Early Childhood

Significance of body changes in early childhood development

Signals physical maturation and balance improvement.

Age when brain is approximately 80% of adult weight

By age 2.

Contribution of myelination to brain development

Increases signal speed and contributes to brain weight gain.

Lateralization in brain development

Development of hemisphere specialization.

Fine motor skills

Small actions that require precision.

Influences on long-term eating behaviors in children

Familiarity/Exposure.

Toddler selectivity

Children becoming picky eaters and rejecting unfamiliar foods.

Typical hours of sleep needed for children aged 1-6

10-14 hours.

Common issue associated with inadequate sleep in children

Increased risk of obesity.

Leading causes of death for children in the U.S.

Unintentional injuries.

Relationship between sleep and weight in young children

Less sleep is linked to higher likelihood of being overweight.

Significance of observing children's eating habits

It helps understand long-term eating behaviors.

Excessive parental control over eating

Leads to resistance or overindulgence in children.

MMR vaccines misconception

No evidence linking them to autism

Increased myelination significance

It contributes to brain weight gain

Gross motor skills

Skills developed with strength and balance

Involvement in food preparation:

Increases interest and willingness to try new foods

Factors leading to childhood obesity

Poverty and access to poor quality foods, poor sleep

Corpus callosum role

Facilitates coordination between hemispheres

Example of a gross motor skill

Jumping

When do most children drop naps?

Age 4

What is the biggest physical change?

Loss of 'top-heaviness', Grow into adult like proportions

Neglect

Failure to meet children's basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment

Behavioral problems associated with neglect

Increased aggression and defiance

Mental health challenges from neglect

Risk of anxiety, depression, PTSD

Emotional abuse

Extreme hampering of children's emotional needs.

Physical abuse

Intentionally inflicting physical harm on a child.

Examples of physical abuse

Bruises, burns, choking, broken bones.

Sexual abuse

Attempts toward or actual sexual contact with a child.

Childhood poverty

Growing up in low-income households without consistent access to resources.

Cascading effects of childhood poverty

• Higher risk of abuse or witnessing violence

• decreased emotional stability

• hinder social skills.

Cognitive development

The growth of a child's ability to think, reason, remember, problem-solve, and understand the world.

Symbolic understanding

Understanding that something can represent something else.

Dual representation

Understanding that an object can be both a symbol and an object in itself.

Sociodramatic play

Role play that includes others and involves imagination and symbolic actions.

Examples of Sociodramatic play in early childhood development

Children pretending to be doctors, chefs, or superheroes using everyday objects.

Egocentrism

Believing others see the world as they do.

Task used to demonstrate egocentrism?

The 'Three Mountains' task

• children are asked to describe what they see from their POV, and then asked to describe what the interviewer sees

• illustrates the inability to understand that other people have different perspectives

What does the concept of conservation refer to?

Awareness that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape.

Centration

Focusing on one feature while ignoring others.

Executive Function

A set of skills supporting goal-directed behavior.

Inhibitory Control

Suppress an automatic response in favor of a goal-directed one.

Which task assesses inhibitory control in children?

The Day/Night Stroop task

• children are instructed to categorize a picture of a moon as “day” and a picture of the sun as “night”

• measures if they can inhibit their natural/preferred response and instead respond differently

Cognitive Flexibility

The ability to switch perspectives or adapt to changing rules.

Self-Monitoring

The ability to observe and regulate one's own cognitive processes.

Procedural Memories

Unconscious memory for skills and procedures.

Declarative Memories

Conscious memories of facts and events.

Semantic Memories

General knowledge and concepts not tied to specific experiences.

Infantile Amnesia

Inability to recall autobiographical memories from before age 3 to 4.

Eyewitness Testimony Issues

Children's susceptibility to suggestion and specific questioning.

What makes children susceptible to false memories?

