1. Chapter 7 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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2. Physical Development in Early Childhood
Skeletal growth:
new epiphyses emerge
lose baby teeth
Brain development:
rapid growth of the prefrontal cortex
hemispheres continue to lateralize
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Body growth tapers off and on average, kids add 2 to 3 inches in height and 5 pounds in weight per year. Boys are slightly larger than girls and “baby fat” drops off, allowing children to become thinner.
Torso widens and lengthens
Internal organs tuck inside torso
Spine straightens
Between ages 2 and 6, approximately 45 new epiphyses (growth centers in which cartilage hardens into bone) emerge in various parts of the skeleton; others emerge during middle childhood. Skeletal age is estimated by examining x-rays of these epipyses.
The age at which children lose their baby teeth is heavily influenced by genetic factors. Girls tend to lose them faster. Environmental factors like malnutrition can influence the age at which they are lost. Diseased baby teeth can affect the health of permanent teeth. Poor diet and lack of fluorinated water contribute to poor dental health among low SES folks.
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3. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Handedness
Reflects dominant cerebral hemisphere:
right-handed (90%)— left hemisphere
left-handed (10%)— both hemispheres
Jointly influenced by
nature and nurture:
position in uterus
practice
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Handedness is linked to the individual’s dominant cerebral hemisphere. 90% of people are right handed (so their dominant hand is controlled by the left hemisphere, along with language development). The brains of left-handed people are not as strongly lateralized and people may be ambidextrous. Twins are likely to differ in handedness because they lie in opposite position in the womb. Left or mixed handedness is also more common among mentally ill or retarded people – but one does not cause the other… Could be that prenatal or birth problems contribute to both factors; also individuals with mental retardation may not be as able to take advantage of early learning opportunities, so the specialization of their brain is less influenced by them. Only a small number of left-handed people have developmental or intellectual problems.
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4. Brain Development in Early Childhood
Left hemisphere especially active:
language skills
handedness
Links among parts of the brain increase:
cerebellum
reticular formation
hippocampus
corpus callosum
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.2 Cross‐section of the human brain, showing the location of the cerebellum, the reticular formation, the hippocampus, and the corpus callosum
Between 2 and 6 years, the brain increases from 70 to 90 percent of its adult weight.
A growth spurt occurs in the left hemisphere from 3 to 6 years, and in the right hemisphere from 8 to 10 years.
Growth in the left hemisphere during ages 3 to 6 corresponds with language development occurring at that time. Growth in the right hemisphere corresponds with increases in spatial relations ability occurring at that time.
Figure 7.2
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5. Influences on Physical Growth and Health
Heredity and hormones:
growth hormone
thyroid-stimulating hormone
Nutrition
Infectious disease:
malnutrition
immunization
Childhood injuries
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Growth hormone is necessary for normal growth; children who lack it grow only 4’4”. Thyroid stimulating hormone is necessary for normal development of the nerve cells of the brain and for GH to have its full impact. Lack of TSH causes mental retardation in young kids and must be treated immediately.
When malnutrition is present, effects of disease are worse (illness decreases appetite and limits the body’s ability to absorb nutrients (ex. Intestinal disease) Poor diet depresses the immune system, increasing vulnerability to disease.
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6. Nutrition in Early Childhood
Appetite declines
Wariness of new foods is adaptive
Needs a high-quality diet
Imitates others’ food choices
Poor-quality diet is associated with cognitive deficits and behavior problems
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Repeated, unpressured exposure to new foods increases accpetance.
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7. Infectious Disease and Malnutrition
Poor diet depresses immune system
Illness reduces appetite
Diarrhea a danger in developing countries; can be helped by
oral rehydration therapy
zinc supplements
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
When malnutrition is present, effects of disease are worse (illness decreases appetite and limits the body’s ability to absorb nutrients (ex. Intestinal disease) Poor diet depresses the immune system, increasing vulnerability to disease.
Oral rehydration therapy can prevent death and growth retardation due to intestinal disease. It consists of glucose, salt and water that replaces lost fluids. Since 1990, this has saved the lives of 1 million children.
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8. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Immunizations
About 30% of U.S. children lack immunizations
Reasons include
cost
parents’ stressful daily lives
misconceptions about vaccine safety
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Many kids don’t receive vaccinations until 5 or 6 when they enter school.
In areas where many parents have refused to immunize the children, disease outbreaks have occurred, with life-threatening consequences.
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9. Factors Related to Childhood Injuries
Gender and temperament
Poverty, single parenthood, low parental education
Societal conditions:
international differences
teenage parents
shortage of high-quality child care
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
The US has one of the highest rates of childhood injury mortality among industrialized nations (poverty, lack of high quality child care and teen pregnancy may contribute to this) Communities can help decrease childhood injuries by making public transportation available (decrease car accidents), making playgrounds safer, installing window guards on high rise apartment buildings. Parents can identify and modify potential sources of dangers in the home.
