KPE220 Notes Combine PDF

Chapter 1 - Basic Concept and Methods - The Scientific Study of Human Development Beliefs about human development have been influenced by the ideas generated from philosophers’ observations of people at different ages. Currently rely on the scientific method to study development. De...

Chapter 1 - Basic Concept and Methods - The Scientific Study of Human Development Beliefs about human development have been influenced by the ideas generated from philosophers’ observations of people at different ages. Currently rely on the scientific method to study development. Developmental Psychology The scientific study of age-related changes in our bodies, behaviour, thinking, emotions, social relationships, and personalities. Development: enduring changes in people’s capacity and behaviour as they grow older because of the biological growth process and people’s interactions with their environment Study of Human Development Becomes a Science Charles Darwin: ○ understood the development of the human species by studying child development. G. Stanley Hall: ○ identified norms, or the average ages at which milestones happen Arnold Gesell: ○ Suggested the existence of a genetically programmed sequential pattern of change, termed maturation Jean Piaget: ○ Described 4 stages in the development of logical thinking between birth and adolescence. Psychology in Canada - Brief History: First courses (mental & moral philosophy) taught at Dalhousie William Blatz opened OISE - 1925 Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) - founded in 1939 ○ 1981 - Developmental Section was established Contemporary Human Development How it’s changed: 1. The term ‘development’ encompasses the entire human lifespan 2. Developmentalists now understand that inborn characteristics interact with environmental factors in complex ways. 3. The pioneers thought of change almost exclusively in terms of norms, while today’s developmentalists view norms as representing only one kind of change. The Lifespan Perspective Important changes occur during every period of development Changes must be interpreted in light of the culture and context they occur Interdisciplinary research is necessary to fully understand human development Capacity for positive change, plasticity, in response to environmental demands is possible throughout the lifespan. Psychologists’ views of adult hood have changed for the following reasons: 1) adults more commonly go through major life changes, like divorce & career shifts. Resulting in stage models of development that include adult phases.  2) Significant increases in life expectancy have occurred in the industrialized world - with older adults now contributing a large proportion of the population. The Domains of Development Age-related changes across the lifespan can ebe classified in 3 broad categories: ○ Cognitive Domain: Includes changes in thinking, memory, problem-solbing, & other intellectual skills ○ Social Domain: Includes changes in variables associated with the relationship of an individual to others ○ Physical Domain: Includes changes in size, shape, & characteristics of the body Development in the Real World: Toys are more than just playthings Play is critical to children’s development Toy designers create many toys to promote various elements of children’s development: toys should challenge and stimulate the child based on their age. Continuity and Discontinuity in Development Continuity: ○ An age-related change in amount or degree (quantitative change) Discontinuity: ○ Changes in characteristic, kind, or type (qualitative changes) ○ Involves reorganization or emergence of wholly new strategies, qualities, or skills Age-related changes can be classified by using three categories: ○ Universal changes ○ Group-specific changes ○ Individual changes The Interactionist Model of Development Nature-Nurtue Controversy - View of biological processes versus experiential factors influencing development Today, an Interactionist Model, respecting the complex reciprocal interactions of nature and nurture is more common. Positive Psychology Umbrella term for the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and positive actions that allow individuals and institutions to thrive Goals of positive psychology: ○ Help students flourish, maximize the productivity of workers, and focus on the virtues that people possess (love, compassion, and the capacity for courage) Research Designs and Methods Research Design: structure/design/components of a research study Methodology: used to understand the approach to research ○ Qualitative → positivistic ○ Qualitative →naturalistic  Method Relating Goals to Methods Developmental Psychology uses the scientific method to achieve four goals (Positivistic Paradigm) ○ Describe: state what happens during development. ○ Explain: using theories to tell why a particular event occurs ○ Predict: using theories to generate hypotheses that researchers can test ○ Influence: use scientific research to enhance development of individuals Research Methods for Identifying Relationships Between Variables Variables: characteristics that vary person to person (physical size, intelligence, personality). ○ When two or more vary together, there is some relationship between them. Researchers study development using descriptive methods and experiments. Descriptive Methods: ○ Case-Studies → in-depth examinations of single individuals ○ Naturalistic Observation method → observe people in their normal environments ○ Surveys → involve the use of interviews and/or questionnaires. Research Designs for Studying Age-Related Changes Cross-sectional designs: groups of participants (different ags) are studied at one time. ○ Advantages: quick access to data about age differences ○ Limitations: ignores individual differences; cohort effects Longitudinal Designs: follow the same individual/group over a period of time ○ Advantages: track developmental changes in individuals and groups ○ Limitations: time-consuming; findings may apply only to the group that is studied. Sequential Design: begins with at least two age groups; test each group over a number of years with two types of comparisons: ○ Age-group comparisons ○ Comparisons of each group to itself at an earlier testing point ○ Advantages: cross-sectional and longitudinal data relevant to the same hypothesis ○ Limitations: time-consuming; different attrition rates across groups Cross-Cultural Research Studies comparing cultures or contexts: ○ Ethnography → a detailed description of a single culture or context based on extensive observation ○ Compare two or more cultures directly by testing children or adults in each of several cultures with the same or comparable measures In 1971 Canada was the first in the world to make multiculturalism an official policy; the Canadian Multicultural Act passed in 1988 Important to developmental psychology ○ Identifies universal changes (learning how to walk/talk) ○ Identifies specific variables that explain cultural differences that can be used to improve people’s lives. Research Ethics: Researchers must follow guidelines designed to protect the rights of animals and humans who participate in studies: ○ Common guidelines; protection from harm, informed consent, confidentiality, knowledge of results, and deception, if used, must be explained fully. Chapter 2 – Theories of Development Theories of development · 5 influential families of theories that have quite different ways of answering questions about development: o Biological and evolutionary theories § Biological and physiological processes influence traits and behaviours § Strengths – biological principles expand understanding of human health and disease processes, uncovering complex role of inheritance § Weaknesses – biological approaches neglect impact of psychological factors, sociocultural factors, family conditions on development o 3 “families” of psychological theories § Psychoanalytic – adult behaviour and feelings, including psych problems, stem from childhood · Strength – highlights important role parenting has on childhood experiences; proposes child’s needs change with age, parents and other caregivers must constantly adapt to changing child · Weaknesses – many concepts derived from individual case studies, cannot be applied universally; concepts difficult to test § Humanistic – Emphasizes basic goodness of human beings: each individual has unique potential, unborn drive for personal growth & self-actualization · Strengths – shifts focus of development on individual choices; inherently optimistic; gives people more credit in controlling wellbeing · Weaknesses – concepts difficult to test, propositions not stated clear enough § Behavioural – behaviour determined by environment through conditioning; primarily concerned with observable behaviour · Strengths – learning theories can explain consistency/changes in behaviour; optimistic about possibility of change; provides accurate picture of way behaviours are learned · Weaknesses – traditional learning theorists’ approach is not developmental; does not tell much about change over lifespan § Cognitive? – behaviour can be largely explained in terms of how the mind operates (memory, thinking, etc.) · Strengths – science of cog psych based on lab experiments; contributed to many effective therapeutic interventions · Weaknesses – much research involves artificial lab tasks, does not fully describe how mind works in real word  o Systems theory – provides interdisciplinary perspective to study of human development § Strengths – captures complexity of individual and contextual variables and interactions among variables § Weaknesses – hard to form generalizations & predictions because of complexity of interaction among variables Biology & Evolutionary theories · Genetic and epigenetic factors interact w/ environment to shape health and well-being across lifespan · Genetic and physiological processes underlie human behaviour · Evolutionary theories – attempt to explain differences as individuals and commonalities; often focusing on genetic and environmental mechanisms o Ethology – genetically determined survival behaviours, evolved through natural