Childhood Development Test 3

temporal lobe

auditory cortex

difficult child (temperament)

-10% of sample -has irregular daily routines, is slow to accept new experiences, and tends to react negatively and intensely

slow-to-warm-up child (temperament)

-15% of sample -is inactive, shows mild, low-key reactions to environmental stimuli, is negative in mood, and adjusts slowly to new experiences, generally inactive (sit back and observe before joining a group)

reciprocal attachment phase

-18-24 months and on -toddlers try to persuade caregiver not to leave -communicate through language and verbal gestures -awareness parent may leave and return

unclassified child (temperament)

-35% of sample -showed unique blends of temperamental characteristics

easy child (temperament)

-40% of sample -quickly establishes regular routines in infancy, is generally cheerful, adapts easily to new experiences, positive affect

attachment-in-the-making phase

-6 weeks - 6-8 months -develop sense of trust- not distressed when caregiver leaves the room -expect caregiver to respond when signaled

clear-cut attachment phase

-6-8 months - 18-24 months -separation anxiety -caregiver as secure base (distress as caregiver leaves room)

primary caregivers' roles in attachment

-Bowlby thought only attach to one person (primary caregiver- usually mother but now also becoming father)- can have multiple attachments -father- build secure attachments through play -siblings -grandparents (skipped-generation families- 2.4 million or 4-5% of US children) -professional caregivers -after breastfeeding- see opportunity for attachment in other caregivers because not so reliant on mother for breastfeeding -mothers devote more time to physical care and expressing affection, fathers to playful interaction

types of temperament

-easy child -difficult child -slow-to-warm-up child

effortful control

-according to Rothbart, individuals differ not only in their reactivity in each dimension but also in the self-regulatory dimension of temperament -the capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response -variations are evident in how effectively a child can focus and shift attention, inhibit impulses, and manage negative emotion

fear

-adaptive purposes -innate fears (being left by caregiver or caregiver acting in unexpected way) -fear rises in the second half of the first year into the second year -increase in fears: stranger anxiety- most frequent expression of fear is to unfamiliar adults (common for child to be intertwined in legs of adult)- depends on several factors: temperament, past experiences with strangers, current situation- stranger expressing warmth, holding out attractive toy, playing familiar game, approaching slowly rather than abruptly; separation anxiety (ex. child being dropped off at school for first time, practiced skill, parent leaves and comes back routinely - allows child to adapt and not be with parent) -other fears are learned: bugs, fears we provide the child unnecessarily -rise in fear at 6 months- infants use the familiar caregiver as a secure base or point from which to explore, venturing into the environment and then returning for emotional support -approach: indicated by interest and friendliness; avoidance: indicated by fear

emotional display rules

-apply social rules for the display of emotion in social settings -mask expression of true feelings -culture and gender -when, where, and how it is appropriate to express emotions -first few months- parents encourage infants to suppress negative emotion -baby boys get more of this training than girls- boys have harder time regulating negative emotion -females- emotionally expressive, males- emotionally controlled -social pressures: to foster harmonious relationships, most cultures teach children to communicate positive feelings and inhibit unpleasant emotional displays -school-age children: prefer verbal strategies -3rd grade- children understand display rules in ensuring social harmony -collectivist cultures: emphasis on emotional display rules -western individualistic: emphasis on personal rights and self-expression

resistant attachment (insecure)

-before separation, these infants seek closeness to the parent and often fail to explore -when parent leaves- they are usually distressed and on her return they combine clinginess with anger, resistive behavior, struggling when held and sometimes hitting and pushing -many continue to cry and cling after being picked up and cannot be comforted easily -10% of North American infants in middle-socioeconomic status show this

social referencing

-beginning at 8-10 months- infants start to evaluate unfamiliar people, objects, and events in terms of their own safety and security -relying on another person's emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation (visual cliff) -caregiver's voice more effective than facial expression alone -toddlers move beyond simply reacting reacting to others' emotional messages -infant or toddler relies on trusted person's emotional reaction to decide how to respond to an uncertain situation - don't send signal of worry because child will sense it

pre-attachment phase

-birth-6 weeks -crying and smiling bring caregivers close

factors that affect attachment

-can form attachments as late as 4-6 years old -early availability of a consistent caregiver (orphanage)- emotional problems if not available, elevated rates of attachment insecurity -quality of caregiving (consistent caregiver)- present promptly, responding consistently and appropriately, is the adult in tune with the young child- those who are are more relaxed and comfortable in their parent role; sensitive caregiving: responding promptly, consistently and appropriately to infants and holding them tenderly and carefully (attachment security); western babies- interactional synchrony: separates the experiences of secure from insecure babies, best described as a sensitively tuned "emotional dance" in which the caregiver responds to infant signals in a well-timed, rhythmic, appropriate fashion; avoidant babies- overstimulating care -baby's characteristics- families with stress and maternal depression- attachment insecurity; temperament gets reinforced throughout family members; child has challenging behaviors- elicits frustration from adult -family context (including parents' internal working models)- marital strain concept, job loss, financial strain, factors that make it difficult to parent effectively because mainly adults get too stressed to give it that type of consideration, can negatively impact the attachment style; social supports- reduces family stress and predicts greater attachment security

goodness of fit

-child's temperament can be shaped by parents care giving, parent sensitivity, support, having clear expectations and limits- help foster effortful control -Thomas and Chess proposed this model to explain how temperament and environment together can produce favorable outcomes -involves creating child-rearing environments that recognize each child's temperament while encouraging more adaptive functioning

school age emotions

-emotions are reflective -great emotional understanding -capable of genuine empathy -emotions are effectively managed- ability to regulate emotions internally -age 6-8 young children can internalize emotions

