Health Sciences 2700A Midterm

Physical Changes

Between 4-6 are less dramatic than the first year of life, but still impressive

Molly Wright’s 3 important things parents need to be aware of

1. Serve and return

• Playing

• Connection

• Talking

• Healthy home

• Community

1. First 5 years

2. Early and often

4 Aspects of Family Function

1. Warmth

2. Clarity

3. Communication

4. Expectations

Gross Motor

3-4: walks upstairs 1 foot per step, skips on two feet, walks on tiptoe, pedals and steers, walks in any direction pulling a large toy, jumps

4-5: walks up and down stairs 1 foot per step, stands, runs, and walks on tiptoe

5-6: skips on alternate feet, walks on a line, slides, swings

Fine Motor

3-4: catches large ball between outstretched arms, cuts paper with scissors, holds pencil between thumb and fingers

4-5: strikes ball with bat, kicks and catches ball, threads beads on a string, grasps pencil properly

5-6: plays ball games well, threads needle and sews large stitches

Art Development

3 years: from scribbling to drawing and realizing that art can stand for something

Tangible record of the thinking process (hands and legs)

4-5 years: telling stories and working out problems using art

Detail is added and new concepts are integrated

6 years: set of symbols are developed (sun is a circle with lines that is yellow)

Schemes to represent objects - that are modified with the addition of new information - and realization there is a definite order in space (everything sits on a line

Lateralization

Brain functions are divided between 2 hemispheres

L = language, logic, math, analysis

R = intuition, creativity, art/music, spatial

Myelinization

Of the reticular formation - the brain structure that regulates attention and concentration

Handedness

Preference for 1 hand over another appears between 2-6 years of age

Prevention of ACES: ECE

- ECE can't "prevent" ACES but, ECE can mitigate the impact of ACES by reducing the impact of stress and self-hatred and by providing more proactive coping skills and positive role model

- Teach kids on how to engage and how to navigate the world

- Emphasis on the content being taught at home, school

- ACES often happens at home

- Has the potential to change a child's trajectory → early intervention during the developmental stages in life is so important

How else to prevent ACES?

Provide stable, nurturing relationships with caregivers and teachers.

Create safe and predictable environments with consistent routines.

Teach social-emotional skills like emotion regulation and empathy.

Offer early support and referrals to mental health or social services.

Encourage positive coping strategies through play and problem-solving.

Socio-dramatic play

sometime in the preschool years, children begin to play parts or take roles - playing house (this is also the age that many children seem to create imaginary companions)

Rule-governed play

by 5-6 years, children begin to prefer rule-governed, pretending, and formal games (whoever smallest has to be the baby, red rover, red light, green light)

Pre-operational stage

children become more proficient in the use of symbols in thinking and communicating, but still have difficulty thinking logically

Conservation

the understanding that matter can change in appearance without changing in quantity (not developed before age 5)

The 5 Elements of "Serve and Return"(Ted Talk Video)

1. Connecting

2. Talking

3. Playing

4. Healthy Home

5. Community

False belief principle

an understanding that enables a child to look at a situation from another person's POV and determine what kind of information will cause that person to have a false belief

Theories of Mind

Age 4

- Basic principle that each person's actions are based on her or his representation of reality

Age 4-5

- Cannot understand that other people can think about them, do not understand that most knowledge can be derived from inference (this happens at 6 years)

Age 5-7

- Understand the reciprocal nature of thought

- Children begin to understand that other people think and feel differently

Enhancing ToM

Pretend play, shared pretence with other children, discussion of emotion-provoking events with parents

Metamemory

Knowledge about how memory works and the ability to control and reflect on one's own memory function

Metacognition

Knowledge about how the mind thinks and the ability to control and reflect on one's own thought process

Word number for 5-6 years

15000 words

Language Reinforcement

Child rapidly forms a hypothesis about a new word's meaning, then uses the word often, getting feedback to help them judge the accuracy of their hypothesis

Preschooler's Invented Spelling

A strategy young children with good phonological awareness skills use when they write

Do not correct invented spelling early as it can undermine the child's belief and self-confidence while trying out a new skill

The greater the phonological awareness the faster he/she will learn to readie: "muny" = "money" and "bldozr" = "bulldozer

Vowels are the last to be developed in writing since they are heard to hear

Children often don't uses "spaces" in their spelling

Why is Jolly Phonics so effective in promoting learning at this time?

