Lifespan Development (Test #2)

The prevalence, onset, resolution of children's picky food preferences.

"Failure To Thrive" Weight below the 5th percentile for age æand/or severe deceleration in the rate of weight gain since birth Causes: Environmental (Chronic illnesses don't count) Controversial: deprivation of maternal stimulation and love → emotional misery → developmental delays → physiological changes; may be biological outcome of abuse and neglect Correlates: Poor caregiver-child attachment, poverty, family disorganization, and limited social support as well as child's temperament and acute physical illnesses Improved quality of care results in better adjustment in adulthood

Definition: Theory of Mind

A person's theory of what other people might be thinking. Children gradually realize that other people do not always know and think what they themselves do. Theory of Mind is essential in communities that rely heavily on the exchange of information, ideas, and points of view. Theory of Mind develops slowly in young children, typically emerging at about age four (4). The development of theory of mind can be seen when young children try to escape punishment by lying. (Children would often have worried or shifting eyes, pursed lips, etc.) Many studies have found that a child's ability to develop theories correlates with activity in several areas of the brain. It is the manufacturing of brain cells. Application of intention stance. Around age 3 or 4: Children will develop Theory of Mind. A child will accumulate enough experience.

Changing scheme to fit new information, in a Piagetian sense

Accommodation Changing one's view to better match reality Example: How small children learn about different types of animals. A young child may have an existing schema for dogs. She knows that dogs have four legs, so she might automatically believe that all animals with four legs are dogs. When she later learns that cats also have four legs, she will undergo a process of accommodation in which her existing schema for dogs will change and she will also develop a new schema for cats.

Attachment

According to Ainsworth, "an affectional tie" that an infant forms with a caregiver - a tie that bind them together in space and endures over time. Strong emotional bond with specific people in our life. It's a CONSTRUCT! Not love relationship, not friendship, not dependency. Usually pick out "deep engagement" relationships Attachment is lifelong, beginning before birth and influencing relationships throughout life.

How do parental styles TEND to change as a child grows older?

Authoritarian = Children do not understand the reason for strict parenting → Authoritative = Children start to grasp why good rules are good rules → Permissive = You can do what you want but let me know where you're at.

Know how to identify a parental style by a description of parental attitudes and behavior.

Authoritarian Parenting: An approach to child rearing that is characterized by high behavioral standards, strict punishment of misconduct, and little communication from child to parent. They do not expect children to offer opinions, discussion about emotions and expressions are rare. For example, when a 3-year-old child grabs a toy from her friend, an authoritarian parent would demand that her child return the toy immediately. Permissive Parenting (also called Indulgent Parenting): An approach to child rearing that is characterized by high nurturance and communication but little discipline, guidance, and control. Discipline is lax, partly because they have low expectations for maturity. For example, when a 3-year-old who grabs a toy from his playmate, the permissive parent chooses not to intervene, and believes that her child should be able to express himself. Authoritative Parenting An approach to child rearing in which parents set limits and enforce rules but are flexible and listen to their children. They encourage maturity, but they usually listen and forgive if the child fall short. For example, when a 3-year-old grabs a toy from his playmate, the authoritative responds sensitively, but firmly. The authoritative parent might say, "I understand you would also like to play with this doll." This parent also enforces limits by saying, "Your friend is playing with this toy now. Neglectful/Uninvolved Parenting = An approach to child rearing in which the parents seem indifferent toward their children, not knowing or caring about their children's lives. Their children do whatever they want, which makes some observers think the parents are permissive. But permissive parents can very much about their children, unlike neglectful parents. For example, a 3-year-old grab a toy from another child, the uninvolved parent makes no attempt to rationalize or justify the behavior, nor does she intervene. Example #2 = When a kindergartener comes home hungry, the uninvolved parent doesn't offer a healthy snack.

