Childhood Physical, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Development

Vocabulary flashcards covering physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development in early, middle, and late childhood.

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)

A neurodevelopmental disorder more common in boys than girls, characterized by difficulty with gross and/or fine motor skills that affects or impairs activities of daily living.

Egocentrism

The inability to distinguish between one's own perspective and someone else's perspective, characteristic of Piaget's preoperational stage.

Animism

The belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action.

Conservation

The awareness that altering an object's or substance's appearance does not change its basic properties.

Centration

The focusing of attention on one characteristic of an object or situation to the exclusion of all others.

Seriation

The ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension, such as length.

Transitivity

The ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's concept defining the range of tasks that are too difficult for a child to master alone but can be learned with the guidance and assistance of adults or more skilled children.

Scaffolding

Providing an appropriate level of support and assistance to a learner that changes over the course of a teaching session as skill development increases.

Selective Attention

The ability to focus on aspects of an experience that are relevant and ignore task-irrelevant information.

Sustained Attention

The ability to maintain focused and extended engagement with an object, task, or event.

Executive Attention

Involves planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or difficult circumstances.

Fuzzy Trace Theory

A theory stating that memory is best understood by considering two types of memory representations: verbatim memory trace (precise details) and gist (central idea).

Executive Function

An umbrella-like concept encompassing a number of higher-level cognitive processes linked to the prefrontal cortex, composed of updating, inhibition, and shifting.

Theory of Mind

An understanding that others have different mental states, thoughts, desires, and beliefs than our own.

Metacognition

Cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing, which helps individuals perform cognitive tasks more efficiently.

Convergent Thinking

A mode of thinking that produces one correct answer; characteristic of the kind of thinking required on traditional intelligence tests.

Divergent Thinking

A mode of thinking that produces many different answers to the same question; characterizes creativity.

Mental Age (MA)

An individual's level of mental development relative to that of others, developed by Alfred Binet.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A measure of intelligence calculated as an individual's mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by $100$: $\text{IQ} = \frac{\text{MA}}{\text{CA}} \times 100$.

Normal Distribution (IQ Curve)

A symmetrical distribution where the majority of scores fall in the middle of the possible range (with approximately $68.26\%$ between $85$ and $115$) and few scores appear towards the extremes.

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Robert J. Sternberg's theory stating that intelligence comes in three forms: analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.

Flynn Effect

The worldwide increase in intelligence test scores that has occurred over a relatively short period of time.

Culture-Fair Tests

Tests of intelligence that are designed to be free of cultural bias, either by using questions familiar to all backgrounds or by containing no verbal questions.

Dyslexia

A learning disability characterized by a severe impairment in an individual's ability to read and spell.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A neurodevelopmental disorder in which individuals consistently display one or more of three key characteristics: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

Neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, alongside restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities.

Phonology

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

Morphology

The units of meaning involved in word formation, such as plural markers, possessives, and verb tense suffixes.

Syntax

The ways words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences.

Semantics

The aspect of language that refers to the meanings of words and sentences.

Fast-Mapping

A process that helps to explain how young children can make an initial connection between a word and its referent after only a brief exposure.

Pragmatics

The appropriate use of language in different social contexts, such as conversational turn-taking and politeness rules.

Metalinguistic Awareness

Knowledge about language, including the ability to understand language rules and discuss the components of language.

Whole-Language Approach

A teaching approach based on the idea that reading instruction should parallel children's natural language learning by exposing them to whole texts, stories, and poems.

Phonics Approach

A reading instruction method that emphasizes teaching basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds before moving to complex reading material.

Self-Concept

Domain-specific evaluations and perceptions of the self in areas such as academic ability, athletic competence, and appearance.

Self-Esteem

The global evaluative dimension of the self, reflecting an individual's overall view of themselves as a person.

Self-Efficacy

The belief that one can master a situation and produce favourable outcomes.

Perspective-Taking

The social cognitive process involved in assuming the perspective of others and understanding their thoughts and feelings.

Gender Roles

Sets of cultural and social expectations that prescribe how females or males should think, act, and feel.

Social Role Theory

Alice Eagly's theory stating that gender differences result from the contrasting social roles and division of labour of women and men.

Gender Schema Theory

A cognitive theory stating that gender typing emerges as children gradually develop schemas of what is gender-appropriate and gender-inappropriate in their culture.

Relational Aggression

Non-physical behaviours intended to harm another individual by manipulating relationships, such as spreading rumours or social exclusion.

Emotion Regulation

The ability to effectively manage, modulate, and control when and how emotions are expressed.

Heteronomous Morality

The first stage of moral development in Piaget's theory ($4\text{ to }7$ years of age), in which rules and justice are conceived as unchangeable properties of the world beyond human control.

Autonomous Morality

The second stage of moral development in Piaget's theory (from age $7$ and older), where children recognize that rules and laws are created by people and consider actors' intentions.

Authoritarian Parenting

A restrictive, punitive parenting style in which parents exhort the child to follow directions, respect work, place firm limits, and allow little verbal exchange.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style that encourages children to be independent but still places limits and controls on their actions, accompanied by extensive verbal give-and-take, warmth, and nurture.

Neglectful Parenting

A style of parenting in which the parents are completely uninvolved in the child's life, often leading to poor self-control and low self-esteem in children.

Indulgent Parenting

A style of parenting in which parents are highly involved with their children but place few demands or controls on them, granting extensive personal freedom.

Constructive Play

Play that combines sensorimotor/practice play with symbolic representation, involving the self-regulated creation of a product or solution.