Developmental Psychology FINAL EXAM REVIEW

depression in adolescence

- 5-15% of adolescents are depressed - 2x as many girls as boys are depressed - *Factors related to depression* --> Emotionally distant and uninvolved parents --> Family stress (e.g., poverty, marital conflict) --> Punitive discipline (e.g., hitting, shouting) --> Reduced levels of norepinephrine or serotonin

Changing parent-child relationship in adolescence

- Increased egalitarianism - Increased adolescent autonomy

Effects of formal operations on adolescents' thinking

- Increases in abstract thinking --> leads to changes in everyday behavior: Adolescents increased abstract reasoning abilities may lead them to question their parents and authority figures far more strenuously. - Advances in abstract thinking ---> lead to greater idealism: may make adolescents impatient with imperfections in institutions such as schools and the government. - Because of their newfound cognitive skills, many adolescents become more argumentative --> They enjoy using abstract reasoning to poke holes in others' explanations --> They're more acutely sensitive to their parents' and teachers' shortcomings. - Adolescents can be indecisive, as they're able to see the merits of multiple sides to issues.

critiques of Piaget's theory

- Individual differences: find significant differences in cognitive abilities from one person to the next, especially when comparing people from different cultures. - Most developmentalists agree that cognitive development is a smooth transition rather than abrupt shift. - Piaget's theory is better at *describing* behavior at a given stage than *explaining* why the shift from one stage to the next occurs. - The nature of the tasks used means that he underestimated some abilities while overestimating others - especially in adolescence. - Piaget had a relatively narrow view of what is meant by thinking and knowing; other theorists suggest we have more/different kinds of intelligence that are independent from one another. - Formal operational thought may not be the highest order thinking. - There are also inconsistencies in the use of formal operations due to individual differences. --> Some people achieve these formal operational skills at a later age than 15 and others may never fully employ formal operational thinking at all.

nature, nurture, and IQ

-Adoption studies confirm the influence of both heredity and environment. -Poverty severely depresses the intelligence of ethnic minority children -The dramatic generational rise in IQ supports the role of environment; refers to the *flynn effect*

physical development in early childhood

-Body growth slows after the first 2 years. -On average, children add 2-3 inches in height and about 5 pounds in weight each year. -Boys continue to be slightly larger than girls. -As baby fat drops off further, children become thinner, although girls retain somewhat more body fat than boys, who are slightly more muscular. -Shape becomes more streamlined (flat-tummied, longer-legged) and similar to adults. -Individual differences in size are more apparent -Posture and balance improve, supporting gains in motor coordination Skeletal growth: -Skeletal growth continues. -New growth centers/epiphyses emerge: approx. 45 new epiphyses -By the end of the preschool years, children start to lose their baby teeth: this influenced by heredity and environment: --> for example, girls who are ahead of boys in physical development, lose their baby teeth earlier. --> prolonged malnutrition delays the appearance of permanent teeth; overweight and obesity accelerates it. Brain growth increases. -Hemispheres begin to lateralize.

brain development in early childhood

-Brain is at 90% of its adult weight by age 6; between ages 2-6, the brain increases from 70% of its adult weight to 90% -By ages 4-5, many parts of the cerebral cortex have overproduced synapses. -The number of synapses in regions like the prefrontal cortex is nearly double the adult value. *Left hemisphere is especially active between ages 3-6 and then levels off*: --language skills expand at an astonishing pace during early childhood. --handedness -Cognitive capacities increasingly localize in distinct neural systems through synaptic pruning -Rapid growth of prefrontal-cortical areas devoted to executive function: preschoolers get better at emotional self-regulation, inhibition, working memory, flexibility of thinking, planning and organization, etc. -Right hemisphere activity steadily increases; spatial skills such as giving directions, drawing pictures, and reading maps develop gradually over childhood and adolescence.

evaluation of preoperational stage

-some experts deny the stage approach -others support a flexible stage notion, in which a related set of competencies develops over an extended period.

reducing cultural bias in testing

-Combine the test scores with an assessment of adaptive behavior -Culturally relevant testing procedures: *Dynamic assessment*; puts together this concept of testing with this concept of zone of proximal development; what can a child do with a little bit of instruction --> Consistent with Vygotsky's zone of proximal development --> Low-SES children show gains just as large as those of cultural minority agemates.