Strange Situation

-developed by Mary Ainsworth -tested basic premises of attachment theory -technique for assessing the quality of attachment between 1 and 2 year olds -reasoned that securely attached infants and toddlers should use the parent as a secure base from which to explore in an unfamiliar playroom -when the parent leaves, an unfamiliar adult should be less comforting than the parent -takes baby through 8 short episodes in which brief separations from and reunions with caregiver occur -assessed: separation, play exploration, behavior with stranger -four categories of attachment: secure, avoidant, resistant, disorganized/disoriented -less stability in low socio-economic levels

temperament

-early-appearnig, stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation -reactivity -self-regulation -biologically based, heritable -consistency between temperament assessments after age 2 and later behavior -reinforced by self, family, and others -better consistency after age 3 and better predictability in behavior -persistence = positive outcomes -distractibility, high activity level, irritable, impulsivity = poorer outcomes in realm of being in school -goodness of fit

adolescence emotions

-feel strongly in response to elicitors of emotion -emotional swings -sensitive to emotions of others, i.e. peers -age 10: problem-centered coping- appraise the situation as changeable, identify the difficulty, and decide what to do about it; if problem solving does not work they engage in emotion-centered coping- internal, private and aimed at controlling distress when little can be done about an outcome

empathy

-feeling same or similar emotions as another person -complex mix of cognition and affect -must detect emotions, take other's emotional perspective and feel with that person or respond emotionally in a similar way -important motivator of prosocial or altruistic behavior: actions that benefit another person without any expected reward for the self -newborns cry in response to another baby crying -end of second year- toddlers begin to empathize -older toddlers- affective perspective-talking: inferring how another feels by imagining themselves in that person's place -children start to rely more on words to console others as language develops

secure attachment

-infants use the trusted adult caregiver as a secure base and when separated the child may or may not cry but really interested in how they respond to trusted caregiver upon reentry into the room -securely attached toddler: seeking contact upon reentry into room and comforted by their presence- small hug and lifting up- can regroup emotionally with caregiver -may or may not cry when separated from caregiver but if they do it is because the parent is absent and they prefer her to the stranger -60% of North American infants in middle-socioeconomic status show this

stability of temperament

-low in infancy and toddlerhood and moderate form the preschool years on -temperament develops with age -after age 3: children's styles of responding are better established -between 2.5-3 years old children improve substantially and also perform more consistently across a wide variety of tasks requiring effortful control (waiting for reward, lowering voice to whisper, succeeding at games like "Simon Says", selectively attending to one stimulus while ignoring competing stimuli) -ease with which children in early childhood manage their reactivity: depends on type and strength of reactive emotion involved -preschoolers who were highly fearful 2 year olds score higher than age mates in effortful control as 4 year olds -angry, irritable 2 year olds are less effective at effortful control at later ages -factors affect the extent to which a child's temperament remains stable: development of biological systems on which temperament is based, child's capacity for effortful control, success of her efforts (which depend on quality and intensity of her emotional reactivity)

sadness

-most frequently elicited by disruption in infant-caregiver relationship -occurs more often than anger in infants and toddlers -response to pain, removal of an object, brief separations

disorganized/disoriented attachment (insecure)

-most insecure attachment pattern -reunion- these infants show confused, contradictory behaviors (looking away while parent is holding them or approaching the parent with flat, depressed emotion) -most display a dazed facial expression, few cry out unexpectedly after having calmed down or display odd, frozen postures -15% of North American infants in the middle-socioeconomic status show this -70% of those with disorganized attachment style retain it

phases of attachment

-pre-attachment -attachment-in-the-making -clear-cut -reciprocal

attachment and later development

-preschoolers who were securely attached as babies- rated by their teachers as higher in self-esteem, social skills, and empathy then insecurely attached counterparts who displayed more behavior problems -age 11- children who were secure infants had more favorable relationships with peers, closer friendships, and better social skills -disorganized/disoriented attachment is consistently related to internalizing problems (fear and anxiety) and externalizing problems (anger and aggression) during preschool and school years; show inappropriate role reversals -early, warm, positive parenting - child tie, sustained over time, promotes many aspects of children's development: more confident and complex self-concept, more advanced emotional understanding, stronger emotional self-regulation, more favorable relationships with teachers and peers, more effective social skills, stronger sense of moral responsibility and higher motivation to achieve in school -effects of early attachment security are conditional- dependent on quality of the child's future relationships

Bowlby's ethological theory of attachment

-recognizes the infant's emotional tie to the caregiver as an evolved response that promotes survival -is the most widely accepted view -phases of attachment -attachment is an evolved response that promotes survival -infant has innate signaling behaviors: grasping, gazing, crying, smiling -infants exhibits proximity seeking behaviors: crawling, walking, reaching -adult, ideally, exhibits consistently sensitive and responsive caregiving -interplay between infant/child and adult is called interactional synchrony -desire outcome: adult is secure base for infant/toddler exploration, allowing infant or toddler to master their environment through exploration

reactivity

-refers to quickness and intensity of emotional arousal, attention, and motor action -onset, persistence, and intensity of emotional reactions -Rothbart

self-regulation

-refers to strategies that modify that reactivity -regulation of emotional reactions -Rothbart

internal working model (attachment)