It targets three types of learners → visual, auditory, and kinesthetic

Phonics songs use actions, repetition, rhythm, etc.

Uses multisensory learning (seeing, hearing, doing).

Focuses on letter sounds (phonics) for reading and spelling.

Encourages active participation through songs and actions.

Builds skills step by step, from sounds to words.

Gives early success, boosting confidence and motivation.

Jolly Phonics vs Invented Spelling

Jolly Phonics→ A synthetic phonics program that teaches children the 42 main sounds of English (like s, a, t, i, p, n, plus digraphs like sh, ch, ee, ai).→ Kids learn to hear, say, and write each sound using songs, stories, and motions.

Invented spelling→ When children write words using the sounds they hear, even if it's not the conventional spelling. Example:

Child writes frnd for "friend."

That shows strong phonemic awareness—they're mapping sounds to letters.

When we apply Jolly Phonics to invented spelling, we use the sound knowledge from Jolly Phonics to support and guide a child's attempts at spelling new words on their own.

So instead of correcting the child right away, the teacher uses Jolly Phonics strategies to help the child segment and blend sounds and choose the right letter-sound correspondences.

Inflections

Additions that change meaning (adding "ing" = go to going)

Overregulatization

Using rules when they don't apply (goed)

Complex Sentences

Using conjunctions to combine 2 ideas or using embedded clauses ("I want to go to the park with my friend")

Preschool and Intelligence: do families/caregivers play a role?

Family interactions foster higher scores on intelligence testing:

More interesting, complex environment

Parental reaction and feedback

Parents use rich and accurate language in the "zone of proximal development"

Opportunity to explore and make mistakes

Ask questions rather than give commands

What is problematic about intelligence testing?

Multiple intelligences → need to be cognizant of what we are actually measuring (ie: developmental differences of a January and a September child)

Different types of intelligence → what type of intelligence are we studying?(ie: math, reading, writing, spelling, etc.)

Who is the test designed for? Children from high socioeconomic, white families will test well

Define: Numeracy and the 1:1 ratio

Numeracy → The ability to use numbers and the development of numeracy abilities in preschoolers helps to facilitate the learning of more advanced mathematical concepts

1:1 ratio → you count "one thing" for one object

Preschooler's Personality:

Initiative vs Guilt-Purpose (Erikson)

Ushered in by the ability to plan (a new cognitive skills)

Ability to plan accentuates the wish to take initiative

Balance between child's emerging skills and desire for autonomy and the parents' need to protect the child and control the child's behaviour

Person perception: the ability to classify others according to categories such as age, gender, and race

Preschool and Social-Cognitive Development - Understanding Rule Categories and Understanding Other's Intentions

Understanding rule categories: young children use classification skills to distinguish between social conventions and moral rules

Understanding others' intentions: start to understand intentions in others, understand that intentional wrong-doing is deserving of greater punishment than unintentional rule transgressions

The Four Aspects of Family Functioning

1. Warmth/Nurturance

2. Clarity and Consistency of Rules

3. Level of Expectations

4. Communication between parent and child

Preschool and Attachment

Predicts behaviour during preschool years both in terms of behavioural problems and positive relationships with preschool teachers

How a child is attached to their primary caregiver is how they will attach to their next adult care figure (ie: teacher)

A teacher can reverse insecure attachment, but it takes a lot of work

Being securely attached creates the foundation for all of your relationships

A solid foundation as a child creates a welcoming environment for new relationships → open to meeting new people

Parenting Styles

Authoritarian

- Low in nurturance and communication

- High in control and maturity demands

Permissive

- High in nurturance

- Low in maturity demands, control, and communication

- Like a friend

Authoritative

- High in nurturance, maturity demands, control, and communication

Uninvolved

- Low in nurturance, maturity demands, control, and communication

- Produces the most consistently negative outcomes

Parenting Styles in Canada %

Authoritative = 33%

Authoritarian = 25%

Permissive = 25%

Uninvolved = 15%

Canadian parents are relatively lenient and emotionally warm with their children and reportedly exert less behavioural control, are more likely to use permissive disciplinary strategies and are more tolerant of friend-related activities while continuing to have strong emotional bonds with their children

Discipline

Training, whether physical, mental, or moral, that develops self-control, moral characters and proper conduct

Two main problems with identifying effective discipline strategies

1. Effect: difficult to establish the effects of discipline

2. Intensity: research has not concluded how intense and frequent effective discipline needs to be

Socioeconomic Status (SES) vs Parenting Styles

Parenting style is a better predictor of poor outcomes in a child than is parent's socioeconomic status

Good parenting practices are common in all SES labels as are ineffective parenting practices

SES is an important factor, but a low SES does not "create" a bad parent!

