CH 5 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Preoperational stage

Age 2–7; children use symbols and concepts but cannot yet perform mental operations.

Preoperational substages

Symbolic function (2–4) and intuitive thought (4–7).

Operation

A reversible mental action that allows children to mentally undo or transform actions.

Symbolic function substage

Age 2–4; children mentally represent absent objects using words, images, drawings, and pretend play.

Egocentrism

Inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and another person’s perspective.

Three mountains task

Piaget and Inhelder’s task testing whether children can recognize another person’s visual perspective.

Animism

Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and can perform actions.

Intuitive thought substage

Age 4–7; children use primitive reasoning but lack reliable logical thinking.

Why is it called intuitive thought?

Children seem certain about what they know but cannot explain how they know it.

Centration

Focusing attention on one characteristic while ignoring other relevant characteristics.

Conservation

Understanding that changing appearance does not change an object’s basic properties.

Why do preoperational children fail conservation tasks?

They center on one feature and cannot mentally reverse the transformation.

Types of conservation

Volume, number, matter, length, and area.

Gelman’s conservation research

Conservation may appear earlier than Piaget proposed when children’s attention is guided toward relevant features.

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development

A social constructivist theory emphasizing culture, social interaction, language, and guided learning.

Social constructivist approach

An approach emphasizing that social contexts, interactions, and cultural tools shape cognitive development.

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Tasks too difficult for a child to master alone but achievable with guidance from an adult or more-skilled child.

Lower limit of the ZPD

The level of skill the child can reach independently.

Upper limit of the ZPD

The level of responsibility the child can handle with skilled assistance.

Scaffolding

Adjusting the amount of guidance to match a child’s current level of performance.

How does scaffolding change during learning?

More direct guidance is given initially; support decreases as competence increases.

Private speech

Self-directed speech used to plan, guide, and monitor one’s own behavior.

Piaget’s view of private speech

Piaget viewed private speech as egocentric and immature.

Vygotsky’s view of private speech

Vygotsky viewed private speech as an important tool for thought, self-regulation, and guiding behavior.

Inner speech

Internalized self-talk that becomes silent thought.

Transition from external to internal speech

Occurs roughly between ages 3 and 7.

Vygotsky vs. Piaget on language

Vygotsky saw language as shaping thought; Piaget gave language a much smaller role.

Vygotsky and education

Children learn effectively through interaction with teachers and more-skilled peers.

Piaget and education

Teachers should support children as they explore and discover knowledge themselves.

Tools of the Mind

A Vygotsky-based early-childhood curriculum emphasizing cultural tools, self-regulation, the ZPD, scaffolding, private speech, shared activity, and play.

Executive attention

Planning, allocating attention to goals, monitoring progress, detecting errors, and handling difficult situations.

Sustained attention

Focused and extended engagement with an object, task, event, or environment.

Vigilance

Another term for sustained attention; maintaining focused engagement over an extended period.

Attention and school readiness

Sustained attention during the preschool years is associated with school readiness and later academic achievement.

Memory

The retention of information over time.

Short-term memory

Memory that retains information for up to about 30 seconds without rehearsal.

Rehearsal

Repeating information after presentation to keep it in short-term memory longer.

Memory-span task

A task in which a person hears a short list, usually digits, and then repeats them.

Development of memory span

Memory span increases from about 2 digits at ages 2–3 to about 5 digits by age 7.

Why does memory span increase?

Increases are related to rehearsal, greater processing efficiency, and faster processing speed.

Speed of processing

The speed with which information is identified and processed; it improves substantially during childhood.

Children’s memory accuracy

Young children can remember substantial information with appropriate cues, but preschoolers are especially susceptible to misleading information.

Suggestibility

The tendency for memory reports to be influenced by suggestions or misleading information presented after an event.

Factors affecting children’s memory accuracy

Individual differences in suggestibility and interviewer skills can influence accuracy; neutral interviews and nonleading questions improve reliability.

Autobiographical memory

Memory for significant events and experiences in one’s own life.

Autobiographical memory development

From about ages 3–5, children increasingly remember specific times and locations and include more details in their memories.

Executive function

An umbrella term for higher-level cognitive processes that manage thoughts, support goal-directed behavior, and allow self-control.

Cognitive inhibition

The ability to suppress a strong tendency or response when it is incorrect or inappropriate.

Cognitive flexibility

The ability to shift attention or thinking from one item, idea, or task to another.

Goal-setting

Establishing and working toward desired outcomes.

Delay of gratification

The ability to give up an immediate reward in order to receive a more desirable reward later.

Mischel’s delay-of-gratification task

A task in which children could eat one marshmallow immediately or wait and receive two.

Cool thoughts

Thoughts or activities that distract attention from an immediate reward during delay of gratification.

Hot thoughts

Thoughts focused on the tempting immediate reward.

Executive function and parenting

Parents support executive function by modeling self-regulation, providing choices, and scaffolding children’s developing skills.