-set of expectations about the availability of attachment figures, their likelihood of providing support during times of stress, and the self's interaction with those figures -internal working model becomes a vital part of personality, serving as a guide for all future close relationships

self-conscious emotions

-shame -embarrassment -guilt -envy -pride -need adult instruction about when to feel them -adaptive: facilitate being part of social group -highly cultural: highly collectivistic shouldn't show pride- excess is embarrassing or shameful, we live in independent society -linked to self-identity: 6-8 months- rudimentary sense of self, know self as separate from environment, know self as agent of action; 15-22/18-24 months- mental representation of self; rouge on nose experiment (child able to find self at certain age when has a little bit of red on nose and looking into mirror) -age 3- self-conscious emotions are linked to self-evaluation

toddlerhood and preschool emotions

-social referencing -self-conscious emotions - linked to self-identity -understanding emotions influence social interaction- skills and understanding awareness increases overtime

health (emotions)

-stress is related to illness, disease

influences on development of temperament

-temperament implies a genetic foundation for individual differences in personality -identical twins more similar than fraternal twins in temperamental and personality traits -heritability estimates are higher for expressions of negative emotion than for positive emotion -persistent nutritional and emotional deprivation profoundly alter temperament (maladaptive emotional reactivity) -higher levels in home noise and crowding are linked to withdrawal and irritability in second year -Chinese and Japanese babies: less active, irritable, and vocal, easily soothed when upset; better at quieting themselves; more fearful and inhibited; more emotionally restrained, smiling, laughing, and crying less than North American Caucasian infants - Japanese mothers say children are independent beings who must learn to rely on parents through close physical contact - American mothers think the opposite- away from dependency and toward autonomy -parents regard siblings as more distinct than other observers do - parents' tendency to emphasize each child's unique qualities affects their child-rearing practices -more warmth and less harshness- more positive in mood and prosocial behavior and less likely to have behavior problems -children evoke responses from caregivers that are consistent with parental beliefs and child's developing temperament

attachment

-the strong, affectionate tie we have with special people in our lives that leads us to experience pleasure and joy when we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness in times of stress -continuity of care and not just attachment at infancy

infant emotions and social life/social relationships

-unregulated: infant will continue crying unless they have adult help them regulate emotions or they'll tire out, adult needs to be present to help infant navigate emotions (progresses over time) -2-4 months - caregivers initiate face-to-face play and attention to objects -4-6 months - ability to shift attention and engage in self-soothing helps infants control emotion -basic emotions -emotion contagion: infant responds resonantly to emotions in others -emotion perception at 5-months (visual acuity - facial expressions) -infants whose parents read and respond to emotional cues tend to be less fussy and fearful and have more pleasurable emotions -child may become anxious if caregivers fail to regulate stressful situations -18 months- vocab talking about feelings and temper tantrums -2 years old- when feel distressed they can guide caregivers in helping them

avoidant attachment (insecure)

-when have primary caregiver that is over stimulating especially when infant is not matching interest in item -potential behaviors from caregivers is related to this -unresponsive when parent is present and when she leaves they are usually not distressed and they react the same way to a stranger as they would to a parent -during reunion they avoid or are slow to greet the parent and when picked up they fail to cling -15% of North American infants in middle-socioeconomic status show this

emotional self-regulation

-young infants rely on caregivers to soothe them -strategies used to adjust emotional states to a comfort level of intensity -caregivers contribute to child's self-regulation style- talk about turn taking, emphasize the emotion, talk about how to channel energy in a different way -in young kids- most likely what sends kids to principal's office -toddlers can push adults to limits (testing limits, sense of self and individuality and independence) -requires voluntary, effortful management of emotions- effortful control

uninhibited or sociable children

display positive emotion to and approach novel stimuli

sympathy

feeling of concern or sorrow for another's situation

sex differences

girls learn language before boys

dominant cerebral hemisphere

handedness reflects the greater capacity of one side of the brain to carry out skilled motor action

gains in gross motor skills in adolescence

increased: body size and muscles

emotion contagion

infant responds resonantly to emotion in others

inhibited or shy children

react negatively to and withdraw from novel stimuli

syntax

rules by which words are arranged into sentences

neurons (or nerve cells)