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10. International Death Rates Due to Injury
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.3 International death rates due to unintentional injury among 1‐ to 14‐year‐olds
About 27% of US parents fail to put their kids in carseats (safekids USA 2011)
Figure 7.3
(Adapted from World Health Organization, 2008.)
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11. Motor Development in Early Childhood
Gross-motor skills:
balance improves
gait smooth and rhythmic by age 2
upper- and lower-body skills combine into more refined actions by age 5
greater speed and endurance
Fine-motor skills:
self-help: dressing, eating
drawing and printing
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Preschoolers exposed to gymnastics, tumbling, and other formal lessons do not make faster progress.
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12. Progression of Drawing Skills
Scribbles
First representational forms:
draws first recognizable
pictures: 3 years
draws boundaries and tadpole people: 3–4 years
More complex drawings: 5–6 years
Early printing: 4–6 years
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.4 Examples of young children’s drawings.
Figure 7.4
(Left: Reprinted by permission from Artful Scribbles by Howard Gardner. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of The Perseus Books Group. Copyright © Right: From E. Winner, “Where Pelicans Kiss Seals,” Psychology Today, 20[8], August 1986, p. 35. Reprinted by permission from the collection of Ellen Winner.)
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13. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage
Ages 2 to 7
Gains in mental representation:
make-believe play
symbol–real-world relations
Limitations in thinking:
egocentrism
lack of conservation
lack of hierarchical classification
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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14. Early Childhood Development of Make-Believe
With age, make-believe gradually
detaches from real-life conditions
becomes less self-centered
becomes more complex
Sociodramatic play develops
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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15. Benefits of Make-Believe Play
Contributes to cognitive and social skills
Strengthens mental abilities:
sustained attention
memory
language and literacy
creativity
regulation of emotion
perspective taking
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Preschoolers who spend more time at sociodramatic play are seen as more socially competent by their teachers.
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16. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Dual Representation
Viewing a symbolic object as both an object and a symbol
Strengthens around age 3
Adult teaching can help:
experiences with maps, photos, drawings, and make-believe play
pointing out similarities of symbols to real world
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Note the Little and big Snoopy exp (page 176). When kids watched an adult hide Little Snoopy in a scale model of a room and then were asked to retrieve it. When they had to find a larger toy hidden in the room that the model represented, they couldn’t use the model as a guide until age 3 (DeLoache, 1987). The 2 ½ year olds did not realize that the model could both a toy room and a symbol of another room – meaning they had trouble with dual representation.
2 ½ year olds cannot use an object that has an obvious use (cup) to stand for another object (hat). They don’t get that a drawing – and object in its own right – represent real world objects.
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17. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Egocentrism
Failure to distinguish others’ viewpoints from one’s own
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.5 Piaget’s three‐mountains problem
Piaget thought that instead of being able to use operations, kids thinking is rigid, limited to one aspect of a situation at a time, and strongly influenced by the way things appear at the moment.
Piaget used the three mountains problem (see figure 7.5) to demonstrate EGOCENTRISM. Piaget also thought that egocentrism was responsible for animistic thinking (idea that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities) – because kids assume that these objects have human qualities just like they do.
Figure 7.5
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18. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Animistic Thinking
Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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19. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Conservation
Understanding that physical characteristics remain the same when appearance changes:
Centration: focus on one aspect to neglect of others
Irreversibility: inability to mentally reverse a series of steps
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.6 Some Piagetian conservation tasks.
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20. Piagetian Conservation Tasks
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.6 Some Piagetian conservation tasks
Figure 7.6
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21. Piaget’s Class Inclusion Problem
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Figure 7.7 A Piagetian class inclusion problem
preschoolers lack the ability to classify objects into classes and subclasses.
Figure 7.7
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22. Follow-Up Research on Preoperational Thought
Egocentrism
Able to take others’ perspectives
Animistic thinking results from incomplete knowledge of objects
Logical thought
Conservation evident on simplified tasks
Reasons by analogy about physical changes
Categorization
Hierarchical classification evident in everyday knowledge
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Preschoolers are less egocentric then Piaget believed. In his later writings, Piaget described egocentrism as a tendency rather than an inability.
Preschoolers do not show animistic thinking with familiar objects.
When given simplified or familiar tasks, preschoolers show logical thought.
Kids organize objects from their everyday lives into categories by 6-12 months; their language allows them to do this.
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23. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Evaluation of Piaget
Development of logical operations is gradual
Disagreement over whether a preoperational stage really exists
some experts deny the stage approach
others support a flexible stage notion—a related set of competencies develops over an extended period
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Preschoolers’ cognitive development is more gradual than Piaget believed.
When problems are formulated appropriately, preschoolers demonstrate more sophisticated cognitive abilities than Piaget suggested.
