavior: Development of representational ability; can pretend and think ahead. - Development: No longer reliant on trial and error; can visualize outcomes before acting. **Key Developments of Sensorimotor Stage** 1. **Imitation** - Invisible imitation starts at 9 months; deferred imitation begins after 18-24 months. - Newborns may imitate facial expressions; deferred imitation can occur by 6 months. 2. **Object Permanence** - Develops gradually from the third to sixth substage. - Infants as young as 3½ months show object knowledge through looking behavior. 3. **Symbolic Development** - Emerges in the sixth substage (18-24 months). - Children understand pictures represent objects by 19 months; struggle with scale models under 3. 4. **Categorization** - Depends on representational thinking in the sixth substage. - Infants as young as 3 months can recognize categories and categorize by function by the end of the first year. 5. **Causality** - Develops from 4--6 months to 1 year. - Early awareness of causal events exists, though general understanding may take longer. 6. **Number** - Relies on symbols starting in the sixth substage. - Infants as young as 5 months may recognize small numbers, though findings are debated. **Information-processing Approach** Information-processing researchers analyze the separate parts of a complex task to figure out what abilities are necessary for each part of the task and at what age these abilities develop. Information-processing researchers also measure, and draw inferences from, what infants pay attention to and for how long. **Habituation** is a type of learning in which repeated or continuous exposure to a stimulus reduces attention to that stimulus. It can be compared to boredom, and the rate of habituation can be used to assess how interesting infants find various objects. **Dishabituation** refers to an increase in responsiveness following the presentation of a new stimulus. **Tools of Infant Research** - **Visual preference** is the tendency of infants to spend more time looking at one sight than another. - **Visual recognition memory** is the ability to distinguish a familiar visual stimulus from an unfamiliar one when both are shown at the same time. **Perceptual and Attentional Processes** - **Joint attention** refers to a shared attentional focus, typically initiated through eye gaze or pointing. - **Cross-modal transfer** is the ability to use information gained by one sense to guide another. **Cognitive Neuroscience Approach** Examines the hardware of the central nervous system to identify brain structures involved in specific areas of cognition. **Implicit Memory** refers to automatic, unconscious recollection, demonstrated early in infants\' actions (Nelson, 2005). **Explicit Memory** refers to conscious, intentional recollection of facts and events, influenced by cultural factors (Hayne et al., 2015). **Working Memory** refers to short-term storage of information being actively processed. **Social-Contextual Approach** Social interactions with adults contribute to cognitive competence through shared activities that help children learn skills, knowledge, and values important in their culture. By contrast, some cultures use guided participation. **Guided participation** refers to mutual interactions with adults that help structure children's activities and bridge the gap between a child's understanding and an adult's. CHAPTER 06: Psychosocial Development during the First Three Years **Emotional development** is an orderly process in which complex emotions develop from simpler ones, and brain growth closely links with emotional changes. Early signs of emotion, such as crying, smiling, and laughing, reflect this development. - Personality refers to the unique and stable patterns of behavior, thought, and feeling in an individual. - Emotions are the complex reactions involving subjective experience, physiological responses, and behavioral expression. - Social Smiling is an early developmental sign where infants smile in response to human faces. - Anticipatory Smiling occurs as a sign of social interaction anticipation. - Self-conscious Emotions are emotions like embarrassment or pride that depend on self-awareness. - Self-awareness is the realization of being an individual separate from others, emerging around 18 months. - Self-evaluative Emotions are emotions like guilt or shame that arise from reflecting on oneself in the context of societal standards. - Altruistic Behavior is an act of helping or sharing with others without expecting anything in return. - Empathy is the capacity to understand and share another person\'s feelings. - Mirror Neurons are neurons that fire both when an individual acts and when they observe another performing the same action, aiding empathy. **Temperament** refers to the individual differences in mood, activity level, and emotional responsiveness. Generally considered inborn, temperament can be categorized into three patterns: 1. **Easy** - Generally cheerful, adaptable, and regular in habits. 2. **Difficult** - Often irritable, intense, and less adaptable. 