-100-200 billion -form communication system -store and transmit information -unlike body cells, neurons have space between each other -not tightly packed together (synapses) -neurons send messages via neurotransmitters (chemicals) that cross and allow for communication -prenatal period- neurons produced in the embryo's primitive neural tube --> migrate to form major parts of the brain, once neurons are in place they differentiate, establishing unique functions by extending their fibers to form synaptic connections with neighboring cells -infancy and early childhood- neural fibers increase at astounding pace -as neurons form connections - stimulation becomes vital to their survival -neural connections formed and sustained during stimulation and pruned when not used (synaptic pruning- returns neurons not needed at the moment to an uncommitted state so they can support future development); 40% pruned during childhood and adolescence

milestones language development chart

-6 months- babble -1 year- 1st words -2 year- combine 2-3 words -4-5 years- vast vocab and use many grammatical constructions

theories of language development

-Nativist -Interactionist

hypothalamus

-a structure that initiates and regulates pituitary secretions -stimulates the pituitary gland to release hormones that either induce growth directly or stimulate other endocrine glands to release growth-inducing hormones -a highly sensitive feedback loop exists in which the hypothalamus detects hormone levels in the bloodstream and instructs the pituitary gland to increase or decrease the amount of each hormone accordingly -contains special receptors that detect hormone levels in the bloodstream -through highly sensitive feedback loop it instructs the pituitary gland to increase or decrease the amount of each hormone - growth is carefully controlled

glial cells

-about half the brain's volume is made up of them -responsible for myelination -multiply rapidly from the fourth month of pregnancy through the second year of life- process that continues at a slower pace through middle childhood and accelerates again in adolescence

adolescent semantic development

-abstract terms -sarcasm, irony -figurative language (proverbs, literature appreciation)

anger

-adaptive purpose: channel anger to achieve goals -expressions by 2-months -expressions increase in intensity and frequency between 4-6 months and 2 years -can teach children to channel anger by 18-months -anger is particularly intense when a caregiver from whom they have come to expect warm behavior causes discomfort

happiness/joy

-adaptive purpose: draws caregiver closer and people around child (siblings, people at grocery store) -newborns smile when full, during REM sleep, and in response to gentle touches and sounds -end of first month- smile at at eye catching sights -social smile (parent's communication evokes a broad grin) at 6-10 weeks -laughter at 3-4 months (tactile originally - tickling tummy, laughter at games later) -middle of first year- smile and laugh more when interacting with familiar people

potential cons of organized youth sports

-adult control/rules guide children's play -emphasis on competition -increased critiques

insights from research on brain plasticity

-adults who suffered brain injury in infancy and early childhood show fewer cognitive impairments than adults with later-occuring injuries -when young brain is injured- its functioning is compromised -extent of plasticity depends on: age at time of injury, site of damage, and skill area -damage to cerebral cortex in first 6 months of life- delays in language development that persisted until about 3.5 years old, children caught up by age 5 in vocab and grammar skills, undamaged areas had taken over these language functions; spatial skills more impaired- children improved in drawing skills with age -children with early brain injuries show deficits in a wide variety of complex mental abilities during the school years; reading and math is slow, produce simpler narratives; poorer scores on intelligence tests -crowding effect- multiple tasks must be done by a smaller than usual volume of brain tissue, brain processes information less quickly and accurately than it would have if it were intact -adult stroke victims- often have considerable recovery (language and motor skills) -plasticity is greatest while the brain is forming many new synapses, declines during synaptic pruning

quality of home literacy and its effect on vocab development

-age appropriate books -joint child/adult reading -talking about stories -adults assist in language development

reticular formation

-alertness and consciousness -generates synapses and myelinated from early childhood into adolescence -neurons in reticular formation send out fibers to many other areas of the brain; many go to the prefrontal lobes of the cerebral cortex, contributing to improvements in sustained controlled attention

support for biological language preparedness (nativist theory)

-animal language: not as inventive, sticks to word and word combinations and structures that they know, humans for language, language seems to be unique to humans -existence of brain structures: regions predisposed to language processing -sensitive period for language: humans only have prime, condensed time to learn language, older you are when you start to learn another language the less likely you will be able to speak with native accent and master the language as well as younger children in the same amount of time (immigrant families)

programmed cell death

-aspect of brain growth -makes space for these connective structures: as synapses form, many surrounding neurons die- 20-80%, depending on the brain region

muscle/fat development

-baby fat- peaks around 9 months, decreases around 2 years old -girls have more fat than boys (at birth and through puberty) -both sexes gain muscle but boys: experience 150% increase in muscle, have larger hearts and lungs, increased red blood cells (oxygen capacity)

cerebellum

-balance and body movement -fibers linking the cerebellum to cerebral cortex grow and myelinate from birth through the preschool years, contributing to dramatic gains in motor coordination (support thinking)

elementary age semantic development

-big vocab increase - fast-mapping continues -use words precisely, understand multiple meaning- metaphors, puns

skeletal growth

-cartilage cells are produced at the growth plates of the epiphyses and gradually harden into bone -skeletal age- the best estimate of a child's physical maturity, measure of development of the bones of the body, measured in the spaces between the bones- cartilage cell growth -embryonic skeleton is first formed out of soft, pliable tissue called cartilage -6th week of pregnancy- cartilage cells begin to harden into bone, gradual process that continues throughout childhood and adolescence -just before birth- special growth cells called epiphyses appear at the two extreme ends of each of the long bones of the body -cartilage cells continue to be produced at the growth plates of these epiphyses which increase in number throughout childhood and then as growth continues get thinner and disappear- after that, no further growth in bone length is possible -girls ahead of boys (4-6 week gap) -African-American children ahead of Caucasian-American children

trends for changes in body proportions

-cephalocaudal trend -proximodistal trend

gains in gross motor skills in early childhood

-changes seen in: size, proportions, muscle strength, center of gravity -2 years old- can run, jump, walk -3-6 years old- can hop, gallop, skip -skills improve with time and practice

organized youth sports

-children less involved in informal, physical play -popular extra-curricular activity (60% of boys and 37% of girls between 5-18 years old) -decreasing trend due to safety (reports of concussions) and availability of media -children lack physical movement: good health = moderate activity for 1 hour/day; school age- 49% of boys and 35% are active enough; adolescence- 25% of boys and 11% of girls are active enough

myelination

-coating of neural fibers with an insulating fatty sheath (called myelin) that improves the efficiency of message transfer -gains in neural fibers and myelination are responsible for the extraordinary increase in overall size of the brain (from nearly 30% of its adult weight at birth to 70% by age 2 and 90% at age 6)

functions of emotions

-cognitive processing -social behavior -health

social behavior (emotions)