Timeline of milestones in emotional development, from birth to early childhood. (2 questions)

Birth: Distress; contentment (Newborns are happy and relaxed when fed and drifting off to sleep. They cry when they are hurt or hungry, tired or frightened (as by a loud noise or a sudden loss of support. Some infants have bouts of uncontrollable crying, called colic, probably the result of immature digestion; some have reflux, probably the result of immature swallowing. Six (6) weeks: Social Smile = A smile evoked by a human face, normally first evident in full-term infants about 6 weeks after birth. Laughter builds as curiosity does; a typical 6-months-old laughs loudly upon discovering new things and particularly social experiences that balance familiarity and surprises such as Daddy making a funny face. 8 months: All basic emotions (joy, anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and surprise/interest) 6-7 months: Stranger wariness: Fear of unfamiliar people, especially when they move too close, too quickly. 18-24 months: Complex emotions "Complex" = reference other people's reactions/judgment Complex emotions include: Guilt Embarrassment Pride Shame Disgust Jealously These emotions require social awareness, which typically emerges from family interactions. For instance, in a study of infant jealously, when mothers deliberately paid attention to another infant, babies moved closer to their mothers, budding for attention.

The term that expresses a ratio between a person's height and weight.

Body Mass Index (BMI) Childhood overweight is usually defined as Body Mass Index (BMI) above the 85th percentile for children at that age, and childhood obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) above the 95th percentile.

Term for focusing on just one aspect of a situation

Centration Example: Young children may insist that Daddy is a father, not a brother, because they center on the role that he fills for them.

What predicts who will be obese in adulthood?

Childhood Obesity As excessive weight builds, future health risks increase, average achievement decreases, self-esteem falls, and loneliness rises. Some of the contributing factors for childhood obesity including cells of the body to the norms of the society.

What is a typical pattern of weight and height gain over childhood?

Children become slimmer as the lower body lengthens. Head to body ratio goes up. Center of gravity moves from the breastbone down to the belly button. Children are not like adults' development. Certain parts develop late or early. Brain determines a lot of development in the body. Growth is rapid Steady Growth Growth Spurt Girls will hit milestones physically and mentally quicker than males.

Rules according to which you express your emotions.

Display Rules Example #1 = Angela is very bored and tired during her colleague's PowerPoint presentation, but she doesn't dare yawn or glance at her watch to display these emotions. Emotional display rules tell us that we should not express discontent or boredom when someone is teaching, lecturing, or dispelling information because it would be rude and may hurt his feelings. Example #2 = If a patient tells them symptoms that they guess may be cancer, a doctor typically won't express concern or worry so as to not worry the patient. If an adult patient is serious when he admits to his psychiatrist that he cries if he cannot sleep with his childhood teddy bear, the psychiatrist better not dare laugh! People have all sorts of emotional display rules that they must adhere to if they don't want to suffer negative consequences.

What does the Three Mountain Task demonstrate?

Egocentrism Three Mountain Task: Children are asked to draw how the mountains would look from the doll's point of view. Typically, 3- and 4-year-olds simply draw how the mountains look from their own viewpoint. The problem is not that young children don't know that the mountains ought to look different from the other side. In experiments where the mountains were surreptitiously shifted while children were led around the display, children were surprised to see that the mountains looked just the same from the opposite side.

(From lecture) Definition: low weight due to environmental neglect or problems

Failure to Thrive

Vygotsky's view of what was critical in children acquiring skills/knowledge

Focused on the contribution of other people and the surrounding culture to children's development. Saw cognitive development as an apprenticeship in which children advance by interaction with others more mature. Vygotsky emphasized another side of early cognition, the social aspects. He stressed the power of culture, acknowledging that "the culturally specific nature of experience is an integral part of how the person thinks ant acts. Apprentice in thinking or Guided Participation Vygotsky's term for a person whose cognition is stimulated and directed by older and more skilled members of society. According to Vygotsky, children learn from their mentors because their mentors: Present challenges Offer assistance (without taking over) Add crucial information Encourage motivation

What makes physical punishment (corporal punishment) most effective?