However...children raised in lower socioeconomic families are more likely to experience a greater number of risk factors and this, coupled with ineffective parenting practices, results in proportionally higher levels of vulnerability

Divorce and Kids: Conflict-Ridden Marriages

children are affected by divorce (i.e. parental conflict, poverty, disruptions in daily routine) & children who have dysfunctional parental relationships experience the same effects

Divorce and Kids: Reasons for negative affects in non-intact families

1. Reduction in financial and emotional resources

2. Transitions result in upheaval → hard to maintain good monitoring and control over children

3. Non-intact families increase the likelihood that the family-style shafts from authoritative to less optimal forms of parenting

Occurs right at the time of divorce

Short Term Learning

Physical and visual stimuli

Relate to familiar experiences

Active participation

Praise and approval stories

Long Term Learning

Role models

Repetition

Reinforce new skills

Affects of screen time on cognitive abilities

- With each one-hour increase in TV exposure corresponds to a 7% unit decrease in participation in class and 6% unit decrease in math proficiency in the 4th grade

- Increased screen time, whether direct or background viewing, results in proportional increases in behavioural problems and have poorer vocabulary acquisition

- Higher screen time at the age of 4 years is associated with lower levels of emotional understanding at the age of 6

Screen Time Recommendations

For children under two years old screen time is not recommended

For children two to five years old limit screen time to less than one hour a day

For children older than five limit screen time to less than two hours a day

COVID, Screen Times, and Preschoolers

The Good

- Some evidence suggests that interactive media, specifically applications that involve contingent responses from an adult (i.e., timely reactions to what a child says or does), can help children learn

The Bad

- Children's screen use may directly interfere with their reading activities, and sociodemographic factors do not appear to modify either association significantly

- Children who used apps for more than 30 minutes/day had significantly lower inhibition scores compared to those with less use

- Excessive screen time (more than 2 to 3 h/day on any device) has been moderately associated with lower self-regulation in preschoolers

Modeling Screen Time

- Children younger than 5 years require active play and quality family time to develop essential life skills, such as language, self-regulation, and creative thinking.

- When parents model healthy screen habits, they: Minimize their own screen use around young children, especially during mealtimes, play, and other prime opportunities for social learning.

- Prioritize interactions with children through conversation, play, and healthy, active routines.

- Decide when to use media together and turn off screens when not in use.

- Ensure that media used in the presence of children is free of stereotyping, advertising, or other problematic content.

4 Types of Learners (VARK)

1. Visual

- Process information using charts and graphs

- Need images to explain concepts and ideas

- Prefer graphic elements over words

2. Auditory

- Learn best when information is spoken

- Prefer lectures and discussion

- Process information by talking through things

3. Read/Write

- Prefer to receive written words

- Enjoy reading and writing assignments

- Process information by writing notes

4. Kinesthetic

- Learn best through tactile processes

- Prefer to create concrete personal experiences

- Process information by recreating and practicing

Adaptive vs Primitive Reflexes

Adaptive → some adaptive reflexes persist throughout life and help to survive (ie: rooting, sucking)

Primitive → controlled by primitive parts of the brain and disappear by about 6 months of age (ie: Moro and Babinski)

Personality vs Temperament

activity level (vigorous vs passive activity)

approach/positive emotionality (move toward new activities - positive emotion)

inhibition (respond with fear or withdrawal to new situations - precursor to shyness)

negative emotionality (respond with anger, fussing, or irritability - low threshold for frustration)

effortful control/task persistence (stay focused and manage attention and effort)

Assimilation vs. Accommodation

Assimilation→ the process of applying schemes to experiences (ie: learning how to put on shoes)

Accommodation → changing the scheme as a result of new information (ie: learning how to tie shoes instead of slipping them on)

Define: Reaction Range

a range between upper and lower boundaries for traits such as intelligence, which is established by one's genes; one's environment determines where, within those limits, one will fall

Person Perception

Person Perception → the ability to classify others according to categories such as age, gender and race

What is an example of a socio-cultural influence that could make physical abuse of children more likely?

