Psychology lifespan

Montgomery County Community College

Human Development / Lifespan Psychology – PSY 206

Dr. Baron

Student Notes

Chapter Seven

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Physical Development

I. OVERVIEW OF THIS SECTION

A. Age range: Three to Six years

B. Physical changes continues but at a slower rate

C. Becoming more and more a part of society

II. OUTLINE

A. Specifics

B. Health

Abuse & Neglect

C. Long Term Effects

III. SPECIFICS

A. Height

1. Rate slows

2. Approximately two to three inches per year

3. Boys start out slightly taller

4. By age six virtually no height differences between the sexes

B. Weight

1. Rate also slows

2. Approximately four to six pounds per year

3. Most of the weight gain is muscle

4. Caloric need decreases (not growing as fast)

5. Even at this stage watch cholesterol

C. Appearance

1. Lose their pot belly

2. Slim down

3. Body proportions catching up

D. Musculo-Skeletal Development

1. In general strength increasing

2. Cartilage continues to ossify (turn to bone) Epiphyseal Cartilaginous Plate

3. Gross & Fine motor skill developing

4. Little boys tend to develop more muscle at this stage

5. Handedness appears at the start of this stage

a. Tied to hemispheric dominance and lateralization

b. Minimal genetic basis

c. 10% of the population is left-handed

6. Development of Art Skills (Very significant indicator of musculo-skeletal development)

a. Stages of Art Production

(1) Scribble – Approximately two years of age

(2) Shape stage – Approximately three years of age

(3) Pictorial Stage – Approximately four to five years of age

E. Body Systems

1. Respiratory

a. In general improving

b. Stamina increasing

c. Lungs still developing

2. Circulatory

a. Improving

3. Immune system

a. Developing & improving no longer benefit from mothers’ milk

4. Brain Development

a. The brain is still maturing

a. Between two and six years of age the brain goes from 70% of its adult weight to 90%

b. Other specifics

i. Synaptic Pruning – The reduction of existing synapses (Environmental shaping….)

ii. Myelination

iii. The creation of new synapses

5. Senses – basically set by this stage

F. Dental

1. Thumb sucking not a problem until age four to six (when the adult teeth come in)

2. Fluoridation debate (not in all water systems – an important issue)

G. Nutrition

1. Need fewer calories per pound than before

2. Obesity

3. Basic Needs

a. Protein = Two glasses of milk or One serving of meat or such

b. Vitamin A egg, or carrots

c. Some fruit

d. Normal at two or three to not like a lot of new food

e. *There is No link between sugar and ADHD

f. Vitamins

IV. HEALTH

A. Sleep

1. In the beginning of this stage one nap per day

2. More deep sleep now than later in life

3. Need for bedtime routine at three to six (emergence of fears and an increased awareness of social factors)

4. Transitional Objects (i.e. a “blankie”: Objects which help them transition to sleep by producing a sense of calm)

B. Minor illnesses

1. Colds and such = 7 – 8 per year duration 2 days to 2 weeks

2. Minor illness in others teach empathy

C. Major illnesses

1. Basically now dealt with by immunizing

2. As of 1996 in PA, the state will pay for them – Now Managed Care

3. ~70% cure rate childhood cancer – NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! Very, very little federal research dollars go into Pediatric cancer research (www.livelikeandrew.com)

D. Accidents

1. Cause more deaths per year in this age group than illness (unintentional injuries)

a. There are fewer injuries in day cares than at home

2. Importance of childproofing your home

3. Automotive safety / PA Laws – Booster Seats

4. Kids sleepwear

V. STRESS

A. Five year olds do knowingly attempt suicide

B. Kids can sense strain in the home

C. Often show it behaviorally or stomach aches

Cognitive Development

I. GENERAL POINT

A. Note: At this stage they see life like a film strip vs. video greatly effects their thinking

II. OVERVIEW OF THIS SECTION

A. Approaches to intellectual development

1. Piaget

a. Language

2. Information processing

3. Psychometric

B. Influences on intellectual development

III. APPROACHES TO INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

A. Piaget

1. Stage – Pre Operational

a. prior to being able to perform mental operations

b. not sensory bound for learning

c. beyond genetic basis

2. Key is the fact that the can now for mental representations

3. Egocentrism declines

4. NOTE: dual representational hypothesis – explains previous limitations in their thinking

5. Made possible by SYMBOLLIC FUNCTION / Representational Skill

a. Develops by approximately age 3

b. 3 Ways in Which Symbolic Functions are Made Possible

(1) Deferred Imitation – Previously discussed

(2) Symbolic Play – Play in which an object stand for something else. A pot is a guitar.

(a) Today toys do not promote this

(3) Language (expand beyond Piaget)

(a) Emergent Literacy – Preschoolers’ development of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that underlie reading and writing. Pre reading skills. Phonemic awareness, general linguistic skills, etc..

language development can be delays beyond 3 and not correlate to low IQ

- can be hearing problems

- can be limited exposure to language (critical period / Chomsky)

6. Other developments during this stage

a. Animism

b. Transductive reasoning - book says just transduction

They are not capable of induction – a general rule can be made on the basis of one or more particular examples. If / then logic. (connection to mathematical reasoning)

7. Still egocentric

8. Still can NOT Decenter - they only focus on one aspect of a situation at-a-time

a. This is based on IRREVERSABLE - thinking – they cannot comprehend how things transform (link back to freeze frames vs. video)

b. Conservation

NOTE: Reminder, Piaget underestimated kids’ abilities.

B. Information Processing (Focus on the development of memory)

1. Between 2 and 5 recognition and recall improve

a. Recognition

b. Recall

c. Capacity not equal for all children (mastery motivation – a child’s tendency to be independent, self-directed and generally resourceful + correlation)

2. Episodic memory

a. Autobiographical Memory

b. Prior to age 2.5 still can recall information even from 1 year earlier

3. General Points Regarding memory

a. They are better able to recall items related to them

C. Vygotsky / Psychometric Approach

1. Issues: reliability and validity and standardization

2. Tools

a. Stanford – Binet

b. Wechsler

c. Mentioned HOME

3. Private Speech – Speaking out loud….to themselves

4. Scaffolding – temporary support that parents give a child to do a task (relate to parental time/attention) (repeated from chapter one)

5. ZPD Zone of Proximal Development – Vygotsky’s term for the level at which children can almost perform a task on their own. May require some scaffolding.

IV. INFLUENCES ON INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

A. Child’s personality

1. Characteristics which bode well

a. Curious / alert / assertive

B. Type of parent

1. Best

a. sensitive / warm / loving / accepting / encouraging

b. Important characteristics for mother and father

C. Media

a. Television

b. Computers

D. Pre School / Day care

1. Specific types

a. Montessori

b. Head Start (1965 / 1970)

V. Review Questions

A. Provide an example of scaffolding.

B. Provide an example of pre operational thought.

C. What are the height gains during this stage?

D. List two examples of typical parasomnias in this stage.

E. List two forms of abuse.