selection o Behaviour genetics – traits said to be influenced by genes; related people more similar than unrelated people o Evolutionary psychology – view that genetically inherited cognitive and social traits have evolved through natural selection · Evolutionary development psychology – view that genetically inherited cognitive and social characteristics that promote survival & adaptation appear at different times Psychoanalytic theories – Freud · Believe developmental change happens by influence of internal drives & emotions on behaviour · Freud’s psychosexual theory – behaviour determined by conscious & unconscious o Libido – unconscious processes is an internal drive for physical pleasure o Personality structured with 3 parts: 1) Id – basic sexual and aggressive impulses; includes libido; present at birth; unconscious 2) Ego – conscious; thinking part of personality; develops in first 2-3 years; job to keep id satisfied, without violating superego’s rules; keeps 3 components of personality in balance; generates defence mechanisms 3) Superego – moral judge; contains rules of society; develops near end of early childhood (age 6); once · Freud’s psychosexual stages – series of stages which a child moves in fixed sequence, determined by maturation. Each stage, libido focus on different body part 1) Oral (mouth) – Major develop task: weaning; adult characteristic – smoking, overeating 2) Anal (anus) – major develop task: toilet training; adult characteristic – orderliness, messiness 3) Phallic (genitals) – major develop task: resolving Oedipus/electra complex; adult characteristic – vanity, recklessness 4) Latency (period of dormancy) – major develop task: develop defense mechanisms; identify with same-sex peers 5) Genital (genitals) – major develop task: achieve mature sexual intimacy; adult characteristic – emerge with sincere interest in others, mature sexuality Erikson’s psychosocial theory · Development results from inner instincts and cultural demands · Development occurs across lifespan in psychosocial stages o Psychosocial stages – personality development, inner instincts interact with outer culture and social demands · One must move through and successfully resolve eight “crises” or “dilemmas” to develop health personality · The Psychodynamic Perspective: Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development o Stage 1 (birth-1yr): trust vs. mistrust – hope; trust in primary caregiver & one’s ability to make things happen o Stage 2 (age 1-3): autonomy vs shame and doubt – will; new physical skills lead to demand for more choices, most often seen as saying “no” to caregivers: child learns self-care skills, such as toileting o Stage 3 (age 3-6): initiative vs guilt – purpose; ability to organize activities around a goal; more assertiveness (harsh parental criticism may lead to guilt) o Stage 4 (age 6-12): industry vs inferiority – competence; cultural skills and norms, including school skills and tool use (failure to master these leads to sense of inferiority) o Stage 5 (age 12-18): identity vs role confusion – fidelity; unified and consistent sense of self that integrates pubertal changes into a mature sexual identity; assumes adult social and occupational roles, establishes personal values and attitudes Humanistic approach/alternative · Most important internal drive – individual’s motivation to achieve one’s full potential · Abraham Maslow – key figure in humanistic theory · Self-actualization – describes ultimate goal in human life; fulfilling one’s personal potential · Various needs to motives in a needs hierarchy; bottom to top of pyramid · Carl Rogers – focused on capacity of each of us to become “fully functioning person” without guilt; potential for personal growth Learning theories · Focus on how experiences in the environment shape the child · Human behaviour is seen as being shaped by the environment, through processes such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning · Pavlov - classical conditioning o Learning results from association of 2 stimuli · Skinner – operant conditioning o Learning to repeat or stop behaviours – result of consequences o Reinforcement – increases probability of repeated behaviour § Positive – “pleasant” consequences to action § Negative – removal of “unpleasant” o Punishment – decreases probability of repeated behaviour § Positive – adding something “unpleasant” § Negative – removal of something “pleasant” o Extinction – decrease in behaviour after repeated non-reinforcement (ignoring)  o Partial reinforcement – behaviour reinforced sometimes but not others o Shaping – individual learns complex behaviour through reinforcement of intermediate steps § Each step includes reinforcement § When child masters step, reinforcement for previous step discontinued Cognitive theories · Emphasize mental aspects of development, such as logic and memory · Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory o Focused on answering the central question “How does thinking develop?” o Based many of his ideas about the consistent changes during childhood on naturalistic observations of children of different ages o Scheme – describes internal cognitive structure that provides an individual with a procedure to follow in a specific circumstance § Individuals begin life with small repertoire of sensory and motor schemes (e.g looking, tasking, touching, hearing, and reaching) § Using schemes enhances them o Assimilation – process of applying schemes to experiences o Accommodation – involves changing the scheme as a result of new information o Equilibration – is the process of balancing assimilation and accommodation to create schemes that fit the environment – we learn what works and what does not work in particular situations Information-Processing Theory o Use the computer as a model of human thinking with memory process o Info enters mind (input), transformed by mental programs (throughput), and is used to perform actions (output) o Memory is broken down into sub-processes of: § Encoding: organizing info to be stored in memory § Storage: keeping info § Retrieval: getting info out of memory Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory o Asserts that complex forms of thinking have their origins in social interactions o Scaffolding o Zone of proximal development · Bandura’s Social-Cognitive theory o Albert Bandura states - Learning does not always require reinforcement: sometimes we learn from watching (observational learning or modelling) o Reciprocal determinism – human development is based on: § Personal factors § Behavioural factors § Environmental factors o Self-efficacy: belief in one’s own capacity to cause an intended event to occur or to perform a task Systems theory · Systems approach – view that personal and external factors form a dynamic integrated system · Holism – “whole” is primary and is often greater than the sum of its parts – person develops in relation to changes in any part of the whole dynamic system (personal and external) · Wellness – result of adaptive adjustment · Bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner) – explains development in terms of relationships between people and their environment, over the passage of time o Macrosystem (cultural context) o Ecosystem (socioeconomic context) o Microsystem (immediate context) o Mesosystem (interconnections) o Individual context o Promotes advocacy across all levels of socioeconomic and political spectrum o Determine causal links among developmental variables raises research methodological and ethical challenges Chapter 4 - Physical, Sensory, & Perceptual Development in Infancy I. Physical Changes When does the greatest degree of physical change occur? - During the first two years of life (apart from prenatal development). What growth happens to babies' bodies in the first year? - Grow 25-30 centimetres and triple their body weight. What happens at age 2? - Toddlers are half as tall as they will be as adults ~ age 2 for girls and 2 ½ for boys. - Have proportionately much larger heads than adults. - Need to hold their nearly full-sized brains. A. The Brain and the Nervous System ~ Develops rapidly during the first two years. What is most fully developed at birth? - Midbrain and Medulla → regulate vital functions. What is least fully developed at birth? - Cortex → involved in perception, body movement, thinking, and language. - Develops in the first two years after birth. - With each neuron going through an enormous growth of dendrites and vast increase in synapses. ~Synaptic Development What is Synaptogenesis? - Creation of synapses ~ followed by a period of Synaptic Pruning. What is Neuroplasticity? - Brain’s ability to reorganize neural pathways and connections in response to experience. - change and adapt in response to internal or external stimuli. - What enables this? - A 1 yr old has denser dendrites and synapses than an adult does. ~Myelinization What is the function of Myelin? - Gradually covers individual axons and electrically insulates them from one another, improving the conductivity of the nerve. - Most rapid during the first two years after birth → continues throughout childhood and adolescence. What is the part of the brain that isn’t fully myelinized until the Mid-20’s? - Reticular Formation → regulates attention. B. Reflexes and Behavioural States ~Reflexes What is the difference between Adaptive and Primitive Reflexes? - Adaptive - Help newborns survive. - I.e. sucking - helps coordinate breathing and swallowing. - Some disappear in infancy/childhood, others persist throughout life. - Primitive - Controlled by primitive parts of the brain - involuntary. - Disappears by 6 months of age. - Examples: - Rooting: - Touch cheek → turn toward touch & open mouth in attempt to suck. - Disappears by 3 months. - Babinski: - Stroke sole of foot → toes fan out and up. - Disappears by 12 months. - Moro: - Sudden noise / loss of support → arch back and throw limbs in&out. - Disappears by 4 or 5 months. ~Behavioural States Newborns sleep 80% of the time: - By 2 months → begin to sleep throughout the night. - By 6 months → sleeping 13 hours per day. - Cultural beliefs play an important role in parents’ responses to infants’ sleep patterns. What are the typical cries? - Basic cry → signals hunger; rhythmical pattern. - Anger cry → louder and more intense - Pain cry → very abrupt onset What do cross-cultural studies suggest with crying? - Crying increases with 6 weeks of age then tapers off. - Prompt attention to crying in the first 3 months leads to less crying later. What is Colic? - Infant behaviour pattern of unknown cause → intense daily bouts of crying (3 or more hours a day for several months). C. Developing Body Systems and Motor Skills Physical Development → head downward (Cephalocaudal pattern) & centre of the body outward (Proximodistal pattern) What is the development of Bones? - Increases in length of long bones → increases in height. - Changes in # and density of bones → improved coordination. What is Ossification? - Process of hardening of bones. - Required for motor development. - Begins during prenatal development → continues through puberty. What is the development of Muscles? - Muscle fibres virtually all present at birth. - Initially small and high ratio of water to muscle. - High fat content declines to adult levels by age 1. What is the development in Lungs and Heart? - Improvement in lung efficiency and increasing strength of heart muscles → greater stamina in 2 yr old compared to newborn. What is the development of Motor Skills? - Locomotor skills (gross motor) → crawling.  - Nonlocomotor skills → controlling head movements. - Manipulative skills (fine motor) → use of hands and fingers. ~Milestones of Motor Development in the First Two Years: Age (months) Locomotor NonLocomotor Manipulative 1 Stepping reflex Lifts head slightly → Holds object if placed follow slowly moving in hands. objects with eyes. 2-3 Lifts head to 90 deg Begins to swipe at angle when lying on objects in sight. stomach 4-6 Rolls over; sits with Holds head erect while Reaches for and grasps support; creeps in sitting position. objects. 7-9 Sits without support; Transfers objects from crawls. one hand to the other. 10-12 Pulls self up and walks Squats and stoops; Hand preferences, grasping furniture, plays patty cake. grasps spoon across walks alone. palm but poor aim. 13-18 Walks backwards, Rolls ball to adult; Stacks 2 blocks; puts sideways, runs (14-20) claps. and dumps objects 19-24 Walks up and down Jumps with both feet Uses spoon to feed self; stairs (two feet / step). off ground. stacks 4-10 blocks. What is the development of Gender Differences? - Girls are ahead in some aspects of physical maturity. - Slight advantage in manipulative skills. - Boys are typically more active. - Preference for rough / tumble play. - More aggressive by girls at the end of 2nd year. D. Health Promotion & Wellness ~Nutrition What plays a role in the quality of breastmilk? - Breastfeeding practices, maternal lifestyle, environmental factors, possibly ethnicity. How is Breastfeeding nutritionally superior to bottle feeding? - Contributes to more rapid weight gain and size. - Unlikely to suffer from common illnesses.  - Stimulates better immune system functioning. - Preterm babies need extra supplementation to augment breast milk. - Maternal medications / mother’s health may make breastfeeding impossible. - 6 months → healthy infants are ready for introduction of solid foods. ~Malnutrition What is Macronutrient Malnutrition? - Diet that contains too few calories → leading cause of death (for children under 5). - Marasmus? - Severe calorie deficiency. - Infants are extremely small and may suffer permanent brain damage. - Kwashiorkor? - Diet too low in protein. - Large amounts of water retention in belly. What is Micronutrient Malnutrition? - Deficiency of certain vitamins and/or minerals. - Most common form of malnutrition in industrialized countries. - Exception in Canada (due to food fortification). - Mortality can be reduced by 23% by supplying young children with Vitamin A. ~Health Care and Immunizations Infants need frequent medical check ups. When should routine immunization start? - 2 months → continue through childhood and adolescence. What are the Immunizations? - Chicken pox, hepatitis, influenza, polio, pneumonia, meningitis, measles/mumps/rubella, diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis, rubella virus. ~Illnesses in the First Two Years - Over half of infants in Canada have a respiratory illness in the first year of life. - Babies in daycare centres have twice as many infections compared to those entirely at home. - Infants with chronic ear infections are more likely to have learning disabilities, attention disorders, and language deficits during school than their peers. E. Preterm & Low-Birth-Weight Infants What are Preterm Infants? - Born before 37 weeks gestation. - Born before 32 weeks gestation → no adaptive reflexes. - Preterm or L-B-W move slowly through developmental milestones.  - By 2 or 3 → physically normal Preterm will catch up with peers. How are Preterm Infants different? - Fed intravenously or through a tube inserted into esophagus or stomach. - Kangaroo care can be helpful for these newborns. F. Post-term Infants What are Post-term infants? - Infants born 42 weeks or more after conception. - Increased risk of fetal and neonatal mortality. What has decreased the rate of Post-term deliveries in Canada? - Ultrasound dating and practice of inducing post-term pregnancies. G. Infant Mortality in Canada Half of infant deaths occur in the neonate and the rest between 4 weeks & 1 year of age. Decline from 134 of 1000 live births in 1901 → ~5 of 1000 live births in 2007. Inuit, Metis, and First Nations peoples have higher rates than the general Canadian population. What causes higher infant mortality rates? - Lower-income families and families in remote areas. Impact of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)? - ~5% in Canada. - 90% of cases occur between 28 days and 1 year of age (over 29% of deaths). How can parents reduce the risk of SIDS? - Place baby on back when sleeping. - Eliminate quilts, duvets, pillows, soft toys, crib bumpers that can cover the infant's head. - Avoid laying baby on soft surfaces or loose bedding. - Have baby sleep near parent’s bed for first six months. - Avoid bed sharing (sleeping or napping with baby). - Provide a smoke-free environment during pregnancy and after birth. II. Sensory Skills Innate Aspects → Newborns and Infants have more sensory capacity than physicians and psychologists. A. Vision What is Visual Acuity? - How well one can see details at a distance. - Newborns are 40 times worse than a normal-sighted adult. - By 6 months → vision improves to only 8 times worse. How does Visual Acuity develop rapidly during 1st year? - Synaptogenesis, Pruning, Myelination. - Infants can see near objects clearly. What is Tracking? - Process of following a moving object → initially inefficient but improves rapidly. Colour Vision in Infants: - Red, green, and blue present by 1 month. - Infant’s ability to sense colour is almost identical to an adult’s. B. Hearing and Other Senses Auditory Acuity in Infants: - Newborns hear nearly well as adults do. - High-pitched noises need to be loud to be heard. - Infants can locate the direction of some sounds at birth. Smelling & Tasting in Infants: - Smell has nearly unlimited variations. - Newborns react differently to each basic taste. Touch & Motion in Infants: - Best developed of all senses. - Responsive to gentle social touching → important in early brain development. - Babies' expressions are similar regarding different flavours → sweet, sour, and bitter. III. Perceptual Skills What does a baby do with sensory information? - Able to make fine distinctions among sounds, sights, and feelings. - Pay attention to and respond to patterns; not just individual events. A. Studying Perceptual Development Researchers use 3 methods to perceive an infant’s behaviour: 1. Preference Technique - Longer looking times at one picture/object → reveals what captures babies’ attention. 2. Habituation / Dishabituation - After a diminished rate of responding to a particular stimulus and interest in a new or slightly different stimulus → indicates that infant perceive change. 3. Operant Conditioning - After a learned response is well-established → experimenters can vary stimulus in a systematic way to see whether baby still responds. B. Looking ~Early Visual Stimulation - Infants need a specific quality of visual stimulation to develop normal visual perception in certain periods of time. What is the Sleeper Effect? - When early experience is lacking → visual capability fails to develop many years later. ~How is Depth Perception judged? 1. Binocular Cues - Involves both eyes → used beginning at 4 months. - Closer the object is → more the view from the two eyes differ. - Information from eye muscles tells about distance. 