-communication -affect behaviors

language comprehension vs. language production

-comprehension- the language they understand -production- the language they use -comprehension develops ahead of production

brain development in adolescence

-connectivity in cerebral cortex expands and attains rapid communication: prefrontal cortex becomes more effective "executive", improved cognitive skills, still fine-tuning self-restraint, planning, and future orientation skills, still working on self-regulation -changes in emotional/social network: stronger emotions, surge in sexual feelings

narratives

-conversations with adults about past experiences contribute to dramatic gains in children's ability to produce well-organized, detailed, expressive narratives -leap-frog narratives: jumping from one event to another in a disorganized fashion -between ages 4.5-5 children start to produce chronological narratives: placing events in temporal sequence and building to a high point -age 6- chronological narratives extend into classic narratives: children add a resolution -preschoolers' limited working memories- partly responsible for their restricted narratives -young children often presume more shared knowledge than their listener has so they offer little orienting information about events such as time, place, and participants -preschoolers' narratives contain few evaluations: comments about how and why events took place or about their own and others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions -middle childhood- orienting information, detailed descriptions, connectives that lend coherence to the story increase ("next," "then," "so," "finally") -evaluative comments rise in middle childhood and adolescence -when parents use elaborative strategy to help young children construct narratives, preschoolers produce more organized, detailed, and evaluative personal stories -pretend-play and narrative competence support each other -because children pick up narrative styles of parents and other significant adults in their lives, narrative forms vary widely across cultures -African-American children use associating style: blending several similar anecdotes; longer narratives and more complex than American white children -Japanese- haiku: culturally valued poetic form -families who eat meals together- children are advanced in language and literacy development

first speech sounds

-cooing- 2 months, vowel sounds -babbling- 6 months, consonant-vowel combination, universal timing (even children who can't hear babble around this time and then it fizzles out), range expands

information-processing perspective (interactionist theory)

-derived from research with connectionist (design computer systems to simulate the multilayered networks of neural connections in the brain and program them with basic learning procedures), or artificial neural network (exposed to various types of language input and given feedback about the accuracy of its responses), models -networks capture children's early errors and gradually detect adult linguistic patterns -human brain is skilled at detecting patterns -statistical learning capacity: infants identify basic language patterns by applying the same strategies they use to make sense of their nonlinguistic experience; not sufficient to account for mastery of higher-level aspects of language

types of growth curves

-distance curve -velocity curve

adults' role in youth organized sports

-emphasize effort/team work -highlight improvements -encourage participation/tenacity -don't emphasize competition -coaches and parents who criticize rather than encourage can prompt intense anxiety in some children -high parental pressure to excel at sports and frequent and intense practice are linked to children's emotional difficulties and early athletic dropout

hormonal influences

-endocrine glands manufacture hormones- physical substances secreted by specialized cells in one part of the body that pass to and influence cells in another -pituitary gland -hypothalamus -growth hormone (GH) -estrogens and androgens

functionalist perspective (emotions...)

-energize behavior for reaching a goal -arise between person-environment exchanges -central to everything we do: cognitive behavior, relation to cognition, related fear or sadness (no- rooted in parents fear); social-emotional behaviors and emotions- their smiling is reciprocated by other adults and their children- still face experiment, emotions related to social behaviors and adjustment, parental depression and impact on young children, pro-social positive exchanges with adults (around 9 months)- delight for parents because being proactive in exchanges (increased emphasis on joint- point to something and smile exchanging parents); emotions and health- growth hormone suppressed in neglectful situations, importance of cortisol (too low or too high can negatively impact young children), persistent psychological stress, increased heart rate or blood pressure or suppressed immune systems can all be results

cognitive processing (emotions)

-essential for survival, adaption -can impair cognitive functioning, i.e. anxiety

cephalocaudal trend

-from the Latin for "head to tail" -during the prenatal period the head develops first from the primitive embryonic disk, followed by the lower part of the body

puberty

-girls experience puberty 2 years before boys (north American adolescent females - 10.5-15.5 years old (12.5 = avg)) -gain 50-75 pounds, 10-11 inches -boys shoulders broaden -dramatic sex differences -girls hips broaden -boys larger- longer legs in proportion to body- girls start puberty earlier (age 10-11- girls become taller than boys), age 14- boys surpass girls in height -"rebellious and reckless" "full of rages and tempers" -hands, legs, and feet grow first, then torso

proximodistal trend

-growth proceeds, from "near to far"- from the center of the body outward -in the prenatal period the head, chest, and trunk, grow first then the arms and legs and finally the hands and feet -during infancy and childhood, the arms and legs continue to grow somewhat ahead of the hands and feet