3. **Slow-to-Warm-Up** - Cautious in new situations and adjusts slowly. **Goodness of Fit** refers to the compatibility between a child's temperament and their environment, which is crucial for positive adjustment. **Cross-Cultural Differences** are variations in temperament that may reflect different child-rearing practices worldwide. **Basic Trust vs. Mistrust**\ Erikson's first stage of development suggests that a basic sense of trust develops from consistent, sensitive caregiving. Attachment is a close emotional bond between a child and caregiver, crucial for emotional and social development. Key attachment patterns include: - **Secure Attachment:** The child feels safe and confident in the caregiver's availability. - **Avoidant Attachment:** The child tends to avoid the caregiver, showing less interest. - **Ambivalent (Resistant) Attachment:** The child exhibits anxiety and uncertainty about caregiver reliability. - **Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment:** A mix of responses often seen in high-stress situations or unpredictable caregiving. Children also experience **Stranger Anxiety** around six months and **Separation Anxiety** around eight months, highlighting the importance of stable caregiving. **Mutual Regulation** is critical for emotional health, as infants and caregivers respond to each other's emotional cues. **Interactional Synchrony** describes the responsive interactions between caregiver and infant, while the **Still-Face Paradigm** illustrates infants\' reactions to non-responsiveness. **Social Referencing** shows how infants use caregivers\' emotional cues to navigate unfamiliar situations. In toddlerhood, self-concept and autonomy develop, with self-awareness typically emerging between 15 and 24 months. Erikson's stage of **Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt** emphasizes the toddler\'s quest for independence. Socialization involves adopting societal standards, with **Internalization** and **Self-regulation** reflecting this process. Sibling relationships contribute to socialization, and parental employment generally has minimal effects on development when high-quality caregiving is present. However, **Child Maltreatment**---including physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment---can have long-lasting negative effects on development. Resilience in some children allows for recovery from adverse experiences, underscoring the importance of nurturing environments for healthy growth CHAPTER 07: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood **Growth Patterns:** Between ages 3 and 6, children experience rapid growth, averaging 2 to 3 inches in height and gaining 4 to 6 pounds annually. Boys typically have a slight edge in height and weight until puberty. **Motor Skills Development:** - **Gross Motor Skills:** Improvements in running, hopping, skipping, jumping, and throwing. - **Fine Motor Skills:** Enhanced abilities in tasks like tying shoelaces, drawing, and pouring cereal. Children begin to show a preference for using either their right or left hand. **Sleep Patterns:** Most U.S. children average about 11 hours of sleep by age 5 and often give up daytime naps. Sleep habits vary culturally, with some children having irregular bedtimes. **Sleep Disturbances:** Common issues include: - **Night Terrors:** Abrupt awakenings from deep sleep, peaking between ages 2.5 and 4. - **Sleepwalking:** Walking around while asleep, affecting about 5% of children. - **Sleep talking:** Talking during sleep, occurring in approximately 37% of children. - **Enuresis:** Bed-wetting, affecting about 15% of 5-year-olds, typically outgrown. **Brain Development:** - **Rapid Growth:** Significant brain development occurs from ages 3 to 6, particularly in the frontal areas responsible for planning and goal setting. - **Synapse Density:** Peaks at age 4, known as **exuberant connectivity**, which is later pruned based on experiences, showcasing the brain\'s **plasticity**. - **Myelination:** Myelin continues to form, enhancing neural conduction. - **Peak Volume:** By age 6, the brain reaches about 90% of its peak volume, with growth in areas supporting language and spatial relations. - **Corpus Callosum:** Connects the brain\'s hemispheres and continues to myelinate throughout childhood. **Motor Skills Development:** **Gross Motor Skills:** Involve large muscle movements: - **3-Year-Olds:** Limited control; can jump 15-24 inches. - **4-Year-Olds:** Improved control; can jump 24-33 inches and ascend stairs alternating feet. - **5-Year-Olds:** Can effectively start, turn, and stop in games; can jump 28-36 inches. **Fine Motor Skills:** Involve small muscle coordination: - **3-Year-Olds:** Can pour milk and eat with utensils. - **4-Year-Olds:** Can dress with help and cut along lines. - **5-Year-Olds:** Can dress independently and draw complex shapes. **Handedness:** Preference for one hand emerges by age 3, with about 90% being right-handed. **Cultural Influences:** Motor skill development varies by culture, affecting children\'s