Exam 4 Psy 361 (Child dev.)

Physical growth rate in middle childhood

Children grow about 2 inches taller and gain about 7.5 pounds per year

Consistency of growth

Growth in middle childhood is slow steady and predictable

Secular trend

Children today are generally taller and mature earlier than previous generations

Cause of secular trend

Improvements in nutrition healthcare and living conditions

Genetic influence on growth

Genes strongly influence height body structure and development

Environmental influence on growth

Nutrition health care and living conditions affect development

Gross motor skills

Skills involving large muscles such as running jumping and sports

Gross motor development

Becomes more coordinated controlled and efficient during middle childhood

Fine motor skills

Skills involving small muscles such as writing drawing and cutting

Fine motor development

Improves precision speed and coordination

Brain development

The brain becomes more specialized and efficient in processing information

Neural efficiency

Brain pathways become faster and more organized

Physical activity importance

Supports physical health brain development and emotional well being

Common health concerns

Include obesity injuries asthma and illness

Role of nutrition

Provides energy and supports growth and brain functioning

Healthy eating habits

Balanced diet supports long term health and development

Sleep needs

Children need consistent sleep for growth attention and learning

Impact of sleep loss

Can affect mood attention and academic performance

Concrete operational stage

Children think logically about concrete real world situations

Concrete thinking

Thinking tied to real objects and experiences rather than abstract ideas

Logical operations

Mental actions that follow logical rules

Conservation

Understanding that quantity stays the same despite changes in appearance

Reversibility

Ability to mentally reverse a process or operation

Decentration

Ability to focus on more than one aspect of a situation at once

Seriation

Ability to arrange items in order based on a dimension

Transitivity

Understanding relationships among items in a logical sequence

Classification

Ability to group objects based on shared properties

Hierarchical classification

Understanding that categories can be organized into subcategories

Limitations of thinking

Difficulty understanding abstract hypothetical or complex ideas

Improvement in attention

Children become better at focusing and ignoring distractions

Memory development

Children use strategies like rehearsal organization and elaboration

Information processing

Brain processes information more efficiently with age

Metacognition

Awareness and understanding of one’s own thinking

Learning strategies

Techniques used to improve memory and understanding

Role of schooling

Schools promote cognitive development through structured learning

Importance of instruction

Teaching should use concrete examples and hands on learning

Self concept

A child’s understanding of themselves in different areas

Changes in self concept

Becomes more complex organized and realistic

Self descriptions

Include academic social and physical characteristics

Social comparison

Comparing oneself to others to evaluate abilities

Reference groups

Children use peers as a standard for comparison

Self esteem

Overall sense of self worth

Development of self esteem

Becomes more stable and global around ages 6 to 7

High self esteem

Associated with confidence and positive adjustment

Low self esteem

Associated with doubt and negative self views

Peer influence

Peers strongly influence self concept and behavior

Peer acceptance

Being liked by peers affects confidence and adjustment

Friendship development

Friendships become more stable and based on trust

Qualities of friendship

Include loyalty support and shared interests

Family influence

Parents shape values behavior and emotional development

Parenting impact

Supportive parenting leads to higher self esteem

Teacher influence

Teachers affect academic confidence and motivation

Gender differences in self esteem

Girls often report lower self esteem than boys

Reasons for gender differences

Greater focus on appearance and social evaluation

Emotional regulation

Ability to manage and control emotions improves

Empathy

Ability to understand and share others feelings increases

Prosocial behavior

Actions intended to help others such as sharing and helping

Erikson stage industry vs inferiority

Children develop competence or feel inadequate

Industry

Sense of pride in accomplishments and skills

Inferiority

Feeling of failure or lack of competence

Importance of success experiences

Positive experiences build confidence and motivation