Immediate = If a child is really in a situation where it seems appropriate for him/her to receive physical punishment in order to ensure they do not repeat that behavior parents should conduct a "spanking" as soon as possible. A mother should not wait until the father comes home. That does not really work. The more time you put in between the behavior being punished and the physical punishment that proceeds children don't really take to heart what they are being punished for. Consistent = Is important but difficult Example: If a child is jumping on the couch and the parents says "NO" then the child starts to jump again to push parents' boundaries. The mother/father can not let it go the second time if you have punished them the first time. This will inherit/increase bad behavior. Informative: Providing an explanation and a way to avoid it in the future and/or gives an alternative desired behavior. Administered by a person with whom the child has a warm and affectionate relationship.

Discipline involving a lot of talking about what the child did wrong.

Induction = It helps children internalize morality, but it takes time and patience.

Relationship between infant and adult attachment (2 questions)

Infant show their attachment through proximity-seeking (such as approaching and following their caregivers) and through contact-maintaining (such as touching, snuggling, and holding). Attachment needs are evident when a baby cries if the caregiver closes the door when going to the bathroom (lost proximity) or fusses a if a back-facing car seat prevents the baby from seeing the parents (lost contact).

"Gradualist" account of Theory of Mind emergence. What is gradually increasing?

Linguistic Theory (Language) Conversation about mental states with parents, siblings, and other adults.

What factor(s) might cause lifespan estimates to be going DOWN instead of up?

Obesity Low correlation between obesity in infancy and obesity later in childhood Fat baby ≠ overweight child Childhood-onset obesity more likely to persist into adolescence and adulthood Obese child = obese adult Risks Cardiovascular Problems Type II diabetes Elevated cholesterol and Triglycerides Reduced Life expectancy in North America Stigmatized

Difference between physical, design, intentional stance

Physical Stance = Describe physical characteristics Describe all details Describe its parts Precise description Example: Describing a car = The tire is rubber etc. Design Stance = What is it that this property is described to do. Intentional Stance = Humans participate in intentional stance. It helps us figure out someone's emotions. Here is how it (Intentional Stance) works: First you decide to treat the object whose behavior is to be predicted as a rational agent; then you figure out what beliefs that agent ought to have, given its place in the world and its purpose. Then you figure out what desires it ought to have, on the same considerations, and finally you predict that this rational agent will act to further its goals in the light of its beliefs. A little practical reasoning from the chosen set of beliefs and desires will in most instances yield a decision about what the agent ought to do; that is what you predict the agent will do.

"Horizontal Decalage"

Piaget's term for children's inconsistency in thinking within a developmental stage; explains why, for instance, children do not learn conservation tasks about numbers and volume at the same time. Horizontal decalage the ability for a chilld to know that a piece of play dough has the same mass when it is in a ball shape and when it is in a sausage shape.

Brain area associated with planning, prioritizing, inhibition

Prefrontal cortex (basically unformed in infancy) This part of the brain supports with is called executive function. Executive function advances throughout childhood, including between ages 2 and 6. As a result: Sleep becomes more regular. Emotions become more nuanced and responsive. Temper tantrums subside. Uncontrollable laughter and tears are less common.

The difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention

Primary Prevention Actions that change overall background conditions to prevent some unwanted event or circumstance, such as injury, disease, or abuse. For motor-vehicle accidents, primary prevention includes sidewalks, pedestrian overpasses, speed limits, traffic lights, and stop signs. Redesigned cars and improved driver competence are also primary prevention. Secondary Prevention Actions that avert harm in a high-risk situation, such as stopping a car before it hits a pedestrian or installing traffic lights at dangerous intersections. Tertiary Prevention Actions, such as immediate and effective medical treatment, that are taken after an adverse event (such as illness, injury, or abuse) occurs and that are aimed at reducing the harm or preventing disability. Examples includes harsh penalties for hit-and-run drivers, use of speedy ambulances, efficient emergency room procedures, and effective follow-up care, all of which have been improved from decades ago.

Basic findings of study with Mexican-American mothers.

Read and view the Section "A View From Science" in the textbook (Page 213)

Ability to focus only on what is relevant to the task at hand

Selective Attention This improves markedly at about age seven (7). Example: Many new readers confuse the letters b,d, and p - which are actually all the same, a small circle connected to a line. An astute mentor is needed to call the child's attention to the placement of that line. Selection Attention improves with guidance and neurological maturation.