2. Monocular Cues - Input from one eye → used last; 5 - 7 months. - Interposition → one object in front of the other. - Linear Perspective → lines get closer together as they get farther away. 3. Kinetic Cues - Motion from objects or the eyes → used by 3 months. - Objects move more when they are near. ~What Babies look at? - Initially scan for light-dark contrast and attend to motion. - At 2 months → babies scan entire objects to identify. - What do Caron and Caron (1981) suggest? - 3-4 months babies can find and pay attention to patterns. ~Faces  - Clearly prefer attractive faces → affected by experiences and inborn tendencies. - Different neural pathways for processing facial features than spacing among features. - Prefer mother’s face from earliest hour of life. - By 6 months → show signs of active social communication (reciprocal eye gaze with parents). C. Listening ~Distinguishing Speech Sounds - 1 month → distinguish between single syllables (pa and ba) - 6 months → distinguish between two syllables (bada and baga) - Can distinguish sound contrasts in any language (6 months ability begins to fade). What is important for speech perception development and language acquisition? - Sensorimotor experiences and hearing. ~Distinguishing Individual Voices - Distinguish mother’s voice from another female → not father’s from another male. - Mother’s voice is preferred → learn in utero. - Babies recognize melody patterns by 6 months. D. Combining Information from Several Senses What is Intermodal Perception? - Formation of a single perception of a stimulus that is based on information from two or more senses. Chapter 5 - Cognitive Development in Infancy I. Cognitive Changes and Foundations A. Piaget’s View of First Two Years ~Sensorimotor Stage - Infants use information from their senses and motor actions to learn about the world. - Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary reactions → progressively gains experience of them and their surroundings. - 18-24 months → beginnings of mental representation. ~Object Permanence - Understanding objects continue to exist when they cannot be seen. ~Imitation  B. Challenges to Piaget’s View - Piaget underestimated infant’s cognitive capacity. - Piaget wrongly equated lack of physical ability with lack of cognitive understanding. - Object Permanence ~ Occurs as young as 4 months. - Imitation ~ Imitation of facial gestures and deferred imitation occurred earlier than Piaget proposed. C. Alternative Approaches - Object Individuation: differentiates / recognizes distinct objects based on mental images of objects in environment. - 4 months → individuate based on spatio-temporal information. - 10 months → individuate based on object’s property information. - 9-12 months → individuate based on kind of object. II. Learning, Categorizing, Remembering A. Conditioning and Modelling - Gunther → supports learning through classical conditioning in first weeks of life. - Moon & Fifer → supports learning through operant conditioning for newborns: - Sound of mother’s voice / heartbeat or sweet liquids increased response of head turning and sucking. - Mother’s voice → effective reinforcer for all babies. - Provasi, Hauff, Buttleman et al., → supports observational learning. B. Schematic Learning What are Schemas? - Organization of experiences into expectancies. What are categories in Schematic Learning? - By 7 months → infants actively use categories to process information. - Cannot process levels of categories. - Babies respond differently to animals and furniture but not dogs and birds. - By 2 years → Hierarchical Categorization appears (not well developed until age 5). C. Memory D. Measuring Intelligence What does the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development measure? - Many aspects of cognitive, language, and motor development, and addresses adaptive behaviour and social-emotional skills.  - Strong predictor of preschool intelligence test scores. - Helpful in identifying serious developmental delays. Habituation Tasks? - High potential as measures of infant intelligence. - The speed of habituation/recognition → reveal efficiency of perceptual/cognitive system and neurological underpinnings. Fagan’s Test of Infant Intelligence? - Standardized test of Habituation rate. - Can be used for those with problems, like Cerebral Palsy. Intelligence is relatively consistent but somewhat malleable under exceptional conditions. - Early educational interventions can enhance intelligence. - Adverse environmental conditions can limit intelligence. III. Beginnings of Language Many important developments precede the use of a child’s first words at about 12 months. A. Theoretical Perspectives - Behaviourist - Infants learn language through parental reinforcement of wordlike sounds / correct grammar. - Nativist - Language Acquisition Device → innate language processor that contains basic grammatical structure of all human language, guide’s children comprehension, and production of language. - Interactionist - Infants are biologically prepared to attend to language and language development is a sub-process of cognitive development. B. Influences on Language Development What is Infant-Directed Speech (IDS)? - Simplified, higher-pitched speech that adults use with infants. - Babies prefer this to adult-directed speech. - Helps identify sounds in their mothers’ speech specific to language they are learning, and identify repeating grammatical forms. Important Influences on Language? - Earliest children’s experiences. - Being read to often.  - Parents talking to them develop richer vocab and more complex sentences. - Cultural differences in parenting / child rearing can underestimate Indigenous children’s language skills. C. Early Milestones of Language Development - 1 month → cooing vowel sounds usually to signal pleasure. - 6 - 7 months → babbling with vowel and consonant sounds. - Babbling is related to beginning of language production ~ intonational patterns are used. - 9 - 10 months → babbling sounds narrow to a set of sounds that are part of the language they are hearing. - Gesture-sound combinations emerge. - Receptive language consists of about 20-30 words. - *A language’s patterns and word stresses can help word identification. D. First Words ~Expressive Language - 12 months → babies begin to say words. - Words are learned slowly in context with specific situations and many cues. ~Holophrases - 12 - 18 months → combining a single word with gestures to complete a thought. ~Naming Explosion - 16 months → 50 words in speaking vocab. - 24 months → 320 words. - Learn new words with very few repetitions, and generalize them to many more situations. E. First Sentences - 18 - 24 months → sentences appear with a threshold of 100-200 words. - Short and simple (generally 2 - 3 words). - ‘Telegraphic speech’ → includes nouns and verbs (no grammatical markers).  F. Individual Differences in Language Development G. Language Development Across Cultures - 1 in 5 Canadians speak one of 200 other languages. - Cooing, babbling, first words, holophrases, telegraphic speech typically found in all languages at similar ages and appear in the same sequence. - Use of specific word order in early sentences is not the same. - Positive side of Bilingualism for development: - Understanding there can be more than one word for the same object. - Enhanced metalinguistic ability. - Improved working memory. - Greater ability to focus attention on language tasks. - Downside of Inconsistent Exposure to a second language: - Uncertain language patterns. - Decreased functional competence. Chapter 6 - Social and Personality Development in Infancy I. Theories of Social and Personality Development A. Psychoanalytic Perspectives ~Freud’s Psychosexual Stage  - Oral Stage → infants derive satisfaction from the mouth (birth → two years). - Proper management of Weaning process → infant’s need to suck is neither frustrated nor over-gratified. - Freud believed that a fixation would manifest itself in oral behaviours (nail biting, swearing). ~Erikson’s Psychosocial Stage - Trust versus Mistrust Stage (first two years). - Infant learns to trust the world around her or becomes cynical about the social environment’s ability to meet their needs. Major Developmental Tasks in Childhood: → Attachment → Temperament → Self-Concept B. Ethological Perspectives ~Attachment - Emotional tie to a parent where an infant derives security (tendency to seek out caregiver). ~Attachment Theory - View that the ability and need to form an attachment relationship early in life are genetic characteristics of all human beings. ~John Bowlby - Infants create internal models of their relationships that become better established by age 5 and affect behaviours in future relationships. II. Attachment A. Parent’s Attachment to Infant - Long-term bonds develop from Synchrony. - Mutual, interlocking pattern of attachment shared by parent and child. - Father’s bond with infant is as dependent on the development of the synchrony as the Mother. - Fathers and Mothers interact differently with infants. - Fathers are less consistent in responding to infant cues than Mothers. B. Infant’s Attachment to Parent - 4 Phases in Establishing Attachment: ~Attachment Behaviours - Stranger Anxiety: - Expressions of discomfort (clinging to mothers) in the presence of strangers. - Separation Anxiety: - Expressions of discomfort (crying) when separated from an attachment figure. - Social Referencing: - An infant’s use of others’ facial expressions as a guide to their own emotions. C. Variations in Attachment Quality - Secure Relationship: - mothers are more sensitive to infant’s needs and infants tend to be less fussy and enjoy physical contact. - Stable Attachment: - consistency in a child’s family environment. - Inconsistency → attachment changes in negative or positive direction. - Bowlby - Suggests child internalized attachment at age 4-5. - Model tends to be imposed on other relationships (peers/teachers). ~(Ainsworth et al., 1978) 4 Attachment Patterns: - Secure: *most common*  - Child is comfortable exploring the new environment and interacting with strangers as long as the mother is present. - Insecure-Ambivalent: - Child is very anxious in new environments and interacting with strangers even in the presence of the mother. - Upset when mother leaves → not necessarily comforted when she returns. - Insecure-Avoidant: - Child does not often interact with the mother, nor becomes distressed when the mother leaves. - Insecure-Disorganized/Disoriented: - Infant seems confused or apprehensive and shows contradictory behaviours. D. Caregiver Characteristics and Attachment ~5 Factors influencing Secure Attachment: 1. Emotional Responsiveness - Crucial → primary caregiver must be able and willing to form a bond. 2. Tactile Responsiveness - Pleasant physical contact → comfort and safety, buffer stress. 3. Contingent Responsiveness - Sensitive to child’s verbal and nonverbal cues → responding appropriately. 4. Marital Conflict - Poses risks for emotional withdrawal from infant → interferes with synchrony. 