basic emotions

-happiness -interest -surprise -fear -anger -sadness -disgust -universal in humans and other primates and have a long evolutionary history of promoting survival -dynamic systems perspective: children coordinate separate skills into more effective, emotional expressive systems as the central nervous system develops and the child's goals and experiences change

factors that affect physical growth

-heredity: genes influence growth by controlling the body's production of and sensitivity to hormones -nutrition -infectious disease -emotional well-being: incredibly extreme negative actions, cold/distant parenting

brain plasticity

-highly plastic cerebral cortex- areas are not yet committed to specific functions, has a high-capacity for learning -if part of cortex is damaged- other parts can take over the tasks it would have handled -in infants and young children, parts of the brain are not yet specialized- positive because rest of brain can take care of injury, etc. -recover better from brain injuries -older children, even adults have some plasticity -an overabundance of synaptic connections supports brain plasticity - ensuring that young children will acquire certain capacities even if some areas are damaged

gains in gross motor skills in school years

-improved: balance, strength, flexibility, agility, combination of upper and lower body skills -sex differences exist largely due to environment

benefits of organized youth sports

-increased self esteem/confidence -improved social skills -decreased social anxiety -increased group belonging

amygdala

-inner brain structure adjacent to hippocampus -processing emotions -sensitive to facial emotional expressions, especially fear -also enhances memory for emotionally salient events, ensuring information relevant for survival, stumble that evoke fear or signify safety, will be retrieved on future occasions -capacity for emotional learning emerges in early childhood

interactionist theory

-inner capacities and environment work together -social context is important -information-processing perspective -social interaction perspective

types of bilingual education (social issues: education)

-language immersion- strong in Canada- children with an official minority language background (French in English provinces and English in French) have the right to elementary and secondary education in their respective languages -French-English bilingualism has increased by 12% since the mid-1990s because of Canada's language immersion programs (7% of Canadian elementary school students are enrolled) -English-only learning environments- favored in U.S., 20% of children learn new languages, 50% young Hispanics and Latinos, 10 million speak language other than English at home -some in US believe that time spent communicating in the child's native language detracts from English-language achievement which is crucial for success in the worlds of school and work -others say that providing instruction in the native tongue lets minority children know that their heritage is respected -also prevents inadequate proficiency in both languages -classrooms where both Spanish and English are in the curriculum- minority students get more involved in learning , participate in class discussions, and acquire speaking and reading skills in the second language more easily (better academic achievement) -bilingual education: support and instruct in native language while learning English

sex differences in gross motor skills

-large at adolescence -early childhood: boys advanced over girls in abilities that emphasize force and power, age 5- boys can broad-jump slightly farther, run slightly faster, and throw a ball about 5 feet farther; boys more adept at batting, kicking, dribbling, catching, slightly greater muscle mass; girls better in fine-motor skills and gross motor skills that require balance and agility like hopping and skipping -social pressures for boys more than girls to be active and physically skilled (boys play catch with their Dad's more) -the stronger girls believe that females are incompetent at sports the lower girls judge their own ability and the poorer their actual performance is -adolescence: girls' gains in gross-motor performance are slow and gradual and level off at age 14; boys show dramatic spurt in strength, speed and endurance that continues during the teenage years, widening the gap; no boy scores as low as the average girl; for both sexes physical activity declines during adolescence (school cutbacks), drop is sharper for girls -need to raise girls confidence -sports provide lessons in teamwork, problem solving, assertiveness, and competition -physical self-efficacy- belief in one's ability to sustain an exercise program

corpos callosum

-large bundle of fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres -production of synapses and myelination of the corpus callosum increase at 1 year, peak between 3-6 years, and then continue at slower pace through middle childhood and adolescence -supports smooth coordination of movements on both sides of the body and integration of perception, attention, memory, language, and problem solving -the more complex the task, the more essential is communication between hemispheres

bilingualism

-learn both languages at the same time- no problems with language development, good at both by preschool -one, then the other- takes 3-5 years to be as good as same-age native speakers of second language -either way offers cognitive advantage: attention, reasoning, concepts, flexibility, general language skills -code switching: producing an utterance in one language that contains one or more "guest" words from the other

broca's area

-located in the frontal lobe -supports grammatical processing and language production -body movement and coordination -motor movements related to speaking -communicates through a bundle of nerve fibers

wernicke's area

-located in the temporal lobe -involved in comprehending word meaning -communicates through a bundle of nerve fibers -input from primary auditory area (sensations from ears are sent)

hippocampus

-memory (retrieve information) and spatial awareness (drawing and reading of maps) -undergoes rapid synapse formation and myelination in the second half of the first year, when recall memory and independent movement emerge -inner brain structure

social interactionist perspective (interactionist theory)