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24. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Private speech
Zone of proximal development
Scaffolding: support of an “expert”
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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Research on Vygotsky’s theory suggests that private speech allows kids to be more involved and more successful in tasks; therefore it is more than just talking to self because they are not able to talk with others; it helps children learn and manage tasks.
When adults help children learn tasks in the zone of proximal development, they help them learn the task as well as the language used to talk about it.
Kids whose parents are effective scaffolders used more private speech.
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25. Children’s Private Speech
For Piaget, “egocentric speech”
For Vygotsky, the foundation for all higher cognitive processes
Serves a self-guiding function; increases during challenging tasks
Gradually internalized as silent, inner speech
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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26. Zone of Proximal Development
Scaffolding:
Adults aid learning by adjusting support to child’s level of performance
Effectiveness varies culturally
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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27. Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Theory
Helps us understand cultural variation in cognition
Focuses on language, deemphasizes other routes to cognitive development
Says little about how basic elementary capacities (motor, perceptual, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills) contribute to higher cognitive processes
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Over the past three decades, almost all studies have supported Vygotsky’s perspective.
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28. Gains in Information Processing
Attention: inhibition, planning
Memory: recognition, recall, episodic memory
Theory of mind: false belief
Emergent literacy: Active efforts to construct knowledge through informal experience.
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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Attention improves and becomes more planful (related to goals) during preschool
Recognition memory improves greatly; recall still much poorer. Preschoolers show the beginnings of memory strategies, but do not yet use them effectively.
Preschoolers metacognition (theory of mind) begins to emerge.
Preschoolers become increasingly effective at remembering and using scripts to organize and predict experiences.
HOWEVER, PRESCHOOLERS’ THEORY OF MIND IS LIMITED because they believe that all events must be directly observed to be known; they do not understand that a person can have a mental inference about something. They Also greatly underestimate how much people are thinking and how much mental activity is occurring.
Re: emergent literacy, Young preschoolers “read” memorized versions of stories and recognize words in familiar signs – but don’t yet understand the symbolic function of the elements of print.
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29. Recognition and Recall
Noticing that a stimulus is identical or similar to one previously experienced
Recall
Generating a mental representation of an absent stimulus
More difficult than recognition
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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30. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Episodic Memory
Scripts: memory for familiar everyday events
Autobiographical memory: memory for one-time events
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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31. Autobiographical Memory
Improves with cognitive and conversational skills
Influence of adult interaction:
elaborative style: fosters organized and detailed personal stories
repetitive style: weak at promoting autobiographical recall
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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32. The Young Child’s Theory of Mind
Early awareness of mental life: infancy through age 3
Mastery of false belief tasks: around age 4
Factors contributing to mastery of false belief:
language
executive function
social experiences
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Around 3 or 4, kids realize that both beliefs and desires control behavior and by 4 realize that a person can have a false belief. Social experience promotes understanding of the mind, and a rich mental state vocabulary, as well as interaction with parents, older siblings and peers, contributes to this.
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33. Fostering Emergent Literacy
Language skills:
phonological awareness
vocabulary and grammar
Informal literacy experiences:
games
interactive reading
writing
Books for low-SES
families
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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34. Early Childhood Mathematical Reasoning
Ordinality:
order relationships between quantities
14–16 months
Cardinality:
when counting, last number is the total
3½–4 years
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
ORDINALITY is the understanding that 3 is more than two, or that lots is more than little of big greater than small. CARDINALITY is the understanding that the last number in a counting sequence indicates the number of items. Math proficiency at kindergarten predicts math achievement in years later.
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35. Features of a High-Quality Home Environment
Stimulation:
toys, games, reading
language
academic
Physical organization
Emotional support
Modeling and encouragement
Variety in stimulation
No physical punishment
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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High Scope/Perry Preschool Project – two years of exposure to cognitively enriching preschool was associated with increase employment and reduced pregnancy and delinquency rates in adolescence. At age 27, those who had attended preschool were more likely than no-preschool controls to have graduated from high school and college, have higher earnings, be married, and own their own home – and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. At age 40, the intervention group sustained its advantage on all measures of life success, including education, income, family life and law abiding behavior.
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36. Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Types of Preschool
Child-Centered
Children select from wide variety of activities
Learn through play
Academic
Teachers structure learning
Formal lessons:
letter, numbers, colors, shapes
repetition and drill
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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37. Vocabulary Development
Fast-mapping:
object names
verbs
modifiers
Coins new words
Uses metaphors
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
Fast mapping is connecting new words with their underlying concepts after only a brief encounter.
Kids create things like “cookie bear” to fill in for words they haven’t yet learned.
They are also likely to extend meanings through metaphor – like the ex of 3 yr old in the book who describe his stomach ache like a “fire engine in the tummy.”
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38. Supporting Early Childhood Language
Conversation with adults
Recasts: restructuring inaccurate speech to correct form
Expansions: elaborating on children’s speech
Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edition  Laura E. Berk
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