Evaluation of Vygotsky's Theory

-Helps us understand cultural variation in cognition -Focuses on language/verbal dialogues, but deemphasizes other routes to cognitive development; Piaget paid far more attention than Vygotsky to the development of basic cognitive processes. -His theory also says little about how basic elementary capacities (motor, perceptual, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills) contribute to higher cognitive processes by sparking changes in children's social experiences -His theory emphasizes the power of teaching and the wide cultural variation in children's cognitive skills

cultural influences: the flynn effect

-IQ's have increased steadily from one generation to the next -This rise in IQ is evident in 30 nations, industrialized and developing -The greatest gains are in spatial reasoning, tasks often assumed to be "culture-fair" and mostly genetically based -This rise depends on the extent of societal modernization, including: --> improved education, health, and technology (TV, computers, the internet) --> more cognitively demanding jobs and leisure activities --> greater test-taking motivation

vocabulary and grammar

-Improves our ability to analyze and reflect on language -Vocabulary increases to 40,000 words comprehended: --> reading contributes greatly to this increase in vocab --> contributes to more precise word use --> contributes to an appreciation of double meanings and subtle metaphors; use of riddles and puns -Mastery of complex grammatical constructions improves: --> acquires passive voice --> acquires infinitive phrases

infectious disease and malnutrition

-In well-nourished children, ordinary illnesses have no effect on physical growth. But when children are undernourished, disease interacts with malnutrition in a vicious spiral, with potentially severe consequences. -poor diet depresses the immune system, making children far more susceptible to disease. -in developing countries, where children live in poverty and don't receive routine immunizations, illnesses such as measles and chickenpox, which typically don't occur until after age 3, occur much earlier. -disease contributes to malnutrition by reducing appetite and limiting nutrient absorption -hinders physical growth and cognitive development -diarrhea is a danger in developing countries; it results from unsafe water and contaminated foods and leads to growth stunting and an estimated 1 million childhood deaths per year. --can be treated with oral rehydration therapy: sick children are given glucose, salt, and water solution that quickly replaces fluids the body loses. --zinc supplements: when combined with ORT, these supplements substantially reduce the incidence of severe and prolonged diarrhea.

play based learning

-Reading and language: skills learned through story-telling, word play, singing songs, reading product labels, dramatic play -Math and spatial skills: learned through: games like ispy, sorting (legos, toys, etc), block play, board games

myth of storm and stress

-Research shows that most adolescents: -love their parents; feel loved, appreciated and wanted by them -look to parents for advice and embrace many of their values -25% of parent-child conflicts are more serious and can lead to behavior problems (more common when adolescents cannot well regulate their emotions) *Majority of adolescents report being happy most of the time*

drawing skills

-Scribbles between 1-2 years; children's gestures rather than the resulting scribbles contain the intended representation -First representational forms between 3-4 years; scribbles start to become pictures --draws first recognizable pictures --A major milestone in drawing occurs when children use lines to represent the boundaries of objects, enabling 3-4 year olds to draw their first picture of a person (in simplest form that still looks human: universal "tadpole" image) --4 year olds add features, such as eyes, nose, mouth, hair, fingers, and feet -More realistic, complex drawings between 5-6 years; contain more conventional human and animal figures, with the head and body differentiated -Early printing: 4-6: age window for writing, reading, symbol processing, etc. Kids looking at letters aren't always going to get them in the right order. --early printing evolves as the child realizes writing stands for language; the more kids understand that writing symbolizes language, the better they get at it -4-6 age range is when kids develop the ability to be more discriminate when it comes to angles

flexible shifting of attention

-Studied through rule-use tasks: if-then tasks, etc. -Around age 4, children can switch rules -Role of inhibition: to switch rules, children must inhibit attending to the previously relevant dimension while focusing on the dimension they had just ignored.

pragmatics

-Understands more subtle, indirect expressions, including irony and sarcasm -Narratives become more organized, detailed, and expressive

nutrition

-appetite declines in the preschool years due to slowed growth- they don't need as many calories -preschool age children require a high-quality diet; good nutrition is necessary for myelination in brain development -poor quality diets are associated with shorter stature, cognitive difficulties, and behavior problems -wariness of new foods is adaptive; we want them to be wary of new foods because that will keep them healthy and safe/ make them less likely to swallow harmful substances when adults aren't around to protect them -they tend to imitate others' food choices: if a parent eats healthy food, kids are going to want that healthy food -repeated, unpressured exposure to new foods promotes acceptance; slow introduction of new foods, small amounts at first until the child gets used to the new foods, and lack of pressure. You want to get them warmed up to the new food by showing them pictures of the food and of people eating it and talking about the food and then get them to try a small amount; it's a process. -offering sweet fruit drinks or soft drinks promotes "milk avoidance" -In general, coercing children to eat results in withdrawal from food, whereas food restriction leads to excessive eating. -Bribing leads children to like healthy food less and the treat more.