Defining features of Piaget's stages of development

Sensorimotor (Birth to 2 years) Experience = senses and motor actions Object permanence emerges Beginnings of representational thought Stranger anxiety The entire world is essentially what you can see and what you feel yourself doing. This is not much going on outside of your immediate sensation. A child starts to pick up language, ascribe symbols to other objects, they can say the word dog and know what their referring to. Preoperational (2 to 7 years) Representing things with words and images (symbols) Begin to see the world others see. Things are getting solid in terms of language. You are beginning to realize the world is external to you and that it exists when your not looking. As far as you know everybody sees the world as you do because other perspectives you are not necessary good at and you realize this during the pre operational stage. Language develop explosively and a child starts to pretend. A child still has problems in this stage that effects their behavior and interfere with how the works works. Lacks logical reasoning Egocentrism, Centration, Pretend play, Language development Concrete operations (7 to 11 years) Starts thinking logically about concrete events Decentration, Conservation, Perspective taking, Math transforms You are stuck in the physical world. You know how the world works physically and mentally. We have to see something to reason about it. Formal operations (12 to adult) Thinking systematically and using abstract reasoning, Logic, Hypothetical thinking about what might be You start to manipulate things in your body

Sex vs gender: how are each defined?

Sex: Male or Female (or intersex) XY (Male), XX (Female) (or other: XXY, XYY...) Sex Differences = Biological differences between males and females, in organs, hormones, and body shape. -------------------------------------------------------- Gender: Man or woman Roles in society, highly correlated with sex Gender Differences = Differences in male and female roles, behaviors, clothes and so on that arise from society, not biology Example: In American society, men should wear pants while females should were skirts or dresses By age 2: Using gendered terms (Mr., Mrs., He/She) By age 4: Insist on gender-appropriate objects Early childhood: Struggle with PERMANENCE of sex and gender

Which things do and don't tend to affect child outcomes in the context of working mothers?

The effects of maternal employment status depend in part on how the mother is affected by her employment. Outcomes are likely to be better for both mothers and children if the mother's employment status is consistent with her desire to be either employed or a full-time homemaker. If a mother works to work, children will have better outcomes. If a mother is not motivated to work, children will have worst outcomes.

How universal is the very concept of gender roles? How about WHICH task goes with which gender?

The particular skin of culture of what is male and female is culturally specific but the idea you fit into each of one categories seems pretty biological. The vast majority of tasks faced by our ancestors were the same for men/women Division of labor universal, but assigning of specific tasks is often cultural Genes dictate that boys are more active (rough- and-tumble play) and girls more domestic (playing house) because that prepares them for adulthood, when fathers defend against predators and mothers care for the home and children. To deny that is to deny nature."

In reality, how does gender identity respond to rewards and punishments?

This question is associated with the term gender schema. This is a child's cognitive concept of belief about male and female differences. Young children categorize male and female as opposites. If you do something that is gender appropriate your rewarded, punished for non-appropriate gender. This gender schema is eternalized as a self schema through that series of experiences, observations, rewards, and punishments. You absorb into yourself what the culture expects.

How do North Americans MOST typically discipline their children?

Time-out = A disciplinary technique in which a person is separated from other people and activities. A misbehaving child is required to sit quietly, without toys or playmates, for a short time. It should not be done in anger. It should only last one to five minutes. Time-out is a period where a child is isolated from stimulation and has a desire to regain it. One is motived to behave better. Time-out allows children to calm down. Often combined with a time-out is another alternative to physical punishment and psychological control - induction, in which the parents talk extensively with the offender, helping children understand why their behavior was wrong.

Vygotskian terms involved in the "mentorship" lessons adults give to children

Zone of proximal development = In sociocultural theory, a metaphorical area, or "zone", surrounding a learner that includes all the skills, knowledge, and concepts that the person is close to acquiring but cannot yet master without help. Scaffolding = Temporary support that is tailored to a learner's needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner take the next step in learning something. Scaffolding may include telling children to look both ways before crossing the street (while holding the child's hand) or letting them stir the cake batter.)