Middle Childhood

Physical development in Middle Childhood

Children aged 6-10 grow 2-3 inches per year, gain 5-7 pounds per year, double their strength, and experience the replacement of baby teeth with permanent ones.

Ossification

The process where bones become harder.

Effects of nutrition vs malnutrition

Nutrition can enhance self-confidence, energy levels, positive emotions, reduce anxiety, and improve performance on cognitive tests. Malnutrition can lead to the opposite effects and dampen curiosity, responsiveness, and motivation to learn.

Complexity of self-concept in Middle Childhood

Children start to understand themselves psychologically rather than just by physical traits, transitioning from simple descriptions to more complex self-perceptions.

Four major areas of self-concept

Social self-concept, academic self-concept, emotional self-concept, and physical self-concept.

Social comparison

The act of evaluating one's behaviors, abilities, and opinions by comparing them to others. Downward social comparison involves comparing oneself to less competent individuals, while upward social comparison involves comparing oneself to those doing better.

Self-esteem

Overall positive and negative self-evaluation based on societal and internal standards of success.

Meta-memory and meta-linguistic awareness

Meta-memory is understanding memory processes, while meta-linguistic awareness is understanding one's use of language and its rules.

Three stages of friendship

Stage 1 (4-7 yrs) based on spending time together, Stage 2 (8-10) considers personal qualities and trust, and Stage 3 (11-15) focuses on closeness, intimacy, and loyalty.

Entity vs Incremental theory

Entity theory sees intelligence as fixed, leading to mastery or helpless behaviors, while Incremental theory views intelligence as malleable, encouraging competence improvement and mastery-oriented behaviors.