eating disorders in adolescence

1. *Anorexia nervosa*: - self-imposed radical diet, strenuous exercising, extremely distorted body image - difficulties with treatment 2. *Bulimia* - binge eating followed by deliberate vomiting, purging with laxatives, and strict dieting - disengaged and emotionally unavailable parents - lack of control in other areas - more responsive to treatment than anorexics *Risk factors for eating disorders* --> History of eating problems --> Negative self-esteem --> Mood or anxiety disorders --> Overprotective parents (anorexia) --> Childhood obesity (bulimia)

Gilligan's 3 stages of moral development for women

1. *Orientation toward individual survival*: girls first focus on what is practical and best for them, gradually making a transition from selfishness to responsibility, in which they think about what would be best for others. 2. *Goodness as self-sacrifice*: girls begin to think that they must sacrifice their own wishes in favor of what other people want. Ideally, women make a transition from "goodness" to "truth" taking into account their own needs + those of others. 3. *Morality of nonviolence*: women come to see that hurting anyone- including themselves- is immoral; establishes a moral equivalence between themselves and others; most sophisticated level of moral reasoning. *Ultimately, gender differences in morality exist, but they're not as divergent as theorists initially thought*

students from low-income households

= 3x more likely than students from middle-upper income households to dropout of high school.

emerging adulthood

A term coined by Jeffrey Arnett in 1994; a period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults - *5 Key Features*: --> *Instability*: their grand life plan encounters complications along the way, and they are forced to revise it, often changing majors, partners, jobs, and especially residences --> *Identity exploration*: continually trying out different options in an attempt to figure out who they are and who they'd like to become, particularly in the areas of romantic relationships and careers --> *Self-focused age*: tend to delay significant adult responsibilities, such as marriage and parenthood, in an effort to enjoy the opportunity to exercise the freedom they now have --> *Feeling "in-between"* --> *Age of possibilities*: often hold a very optimistic view of the future and truly believe that they will accomplish their dreams and overcome past circumstances, such as an unhappy home life, in an effort to become the person they'd like to be

symbol-real-world relations

Ability to view an object as it is, but also as a symbol -Duel representation: viewing a symbolic object as both an object in its own right and a symbol -Emerges at age 3, can be earlier with adult coaching and primarily symbolic objects -Maps, photos, drawings, make-believe-play = important symbols

analytical intelligence

According to Sternberg, the ability measured by most IQ tests; includes the ability to analyze problems and find correct answers. --> ability to apply strategies --> ability to acquire task-relevant and metacognitive knowledge --> ability to engage in self-regulation

practical intelligence

According to Sternberg, the ability to cope with the environment; sometimes called "street smarts." --> ability to adapt to a particular situation; being able to recognize when you need to change --> ability to shape your environment --> ability to select...environments to meet both personal goals and the demand of one's everyday world.

creative intelligence

According to Sternberg, the form of intelligence that helps people see new relationships among concepts; involves insight and creativity. --> ability to solve novel problems --> ability to make processing skills automatic to free working memory for complex thinking

scaffolding

Adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child's current level of performance; teaching style that matches the level of assistance to the needs of the child --> When the child has little notion of how to proceed, the adult uses direct instruction, breaking the task into manageable units and suggesting strategies. --> As the child's competence increases, adults gradually and sensitively withdraw support, turning over responsibility to the child -In several studies, children whose parents were good at this engaged in higher rates of private speech, were more likely to succeed when attempting challenging tasks on their own, and were advanced in overall cognitive development. -This can take different forms in different cultures: --> European-American parents emphasize independence by encouraging their children to think of ways to approach a task --> Hmong immigrant parents from Southeast Asia- who highly value interdependence and child obedience- frequently tell their children what to do: among European-American children, such directive __________ is associated with kindergarteners' lack of self-control and behavior problems.

fine-motor skills

As children's bodies become more streamlined and less top-heavy, their center of gravity shifts down towards the trunk --> this results in improved balance, which paves the way for new gross-motor skills. -By age 2, children's gaits become smooth and rhythmic --> now they're secure enough that they can start to leave the ground, at first by running and later by jumping, hopping, galloping, and skipping. -As children become steadier on their feet, their arms and torsos are freed to experiment with new skills; they throw and catch, swing on bars, steer tricycles, etc; they make advances in physical abilities involving small body movements, especially of the hands and fingers, such as drawing and picking up a coin -drawing and eating -dressing and printing