5. Mental Health - Diminishes caregiver’s capacity for contingent responsiveness and synchrony. E. Long Term Consequences of Attachment Quality Children rated as securely attached to their mothers during infancy are later: - More sociable and positive in their behaviour towards friends and siblings. - Less clinging and dependent on teachers and less aggressive and disruptive. - More empathetic and emotionally mature in school interactions and other settings. Into adolescence and adulthood: - More socially skilled and have more intimate friendships. - More likely to be leaders. - Have higher self-esteem. - Increased sociability throughout early, middle, and late adulthood. - Affects their parenting behaviours. III. Personality, Temperament & Self-Concept What is Personality? - A pattern of responding to people and objects in the environment. What is Temperament? - An individual's characteristic pattern of emotional response and behavioural reactivity to situations and stressors. - Thomas & Chess: - Temperament seems to be inborn and biologically based. - Early temperament correlates with later personality. A. Dimensions of Temperament What are Thomas & Chess’ 3 dominant temperament types? 1. The easy child (40% of infants) *happy and cheerful. 2. The difficult child (10% of infants) *irritable and unpredictable. 3. The slow-to-warm child (15% of infants) *restrained until they adjust to new situations. What are the 5 key dimensions of temperament? 1. Activity Level - Tendency to move often and vigorously rather than passive and immobile. 2. Approach / Positive Emotionality - Tendency to move toward new experiences usually accompanied by positive emotion. 3. Inhibition - Tendency to respond with fear or withdrawal in new situations (precursor to shyness). 4. Negative Emotionality - Tendency to respond with anger, fuss, loudness, irritability, low threshold frustration. 5. Effortful Control / Task Persistence - Ability to stay focused and manage attention and effort. B. Origins and Stability of Temperament ~Genetic and Epigenetic Factors - Identical twins are more alike in temperament than fraternal twins. - Epigenetic mechanisms that control particular gene expressions play a role in temperament. ~Neurological Processes - Underlying physiological patterns. - Shyness: - Differing thresholds for arousal. - Dopamine and serotonin problems. - Frontal lobe asymmetry. ~Interpersonal Milieu  - ‘Niche-picking’ → people of all ages choose the experiences that reflect their temperament. - Parents may be able to either increase or decrease the effects of an infant’s inborn temperamental tendencies. - Goodness-of-fit → degree to which an infant’s temperament is adaptable to his or her environment. ~Long-Term Stability - Temperamental patterns seen in infancy tend to persist through childhood and into adulthood. C. Self-Concept What does the Self-Concept depend on? - Self-Recognition ~ a child’s ability to differentiate them from the social environment. - Occurs 12 - 24 months. - Children start using personal pronouns 20 - 24 months. What is the Subjective (Existential) Self? - Infant’s awareness they are a separate person who endures through time and space and can act on the environment. - Aware by 8 - 12 months (like Object Permanence). What is the Objective (Categorical) Self? - Understanding that they are defined by various categories (gender) or qualities (shyness). - By 2 ½ → develops initial self-awareness that delineates the formation of the objective self. - By late 2 → can label themselves in several ways (name and gender). What is the Emotional Self? - At 2-3 months → learns to identify changes in emotions expressed in other’s faces. - As understanding of self advances → matched by progression in expression of emotions. - At end of 1 → Babies use their caregiver's emotions to guide their own feelings. - At end of 2 → self-conscious emotional expressions emerge. ~Awareness of the Intention of Others - Infant becomes aware that other people have separate intentions or “internal mental states” (a mind of their own) at 2. - What is Joint Attention? - A child’s capability to pay attention to another person’s intentions and an object at same time (i.e. draw attention to a toy) IV. Effects of Nonparental Care A. Difficulties in Studying Nonparental Care ~Non Parental Daycare of Children: What is the Most Common Pattern? - Care in home daycares or a regulated licensed daycare centre by a non-relative. What is the Second Most Common Pattern? - Care provided by relatives or nannies in a variety of settings. Important Points: - When there is congruency between Mother’s employment preference and decision → she is less depressed and more stable care is provided. - Parent / Caregiver quality variables are more important than the type of daycare. B. Effects on Cognitive Development, Peer Relations, and Attachment - High-quality, cognitively enriched daycare → beneficial cognitive and language development. - Especially infants from poor families → significant gains in IQ and school performance. - With insensitive mothering, insecure attachment is amplified by - Child averaging more than 10 hours per week in any type of nonparental care. - Multiple child-care arrangements. - Exposure to low-quality daycare. Chapter 7 – Physical & Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Physical Changes · Changes between ages 2-6 are less dramatic than those in infancy period Milestones of Motor Development · Age: 18-24 months o Gross motor skills – run (20 months); walk (24 months); climbs upstairs w/ both feet on each step; pushes & pulls boxes or wheeled toys; unscrews lid on a jar o Fine motor skills – clear hand preference; stacks 4-6 blocks; turns page 1 at a time; picks up things without overbalancing · Age: 2-3 years o Gross motor skills – run easily; climbs on furniture; hauls and shoves big toys around obstacles o Fine motor skills – pick up small objects; throw small ball while standing · Age: 3-4 years o Gross motor skills – walks upstairs 1 foot per step; skips on 2 feet; walks on tiptoes; pedals and steers tricycle; walks any direction pulling large objects o Fine motor skills – catches large ball between arms; cuts paper with scissors; hold pencil between thumb and fingers  · Age 4-5 years o Gross motor skills – walks up and down stairs 1 foot per step; stands, runs and walks on tiptoes o Fine motor skills – strikes ball with bat; kicks and catches ball; threads beads on string; grasps pencil properly · Age 5-6 years o Gross motor skills – skips on alternative feet; walks on a line; slides, swings o Fine motor skills – plays ball games well; thread needle, sew large stitches Growth and Motor development · Changes in height/weight occur slower in early childhood than in infancy · Each year children gain 5-8cm n height, 2.7kg in weight · Children with higher motor activity levels show significantly better ability to control or inhibit behaviour, allows for successful task achievement · Children’s motor activity levels increase linearly with age; peaks between 7-9 yrs old · Preschool child makes steady progress in motor development · Most impressive gains in large muscle skills · Small-muscle/fine motor skills also improve · Early training (start ~ 2.5 years) ca accelerate development of fine motor skills; drawing skills follow developmental sequence Brain and Nervous system · Brain growth, synapse formation, myelinization continue in early childhood, pace slower than in infancy · Number of important neurological milestones happen between ages 2-6: o Lateralization – brain functions are divided between 2 hemispheres § Functional specialization of left and right hemispheres of the brain § Corpus callosum – structure connects right and left hemispheres · Grows and matures most during early childhood · Growth accompanies function specialization of left and right hemispheres of cerebral cortex § Genes provide mechanism of lateralization, experience shapes pace § Language primarily centred in the left brain § Left side: · Language · Logic · Analysis · Math § Right side: · Intuition · Creativity  · Art/music · Spatial perception o Myelinization of reticular formation – structure regulating attention and concentration o Maturation of hippocampus – structure essential for formation of memories § Accounts of improvement in long-term memory across preschool years § Explains infantile amnesia – inability of adults and older children to remember more than a few events from before the age 3 years old · Does not involve complete absence of early memories o Handedness – strong preference for using one hand develops between 2-6 years old § Right handedness dominant gene Research report – early long-term memories in children · Cut-off age of earliest memories appears to be around 2.5 years old · Several factors facilitate long-term narrative memory of early life events: o Ability to verbally describe event o Events emotional impact at the time o The importance of event o Distinctive and uniqueness of the event o the age of child when it occurred Health promotion and wellness · Sleeping o Most 3-5 year olds need 10-13 hours of sleep o Includes nighttime sleep and naps · Eating o Food aversions develop in early childhood o Genetic variations in taste receptors can play a role in food preferences and dietary habits o Sugar consumption still exceeds recommended level (up to 25% intake, 10% recommended level) o Obesogenic environments – environments where social influences and context contribute to obesity in individuals or populations o Slight decline in weight gain since 2004 in Canada § Roughly 33% of children 2-5 years old at risk of being overweight § Rates of childhood obesity lower in Canadian Indigenous children compared to their American Indigenous peers · Rates are 2x for non-Indigenous Canadian children · Activity patterns o Increase in TV viewing lead to increase snacking increase in BMI o Excessive screen time replaces activities needed to practice important motor skills  o 62% of CAN children aged 3-4 meets recommended DPA guidelines (min 3hrs) · Accidents o ~3/1000 CAN children aged 1-4 have accident requiring hospitalization o Unintentional injuries account for slightly more than 1 in 5 of all deaths for children in this age range o 90% of injuries are preventable; most happen at home o Physicians recommend caregivers develop ongoing home safety and childproofing measures § Includes: · Removing choking hazards from childs reach · Child resistant lids · Lowering household hot water temp below 50 deg C · Ensure smoke alarms are functioning and placed properly o Urban planners need to be involved in design and construction of safe