Early Childhood

Physical: Big Picture

  • 2-6 years old

  • body growth slows after year 2 but continues steadily

  • lose more baby fat

  • handedness

    • relationship with brain lateralization

Brain Development

  • cerebellum

    • movement, procedural memory

  • reticular formation

    • alertness, attention

  • amygdala

    • emotion

  • hippocampus

    • memory

  • corpus callosum

    • connection between hemispheres

Gross and Fine Motor Skills

Cognitive: Big Picture

  • executive function improves

    • inhibition, flexible shifting, planning

  • memory improves (especially episodic memory)

    • scripts

    • role of scaffolding autobiographical memory - elaborative style

  • vocabulary explosion (250 to 10k)

    • fast-mapping

  • emergent literacy, phonological awareness

Limitations of “Preoperational’ Thought

  • dual representations (big snoopy and little snoopy; symbols)- better by around age 3

  • egocentrism (3 mountains)

    • ‘egocentric speech’ vs. ‘private speech’

  • conservation (where does the water go?)

  • hierarchical classification (‘more red flowers or more flowers?’)

  • in general, more logical than piaget gave credit for (can classify on different levels, simplified conservation tasks, egocentrism is limited)

Changes in Play

  • advances in mental representation

  • less realistic objects (no longer need to just imitate adults)

  • less self-centered (e.g., baby dolls)

  • more complex (entire tea party) - sociodramatic play

  • is make-believe important for development? Vygotsky thought so

    • learning social rules

    • scaffolding/ guided participation

Social-Emotional: Big Picture

  • erikson: initiative vs. guilt stage

  • self-concept advances, self-esteem

  • emotion regulation and understanding improve; empathy and sympathy

  • friendships and cooperation

  • morality

  • gender identity

Peers and Play

  • classic model of advancing social play with age

    • nonsocial

    • parallel

    • associative

    • cooperative

  • do not necessarily replace each other, but more cooperative forms tend to become more common

Moral Development Perspectives

  • often rigid at first, begin to understand importance of intentions

  • freud - the ‘superego’

    • driven by guilt, adopting standards of same-sex parent

  • induction (highlighting effects of actions)

  • social learning theory (modeling)

  • cognitive-development perspective

    • moral imperatives vs. social conventions, matters of personal choice

Gender Development Perspectives

  • gender stereotypes also often rigid at first; little gender constancy

  • perspectives on gender differences and stereotypes:

    • evolutionary (biologically based differences)

    • social learning (modeling and reinforcement)

    • cognitive- developmental (understanding gender constacy)

    • gender schemas (combination of above)

Parenting Styles

  • which is most effective?

  • long term outcomes

  • cultural differences

  • relationship to:

    • personality

    • discipline choices

    • generation