1. Chapter 7-8 Psyc311 Jen Wright
Early Childhood
Chapter 7-8
Psyc311
Jen Wright

2. body development Eating habits
2-6 year olds eat less than infants and older children.
“Just right” phenomenon – picky eaters!
Like: salty/sweet foods
Dislike: bitter/sour foods
Learning what is appropriate and not appropriate to eat
Early signs of disgust
Infants show “disgust” facial expression
Strong food preferences

4. role of disgust Protection against dangerous substances
Poisonous foods often bitter
Rotten foods often sour
Disgust expression functions as warning
Protection against contamination
Children not sensitive to contamination until early childhood
Protection against deformity and disease

6. role of disgust Higher-order disgust
Physical contamination  social contamination
7-8 year olds “cooties”
Physical contamination  moral contamination
Examples?

7. obesity Need less food than did as an infant
Early signs of obesity as young as 2 years old
Obesity rates among 2- to 5-year-olds
rose to 14% for the years
compared with 5% in 1980
Need less food than did as an infant
Problem for forcing child to “clean their plate”
Especially w/ desert as an incentive!
Attraction to salty and sweet foods
Other contributors?

8. consequences Type II diabetes Bone development problems
50% of some children in low-income areas
Bone development problems
Stunted hip/leg bone growth
Cardiovascular disease
HBP, High cholesterol
Lower IQ
Obesity programs for toddlers?

9. developing cognitive skills
Memory development
Still better memory for content than context
No memory of when/where something is learned
Increase in “executive function”
Impulse control
Delayed gratification
Perseverance
Ability to override current intentions given new information
Color/shape card sorting game

11. sort by color

14. sort by shape

16. What is the driving force behind this development? Brain maturation
Plasticity
Cognitive exploration
Piaget
Vygotsky

17. brain development Brain is 95% of adult weight by 6 years of age.
Much of this is due to myelination.
Rapid growth and death spurts as brain restructures
High degree of plasticity
Thickening of corpus callosum
Bi-hemospheric communication
Better, faster thinking
More coordinated actions
Frontal lobe development
Not completed until late adolescence/early adulthood

18. Piaget Child as Scientists Children learn on their own
Children are intrinsically motivated to learn
Language and education play only minimal roles

19. Sensorimotor – birth to 2 years
Pre-operational – 2 to 7 years

20. Vygotsky Children as Apprentices
Child learns through social interaction
Children are socially motivated to learn
Language and education play central roles

21. Children as apprentices
guided participation

22. scaffolding
temporary support that is tailored to a learner’s needs and abilities
aimed at helping the learner master the next task in a given learning process

23. zone of proximal development (ZPD)
The skills that we can exercise only with assistance, not yet independently.
ZPD applies to the ideas or cognitive skills we are close to mastering as well as to more apparent skills.
Examples?

24. announcements Ch 7-8 q’s and study guide due Wednesday
Prep debate
In-Class Debate #2 Friday
Instructions have changed
Each group gets a presentation and rebuttal
Mid-semester Evaluation
Online survey – PLEASE complete!

26. theory of mind
The ability to understand the existence of mental states in the minds of others
Desires
Beliefs
etc.
Strongly explanatory and predictive.
Yet, non-tangible.

27. Beliefs – “I believe that…”
Desires – “I want…”
children talk about early (2 years)
simple constructs
concerned with the person
How we want the world to be
similar to emotions (non-representational)
Beliefs – “I believe that…”
don’t show up in speech until 4-5 years
more complex constructs
concerned with the world
How it really is
representational

28. Maxi “false-belief” tasks? ?

29. succeeding at the false belief task…
Requires understanding that Maxi
has a mental state (belief) that is different from the child’s mental state.
has a mental state (belief) that is different from reality.
Beliefs come apart from reality
they can be false.
Desires don’t.

30. So, how do children first learn about beliefs?
When confronted with a behavior they can’t otherwise explain, children have no choice but to appeal to a (false) belief.
Example:
Katie is looking for her kitty. Her kitty is in the garage. Katie is looking for her under the piano.
Why is Katie looking under the piano?
She is looking under the piano because she thinks the kitty is there.
Evidence of this:
Children will use belief states to explain behavior (like Katie’s) before they will use them to predict behavior (like Maxi’s).