What is an example of a socio-cultural influence that could make physical abuse of children more likely?

When children in early childhood categorize their peers into those who are "nice" and those who are "not nice", they are exhibiting

Person Perception

Infant IQ tests such as the Bayley Scales of Infant Development typically measure:

Infant IQ tests such as the Bayley Scales of Infant Development typically measure:

Malnutrition: Marasmus

diet low in all essential nutrients; lasting physical damage; learning and behavioral effects; risk of death

When the calorie deficit is severe, a disease called marasmus results. Infants with marasmus weigh less than 60% of what they should at their age, and many suffer permanent neurological damage from the disease. Most also suffer from parasitic infections that lead to chronic diarrhea.

Biology and Evolutionary Theories

1. Genetics and epigenetics interact with the environment to shape health/wellbeing:

genes control specific characteristics and we have 23000 genes in each cell nucleus

2. Genotype vs Phenotype

3. Patterns of Inheritance

What makes a good theory

Falsifiable

Predictable

Explainable

Research methods

Scientific research

Qualitative research

Observational

Case study

Experiment

Survey

Cross sectional

Longitudinal

Sequential

Developmental studies

3 things that are debated on development

Discontinuous vs continuous

Passive vs active

Nature vs nurture

Polygenic

height, eye colour, body type, skin colour, personality

Recessive Genes

flat feet, blond hair, Rh-negative, red hair

Epigenetics

- Study of changes stemming from modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code

- Epigenetic markers regulate gene expression (by turning genes on or off)

- By controlling gene expression, epigenetic mechanisms regulate bodily processes

Evolutionary Theories

1. Ethology

2. Behaviour Genetics

3. Evolutionary Psychology

4. Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

3 general domains and dimensions to development?

Physical, cognitive, social and emotional

What is plasticity?

Ability to change, making our characteristics malleable

Genotype vs Phenotype

genotype is the specific genetic material on individual chromosomes, whereas phenotype is the observed characteristic

Patterns of Inheritance

dominant-recessive pattern, polygenetic inheritance, multi-factorial inheritance, mitochondrial inheritance

Ethology

genetically determined survival behaviours that are assumed to have evolved through natural selection

Behaviour Genetics

traits are influenced by genes - when related people are more similar than those who are unrelated

Evolutionary Psychology

the view that genetically inherited cognitive social traits have evolved through natural selection

Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

genetically inherited cognitive and social characteristics promote survival and adaptations at different times across the lifespan

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly of Evolutionary Theories

1. The Good: understanding biology improves precision medicine

2. The Bad: large emphasis on heredity, hard to prove

3. The Ugly: may underestimate the impact of the environment

What does psychoanalytic theories assert developmental change happens because of?

The inflence of internal drives and emotions on behaviour

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

- Behaviour is determined by conscious and unconscious processes

- Libido is an instinctual sexual drive

- Personality structure has 3 parts that develop overtime (Id, Ego, Superego)

Id

- Primitive features that are driven by an unconscious need for pleasure (pleasure principle)

- Present at birth

- Displays itself as selfish and demands gratification

Ego

- Develops around the age of 2 and focuses on the reality principle (ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly)

- Reduces conflict between Id and Superego by implementing defence mechanisms

Superego

- Develops around the age of 5

- It is our internal morals (morality principle) that we learn from our same-sex parent, that punishes our ego for any wrong through guilt

Freud's Psychosexual Theory 5 stages

1. Oral: 0-2 Infant achieves gratification through oral activities, such as feeding, thumb sucking, and babbling

2. Anal: 2-3 Child learns to respond to some of the demands of society (bowl and bladder control)

3. Phallic: 3-7 Child learns to realize the differences between males and females and becomes aware of sexuality

4. Latency: 7-11 Child continues their development, but sexual urges are relatively quiet

5. Genital: 11-Adult Growing adolescent shakes off old dependencies and learns to deal maturely with opposite sex

Freud's Psychosexual Theory Fixation: What happens in adulthood

1. Oral: smoking, overeating, passivity, gullibility

2. Anal: orderliness, parsimonious (frugal) or the opposite

3. Phallic: vanity, recklessness or the opposite

4. Latency: none, fixation does not occur at this stage

5. Genital: adults who have successfully integrated earlier stages should emerge with a sincere interest in others and mature sexuality

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Freud's theory?