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Developing children progress through a predictable sequence of stages of moral reasoning: 1. *Preconventional*: people follow rigid rules based on punishments or rewards. (I.e. not stealing the drug so as to avoid going to jail) 2. *Conventional*: people approach moral problems in terms of their own position as good, responsible members of society. 3. *Postconventional*: invoking universal moral principles that are broader than the rules of the particular society in which they live --> Kohlberg argued that people aren't able to reach postconventional moral reasoning until adolescence (due to cognitive deficits that aren't overcome until then) and some people never reach it --> This theory is based on Westernized culture; it may not be suited for nonindustrialized countries/cultures. --> Based on data from male subjects; researchers have argued that it doesn't do as good of a job explaining girls' moral development

Erikson's identity vs identity confusion

Erikson's 5th stage of identity development in which adolescents experiment with different roles and personalities - Occurs approx. between 12-18 years - Adolescents explore their independence and develop a sense of self.

cognitive advances in adolescence

General intelligence- as measured by IQ tests- remains stable, but there are dramatic improvements in the specific mental abilities that underlie intelligence: - *Verbal, mathematical, and spatial abilities increase*, making adolescents quicker with a comeback, impressive sources of info, and accomplished athletes. - *Memory capacity grows*, and adolescents become more adept at effectively dividing their attention - They grow increasingly sophisticated in: --> Their understanding of problems --> Their ability to grasp abstract concepts and think hypothetically --> Their comprehension of the possibilities inherent in situations. --> Adolescents know more about the world and their storage of knowledge increases with exposure to new material --> Growth in *metacognition*: the knowledge we have about or own thinking processes and our ability to monitor our cognition; adolescents = much more adept at understanding their own mental processes --> These new abilities can make adolescents particularly introspective and self-conscious- may produce a high degree of egocentrism

successful intelligence

In Robert Sternberg's framework, the optimal form of cognition, involving having a good balance of analytic, creative, and practical intelligence.

zone of proximal development

In Vygotsky's theory, the range between children's present level of knowledge and their potential knowledge state if they receive proper guidance and instruction -difference between independent and assisted performance

injury prevention

Laws: -car seat safety -child-resistant medicine caps -flameproof clothing -backyard pool fencing **Realistic expectations about childhood understanding of safety rules: you can't trust that preschoolers will understand implied meaning: you need to give them very explicit instructions --explanations, repetition, and supervision

Marcia's Identity Statuses

Phases/Statuses of identity development --> *Diffusion*: State of confusion or feeling overwhelmed by the task of achieving an identity --> *Foreclosure*: Identity determined largely by adults rather than from personal exploration of alternatives --> *Moratorium*: Still examining different alternatives and yet to find a satisfactory identity --> *Achievement*: Exploration of alternatives has lead to a deliberate choice about a specific identity

directed play

Play in which the teacher instructs the children in how to accomplish a specific task

sensory play

Play that involves touching, smelling, tasting, hearing, or seeing (Individually or simultaneously)

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Seven defined types of intelligence: --> linguistic --> logical-mathematical --> Visual-spatial --> musical --> bodily-kinesthetic --> interpersonal --> intrapersonal *Today, linguistic, logical-mathematical, and visual-spatial are the only forms we measure* -This theory tests at least 8 distinct sets of processing operations for culturally valued activities -This theory also tests non-IQ abilities, for example, emotional intelligence.

Who goes to college?

Sixty-five percent (2/3) of those who graduate from high school in the US enroll in college the following year. - This rate varies by racial classification: --> 82% of Asian Americans enrolled in college --> 70% of Hispanics --> 66% of Whites --> 58% of African Americans - Significantly more female graduates than male graduates started college (71% versus 61%) Graduation from high school does not necessarily mean a student is prepared for college -Twenty-seven percent of first time freshman take one or more remedial courses

support & shortfalls of Kohlberg's theory

Support: - it correlates with cognitive development - individuals progress through stages without skipping - Moral behaviors appear consistent with internal vs. external motivations Shortfalls: - moral reasoning is not as consistent as expected - moral reasoning is not as universal as Kohlberg asserted

pseudostupidity

The tendency of young adolescents to interpret situations in more complex ways than called for; occurs not because adolescents are stupid, but because they lack experience with their newly attained ability to think about multiple possibilities at the same time

personal fables

The view held by some adolescents that what happens to them is unique, exceptional, and shared by no one else - For example, teens whose romantic relationships have ended may feel that no one else has experienced the hurt they feel