Theory of mind

Awareness of one’s own mental processes and the mental processes of other people.

Theory of mind at ages 2–3

Children begin understanding perceptions, emotions, and desires and how desires relate to actions and emotions.

Perceptions in theory of mind

Children begin realizing that other people see what is in front of their own eyes, which may differ from what the child sees.

Desires in theory of mind

Children understand that people act to obtain what they want and may feel happy if successful or sad or angry if unsuccessful.

Theory of mind at ages 4–5

Children begin understanding that the mind can represent objects and events accurately or inaccurately.

False belief

A belief that does not match reality.

Sally-Anne false-belief task

Sally places an object somewhere and leaves; another person moves it, and the child is asked where Sally will look when she returns.

False-belief development

Most younger 3-year-olds fail false-belief tasks, while many 4-year-olds and older children understand that another person can hold a false belief.

Theory of mind beyond age 5

Children develop a deeper understanding of the mind as a constructor and processor of knowledge and recognize that events can have multiple interpretations.

Theory of mind and language

Language development is associated with children’s increasingly sophisticated understanding of mental states.

Phonology

The sound system of a language, including the sounds used and how they are combined.

Morphology

The meaningful units involved in word formation.

Morphological rules

Rules governing plurals, possessives, verb endings, prepositions, articles, and forms of the verb be.

Overgeneralization

Applying a language rule too broadly, such as saying “foots” instead of “feet” or “goed” instead of “went.”

Berko’s wug study

A study showing that children apply morphological rules to made-up words, demonstrating knowledge of rules rather than simple memorization.

Syntax

The rules for combining words to form acceptable phrases and sentences.

Wh-question development

Children learn wh-word placement before they fully master auxiliary-verb inversion, producing forms such as “Where Daddy is going?”

Semantics

The aspect of language concerned with the meaning of words and sentences.

Vocabulary growth in early childhood

Vocabulary grows dramatically; children may learn about one new word per waking hour between 18 months and 6 years and may know about 14,000 words by first grade.

Fast mapping

The ability to make an initial connection between a word and its referent after limited exposure.

Six principles of word learning

Children learn words best when they hear them often, encounter words connected to their interests, experience responsive interaction, encounter words in meaningful contexts, receive clear information about meaning, and experience rich grammar and vocabulary.

Pragmatics

The appropriate use of language in different social contexts.

Extended discourse

The ability to engage in longer conversations and narratives using appropriate conversation and politeness rules.

Speech-style adaptation

Around ages 4–5, children adjust their speech to fit the listener and situation.

Early literacy precursors

Language skills, phonological knowledge, syntactic knowledge, letter identification, and enjoyment of books.

Effective book use for preschoolers

Use books to start conversations, ask what and why questions, encourage predictions and questions, and include books that play with language.

Child-centered kindergarten

An approach emphasizing the whole child’s physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development while organizing instruction around children’s needs, interests, and learning styles.

Principles of child-centered kindergarten

Each child has a unique developmental pattern; children learn through firsthand experiences; and play is important to development.

Montessori approach

An educational philosophy in which children have considerable freedom to choose activities while the teacher acts mainly as a facilitator.

Montessori teacher role

The teacher demonstrates activities and helps when requested rather than directing children’s every activity.

Montessori goal

To develop self-regulated problem solvers who can work independently.

Montessori strengths

Emphasizes independence, self-regulation, self-directed problem solving, choice, and cognitive skills.

Montessori criticisms

Critics argue that it may deemphasize verbal interaction, restrict imaginative play, and rely heavily on self-corrective materials.

Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)

Education based on typical development for a particular age and the uniqueness of the individual child.

Age-appropriateness

The part of DAP based on knowledge of typical development within a particular age span.

Individual-appropriateness

The part of DAP based on the uniqueness of the individual child.

Goals of DAP

Encourage critical thinking, cooperation, problem solving, self-regulation, active learning, and enjoyment of learning.

Project Head Start

A federally funded compensatory program begun in 1965 to help children from low-income families develop skills and experiences important for school success.

Head Start findings

Research has found positive effects in early math, reading, vocabulary, executive function, and grades, although some early gains fade by later elementary school.

Early Head Start

A two-generation federal program begun in 1995 for low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers age 3 or younger.

Early Head Start findings

Research has found positive effects related to parenting stress, language development, self-control, and language skills.

Perry Preschool Program

A high-quality two-year preschool program from 1962–1967 that included weekly home visits and was associated with long-term positive outcomes.

Perry Preschool long-term outcomes

Participants had fewer teen pregnancies, higher high-school graduation rates, and at age 40 were more likely to work, own a home, have savings, and have fewer arrests.

Early childhood curriculum controversy

The debate over whether early childhood education should emphasize child-centered constructivist learning or academic direct instruction.

Universal preschool controversy

The debate over whether preschool should be publicly provided for all U.S. 4-year-olds.