physical abilities and experiences. **Health and Safety** - **Preventable Illnesses:** Vaccination has significantly reduced childhood illnesses in developed countries, but these illnesses remain prevalent in developing regions. Proper immunization is essential for maintaining health. - **Obesity and Undernutrition:** There is a concerning rise in obesity among preschoolers, which negatively impacts health, while undernutrition can hinder overall development. - **Oral Health:** Regular dental care, including fluoride supplements, is crucial for preventing **dental caries** (tooth decay). - **Environmental Risks:** Factors such as poverty, homelessness, exposure to smoke, pollution, and lead poisoning can have significant physical and cognitive effects on children. - **Safety Concerns:** Accidents are the leading cause of death in childhood, particularly in the home environment. **Early Childhood Education and Readiness** - **Kindergarten:** Most children in the U.S. attend kindergarten, with an increasing number participating in full-day programs. Emotional and social readiness, including skills like following directions and taking turns, is vital for success in school. - **Adjustment to Kindergarten:** Factors such as socioeconomic status, prior preschool experience, and developmental readiness can influence a child\'s adjustment to kindergarten. Retaining children in kindergarten is sometimes recommended, though the benefits of this practice are uncertain. - **Success Indicators:** Children who express a liking for school at age 6 tend to perform better academically in later years. - **Compensatory Programs:** These early intervention programs aim to improve educational outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children. **Cognitive Development (Piagetian Approach)** - **Preoperational Stage:** During this stage, children develop **symbolic function**, enabling them to use language and engage in pretend play. They begin to understand spatial relationships and cause-and-effect but struggle with concepts like **conservation** and **reversibility** due to **centration** (focusing on one aspect of a situation). - **Theory of Mind:** By ages 3 to 5, children become aware of their own and others\' thoughts, learning concepts such as deception and differentiating between appearance and reality. **Memory** - **Memory Processes:** Memory involves **encoding** (storing information), storage, and retrieval. While sensory memory remains stable, the capacity of **working memory** increases. Recognition skills are generally stronger than recall in young children. - **Types of Memory:** **Episodic memory** is temporary, while **autobiographical memory** (memories of personal experiences) begins to develop around ages 3 or 4, influenced by language and self-awareness. **Language Development** - **Vocabulary and Grammar:** Children experience rapid vocabulary growth, along with improvements in grammar and **pragmatics** (the social use of language). - **Private Speech:** Self-directed speech, known as **private speech**, is common in children and aids in self-regulation. - **Emergent Literacy:** Early skills that precede reading and writing are often fostered through adult interaction, laying the groundwork for future literacy development. Chapter 08: Psychosocial Development in Early ChildhoodTop of Form **The Developing Self** **Self-concept** in early childhood evolves from simple self-descriptions to a more integrated understanding. Children often confuse their real self with their ideal self, leading to an optimistic self-view. **Self-esteem** is typically unrealistic and influenced by adult approval. As children mature, they understand emotions better, including simultaneous emotions. **Erikson\'s Initiative vs. Guilt** stage highlights the conflict between taking initiative and fearing failure, with successful resolution fostering a sense of purpose. **Gender identity** is recognized early in development, with boys showing more aggression and girls being more empathic. **Gender-typing** begins early, reinforced by family and media, leading to stereotypes. Theories of gender development include biological perspectives, evolutionary roles, psychoanalytic identification with the same-sex parent, cognitive-developmental understanding of gender, and social cognitive influences from cultural norms. **Play** is vital for development, including functional, constructive, dramatic, formal games, and rough-and-tumble play. Social play increases, with children often preferring same-gender peers, known as gender segregation. Cultural factors shape play experiences. **Discipline** approaches vary, with positive reinforcement and inductive techniques being effective. Baumrind\'s parenting styles include authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, and neglectful. Parenting influences prosocial behavior and aggression, with types of aggression being overt (physical) and relational (social harm). **Sibling relationships** are generally positive, with older siblings initiating activities. **Peer relationships** are