Leading or specific questions

context specific reliability

Evaluating reliability in a specific domain or situation

Broccoli vs. Crackers study

• Researcher ask child to give her preferred snack, which is opposite of his preferred snack

• Children learn that others may have different preferences

phonological development

Development of pronunciation and ability to produce speech sounds

fast mapping

Quickly learn new words after just 1-2 exposures

overregularization

Saying 'goed' instead of 'went'

Making things plural by adding ‘s’ when incorrect (mouses" instead of "mice." )

morphological rules

Rules of grammar

activity that builds vocabulary

Shared reading

cardinal principle of math

The last number in a count represents the total

Age of critical shift in understanding numbers

3.5-4 years old

emotional variance

Whether an emotion is positive or negative

At what age do children begin to understand mixed emotions?

around 5

self-regulation

The ability to manage and express emotions appropriately

example of a display rule in emotional expression

Smiling and saying 'thank you' for a gift they don't like

type of play involving children playing near each other without interaction

Parallel play

example of hostile aggression

Hitting someone out of anger

instrumental aggression

Aggression used to achieve a goal

relational aggression primarily associated with

Social exclusion and gossip

positive parenting characterized by

Emotional coaching, warmth, and support

mental state talk

Conversations about thoughts, feelings, and beliefs

gender stability

Understanding that gender continues over time despite superficial transformations

example of observational learning about gender

Imitating behavior of same-gender peers

biological influence on gender understanding

Prenatal exposure to androgens

racial stability

Understanding that race is a stable characteristic and cannot change due to superficial transformations

stage of Kohlberg's theory involving moral reasoning based on avoiding punishment

Stage 1

moral scenario used to assess children's reasoning

Heinz Dilemma

Stage 2 of Kohlberg's Theory

Children follow rules primarily for personal gain.

“If I'm nice to him, maybe he'll share his toy with me.” Is an example of what stage in Kohlbergs Moral Development theory

Stage 2 - moral reasoning based on rewards and self benefit

Three reasoning domains in Social Domain View

Moral, social-conventional, psychological.

Moral Domain

Fairness, rights, justice, and welfare.

Example of reasoning in the Moral Domain

A child says hitting is wrong even if a teacher allows it.

Psychological Domain

Understanding of mental states, beliefs, desires, emotions, and intentions.

Significance of theory of mind in moral development

It supports understanding complex mental states and intentions.

Example of societal norms influencing moral reasoning

Wearing pajamas to school is 'wrong' because of a social rule, but not morally wrong like hitting another student.

Example of children using group membership in moral decisions

Giving more stickers to a same-gender peer in a sharing task.

Q: What does the shift from toddler proportions to more adult-like proportions signal?

A: Signals physical maturation and balance improvement.

Q: What test assesses proportional changes in early childhood?

A: The ear-over-head test.

Q: What contributes to increased brain weight during early childhood?

A: Myelination: Fatty coating of neurons increases signal speed and contributes to brain weight gain.

Q: By what age is the brain about 80% of adult weight?

A: By age 2.

Q: By what age is the brain about 90% of adult weight?

A: By age 6.

Q: How many synaptic connections do 4-year-olds have compared to adults?

A: Nearly double the synaptic connections in some areas of the brain.

Q: When does lateralization begin and how long does it continue?

A: Begins around age 2 and continues through childhood.

Q: What changes occur in the corpus callosum between ages 3–6?

A: It thickens and shows increased myelination and synapses.

Q: What are examples of fine motor skills?

A: Getting dressed, using utensils, drawing; can be measured through arts and crafts.

Q: What influences children's long-term eating behaviors?

A: Familiarity/exposure, control/pressure, observational learning, and creative engagement.

Q: What is an example of a gross motor skill?

A: Balance, jumping, and climbing.

Q: What are some effects of childhood obesity?

A: Obesity is often stable; 90% of obese 3-year-olds remain overweight in adolescence.

Q: How can creative engagement in food prep affect eating?

A: It can increase interest and willingness to try new foods.

Q: What is toddler selectivity?

A: Children become picky eaters, often rejecting unfamiliar foods (a form of neophobia).

Q: What age is toddler selectivity common?

A: Around age 2–3.