31. They will also use beliefs when pushed (after easier explanations have been used).
Experimenter: Why does Jason cry?
Child: Because he was scared.
Experimenter: Why else does Jason cry?
Child: He thought it was a rattlesnake.
Experimenter: Was it really a rattlesnake?
Child: No.
Experimenter: Why is Ann smiling?
Child: ’Cause she likes cookies.
Experimenter: Why else is Ann smiling?
Child: ’Cause she’s happy.
Child: She thinks she can eat it?
Experimenter: Can she really eat it?
Child: It’s not real.

32. Appearance-reality tasks

36. What do all of these tasks have in common? Executive function
The ability to override current information with
New information
Past information
Additional information
The ability to hold 2+ thoughts in mind and compare them.

37. Emergence of the conscience: moral awareness- sense of good vs. bad
Self-regulatory emotions
Guilt/Shame
Pride
Disgust
Inhibition of bad behavior, promotion of good behavior
Awareness of expectations/reactions of others
Important distinction between shame and guilt.
What is the difference?
Why do we call these emotions “moral emotions”?

38. emotions and self-development
Emotions are important in the emergence of self-awareness:
Self-efficacy
awareness that you can affect events in your surrounding
Self-control
learning to modulate emotional reactions
Self-concept
episodic memories
external vs. internal characteristics

39. empathy
May be more important for moral socialization than negative emotions
Global distress
Emotional contagion
Egocentric empathy (2 yrs)
Non-egocentric empathy (3 yrs+)
Cognitive empathy (middle childhood)
Abstract perspective-taking

40. play Play: a pleasurable activity that is engaged in for its own sake
Theorists have focused on different aspects of play:
Freud and Erikson: play helps child master anxieties and conflicts, satisfies our exploratory drive
Play therapy
Piaget: play advances cognitive development; children’s cognitive development constrains the way they play
Vygotsky: play is an excellent social setting for cognitive development 40

41. importance of play Cognitive development Social competence
Appearance – reality shift (make believe)
Theory of mind
Imagination
Social competence
Empathy
Role-playing
Emotional regulation

42. types of play Sensorimotor play Practice play Pretense/symbolic play
behavior by infants to derive pleasure from exercising their sensorimotor schemes
Practice play
the repetition of behavior when new skills are being learned or mastered
Pretense/symbolic play
occurs when the child transforms the physical environment into a symbol
Social play
play that involves interaction with peers
Constructive play
combines sensorimotor/practice play with symbolic representation
Games
activities that are engaged in for pleasure and have rules

43. levels of social complexity
Parallel play
Parallel aware play
Simple social play
Complementary/reciprocal play
Cooperative social pretend play
Complex social pretend play
Meta-communication about play

44. Parenting styles
Authoritarian: restrictive style in which parents demand obedience and respect
Parent places firm limits and does not allow discussion
Parent rigidly enforces rules but rarely explains them
Children are often unhappy, fearful, and anxious
Authoritative: encourages children to be independent while placing limits and controls on actions
Extensive verbal give-and-take
Parents expect mature, independent, age-appropriate behavior
Children are often cheerful, self-controlled, and self-reliant 44

45. Parenting Styles Neglectful: parent is very uninvolved in child’s life
Children feel that other aspects of the parent’s life are more important than they are
Children tend to be socially incompetent, immature, and have low self-esteem
Indulgent: parents are highly involved but place few demands or controls on the child
Children never learn to control their own behavior and always expect to get their way

46. Two Dimensions:
Responsiveness
Demandingness

47. Gender Sex: biological classification of male or female
Gender Identity: the sense of being male or female
Gender Roles: sets of expectations that prescribe how females or males should think, act, and feel

48. Gender Two basic types of theories Gender differences are built-in
Psychoanalytic: unconscious urges/tensions
Epigenetic: biological/genetic underpinnings
Gender differences are learned
Behaviorism: behavior is conditioned by reward/punishment
Cognitive: learned schemas (same as “restaurant” schema)
Socio-cultural: socialization, internalizing norms

49. Parental Influences: Mother’s Socialization Strategies:
Mothers socialize daughters to be more obedient and responsible than sons
Mothers place more restrictions on daughters’ autonomy
Father’s Socialization Strategies:
Fathers show more attention to sons than daughters, engage in more activities with sons, and put more effort into promoting sons’ intellectual development

50. Peer Influences: Children’s Groups:
Peers extensively reward and punish gender behavior
Greater pressure for boys to conform to traditional gender roles
Children’s Groups:
Children show preference toward same-sex playmates by age 3
From age 5 onward, boys are more likely than girls to form large groups and participate in organized group games
Boys engage in rough play, competition, conflict, etc.
Girls engage in “collaborative discourse”