Cognitive Development In Early Childhood Cognitive Development In Early Childhood Chapter 10 Chapter 10

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Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Early childhood: preoperational stage n Advances of preoperational thought –Symbolic function: ages 2 to 7 yrs. shows great expansion in use of symbolic thought –Deferred imitation is proof of symbolic function – becomes more robust after 18 months

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Advances of Preoperational Thought –Preschool children use transduction reasoning – but can understand cause and effect as young as 2 when tested –Animism influences thought until about 3 or 4 due to increase in knowledge or experience

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Advances of Preoperational Thought –In early childhood, 5 principles of counting are recognized –By age 5, most can count to 20 –U.S. and Chinese children progress at same rate until ages 4 to 5, then Chinese learn their number system faster

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Immature Aspects of Preoperational Thought –Failure to understand conservation n Video: WVu815o WVu815o WVu815o –Egocentrism - a form of centration n Egocentrism shown primarily in situations beyond child ’ s immediate experience

A preoperational child is unable to describe the “mountains” from the doll’s point of view - an indication of egocentrism, according to Piaget

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Do Young Children Have Theories of Mind? –Theory of mind: emerging awareness of their own and others ’ mental processes –Theory of mind knowledge dramatically increases between 2 and 5, peaking around age 4

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Do Young Children Have Theories of Mind? –Egocentrism may prevent children as young as 3 from recognizing false beliefs (video) –Piaget claimed young children regard all falsehoods (intentional or not) as lies –Ability to distinguish between appearance and reality is linked to false belief awareness

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child n Do Young Children Have Theories of Mind? –Distinguishing fantasy from reality occurs somewhere between 18 months and 3 years –Magical thinking in children age 3 and older does not stem from confusion between fantasy and reality

Language Development n Vocabulary –Fast mapping: child forms an idea of a new word ’ s meaning after hearing it once or twice in conversation –Metaphor, a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that usually designates one thing is applied to another, becoming increasingly common in the preschool years

Language Development n Grammar and Syntax –At 3, children typically begin to use plurals, possessives, and past tense –They still make errors of overregularization –By ages 5 to 7, children ’ s speech is quite adultlike, but they still have not mastered the fine points of language

Language Development Language Development n Private Speech – Talking aloud to oneself with no intent to communicate with others – Normal and common in childhood, accounting for 20% to 50% of what is said by 4- to 10-year-olds – Piaget viewed it as cognitive immaturity – Vygotsky saw it as very important for development and social experiences

Language Development Delayed Language Development Delayed Language Development – Some late speakers have a history of otitis media between 12 and 18 months of age – Some may have problems in fast mapping – Heredity may play a role – Dialogic reading is an improvement strategy – Delayed language development can have far-reaching cognitive and psychosocial effects

Language Development n Social Interaction and Preparation for Literacy –Emergent literacy: development of these skills, knowledge, and attitudes that underlie reading and writing –Social interaction can promote emergent literacy –Reading to children is one of the most effective paths to literacy

Early Childhood Education n The Transition to Kindergarten – Emotional and social adjustment: important factors in readiness for kindergarten and strongly predict school success – Kindergarten adjustment may depend on a child’s age, gender, temperament, coping skills, cognitive and social competencies, and environment of school and home