environments Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in CAN · ACEs have immediate and long-term effects that cross all domains of development · Prevention and protection from harm are important strategies for dealing with childhood adversity · Nationwide investigations revealed slightly more than 14 in 1000 substantiated cases of ACE (i.e child maltreatment) annually o Most common forms of substantiated cases: § Neglect (34%) – failing to supervise, leads to harm or risk of harm to child’s safety or development § Exposure to partner violence (34%) – child witness, overhear, see physical injuries from violences between caregivers or parents § Physical abuse (20%) – hitting, shaking, choking, burning § Emotional maltreatment (9%) - child suffers or at high risk of suffering from mental, emotional or developmental problems caused by exposure to family violence § Sexual abuse (3%) – child who has or is at substantial risk of being sexually molested or exploited o 18% of substantiated cases of child maltreatment involved in more than one category · Parents account for largest portion of alleged maltreatment among victims aged 5 and younger · Risk factors: o Sociocultural factors – personal or cultural values that regard physical abuse as morally acceptable; such beliefs stem from traditions that regard children as property rather than human beings with rights  o Child characteristics – children with academic difficulties, mental health and intellectual issues, aggressive behaviour or attachment issues are more likely to be abused o Abuser characteristics – mothers who have been victims of abuse, parents with mental health/substance abuse problems, went to jail, witnessed abuse to others are at higher risk to abuse/neglect their own children o Household stress – social assistance/employment insurance; one or more moves in past year; exposed to household hazards (e.g. weapons, drugs & paraphernalia, insufficient heat or unhygienic conditions) o ** no single factor necessarily contributes to abuse; presences of several factors in family setting significantly increases chances the children will experience abuse · Outcomes: o Exposure effect – degree of intensity and duration of stressor is related to intensity of response o Toxic stress response – persistently elevated physiological arousal caused by strong, recurring and/or unabated adversity o Can lead to lifelong impairments in intellect and learning, and emotional, behavioural, physical and social problems o Social support may buffer effect of ACEs · Prevention: o Begins with education – informing parents about potential consequences of some physical acts o Identification of at-risk families – health care professionals, social workers, educators, those who routinely interact with parents of young children have an important role to play in this kind of prevention o Vigorous enforcement of existing child abuse laws – health professional must report suspected abuse; ordinary citizens are also bound by mandatory reporting laws o Reporting abuse is MANDATORY in all provinces and territories Cognitive changes · Changes in thinking happens during early childhood years are indeed staggering · At beginning – children are beginning to learn how to accomplish goals · At the end (age 5-6) – children are manipulating symbols, can make accurate judgements about others’ thoughts, feeling and behaviours Piaget’s pre-operational Stage · Children acquire semiotic/symbolic function (understanding that 1 object or behaviour can represent another) between ages 18-24 months; once understanding is achieved, children are in preoperational stage  o Children become proficient in use of symbols in thinking and communicating, have difficulty thinking logically · Egocentrism – child thinks everyone sees/experiences world the way they do · Centration – child thinks of world in terms of one variable at a time · Conservation – understanding that matter can change in appearance without changing in quantity (not developed before age 5) Classic experiment to study egocentrism · Child is asked to pick out a picture that shows how the mountains look to her, then pick out a picture that shows how the mountains look to the doll Challenges to Piaget’s view · Research generally confirmed Piaget’s observation; but preschoolers are more cognitively sophisticated than Piaget thought · Egocentrism & perspective taking o Flavell’s stage 1 (2-3 years old) – child knows others experience things differently o Flavell’s stage 2 (4-5 years old) – child develops rules to figure our other persons experiences o Children use emotion to elicit a response from others · Appearance & reality o 4-5 year olds understand that the same object can represent different things o False belief principle – understanding that enables a child to look at a situation from another’s perspective and determine what kind info will cause them to have a false belief Theories of Mind (ToM) · Understanding thoughts, desires & beliefs o 10 months – rudimentary understanding that people operate with goals and intentions o Age 3 – understand some aspects of the link between people’s thinking, feelings and behaviour o Age 4 – basic principle that each person’s actions are based on their representation of reality o Age 4-5 – cannot understand that other people can think about them o Age 5-7 – understand reciprocal nature of thought; by age 6 – understand that most knowledge can be derived from inference · Influences on development of a ToM o Theory of mind – set of ideas constructed by an individual to explain other’s ideas, beliefs, desired and behaviour o Correlated with performance on Piaget’s tasks and working memory development o Development of a theory of mind is enhanced by pretend play and shared pretense with other children o Some level of language facility may be necessary to condition for the development of a theory of mind Alternative theories of early childhood thinking · Info processing theories o Short-term storage space (STSS) – Robbie Case’s term for working memory § Limit to how many “schemes: can be attended to o Operational efficiency – neo-Piagetian term refers to max number of schemes that can be processed in working memory at one time § Improves as child ages § Improves with practice – doing task that require memory use o Metamemory & metacognition improve during early childhood § Metamemory – knowledge about how memory works and the ability to control and reflect on one’s memory function § Metacognition – knowledge about how the mind thinks and the ability to control and reflect on one’s thought processes o Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory - emphasizes role of social factors in cognitive development § Primitive stage (1 yrs old) – infant possesses mental processes similar to animals; learns primarily through conditioning § Naïve psychology stage (2 yrs old) – learns to use language to communicate but does not understand symbols § Egocentric speech stage (3 yrs old) – uses language as a guide to solve problems; becomes internalized by 6-7 years old § Ingrowth stage (age 6 or 7) – logical thinking results from internalization of speech acquires from children and adults in social world Changes in Language · Children enter early childhood period producing limited number of words, simple sentences, leave it as accomplished; fluent speakers of at least 1 language Fast mapping – ability categorically link new words to real-world referents · Vocab grows rapidly during this timeframe o Age 1 – a dozen words o Age 2.5 – 600 words; learns 1-2 new words every day between 12-24 months o Age 5-6 – 15,000 words; learn 10 new words per day · Children rapidly from hypothesis about new word’s meaning, uses the word often, gains feedback to help judge accuracy of their hypothesis Grammar explosion · Inflections – additions that change meaning; earliest inflection is addition of “-ing” · Questions & negatives – set of rules used that doesn’t match adult speech · Overregulation/overgeneralization – using rules when they don’t apply · Complex sentences – using conjugations to combine 2 ideas, or using embedded clauses Phonological awareness · Children’s understanding of the sound patterns  · Knowledge of language’s system for representing sounds with letters · Can be learned in school · The greater a child’s phonological awareness the faster they learn to read · Primarily develops through wordplay – nursey rhymes, games with repetitive words · Invented spelling – strategy young children with good phonological awareness skills use when they write · Shared, or dialogic, reading has been found to contribute to growth of phonological awareness Language and numeracy · Malcom Gladwell – put forth notion that language plays a role in ability to master numbers · Children who speak Chinese are able to remember larger quantity of numbers than those who speak English – length of words are shorter, fewer number words for same numerals in English · Numeracy – ability to use numbers o Early parental/caregiver influences are important o Development of numeracy abilities in preschoolers help facilitate learning of advanced math concepts in school Differences in intelligence · Beginning in early childhood, psychologists can construct intelligence tests to measure vocab, reasoning, and other cognitive processes that depend on language Measuring intelligence · Intelligence quotient (IQ) o Ratio of mental age to chronological age; mental age/chronological age x 100 = IQ o general term for any score derived from an intelligence test · Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC-V, 2014) o Child is presented different types of problems, each ranging from very easy to very hard on 5 indices: 1) Verbal comprehension 2) Visual spatial 3) Fluid reasoning 4) Working memory 5) Processing speed o Standardized to reflect Canadian norms for children · IQ o Tests do fairly good at predicting success in school; does not measure other variables of success o Scores are quite stable over time  o Tests have several important limitations; concerns over cultural biases associated with indigenous children o Distribution Origins of individual differences in intelligence · Evidence