Advantage: value and use in his assumptions, provide frameworksDisadvantage: difficult to test, sexist, darker side of human nature, not necessarily true (ie. resilience)

Who was the father of developmental psychology?

Erikson

What was Erikson's psychosocial theory?

Relationships and society's expectations motivate our behaviour. His belief is that we are not driven by unconscious urges

- Interaction of inner instincts and cultural demands

1. Development over the lifespan: in psychosocial stages

2. The 8 Crises: you must move through and successfully solve 8 dilemmas

Erikson's 8 Stages

1. Infancy (0-18 months): Trust vs Mistrust

2. Early Childhood (2-3): Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt

3. Preschool (3-5): Initiative vs Guilt

4. School Age (6-11): Industry vs Inferiority

5. Adolescence (12-18): Identity vs Role Confusion

6. Young Adult (19-40): Intimacy vs Isolation

7. Middle Adulthood (40-65): Generativity vs Stagnation

8. Maturity (65-Death): Ego Identity vs Despair

Critique of Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

1. The Good:

- Focus on importance of emotional quality of the child's earliest relationship with caregivers

- Address entire lifespan, suggest primary psychosocial crisis in some cultures

- Child's needs change with age and family interaction is crucial in the development of personality

- Concepts are part of everyday language

- Invented psychotherapy

- Emphasizes continued development during adulthood

2. The Bad

- Hard to test and measure

- Heavy focus on stages, linear aspect, not inclusive of all cultures

What is behaviorism?

theory of learning that focuses on observable behaviour

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

1. Self-actualization: achieving one's full potential, including creative activities

2. Esteem needs: prestige and feeling of accomplishment

3. Belongingness and love needs: intimate relationships, friends

4. Safety needs: security and safety

5. Physiological needs: food, water, warmth, rest

Inherent Optimism

- Carl Rogers

- Focused on capacity of each person to become a fully functioning person without guilt or seriously distorting defenses

- Hard to test and measure

Learning theories

- Focus on how experiences in the environment shape the child

- Human behaviour is seen as being shaped by processes such as classical and operant conditioning

Who was John B. Watson?

FOUNDER OF BEHAVOURISM

He believed that most of our fears and other emotional responses are classically conditioned and that our only inborn fear is loud noises

Who was Ivan Pavlov?

Believed behaviour could be learned thorough classical conditioning (with a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response)

Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

- Plays an important role in the development of emotional responses

- Food = unconditioned stimulus

- Salivating = unconditioned response

- Whistle = neutral stimulus

- Put whistle and food together

- Whistle = conditioned stimulus

- Salivating = conditioned response

Who was B. F. Skinner?

Found the principles of operant conditioning, focusing on strengthening desirable behaviour

Skinner's Operant Conditioning

- Positive = add stimulus

- Negative = remove stimulus

- Reinforcement = increase behaviour

- Punishment = decrease behaviour

- Positive reinforcement = add reward to increase behaviour

- Positive punishment = add bad thing to reduce behaviour

- Negative reinforcement = remove bad thing to increase behaviour

- Negative punishment = remove reward to decrease behaviour

Critique of Classical and Operant Conditioning

- Explains consistency and change in behaviour

- Optimistic about the possibility of change and gives an accurate picture of the way many behaviours are learned

- Not really developmental: does not tell us about age-related changes

Cognitive Theories

1. Piaget: Cognitive development theory based on scheme, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration

2. Information-Processing: Use the computer as a model of human thinking with memory processes

3. Vygotsky: Socio-cultural theory asserts complex forms of thinking: have their origins in social interactions (Zone of proximal development)

4. Bandura: Learning does not always require reinforcement: sometimes we learn through observation (Bobo Doll)

What is the social learning theory?

Learn by watching others - imitation, modelling, and copying