formed through similarity and positive experiences, with aggressive children facing social challenges compared to more accepted prosocial children. Chapter 09: Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle ChildhoodTop of Form **Physical Development in Middle Childhood** During middle childhood, physical growth slows, with variations in height and weight. Key health practices, such as dental care, nutrition, and sleep, are essential for growth. Brain development enhances cognitive abilities, and motor skills improve, allowing for diverse activities. Boys often engage in more physical play, while girls may prefer verbal games. Informal play, including rough-and-tumble play, is crucial for physical and social skill development. Most children are generally healthy, benefiting from vaccinations, but issues like overweight and obesity are rising, leading to health risks such as hypertension and asthma. Other concerns include acute medical conditions like respiratory infections and chronic conditions such as diabetes. Accidents are a leading cause of death, emphasizing the need for safety measures. **Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood** Cognitive development is marked by the transition to **Piaget\'s Concrete Operations stage** (ages 7-12), where children think logically about concrete events and improve reasoning skills. They develop cognitive skills like spatial thinking and causality. **Horizontal décalage** refers to varying mastery of skills within this stage. Cognitive improvements include advancements in executive function, reaction time, and metamemory. Children develop memory strategies such as mnemonic devices and rehearsal. **Psychometric Approach: Intelligence** Intelligence testing, using tools like the **Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV)** and **Stanford-Binet**, assesses cognitive abilities but may be culturally biased. Theories like **Gardner\'s Multiple Intelligences** and **Sternberg\'s Triarchic Theory** suggest traditional IQ tests measure only a limited aspect of intelligence. **Dynamic testing** evaluates learning potential rather than fixed intelligence. Efforts to create culture-free or culture-fair tests have not been fully successful. **Language and Literacy Development** In middle childhood, language skills, including vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, become more advanced, with significant growth in pragmatics. The debate on bilingual education focuses on effective teaching methods for English learners. The phonetic approach is crucial for reading success, emphasizing decoding skills. **The Child in School** Factors influencing school achievement include self-efficacy, gender differences, and parental involvement. Socioeconomic status impacts academic success, while smaller class sizes and positive peer relationships support learning. Educational innovations like charter schools and homeschooling offer alternatives. Special attention is given to children with learning disabilities (LDs), ADHD, and dyslexia. Gifted children (IQ of 130 or higher) may not correlate with creativity. Programs for gifted students include enrichment and acceleration programs. **Key Terms and Definitions** - **Rough-and-tumble play**: A form of play characterized by physical activity and playful fighting, common among boys. - **Concrete operations**: A stage in Piaget\'s theory where children develop logical thinking about concrete events. - **Executive function**: Cognitive processes that manage and regulate thoughts and actions. - **Metamemory**: Awareness and understanding of one\'s own memory processes. - **Dynamic tests**: Assessments that evaluate a child\'s learning potential rather than fixed intelligence. - **Pragmatics**: The social rules and context of language use. - **Bilingual education**: Instruction in two languages, often to support English language learners. - **Phonetic approach**: A method of teaching reading that emphasizes the relationship between sounds and their spelling, focusing on decoding words. - **Whole-language approach**: A reading instruction method that emphasizes understanding and meaning in context rather than phonics. - **Self-efficacy**: The belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task, which can influence motivation and performance. - **Intellectual disability**: A condition characterized by limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, affecting everyday social and practical skills. - **Learning disabilities (LDs)**: A group of disorders that affect the ability to learn in a typical manner, including difficulties with reading, writing, and math. - **Dyslexia**: A specific learning disability that affects reading and related language-based processing skills. - **Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)**: A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. - **Enrichment programs**: Educational programs designed to provide advanced learning opportunities for gifted students without accelerating their grade level. - **Acceleration programs**: Programs