Child Development #3

Body growth

Slower than infancy; varies across children

Brain growth

Rapid early development, but the prefrontal cortex is the last to fully mature

Prefrontal cortex

Controls executive function (organizing, planning, shifting attention, inhibiting impulses)

The prefrontal cortex

It undergoes growth during early childhood

Executive function

Develops gradually; key for self

Localization

Cognitive functions assigned to specific brain regions

Psychosocial dwarfism

Chronic stress + food deprivation produces low GH, which causes underweight/short stature

Sleep

Increases growth hormone (GH), which supports physical development

Gross motor skills

Large movements like running/jumping; improved by practice, not competitive drills

Fine motor skills

Small movements like drawing, writing, cutting

Drawing & printing

Improvements reflect motor skill refinement and cognitive planning

Childhood injuries

Boys at higher risk due to risk

Just right principle

Children insist on routines, familiar processes, or specific sequences

Preoperational stage (2

7 years)

Egocentrism

Difficulty seeing others' perspectives

Centration

Focus on one aspect, ignore others

Conservation

Understanding that substance stays the same despite appearance changes

Irreversibility

Can't mentally reverse steps

Class inclusion / Hierarchical classification

Grouping objects by categories and subcategories

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Tasks children can do with help

Private speech

Talking to oneself to guide thought/behavior

Cognitive effortful control

Deliberate regulation of attention and behavior

Theory of Mind

Understanding that others have thoughts and perspectives

False beliefs

Recognizing that others can have misconceptions

Phonology

Sounds of language

Morphology

Word parts (prefixes, suffixes)

Syntax

Sentence structure

Semantics

Meaning of words

Pragmatics

Social use of language

Fast mapping

Rapidly learning a new word after minimal exposure

Mutual exclusivity bias

Assuming one object = one label

Syntactic bootstrapping

Using sentence structure to infer meaning

Overregularization

Applying grammar rules too widely (e.g., "goed")

Recasts

Correcting a child's speech without direct criticism

Expansions

Restating the child's speech with added detail

Emergent literacy

Understanding written language

Ordinality

Understanding the order of numbers

Cardinality

Understanding quantity

Functional play

Simple, repetitive motor actions

Constructive play

Building or creating objects

Make

believe play

How does play support cognitive development? It strengthens neural connections, enhances executive functions, promotes problem

solving, creativity, and critical thinking.

Early foundations of math and reading

are built through play, curiosity, and daily interaction.

Autonomy vs. Shame

Early self

Initiative vs. Guilt

Developing responsibility and initiative

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Erikson

Self

concept

Self

esteem

Empathy

Understanding and responding to others' feelings

Emotional self

regulation

Delayed gratification

Waiting for a better reward instead of a smaller immediate one

Nonsocial activity/play

Solitary or onlooker behavior

Parallel play

Playing near others but not interacting

Associative play

Sharing and talking near others

Cooperative play

Working together toward a goal

Instrumental aggression

Not intentional; goal

Reactive aggression

Response to frustration; less concerning

Verbal aggression

Threats, insults

Physical aggression

Hitting, pushing

Relational aggression

Intentional social harm

Authoritative

High warmth + structure leads to independent, socially skilled

Authoritarian

Low warmth + high control leads to obedient, withdrawn

Permissive

High warmth + low control leads to immature, poor self

Uninvolved

Low warmth + low control leads to indifferent, low self

Inductive discipline

Explaining rules and consequences to teach behavior

Effects of punishment

Harsh punishment does not improve moral sense

Disappointing gift task

Tests empathy and social understanding (white lies)

Social referencing

Looking to caregivers for cues on how to react

Vygotsky

Sociocultural Perspective

Piaget

Cognitive Constructivism