for heredity – twin, and adopted children studies show strong hereditary influences on IQ · Evidence for environment – adoption provide support for environmental influence on IQ · Specific family interactions foster higher IQ o More interesting, complex environment o Parental reaction and feedback o Use of rich and accurate language in “zone of proximal development” o Intergenerational influences (e.g history of aggression) · Evidence for preschool influences o Formal education programs do make a difference o Enrichment programs starting in infancy have more profound effect than those that start at age 3 o Long term impact § Less likely to be places in special ed or repeat a grade § Higher reading and math scores at age 12 · Readiness to learn at school o Thomas identified 5 domains of readiness 1) Language and communication skill 2) Academic skill 3) Self-regulation of learning 4) Self-control of behaviour 5) Social competence and independence o Thomas’ study found § Girls enter school with better: · Communication skills · Abilities with copying and symbol use  · Attention · Self-control of impulsive behaviour · Independence in dressing § Boys enter school with better · Curiosity · Programs targeting high risk children result in: o Better school readiness o Less time in special ed o Superior high school grad rates o Higher employment income o Lower rates of criminal arrests · Combining the info o Heredity is highly important influence on IQ o Initial intelligence is highly inheritable, IQ is clearly due to environment or family influence, or interaction between environment and heredity o Reaction range – range between upper and lower boundaries for traits (e.g intelligence) is established by one’s genes; one’s environment determines where in those limits one will fall Chapter 8 - Social and Personality Development in Early Childhood 1. Theories of Social and Personality Development - Freud and Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective offered key insights into the emotional components of development in the early childhood years - Modern theorists have focused on the role of cognition. a. Psychoanalytic Perspectives: i. Internal drives and emotions are the driving force behind developmental change in the social and emotional domains. ii. Freud viewed early childhood as the time in life when they would first gain control of their bodily functions (anal stage), and negotiate their relationships with their parents to prepare for stepping out into the world of peers (phallic stage). iii. Eriskon’s Stage of Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt: centres around the toddler’s new mobility and the accompanying desire for autonomy. iv. Erikson’s Stage of Initiative Versus Guilt is ushered in by new cognitive skills that accentuate his/her wishes to take the initiative v. For Erikson, the key to this period is the balance between the child's emerging skills and desire for autonomy, and the parent’s need to protect the child and control the child’s behaviour. b. Social Cognitive Perspectives: i. Social-cognitive Theory: 1. Asserts that social and personality development in early childhood are related to improvements in the cognitive domain.  2. Assumes that social/emotional changes are the result of, or at least facilitated by, the enormous growth in cognitive abilities that happens during the preschool years. ii. Person perception: the ability to classify others according to categories such as traits, age, gender, race 1. Young children base judgments on recent interactions. iii. Understanding Rule Categories: 1. Young children use classification skills and adults’ tendency to punish for moral transgression to distinguish between social conventions and moral rules iv. Understanding Other’s Intentions: 1. Young children understand intentions to some degree 2. Children understand that intentional wrong-doing is deserving of greater punishments than unintentional rule transgressions. 2. Family Relationships and Structure - Family relationships constitute one of the most, if not the most, important contributing factors to early childhood development - These relationships reflect both continuity and change in that the preschooler is no less attached to his or her family than the infant but, at the same time, is struggling to establish independence. - At 4 years old, children grasp that the attachment relationship continues to exist when the partners are apart and the internal model begins to generalize. a. Attachment i. Attachment quality predicts behaviour during the preschool years–children who are securely attached to parents experience fewer behaviour problems ii. Four- and five-year-olds who are securely attached to their parents are more likely than insecurely attached peers to have positive relationships with their preschool teachers iii. Insecurely attached preschoolers are more likely than their securely attached peers to display more aggression and develop negative, critical attitudes toward themselves. b. Parenting Styles i. Diana Baumrind - focuses on four aspects of family functioning: 1. Warmth or nurturance 2. Clarity and consistency of rules 3. Level of expectation 4. Communication between parent and child ii. Baumrind's as well as Maccoby and Martin’s Four Parenting Styles: 1. Authoritarian Parenting Style: a style of parenting that is low in nurturance and communicating, but high in control and maturity demands. a. Strict rules, unresponsive to their children, and children punished if rules aren’t followed.  2. Permissive Parenting Style: a style of parenting that is high in nurturance and low in maturity demands, control, and communication a. Few demands, low expectations, more of a friend than a parent, neglectful, vs. indulgent. 3. Authoritative Parenting: a style of parenting that is high in nurturance, maturity demands, control, and communication. a. Strict rules but more democratic, responsive toward their children, nurturing and forgiving. 4. Uninvolved Parenting Style: a style of parenting that is low in nurturance, maturity demands, control, and communication; produces the most consistently negative outcomes. a. Absence of control, supervision, affection, and warmth combined with the presence of insensitivity and hostility. Canadian parenting Styles: About 33% are authoritative ○ They scored above average on all key measures of parenting practice. ○ Only 1 in 5 children had behavioural problems. 25% were authoritarian, 25% were permissive 15% score low- similar to uninvolved ○ Almost half of these children had behavioural problems. Parenting and Child Discipline: Discipline: training, whether physical, mental, or moral, that develops self-control, moral character, and proper conduct. Two problems make it hard to identify effective discipline: ○ Difficult to establish the effects of discipline ○ Research has not concluded how intense and frequent effective discipline needs to be. Different styles of discipline work on different temperaments of children Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and parenting styles Parenting Styles may depend on the cultural context, so as the cultural context changes the best corresponding type of parenting style changes with it. Studies examining Asian American and Canadian Indigenous child-rearing practices find superiority with parenting styles other than authoritative. Canadian studies have shown that parenting style is a better predictor of poor outcomes in a child than is a parent’s socio-economic status. Good parenting practices are common in all SES levels, as are hostile/ ineffective parenting practices Children raised in lower SES families are more likely to experience a greater number of risk factors and this, with ineffective or hostile parenting practices, results in proportionally higher levels of vulnerability. Peer Relationships The child’s family experience is a central influence on emerging personality and social relationships, especially bc in early childhood a good portion of the time is still spent with parents and siblings  From ages 2-6 relationships with non-sibling peers become increasingly important This is the critical period when brain development and function are most sensitive to social skills development. Relating to Peers Through Play Play is related to cognitive development and the development of social skills ○ Social skills: a set of behaviours that usually leads to being accepted as a play partner or friend by peers Peers often reject children with poor group entry skills ○ Social skills training improves children’s ability to regulate emotions Personality and Self-Concept As young children gain more understanding of the social environment, their temperatures ripen into true personalities At the same time, their self-concept becomes more complex, allowing them to exercise greater control over their behaviour. From Temperament to Personality The dimension of effortful control (controlling one’s impulses) is important for getting along with others. Children with difficult temperaments learn that their behaviours often result in peer rejection. Inforn infant temperament constitutes the foundation of personality in later childhood and adulthood. Parental responses to temperament influence the transition to personality. Self-Concept: - The set of abilities, characteristics, and values that an individual believes defines who he or she is. - Self-concept depends upon self-recognition – a child’s ability to differentiate him/her from others in the social environment. - Self-recognitions occurs between 18-24 months: start using personal pronouns around 20-24 months Categorical Self: ○ The self-concept (and the concept of others) tends to focus on his or her own visible characteristics. Emotional Self: ○ An ability to label and explain emotions ○ The acquisition of emotional regulation is central to this stage ○ Emotional regulation involves shifting control slowly from the parents to the child ○ Empathy and the awareness of moral emotions play key roles. Social Self: ○ An increasing awareness of oneself as player in the social game ○ The toddler now begins to develop a variety of social “scripts” ○ Socodramatic play provides