Experiencing the Lifespan Chapter 5

body mass index (BMI)

A calculation of a person's weight and height to determine if a person underweight, overweight, or obese. The ratio of weight to height; the main indicator of overweight or underweight.

class inclusion

A skill learned during the concrete operational stage of cognitive development in which individuals can think simultaneously about a whole class of objects and about relationships among its subordinate classes.

rehearsal

A style of learning based on repetition. Gets information into long-term memory. A learning strategy in which people repeat information to embed it in memory

decentering

In Piaget's conservation tasks, the concrete operational child's ability to look at several dimensions of an object or substance

reversibility

In Piaget's conservation tasks, the concrete operational child's knowledge that a specific change in the way a given substance looks can be reversed A characteristic of Piagetian logical operations - the ability to think through a series of steps, then mentally reverse the steps and return to the starting point.

centering

In Piaget's conservation tasks, the preoperational child's tendency to fix on the most visually striking feature of a substance and not take other dimensions into account.

egocentrism

In Piaget's theory, the inability of the preoperational child to take another's point of view.

identity contancy

Piaget's. the preoperational child's inability to grasp that a person's core "self" stays the same despite changes in external apperance

Early Childhood

The first phase of childhood lasting from age 3 through kindergarten, or about age 5

animism

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's belief that inanimate objects are alive

preoperational thinking

in Piaget's theory, the type of cognition characteristic of children aged 2 to 7, marked by an inability to step back from one's immediate perceptions and think conceptually. Cannot look beyond appearance (i.e. drink size, matching alike cards, identity constancy, animism, artificialism, egocentrism, etc...)

inner speech

in Vygotsky's theory, the way by which human beings learn to regulate their behavior and master cognitive challenges, through silently repeating information or talking to themselves.

working memory

in information-processing theory, the limited capacity gateway system, containing all the material that we can keep in awareness at a single time. The material in this system is either processed for more permanent storage or lost.

underextension

An early vocabulary error in which a word is applied too narrowly, to a smaller number of objects and events than is appropriate. example: a 3 year old saying only her pet is a dog and all the other neighborhood dogs must be called something else

overextension

An error in early language development in which young children apply verbal labels too broadly. occurs when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to example: calling every 4 legged animal a horsey

overregularization

An error in early language development, in which young children apply the rules for plurals and past tenses even to exceptions, so irregular forms sound like regular forms application of regular grammatical rules to words that are exceptions. ex. teeths, breaked, foots.

executive functions

Any frontal-lobe ability that allows us to inhibit our responses and to plan and direct our thinking. Frontal-lone activity that allows us to inhibit our responses and to plan and direct our thinking. Rehearsal, selective attention, inhibition.

seriation

Arranging objects in sequential order according to one aspect, such as size, weight, or volume.

zone of proximal development

In Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development, the difference between what children can accomplish on their own and what they can accomplish with the help of others who are more competent.

phoneme

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. example: the sound of c in cat or b in bat

morpheme

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word (such as a prefix). example: boys has two morphemes - boy and the plural suffix s

concrete operational thinking

In piaget's framework, the type of cognition characteristic of children aged 8 to 11, marked by the ability to reason about the world in a more logical, adult way

autobiographical memories

Memories of the significant events and experiences of one's own life. Use scaffolding, past talk

conservation tasks

Piagetian tasks that involve changing the shape of a substance to see whether children can go beyond the way that substance visually appears to understand that the amount is still the same

artificialism

Piagetian term that describes the belief that all things in the universe have been created by man.

Childhood obesity

a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile compared to the us norms established for children in the 1970s

selective attention

a learning strategy in which people manage their awareness so as to attend only to what is relevant and to filter out unneeded information.

information-processing theory

a perspective on cognition in which the process of thinking is divided into steps, components, or stages much like those a computer operates

theory of mind

an awareness that other people's behavior may be influenced by beliefs, desires, and emotions that differ from one's own appears at about age 4

autism spectrum disorder

is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs a child's ability to communicate and interact with others. It also includes restricted repetitive behaviors, interests and activities.

gross motor skills

physical abilities that involve large muscle movements, such as running and jumping

fine motor skills

physical abilities that involve small, coordinated movements, such as drawing and writing one's name

Lev Vygotsky

scaffolding, zone of proximal development, human interaction promotes learning, bidirectional. Language first

inadequate nutrition

stunting, compromises development of brain, causes lethargy, ...

Frontal Lobes

the area at the uppermost front of the brain, responsible for reasoning and planning our actions

mean lenth of utterance (MLU)

the average number of morphemes per sentence

semantics

the meaning system of a language - that is, what the words stand for. 10,000 words by age 6

ADHD

the most common childhood learning disorder in the US, disproportionately affecting boys, characterized by excessive restlessness and distractivity at home and at school (can't focus, poor impulse control, socially impaired

scaffolding

the process of teaching new skills by entering a child's zone of proximal development and tailoring one's efforts to that person's competence level

Middle childhood

the second phase of childhood, covering the elementary school years, from about age 6 to 11

Syntax

the system of grammatical rules in a particular language