-native capacity, a strong desire to understand others and to be understood by them, and a rich language environment combine to help children discover the functions and regularities of language -active child- well-endowed for making sense of language, strives to communicate- cues caregivers to provide appropriate language experiences which in turn help her relate the content and structure of language to its social meanings

limitations of nativist perspective

-no agreement on universal grammar rules -contradicts observation of development (more experimentation, learning involved) -theory lacks comprehensiveness (ignores quality of language input, ignores role of social experience- who is around child assisting with language development) -native capacity combines with rich language environment (interactionist perspective)

components of language

-phonetics -semantics -grammar -pragmatics

periods of physical growth

-physical growth and maturity differs by species -prolonged physical immaturity (20% of lifespan, adaptive in humans) -most rapid growth during first year (height is 50% greater at one year than at birth, 75% greater at age 2) -during infancy and childhood boys and girls are similar -growth slows in early and middle childhood (2-3 inches in height and 5 lbs in weight each year) -puberty -ethnic variations in growth norms and average sizes

brain development

-prenatal period- neurons produced in embryo's primitive neural tube -migrate to form the major parts of the brain -differentiate or establish their function -brain viewed as "living sculpture" - brain making connections and pruning things that are unnecessary, concepts in environment having impact on brain -neurons -synapses -glial cells -myelin

language acquisition device (LAD)

-proposed by Noam Chomsky -an innate system that permits children, once they have acquired sufficient vocabulary, to combine words into grammatically consistent, novel utterances and to understand the meaning of sentences they hear -LAD is suited for language processing, children master the structure of language spontaneously with only limited language exposure -LAD ensures that language, despite its complexity, will be acquired early and swiftly

nativist theory

-proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky -regards language as a uniquely human accomplishment, etched into the structure of the brain -focusing on grammar, reasoned that the rules for sentence organization are too complex to be directly taught to or discovered by even a cognitively sophisticated young child -all children have a language acquisition device (LAD) -universal grammar

emotion

-rapid appraisal of personal significance to a situation -prepares you for action -emotion considered adaptive, interplay between you and environment

expressive vs. referential styles

-referential- large vocab in understanding objects or naming things, used by most toddlers -expressive- how they are doing, highly focused on socialization and group membership (more social formulas and pronouns uttered as compressed phrases that sound like single words) (Korean, Japanese), used by a smaller number of toddlers ("thank you", "done", "Iwannit"), people's feelings and needs -vocab of referential-style children grows faster because all languages contain more nouns than social terms

pragmatics

-refers to the rules for engaging in appropriate and effective communication (ex. taking turns, staying on topic, standing in place, making eye contact) -during the preschool years- children make considerable headway in mastering the pragmatics of language -2 year olds can have effective conversations -early childhood- turnabout

pituitary gland

-releases the most important hormones for human growth -located at the base of the hypothalamus -once pituitary hormones enter the bloodstream, they act directly on body tissues to induce growth or they stimulate the release of other hormones from the endocrine glands located elsewhere in the body

how adults' support language development

-respond to infants' coos and babbles with speech sounds and words -establish joint attention and comment on what the child sees -play social games, such as pat-a-cake and peekaboo, with infants and toddlers -engage children in frequent conversations -expand slightly on what the child just said, adding new information -read to children often, engaging them in dialogues about picture books

phonology

-rules governing the structure and sequence of sounds -children make great progress in this between 1-4 years old -trying to talk like people around them in their native language - end of first year -toddlers look longer at the appropriate object when a word was pronounced correctly than when it was either mildly to extremely mispronounced, respond this way to mispronunciations of either beginning or ending consonants -middle of second year- children move from trying to pronounce while syllables and words to trying to pronounce each individual sound within a word (intermediate phase of development- partly wrong and partly right pronunciation); unique sounding words are difficult to pronounce -at first, children produce minimal words (focusing on the stressed syllable and trying to pronounce its consonant-vowel combination ("du" or "ju" for "juice"); soon add consonants, adjust vowel length, and add unstressed syllables; finally, produce full word with correct stress pattern, may still need to refine a few sounds -"v" is late-approaching sound in English because it is infrequent but common in Swedish -pronunciation improves in preschool years -phonological development largely complete by age 5, few syllable stress patterns signaling subtle differences in meaning are not acquired until middle childhood or adolescence

thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)

-second pituitary hormone -prompts the thyroid gland in the neck to release thyroxine (early brain growth, energy metabolism, bone growth, cell size and duplication) which is necessary for brain development and for GH to have its full impact

right hemisphere

-sensory information and control of left side of body -spatial abilities -negative emotion -holistic, integrative processing

left hemisphere

-sensory information and control of right side of body -verbal abilities -positive emotion -sequential, analytical processing

estrogens and androgens

-sexual maturation controlled by pituitary secretions that stimulate the release of sex hormones -both types are present in each sex but different amounts -boy's testes release large quantities of androgen testosterone- muscle growth, body and facial hair, and other male sex characteristics, gains in body size, sex drive increases -estrogens increase GH secretion adding to the growth spurt and stimulating gains in bone density with androgens -estrogens released by girls' ovaries cause the breasts, uterus, and vagina to mature, the body to take on feminine proportions, and fat to accumulate; contribute to regulation of menstrual cycle -adrenal androgens- released from adrenal glands located on top of each kidney influence girls' height spurt and stimulate growth of underarm and pubic hair; little impact on boys, whose physical characteristics are influenced mainly by androgen and estrogen secretions from the testes

pragmatic development in middle childhood

-shading- start slowly moving conversation along to different topic -illocutionary knowledge/intent

infant/child-directed speech

-short sentences -high pitch -exaggerated expression -clear pronunciation -distinct pauses -clear gestures -repetition -infants prefer this type of speech and it tends to be automatic- response of parents with hopes of getting sustained attention