opportunities to take explicit roles, ehlping the child become more independent ○ Children adjust to school in several different ways Gender Development Describing oneself as being a boy or girl is important for young children One of the most fascinating developmental processes is the one that involves children’s evolving sense of gender. Explaining Gender Concept and Sex-Role Development Social-Cognitive Explanation: ○ Parents shape children's sex-role behaviour and attitudes (ie. different toys for boys/girls, interacting differently with daughters/sons) Cognitive-Developmental Explanation: ○ Kohlberg asserted that gender constancy is the organizing principle that children use to acquire knowledge of gender and to bring their behaviour into conformity with cultural standards. Information-Processing Approach ○ Gender Schema Theory - asserts that people use a schema for each gender to process information about themselves and others ○ Children first learn broad distinctions about what kinds of activities or behaviour go with each gender; Gender scripts develop. ○ Between ages 8-10: child develops an equivalently complex view of the opposite gender. Biological Approach ○ Both prenatal and postnatal levels of male hormones, such as testosterone, predict gendered behavioural differences during the preschool years and beyond. Chapter 9 – Physical and Cognitive development in middle childhood Physical Changes · More difficult to observe directly, but are just as impressive as those in early childhood Growth and Motor Development · Growth patterns – 5-8 cm in height, 2.75kg added each year · Large muscle coordination improves · Show increase in strength and speed, hand-eye coordination gets better · Increasingly good fine motor coordination, makes writing possible, playing of musical instruments, drawing, cutting and other activities · Girls in this age range are ahead of boys in overall rate of growth o Girls have slightly more body fat and slightly less muscle tissue o Sex differences in skeletal and muscular maturation cause girls to be better coordinated but slower and somewhat weaker Brain and nervous system · Steady increase in myelinization of neural axons across cerebral cortex  o Sensory and motor areas are affected first · Further myelinization o Frontal lobes (logic & planning) o Reticular formation (controls attention) – selective attention becomes possible o Association areas (sensory, motor and intellectual functions) – increase info processing speed · Brain regions o Frontal lobe – thinking, planning, speaking, memory, movement o Parietal lobe – language, touch o Occipital lobe – vision, colour perception o Cerebellum – balance, coordination o Brainstem – breathing, HR, temperature o Temporal lobe – hearing, learning, feelings · Right hemisphere lateralization contributes to increased spatial perception o Relative right-left orientation improves o Spatial cognition improves § Boys score better on spatial orientation tests § Boys’ early play preferences may enhance this ability Health Promotion and Wellness · Poor sleep is common problem · Unintentional injury-related death – most common cause of death in CAN children · Healthy bodies and weights · Canadian children’s fitness levels Research report – effects of videogames · Video games can be positive for development: o Promote interpersonal skills when played with others o Enhance development of emotional regulation o Strengthens self-esteem o Foster visual-spatial skills, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills o Facilitate reasoning, creativity, and problem-solving skills o Facilitate neuro network plasticity · Video games cause for concerns: o Interfere with completion of homework, participation in PA, and family/peer interaction  o The APA Task Force on Violent Media found - clear association between violent video game use and increase in aggressive behaviour, decrease in prosocial behaviour, empathy, and moral engagement o Youths who are more impulsive, have lower social competence & empathy, show poorer emotional regulation skills are at greater risk of becoming pathological gamers Cognitive Changes · Acquire important hallmarks of mature thinking between ages 6-12 Piaget’s Concrete operational stage · Children use schemes that allow them to think logically about objects and events in real world · Increased skill in inductive logic allows child to go from a specific experience to a general principle · Deductive logic (predicting a specific outcome from a general principle) is still not strong · Concrete operations o Seriation – mentally arranges items along quantifiable dimension (e.g. height, weight) o Classification – identifies properties of categories, use categorical info to solve problems, relate categories/classes to one another o Reversibility – recognizes the numbers/objects can be changes and returned to original condition; Understanding hierarchies depends on this o Conservation – understands that redistributes material does not affect its mass, number, volume, or length o Decentering or decentration – considers multiple aspects of a situation o Transitivity – recognizes relationships among various things in serial order Direct tests of Piaget’s view · Horizontal Decalage - Takes children years to apply their new cognitive skills to all kinds of problems · Piaget’s general principles are usually valid · Robert Siegler suggests there are no stages, only sequences o Problem-solving rules emerge from experience and trial and error rather than being specifically linked to age Literacy · Poor readers may need specific help with sound-letter combinations (phonics) · Early elementary school years are the best time to identify and help poor readers Advances in info-processing skills  · Memory function continues to improve · Processing efficiency – ability to efficiently use short-term memory capacity increases steadily with age; cognitive processing gets faster · Automaticity – ability to recall info from long-term memory without using short-term memory (capacity achieved through practice) o Frees up short term memory space for more complex processing · Executive and Strategic Processes o Information-processing skills that involve devising and carrying out strategies for remembering and solving problems are based on knowing how the mind works · Expertise o The more knowledge a person has about a topic, the more efficiently their information-processing system work, despite age o Advanced skill in one area does not improve general levels of memory or reasoning Common info-processing strategies used in remembering · Rehearsal - mental or vocal repetition o may occur in children < 2 years under some conditions, common in older children and adults. · Organization – grouping ideas, objects, or words into clusters to help in remembering them. o This strategy easily applied to something person has experience with or particular knowledge about. Two-year-olds use primitive clustering strategies. · Elaboration – finding shared meaning or a common referent for two or more things that need to be remembered. · Mnemonic – a device to assist memory o Example - the phrase for the notes of the lines on the musical staff (“Every Good Boy Does Fine”) · Systematic Searching – “Scanning” one’s memory for the whole domain in which a piece of information might be found. o 3-4 -year-old children can begin this when they search for actual objects in the real world, but not good at doing this in memory. So, search strategies may first be learned in the external world and then applied to inner searches. Language · By age 5-6, children master the basic grammar and pronunciation of their native language · children learn to use tense correctly, maintain the topic of conversation, create unambiguous sentences, and to speak politely or persuasively · continue to add new vocabulary; 5,000 to 10,000 words per year · By age 8-9, new level of understanding of the structure of language, figuring out relationships between whole categories of words (ex. adjectives and adverbs or between adjectives and nouns) Schooling · Children begin school at age 6 or 7 · Due to academic focus & amount of time that children spend in school, formal education is one of the most important influences on the cognitive development of 6-12 year olds Literacy – ability to read and write · Focus of education in 6-12 year old period · Phonological awareness continues to increase, serves as foundation for later reading skills · Effective reading program includes systematic and explicit phonics o Automaticity with respect to identifying sound-symbol connections develops with plenty of opportunities to practice translating written language into spoken words · Poor readers may need specific help with sound-letter combinations (phonics) Bilingual Education · Learning to read, write, and speak a second language: o Instills an appreciation for another culture o Provides an alternative way to think about and value the world o Encourages children to become more objective and open-minded · Preservation of heritage languages (such as Indigenous languages) is fundamental to the preservation of the multicultural nature of Canada Measuring and predicting achievement · Achievement test – test designed to assess specific info learned in school o Scores are based on the comparison of an individual child’s performance with those of other children in the same grade across Canada o May not measure what children learned in school, as intended · Assessment- formal/informal methods of gathering information that can be used for programming to improve student learning (no grades or marks associated with assessment) · Evaluation – process of assigning a grade or mark to student’s performance, represents the student’s highest, most consistent level of achievement over time o Information can be used to improve student learning at a developmentally appropriate level o Intelligence testing is used to identify a student as exceptional in preparation for special educational programming; does not provide a complete picture of mental abilities · Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences describes 8 types of intelligence: 1) Linguistic – a