3 inches, 4-5 pounds
Children between the ages of 2 and 6 years tend to grow about ------- in height each year and gain-------- in weight each year, and start to lose some baby fat.
1 in 5
------- American children between ages 2 and 5 are overweight or obese
6, 95%
By age ------, the brain is at ------ of its adult weight, and the development of myelin (myelination) and new synapses continues to occur in the cortex
Synaptic Pruning
is the loss of synapses that are unused and will increase as neural processes become quicker and more complex
Language
(left hemisphere) increases significantly,
Spatial Skills
spatial skills (right hemisphere)
corpus callosum
the connection between the hemispheres ------- undergoes a growth spurt
Gross motor skills
(large muscle groups)
Fine motor skills
(more exact movements)
natural
Self-stimulation and curiosity about bodies are a ------- part of early childhood
common
•As children grow, they are more likely to show their genitals to siblings or peers, and masturbation is ---------
Preoperational
(ages 2– 7): children are learning to use language and think about the world symbolically (e.g., pretend play; children playing in the dirt to make food), helping to develop the foundations needed for the next stage
Egocentrism
in early childhood refers to the tendency to think that everyone sees things in the same way as the child
Precausal Thinking
describes the way in which children in this stage use their own existing ideas or views to explain causeand-effect relationships
Animism
the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities
Artificialism
the belief that environmental characteristics can be attributed to human actions or interventions
Transductive Reasoning
when a child fails to understand the true cause-and-effect relationships
Syncretism
the tendency to think that two events occurring simultaneously had a causal relationship
Centration
is the act of focusing all attention on one characteristic or dimension of a situation and disregarding others (pieces of cake vs. size of pieces)
Conservation
is the awareness that altering a substance ’ s appearance does not change its basic properties (sandwich cut in half)
Irreversibility
is the young child’ s difficulty mentally reversing a sequence of events
transitive inference
•Preoperational children lack the basic logic and the ability to use previous knowledge to determine the missing piece ----------
Theory of mind
is the understanding that the mind holds people ’ s beliefs, desires, emotions, and intentions
Age 4,
By -------- children’s theory of mind allows them to understand that people think differently, have different preferences, and may mask their true feelings
Autism
is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across multiple contexts as well as restrictive behaviors and interests
2 to 6
•From ages --------, a child’ s vocabulary expands from about 200 words to over 10,000 through fast mapping (the ability to acquire a word rapidly on the basis of minimal information)
Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky)
is the range of material that a child is ready to learn if proper support and guidance are given
Scaffolding (Chomsky)
is a process in which the guide provides needed assistance to the child as a new skill is learned
Piaget
interpreted talking to oneself as egocentric speech or a child’s inability to see things from other points of view
•Vygotsky
believed that this private speech seeks to solve problems or clarify thoughts
first 3 years
•Research by Hart and Risley found that children from less advantaged backgrounds are exposed to millions fewer words in their -------- than those from higher socioeconomic groups
4 million words
While there have been critics of Hart and Risley ’ s research, a replication of the original study found a word gap that was closer to ----- than the previously proposed 30 million
Self-Concept
is the idea of who we are, what we are capable of doing, and how we think and feel
Looking-Glass Self (Cooley)
involves looking at how others seem to view us and interpreting this as we make judgments about ourselves
Two Parts of Self
the “I” that is spontaneous, creative, innate, and not concerned about how others view us
the “me” or social definition of who we are
Self-Control
involves both response inhibition and delayed gratification
Freud’s theory during early childhood
stage 2 (anal stage)
stage 3 (phallic stage)
Phallic stage
the child develops an attraction to the parent of another sex, called the Oedipus Complex for boys and the Electra Complex for girls
Introjection
(part of the phallic stage) is the process of learning right from wrong and occurs as children incorporate values from others into their value set
Unoccupied Play -
birth to 3mos. e.g., arms/legs, wiggling hands/feet
•Solitary (independent) Play
babies to preschoolers, e.g., grasping a rattle to blocks
Onlooker Play -
2-3yrs. a child observes other children playing and doesn't partake in action, possibly mimicking
Parallel (adjacent) Play
- 2-3yrs. playing side by side in their own little worlds, having little overt contact with each othe
Associative Play
3-4yrs. children are involved with what others are doing, but they primarily work on their own.
Cooperative Play
4-5yrs. children truly start playing together
Initiative vs. Guilt
(begins at age 3) and builds upon the previous trust and autonomy in the previous stage into a desire to take the initiative or think of ideas and initiate action
Gender Identity
(i.e., the personal sense of one’s own gender)
Gender constancy
(i.e., a child' s emerging sense of the permanence of being a boy or a girl)
age 4 or 5
Children learn at a young age that there are distinct expectations for boys and girls, with most children firmly entrenched in culturally appropriate gender roles by
Gender Stereotyping
involves overgeneralizing the attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns of women or men
Gender role socialization
is a result of the ways in which others send messages about what is acceptable or desirable behavior for males or females
gender-normative
(i.e., adhering to or reinforcing ideal standards of masculinity or femininity) behaviors
Uninvolved Parenting
reflects parents who are disengaged from their children, making no demands and being non-responsive
Martyr
is a parent who will do anything for the child and may later be used to gain compliance from the child
Pal
is like the permissive parent who wants to be the child’ s friend and sets few limitations
police officer/drill sergeant
is similar to the authoritarian parent with a primary focus on obedience and may find it difficult to let the children learn and grow
teacher-counselor
parent pays a lot of attention to expert advice on parenting and seeks to rear a perfect child
Athletic Coach
style of parenting: helps the child understand what needs to happen in certain situations and provides guidance
75%
--- of children under age 5 are in childcare programs
Positive reinforcement:
something is added to increase the behavior likelihood (alarm clock)
Positive punishment:
something is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior (spanking)
Negative reinforcement:
something (an aversive stimulus) is removed to increase the likelihood of behavior (horse training)
Negative punishment:
something is removed to decrease the likelihood of behavior (time out for kids)
Positive Stress (eustress)
is needed and promotes resilience and arises from brief, mild, to moderate stress with buffers from caring adults
Tolerable Stress
is from adverse experiences more intense in nature but short-lived and able to be overcome
Toxic Stress
refers to chronic, excessive stress that exceeds a child’ s ability to cope, especially without supportive caregiving
Stress is encountered in four stages:
stress causes alarm
the child attempts to find meaning from the event
the child seeks coping strategies
the child executes coping strategies
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
childhood trauma that might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, physical abuse, parent of sibling treated violently, separation or incarceration of parents, or having a parent with a mental illness
Food Insecurity
happens when a family has limited or uncertain availability of safe, nutritious food