anxiety in adolescence

These disorders are the most common mental health disorders of childhood/adolescence, with different ones more prevalent at different stages of development. - Nearly 1 in 3 adolescents (31.9%) will meet criteria for an anxiety disorder by age 18 --> Specific phobia 19.3% --> Social phobia 9.1% --> Separation anxiety 7.6% --> PTSD 5.0% --> Panic disorder 2.3% --. Generalized anxiety disorder 2.2% - There was a 37% increase in anxiety in adolescents from 2004 to 2018 - Adolescents today are more than 2x as likely to seek help as teens in the 1980's

planning

Thinking out a sequence of acts ahead of time and performing them accordingly to reach a goal -Marked by gains in early childhood -This is a complex executive function activity -By the end of early childhood, children can postpone an action in favor of this: parents can say things like "we can't do this now, but we can do it later this afternoon or tomorrow" and the children will understand --They begin mapping out a sequence of future moves, evaluating the consequences of each, and adjusting their plan to fit task requirements: They can put things in order of what they're going to do first, second, third, etc.

childhood injuries

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of childhood mortality in industrialized nations -they're largely preventable -most common injuries resulting in deaths are: --auto and traffic accidents --suffocation --drowning --poisoning *Motor vehicle collisions are by far the most frequent overall source of injury: they rank as the 2nd leading U.S. cause of mortality from birth to age 5 (after suffocation among infants and drowning among toddlers/preschoolers) and as the leading cause among school-age children.

Vygotsky and Make-Believe Play

Vygotsky saw make-believe play as the ideal social context for fostering cognitive development in early childhood. As children create imaginary situations, they learn to follow internal ideas and social rules rather than impulses. --> For example, a child pretending to go to sleep follows the rules of bedtime behavior. -Is influential in the zone of proximal development; children try out a variety of challenging activities and acquire new competencies -Imaginary substitutions help children separate thinking from objects. -Rules strengthen capacity to think before acting. -Helps children understand social norms and expectations -The culture provides the props for make-believe-play -Make-believe-play is really rich in narrative speech; pretending is rich in private speech- a finding that supports its role in helping children bring action under the control of thought. *Preschoolers who spend more time engaged in sociodramatic play are better at inhibiting impulses, regulating emotion, and taking personal responsibility for following classroom rules.*

intelligence tests

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores. -*Group administered test*: --> They permit large numbers of students to be tested at once. -*Individually administered test*: --> Help identify highly intelligent children and children with learning problems. --> Well-trained examiner considers a child's answers and observes the child's behavior. --> *2 main tests*: 1. Stanford-Binet: assesses five intellectual factors 2. WISC-V: assesses an array of factors; it's designed to downplay culture-dependent info.

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory -Gains in this contribute to control of attention -Contributes to flexible shifting of attention -With age, the ability to hold and combine info in this memory becomes increasingly important in problem-solving --> Older preschoolers were ably to deploy their larger _______ memories to solve more challenging problems involving planning.

fantasy period

according to Ginzberg, the first period, lasting until about age 11, when career choices are made, and discarded, without regard to skills, abilities, or available job opportunities

imaginary audience

adolescents' belief that they are the focus of everyone else's attention and concern

"play years"

ages 2-6 -physical differences -early childhood cognition -individual differences in mental development -dramatic expansion of language

cerebellum

as this matures in preschoolers, they achieve better coordination and balance -Children with damage to this area of the brain usually display both motor and cognitive deficits, including problems with memory, planning, and language.

autism and theory of mind

children with autism have special trouble mastering theory of mind tasks - suggest that impaired social interaction seen in autism may be partly due to an inability to "get inside someone else's head" --> inability to engage -They have deficits in capacities (joint attention, social referencing) for understanding mental life. -Difficulty attributing mental states to themselves or others Possible explanations: -Impairment in innate capacity for understanding mental life -Impairment in executive function -Style of information processing, emphasizing parts over coherent wholes

emergent literacy

children's active efforts to construct literacy knowledge through informal experiences -Reading develops between 4-6 -Strong predictors of literacy development --Phonological awareness: the connection of letters to sound; how well are kids able to play with the sounds and the rhyming; knowing that words start with the same letter and therefore, sound similar. -Sound-letter knowledge, vocabulary and grammatical development, narrative competence: ability to put things in sequence; putting together a story with a beginning, middle, and end. -Interactive reading: some caregivers are reading to kids on a regular basis and that reading is not just one sided; there's some interaction- connecting words to pictures, words to their symbols, and so on. Interventions for low-SES families: -Giving parents guidance on how they can enhance literacy development -Getting books into households -Training teachers on what to look for and how to recognize when a skill is lagging behind/how to help improve it.

metacognition

coherent set of ideas about mental activities; the thinking about our thinking -We start to be aware of people's emotions and desires around age 2; when they start to use words like want, think, remember, pretend, they're starting to gain awareness of others' emotions. -2-3 year olds' verbal responses indicate that they assume people always behave in ways consistent with their desires. -Not until age 4 do most realize that less obvious, more interpretive mental states, such as beliefs, also affect behavior. -By the time children are 4 or 5, they seem to understand that things aren't always the way they seem: "False Belief Test" -Among children of diverse cultural and SES backgrounds, explicit false-belief understanding strengthens after age 3 1/2, becoming more secure between ages 4-6; it becomes a powerful tool for reflecting on the thoughts and emotions of oneself and others and a good predictor of social skills.

