Chapter 5 Physical and Cognitive Development

Global epidemic

demographics differ in developed and developing worlds

Vygotsky

human interaction promotes learning and cognitive growth, zone of proximal development, scaffolding, learning is bidirectional (child is learning from adult peer, giving cues as to what to do next; backing away), emphasized language as being front and center of everything we learn

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 the substance looks can be reserved

Concrete operational thinking

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

Artificialism

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's belief that human beings make everything in nature

Animism

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

Identity constancy

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's inability to grasp that a person's core "self" stays the same despite changes in external appearance. Example: putting on a mask or costume

Egocentrism

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's inability to understand another's perspective. the child thinks that everyone has the same things they have

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 intermediate perceptions and think conceptually; preoperational children do not understand the concept of reversibility

Centering

in Piagets 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

Zone of proximal development

in Vygotsky's theory, the gap between child's ability to solve a problem totally on his own and his potential knowledge if taught by a more accomplished person

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 singe time. the material in this system is either processed for more permanent storage or lost

Obesity

BMI at or above the 95th percentile compares to U.S. norms

Piaget

Overstated egocentric thinking. Said culture has an influence on the timing of learning certain tasks. Did not believe in active teaching. Believed children would automatically grow out of their preoperational worldview

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

Childhood obesity

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

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

Rehearsal

a learning strategy in which people repeat information to embed it in memory

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

Overextension

an error in early language development in which young children apply verbal labels too broadly

Underextension

an error in early language development in which young children apply verbal labels too narrowly

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 puts irregular "pasts" and "plural" into regular form. Example: "if I walked, I also must have runned and swimmed"

Executive functions

any frontal-lobe ability that allows us to inhibit out responses and to plan and direct out thinking: rehearsal, selective attention, inhibition (small prize now or wait for the large prize later, this is hard for small children to understand)

Overweight

at or over the 85% for the norms

Cephalocaudal sequence

bodies elongate and lengthen

Theory of mind

children's first cognitive understanding, which appears at about age 4, that other people have different beliefs and perspectives from their own

Development of theory of mind

early development of theory of mind: having older siblings, advanced intellectual development, bilingual preschoolers. later development of theory of mind: frontal lobe damage, autism "mind blindness"

Effective scaffolding

foster a secure attachment, break larger cognitive tasks into smaller more manageable steps, give nonthreatening feedback when child makes a mistake, help a child until concept is mastered and then move on, set an overall framework for the learning task and build in motivation

Information processing perspective

looks at specific skills such as the development of memory, concentration, and the ability to inhibit and control out actions; mental growth occurs gradually, not in stages; attempts to decode the "processing steps" involved in thinking; explores the development of memory and executive functions

Mass-to-specific sequence

physical abilities become more coordinated and precise

Fine motor skills

physical abilities hat involves small, coordinated movements, such as drawing and writing one's name

Gross motor skills

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

Factors promoting obesity

primary culprit (lack of physical activity: internet, TV), oversized portions of food (restaurants, large portion sizes), negative attitudes toward the obese (teasing, stereotyping)

ADHD treatments

psycho-stimulant medications and environment fit (provide nondistracting environment that demands selective attention)

Autobiographical memories

recollections of events and experiences that make up one's life history scaffolding through past-talk conversations (uses experiences to connect with others)

Interventions for ADHD

reduce distractions, allow exercise time, special time and help with activities that demand several steps, minimize the need to multitask, consider psycho-stimulant meds, avoid power assertion (don't define child as "bad")

Inner speech

repeating information silently or "out loud" in order to regulate behavior or to master cognitive challenges

Skills appear gradually

should the pre-operational and concrete operational stages be classified as different stages?

Seriation

the ability to put objects in order according to some principle, such as size

Frontal lobes

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

Mean length of utterance (MLU)

the average number or morphemes per sentence. "me want juice"= 3 MLU's

Early childhood

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

Semantics

the meaning system of language- that is, what the words stand for understanding world meanings. about 10,000 words at age 6. vocabulary continues to grow throughout life

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

the most common childhood learning disorder in the U.S., disproportionately affecting boys characterized by excessive restlessness and distractibility at home and at school

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

Body mass index (BMI)

the ratios of weight to height; the main indicator of overweight and underweight

Middle childhood

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

Morpheme

the smallest unit of meaning in a particular language- for example, boys contains two morphemes: boy and the plural suffix s the basic meaning units of language. coded by "me length of utterance" (MLU).

Phoneme

the sound units that convey meaning in a given language- for example, in English, the c sound of cat and the b sound of bat individual word sounds of language

Syntax

the system of grammatical rules in a particular language

Class inclusion

the understanding that a general category can encompass several subordinate elements

Inadequate nutrition

top-ranking twenty-first-century global public health threat to physical development; stunting, compromises bone, muscle, and brain development, causes lethargy, impairs gross and fine motor skills

Human socialization

what sets us apart from other animals?