speech registers

-social expectations -polite language -children sensitive to speech registers early: 4-7 years -important to social acceptance

telegraphic speech

-sometime between 1.5-2.5 years old, as productive vocab reaches 200-500 words, children transition from word-gesture combinations to joining two words ("Mommy shoe," "go car," "more cookie" -these two-word utterances are telegraphic speech because like a telegram, they focus on high-content words and omit smaller, less important ones, such as can, the, and to -for children learning languages that emphasize word order, such as English and French, endings like -s and -ed are not yet present -cut out unnecessary words to get point across (2-word combinations, high content words)

lateralization

-specialization of two brain hemispheres -left and right hemispheres -lateralized brain may have evolved because it enabled humans to cope more successfully with changing environmental demands -permits wider array of functions to be carried out effectively than if both sides processed information exactly the same way

regions of cerebral cortex

-surrounds the rest of the brain, resembling half of a shelled walnut -largest brain structure - accounting for 85% of brains weight and containing the greatest number of neurons and synapses -last structure to stop growing- sensitive to environmental influences for longer period of time -different regions have different functions -develop at different rates -divided into different lobes, each containing a variety of regions -auditory - first year of life -language - second year of life

early grammatical development

-telegraphic speech -simple sentences (3-word sentences- "I want that", "more milk please", affected by language environment- how often they have the opportunity to say and hear those words)

growth hormone (GH)

-the only pituitary secretion produced continuously throughout life, affects development of all tissues except the central nervous system and genitals -DNA synthesis and duplication -production doubles during puberty- contributing to tremendous gains in body size and then decreases after final adult height is reached -acts directly on the body and also stimulates the liver and epiphyses of the skeleton to release another hormone, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which triggers cell duplication throughout the body, especially the skeleton, muscles, nerves, bone marrow (origin of blood cells), liver, kidney, skin, and lungs -necessary for physical development from birth on -2% of children suffer from inherited conditions that cause deficiency in this

turnabout

-the speaker not only comments on what has just been said but also adds a request to get the partner to respond again -2 year olds rarely use turnabouts because they cannot generate many words in each turn but children do so increasingly over the next few years -between 5-9 years old more advanced conversational strategies appear (shading- speaker initiates a change of topic gradually by modifying the focus of discussion) -heard it, can repeat it, allowing person to continue on topic

grammar

-third component of language -consists of two parts: syntax and morphology

prefrontal cortex

-thought, inhibition, problem solving -lying in front of areas controlling body movement, is responsible for thought- in particular, consciousness, attention, inhibition for impulses, integration of information, and use of memory, reasoning, planning, and problem-solving strategies -2 months and older- functions more effectively -undergoes rapid myelination and formation and pruning of synapses during preschool and school years and also adolescence when reaches adult level synaptic connections

synapses

-tiny gaps between neurons where fibers from different neurons come close together but do not touch -neurotransmitters cross synapses

semantics

-vocabulary/concepts expressed in words or word combinations -to build versatile vocabulary, children must refine the meanings of thousands of words and connect them into elaborate networks of related terms -1st words tend to be important people (mama, dada- internationally short words), common objects (train), and sounds (woof-woof, vroom vroom)

illocutionary intent

-what a speaker means to say, even if the form of the utterance is not perfectly consistent with it -age 3- children can comprehend a variety of requests for action not directly expressed as requests: "I need a pencil" or "why don't you tickle me?" -appreciating form-intention pairings requires children to make subtle inferences that are beyond preschoolers' cognitive capacities

joint attention

-when the child attends to the same object or event as the caregiver who often labels it -contributes greatly to early language development -gaze in same general direction as adult (10-11 months becomes more accurate) -greater sustained attention -can comprehend more language -can produce more meaningful gestures -larger vocal before age of two

universal grammar

-within the LAD -a built-in storehouse of rules common to all human languages -young children use this knowledge to decipher grammatical categories and relationships in any language to which they are exposed

ethnic variations in growth norms and average sizes

-worldwide, 9-inch gap exists between the smallest and the largest 8-year-olds -shortest children- South America, Asia, Pacific Islands, parts of Africa and include groups such as Colombian, Burmese, Thai, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Bantu -tallest children- Australia, northern and central Europe, Canada, US and includes Czech, Dutch, Latvian, Norwegian, Swiss, and African populations -African-American and Asian children tend to mature faster than Caucasian-American children -body size is often the result of evolutionary adaptations to a particular climate (long, lean physiques - hot, tropical regions; short, stocky ones - cold, Arctic areas) -taller children- developed countries (food = plentiful, infectious diseases = controlled) -poor --> wealthy - longer-legged body shape

frontal lobe

body movement and coordination, most extended period of development

parietal lobe

body sensation

velocity curve

plots the average amount of growth at each yearly interval, revealing the exact timing of growth spurts

distance curve

plots the average size of a sample of children at each age, indicating typical yearly progress toward maturity

fast-mapping

process where children can connect a new word with an underlying concept after only a brief encounter

protoimperative gestures

the baby gets another person to do something by reaching, pointing, and often making sounds at the same time

protodeclarative gestures

the baby points to, touches, or holds up an object while looking at others to make sure they notice

morphology

use of grammatical markers indicating number, tense, case, person, gender, active or passive voice, and other meanings (the endings -s and -ed are examples in English)

occipital lobe

visual cortex