Gilligan's approach to moral development

concerns gender and morality; according to Gilligan: - Boys view morality primarily in terms of broad principles such as justice or fairness - Girls see it in terms of responsibility towards individuals and willingness to sacrifice themselves to help specific individuals within the context of relationships. - Compassion = a more prominent factor in moral behavior for women than for men

divergent thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions); generating new solutions to problems

preconventional morality

first level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the child's behavior is governed by the consequences of the behavior --> *Stage 1: Obedience orientation*: - rules = fixed and absolute - goal = to avoid punishment --> *Stage 2: Instrumental orientation*: - Individual focus: how do rules serve the individual's need

information processing

focuses on cognitive operations and mental strategies that children use to transform stimuli flowing into their mental systems. -Executive function: inhibiting impulses and distracting stimuli, flexibly shifting attention depending on task demands, coordinating information in working memory, and planning

rule based play

games; according to Vygotsky, play is the means by which children learn to control their impulses and abide by socially agreed-upon rules

heredity and hormones

genes influence growth by controlling the body's production of hormones; Genes control the pituitary gland's production of hormones -Growth hormone (GH): development of body tissues -Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH): prompts thyroid to release thyroxine for brain development and full impact of GH

Maslow

hierarchy of needs; "almost all creativity involves purposeful play"

preoperational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic -Children make significant gains in representational activity through the use of symbols: they utilize make-believe play and are able to make symbol-real-world connections -Children are still limited in their thinking: they're egocentric (self-focused): they haven't developed the ability to take the perspective of others -Animism: preschoolers often contribute human characteristics to inanimate objects -Centration: this idea that we concentrate on only one aspect of a problem at a time -Irreversibility: preschoolers don't have the ability to reverse operations -Lack of hierarchical classification: can only classify objects in one category, can't then categorize into a new category

reticular formation

is responsible for sustained and controlled attention. As this matures, preschoolers became more able to sustain attention and sit still for longer periods of time.

pretend play

make-believe activities in which children create new symbolic relations, acting as if they were in a situation different from their actual one; This allows children to: -organize -negotiate -resolving differences/conflicts

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

poverty

negatively affects executive function, in part due to maladaptive parenting practices and chronic stress

theory of mind

people's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. Language, executive function, and social experiences contribute. -Performance on false-belief tasks serves as evidence for toddlers' implicit, nonverbal grasp of false belief -Explicit, verbal understanding after 3 1/2: 3 year olds don't understand that things aren't the way they seem -By age 4, they gain this understanding and start to tell fibs. -Children with siblings who are children (but not infants)- especially those with older siblings or two or more siblings- tend to be more aware of false beliefs because they're exposed to more family talk about varying beliefs, thoughts, and emotions. -Make-believe play also enhances false-belief understanding; provides children extra opportunities to talk about their own and others' inner states.

invincibility fables

personal fables may cause adolescents to also develop these; they feel invulnerable to the risks that threaten others. - Much of adolescents risk taking may be linked to these fables they create - For example, they may think that they don't need to use condoms because pregnancy and STDs only happen to other kinds of people, not to them.

gross-motor skills

physical abilities involving large body movements, such as walking and jumping -Walking, running, jumping, catching, swinging -Balance improves during early childhood -Gait becomes more smooth and rhythmic -Upper and lower body skills combine in more refined actions -Greater speed and endurance

social and intellectual play

play in which children interact with and are influenced by others

constructive play

play in which children manipulate objects to produce or build something -combination of sensorimotor/practice play with symbolic representation

manipulative play

play that involves the use of equipment such as a rubix cube; purpose is to develop hand-eye coordination and concept development -involves anything you have to manipulate with your fine-motor skills

sociodramatic play

pretend play in which children act out various roles and themes in stories that they create -in this play, children display awareness that make-believe is a representational activity -they have a more sophisticated understanding of role-relationships and story lines.

