Psychology Exam 3

Early Childhood

Significant period for physical and mental growth

Growth Patterns

Changes in height, weight, and body proportions, BMI at lowest point

Nutrition Importance

Good nutrition essential for healthy growth

Social Modeling

Establishing lifelong habits related to body care, eg. brushing teeth & eating

Low SES Effects

Correlates with poor nutrition and food insecurity, can lead to obesity, low immunity, high illness, disordered eating

Brain Growth

6-year-old brain at 90% of adult weight, continued growth of dendrites

Myelination

Rapid growth of the corpus callosum, aiding brain network connectivity, aids in integration of 2 hemispheres

Prefrontal Cortex

Immature development leads to impulsivity and emotional control issues

Cognitive Development

Understanding knowledge and mental ability acquisition

Piaget's Theory

Child as independent scientist exploring and discovering, focused on "self centered" cognition

Vygotsky's Theory

Learning occurs in social settings, guided by others.

Preoperational Thought

Piaget's second stage from ages 2-6, cognitive skills are developing but limited

Symbolic Thought

Imagination and possibilities, eg. animism, from a uniquely personal perspective

Preoperational

Before logical thought/operation/rules, limited understanding of AND, NOT, IF/THEN

Centration

Focus on one aspect of a problem only

Egocentrism

Consider the world solely from one's perspective

Focus on Appearance

Limited understanding that perception does not equal reality, ignore non-surface attributes

Irreversibility

Only able to work problems in one direction

Static Reasoning

Belief that the world is unchanging.

Benefits of being social

We learn from other's experiences, mentors & culture provide knowledge

Mentors

Individuals who assist children in learning, they present challenges, assist but don't control, provide information, and encourage

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

"Intellectual arena" of cognitive skills that are almost within reach

Scaffolding

Temporary support to help children reach their ZPD, makes learning easier NOT the task easier

Vygotsky: Learning & communication

Human language is a tool that aids in learning

Private speech

Speaking to oneself, allows kids to formulate ideas, see relationships, review what they know

Social mediation

Helps to bring about understanding AND provide motivation and encouragement

Theory of Mind

Ability to know that each individual has their own unique thoughts, experiences, and perceptions

Theory of mind cont.

Understanding that the mind is NOT the world, but rather that the mind is a particular representation of the world

Understanding of other's POVs

likes/dislikes (2-3 yo), perception/belief (abt 4 yo), emotional experience (not until 6 yo)

Cognitive development & ToM influenced by

Experience (especially socialization), brain maturation, and language skills

Executive function

The ability to organize, prioritize, attend to, and inhibit mental processes, non existent at age 2

Working memory

mental updating of, & the ability to manipulate the contents of consciousness

Inhibition (inhibitiory control)

the ability to control impulses, emotions, & behavior; to stop & think

Flexibility (task switching)

being able to take multiple perspectives and change focus between different tasks

Language learning

Vocabulary explodes! Avg: 2 yr = 500, 6 yr= 10K (up to 30k)

fast mapping

categorical learning, in a single exposure (not always precise)

Logical extension

children readily apply new descriptive words to items in a shared category

Overregularization

emergence of pragmatics (knowing to use different words/expressions w diff people)

Learning and reading

Children also develop literacy skills during EC- kids must 'learn the code' to read, learning what sounds go with what letter(s)

Practices aiding literacy

Explicitly code focused teaching, being read to, educating parents; parental vocab impacts child vocab, individualized conversation, preschool

Learning a second language

EC is the easiest time to learn multiple languages thanks to plasticity, however requires twice the language exposure

Code switching

Mixing what language is spoken in a single sentence or conversation