that allow gifted students to move through the curriculum at a faster pace than their peers. - **Creativity**: The ability to produce original and valuable ideas or solutions. - **Convergent thinking**: A type of thinking that focuses on finding a single, correct solution to a problem. - **Divergent thinking**: A type of thinking that generates multiple, unique solutions to a problem, often associated with creativity. CHAPTER 10: Psychosocial Development in Middle Childhood **The Developing Self** As children enter middle childhood, their self-concept becomes more realistic, reflecting their abilities and limitations. This development is explained by representational systems, which are models that integrate various aspects of a child's understanding of self, allowing them to form a more nuanced view of who they are. During this stage, Erikson\'s psychosocial conflict of industry versus inferiority becomes prominent. Children's self-esteem grows as they feel competent and capable (industry), while feelings of inferiority or inadequacy can hinder their development. Emotional development also progresses, as children learn to manage their emotions better, understanding feelings like shame and pride. They develop **empathy** and **prosocial behaviors**, which are actions intended to benefit others. Parents' reactions to their children's negative emotions significantly influence this growth. Successful emotional regulation involves effortful control, where children learn to manage their emotional responses effectively. **The Child in the Family** Family influences during middle childhood encompass both the family's structure (such as two-parent or single-parent households) and the **family atmosphere**, which includes the emotional tone, discipline approaches, parental employment, and financial stability. These factors collectively impact a child\'s development. **Coregulation** refers to a gradual shift in which children take more responsibility for their behavior, guided by parents but gaining more independence in resolving conflicts. The quality of parental employment and the child's supervision, along with socioeconomic status, play crucial roles in child outcomes. **Poverty** can indirectly harm children through its negative effects on parental well-being and practices. Nontraditional family structures, such as cohabiting, divorced, and stepfamilies, are increasingly common. Children in stable two-parent homes generally fare better, although the **family atmosphere** often matters more than the family structure itself. When it comes to **divorce**, children's adjustment depends on factors like custody arrangements and financial stability. **Joint custody** arrangements tend to work best when parents cooperate, and the quality of contact with noncustodial parents (often fathers) is more significant than the frequency of that contact. **The Child in the Peer Group** Peer groups play a vital role in socialization, influencing children's **self-concept**, social skills, and values. Children often form groups with peers who are similar in age, gender, and background, fostering a sense of belonging. Popularity within these groups can impact future social adjustment and is often measured by **sociometric status** (how peers view them) or perceived status. Popular children typically exhibit better cognitive and social skills. As friendships develop, intimacy increases, with girls often forming closer friendships while boys may have a larger number of friends. Over time, **aggression** tends to decrease, but it may shift from being instrumental (used to achieve a goal) to hostile, particularly among children with a **hostile attribution bias**---the tendency to interpret others\' actions as having hostile intent. Exposure to media violence can also increase aggressive behaviors, which may persist into adulthood. **Bullying** is a significant concern during middle childhood, with victims often exhibiting low self-esteem and being perceived as weak or provocative. Patterns of bullying and victimization frequently begin early in this developmental stage. **Mental Health in Middle Childhood** School-age children may face various mental health challenges, including **disruptive behavioral disorders** such as oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder, as well as **anxiety disorders** like separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and **obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)**. **Childhood depression** is also a concern during this period. Effective treatment techniques for these disorders include **individual psychotherapy**, **family therapy**, **behavior therapy**, **art therapy**, **play therapy**, and sometimes **drug therapy**. Often, a combination of these approaches is utilized to address the child\'s needs. **Resilience** refers to the ability of some children to withstand stress better than others, supported by **protective factors** such as strong family relationships, cognitive abilities, and positive compensating experiences that help them navigate challenges.