adolescent egocentrism

refers to a state of self-absorption in which the world is viewed as focused on oneself; may dominate adolescents thinking. - their newly sophisticated metacognitive abilities enable them to readily imagine that others are thinking about them, and they may construct scenarios about others' thoughts. This makes them: - Highly critical of authority figures - Unwilling to accept criticism - Quick to find fault with others' behavior

skills related to renewable learning

refers to the concept that you can learn even when someone is not teaching you; these skills are learned during play -Collaboration: working with others -Communication: being able to use language effectively -Content: knowledge that you get: kids learn a lot about the world by trying it out -Critical thinking: refers to the decisions we make that help us learn what content to throw out and what content to keep -Creativity

handedness

reflects the greater capacity of one side of the brain- the individual's dominant cerebral hemisphere- to carry out skilled motor action -Right Handed people: -90% of people in Western nations -Language is housed in the left hemisphere with hand control -Left Handed: -10% of people in Western nations -Language is occasionally located in the right hemisphere, but more often shared by both hemispheres: indicates that the brains of left-handers tend to be less strongly lateralized than those of right handers. -Heritability of left-handedness is weak to modest: this suggests a genetic bias for right-handedness Influences: -There's a genetic bias for right-handedness: experiences can overcome this, swaying children toward a left-hand preference. -Handedness involves practices; it's strongest for complex skills requiring extensive training, such as eating with utensils, writing, and engaging in athletic activities. -Wide cultural differences exist: For example, in tribal and village cultures, rates of left-handedness are relatively high. -Environment/cultural variation: because we live in a majorly right-handed world, environments will push right-handedness on children who show a preference for their left-hand -Left-handedness is elevated among people with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses: early damage to the left hemisphere may be why -Left-handedness is associated with prenatal and birth difficulties that can result in brain damage, including severe maternal stress, prolonged labor, prematurity, Rh incompatibility, and breech delivery. -Most left-handers, however, don't have any developmental problems. -They're slightly more advantaged in speed and flexibility of thinking

hippocampus

responsible for memory and spatial understanding. As this matures, children are better able to understand time and space.

amygdala

responsible for processing novel and emotional information. Children get better at processing novel and emotional information and recognizing emotional information from others through facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. -sensitive to facial emotional expressions -enhances memory for emotionally salient events

conventional morality

second level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the child's behavior is governed by conforming to the society's norms of behavior --> *Stage 3: Interpersonal norms*: - "Good girl/good boys"; people want to be respected by others and do what they're supposed to do - People seek the approval of others --> *Stage 4: Social system morality* - Based on law and order; only society can determine what is right vs. wrong - "Do your duty"

make-believe play

serves as an example of mental representation -with age, this kind of play gradually: --detaches from real-life conditions --becomes less self-centered --becomes more complex Benefits: -Predicts cognitive capacities --executive function --memory --logical reasoning --language and literacy --imagination and creativity --Metacognition: reflecting on their thinking: crucial for academic learning and learning in general --Emotional regulation --Perspective taking

Vygotsky

social development theory & zone of proximal development; "in play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior, in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself"

private speech

speech by children that is spoken and directed to themselves; inner speech; In Vygotsky's view, children speak to themselves for self-guidance. As they get older and find tasks easier, their self-directed speech is internalized as silent, *inner speech*- the internal verbal dialogues we carry on while thinking and acting in everyday situations. -Piaget called these utterances "egocentric speech"; Vygotsky disagreed and maintained that language helps children think about their mental activities and select courses of action --> Ultimately serves as a foundation for all higher cognitive processes, including controlled attention, deliberate memorization and recall, categorization, planning, problem solving, and self-reflection. -Children use more of this when tasks are appropriately challenging (neither too hard or too easy), after they make errors, or when they're confused about how to proceed. -Children who freely use this speech during a challenging activity are more attentive and involved and perform better than their less talkative agemates. -Preschoolers use this alone and with others, but they use it more in the presence of others; suggests that some of this retains a social purpose, perhaps as an indirect appeal for renewed scaffolding should the child need additional help.

primary orientation model

students who work a greater number of hours are more psychologically invested in their work than in high school; consequently, their motivation to do well academically is lower.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

the approach that emphasizes how cognitive development proceeds as a result of social interactions between members of a culture; According to Vygotsky, children start to communicate with themselves in much the same way as they converse with others, greatly enhancing their thinking and ability to control their behavior. -Culture: values, tools, organization -Child as "apprentice": learning through observation of people who are more skilled -Intersubjectivity: refers to the numerous realities that occur when multiple people are engaged in the same event/situation: we share a reality that is separate from either of our own realities -Guided participation: older, more experienced people guide participation

stereotype threat

the fear of being judged on the basis of a negative stereotype - can trigger anxiety that interferes with performance -Test scores can be influenced by this

guided participation (Barbara Rogoff)

the process by which people learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations; a broader concept than scaffolding allows for situational and cultural variations -it refers to shared endeavors between more expert and less expert participants, without specifying the precise features of communication

tentative period

the second stage of Ginzberg's theory, which spans adolescence, when people begin to think in pragmatic terms about the requirements of various jobs and how their own abilities might fit with them

Piaget's Formal Operational Stage

the stage of cognitive development associated with abstract logical thought and deduction from principles. Piaget suggested that people reach this stage at the start of adolescence around age 12. - Characterized by *abstract thinking*: Adolescents are able to think beyond the concrete, current situation to what might or could be. - Adolescents see issues in relative, rather than absolute terms; solutions to problems aren't black and white; they're capable of perceiving shades of gray. - *Hypothetico-deductive reasoning*: Adolescents are able to test theories from a general (abstract) hypothesis; they start out with a general theory about what produces a particular outcome and then deduce explanations for specific situations in which they see that outcome. --> Start with abstract possibilities --> move towards the concrete - *Propositional thought*: reasoning that uses abstract logic in the absence of concrete examples; allows adolescents to understand that if certain premises are valid, then a conclusion must also be valid. --> All A's are B. C is an A. Therefore, C is a B. - According to Piaget, it's not until age 15 that adolescents are fully settled into this stage.

realistic period

the third stage of Ginzberg's theory, which occurs in early adulthood, when people begin to explore specific career options, either through actual experience on the job or through training for a profession, and then narrow their choices and make a commitment

postconventional morality

third level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the person's behavior is governed by moral principles that have been decided on by the individual and that may be in disagreement with accepted social norms --> *Stage 5: Social contract orientation*: - Agreed upon rules should benefit everyone - If not, the rules are invalid; rules should be updated as society changes to reflect underlying social principles --> *Stage 6: Universal ethical principles*: - Justice, compassion, equality - Personal moral code

corpus collosum

this allows for things to travel across hemispheres. As this matures, children achieve more complex and coordinated movements and more complex thinking. Perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving are all achieved when information can travel across this. -this is what allows for multitasking -the more complex the task, the more essential communication is between the hemispheres.

preoperational thought

thought characterized by the use of mental representations (symbols) and intuitive thought -Egocentrism: preschool age kids are able to take other people's perspective, but they're not going to do it naturally; they need coaching/guidance -Animism: children will attribute human characteristics to animal-like objects and robots, etc. They can sometimes recognize the difference between animate and inanimate object; they don't have a complete sense of how certain objects function. -Logical thought: conservation is evident on simplified tasks; kids do start to reason by analogy about physical changes; we start to see illogical thinking with unfamiliar topics, too much information: can't overload preschoolers, or contradictory facts -Categorization: preschoolers can get this idea of nested categories: example: hearts: hearts that are red, hearts that have stripes, etc. They can also start to make inferences about things we can't see and characteristics shared by category members: ex: coming up with reasons why dinosaurs have to go together

ordinality

toddlers grasp order relationships between quantities; grasping the relationships that there is some kind of order between quantities: for example, that 2 is bigger than one and 3 is bigger than 2. (ages 14-16 months)

postformal thinking

type of thinking beyond formal operations, involving greater awareness of the complexity of real-life situations, such as in the use of pragmatism and reflective judgment - Theory proposed by Giesela Labouvie-Vief

information-processing approach to cognitive development in adolescence

under this approach, theorists hold that adolescents' mental abilities to take in, use, and store info grow gradually and continuously. - A number of progressive changes occur in the ways that people organize their thinking about the world, develop strategies for dealing with new situations, and achieve advances in memory capacity and perceptual abilities.

pseudomaturity

unusually early entry into adult roles before an adolescent is developmentally ready to assume them

immunization

widespread immunization has led to a dramatic decline in childhood diseases in industrialized nations -immunization rates are far lower in the U.S. than other industrialized nations; reasons include: --cost --parents' stressful lives (poverty, job instability, etc); parents with little education and with stressful daily lives often fail to schedule vaccination appointments. --misconceptions about vaccine safety --other parents have religious or philosophical objections -Public education programs directed at increasing parental knowledge about the importance and safety of timely immunizations are badly needed. --The Netherlands achieves its high child immunization rate by giving parents of every newborn baby a written schedule of when and where the child should be immunized.

skills learned in play

•Self gratification •Self regulation •Development of the use of symbols: make believe play inherently teaches children how we use symbols, which are important for communicating understanding using language