PSC 140 Midterm 3

Be able to describe and give examples of the four major types of parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved/neglectful (know how they vary on responsiveness and demandingness). What types of behaviors/child outcomes are each of these parenting styles associated with?

- Authoritarian = HD, LR - Lower social competence - Often seek adult help for peer conflicts - Higher rates of anger towards authority - Authoritative = HD, HR - Competent, self-controlled, curious - Better school performance - Permissive/Indulgent = LD, HR - Low self-control, immature - Uninvolved/Neglectful = LD, LR - Low social competence - Poor school performance -Parent always does everything for kids

Universal goals of parents:

- Survival - Economic - Cultural -Cultures vary as to whether child is "economic contributor" to family or "economic drain" -Estimated cost to raise a child (not including daycare, college tuition, or private schools) = $300,000.00+ ($500,000.00+ in more affluent areas where cost of living is higher)

How stable are sociometric categories (e.g., being rejected) over time?

-"Rejected" status often stable over many years -Why? -Peers develop biased interpretation of rejected children's actions (view as more negative than objectively true) -Children become desensitized to rejected child's feelings over time -When the rejected person does something ambigous, they just assume that it was aggressive -This is a Hostile Attribution Bias (HAB)

Variety of Family Types

-"Traditional" Nuclear family [child(ren) + biological mother & father] -Single parent (includes never-married, widowed, & divorced) -Extended or multigenerational family - 10% families; relatives live together - Most common in African-American and Hispanic families -Blended family (includes stepparents and/or stepchildren) -Gay or lesbian family -Adoptive family

How do you compute an IQ score? What is normal IQ?

-1916 the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (developed in collaboration with Terman) • IQ = (Mental Age/Chronological Age) X 100 • Examples: o IfMA=8 and CA =8 then... • IQ=(8/8) X 100 = 100 ("normal"intelligence) o If MA=10 and CA=7 then... • IQ=(10/7) X 100 = 143 (very high intelligence) • IQ is a good predictor of school performance (r = .50)

Historically in USA

-1970: 40% of all U.S. households were traditionally nuclear - Married man and woman with biological children -2012: 20% of all U.S. households are the "traditional" nuclear family -Why the drop? - Higher rates of divorce; higher rates of single parents; higher rates of alternative or postmodern family arrangements; higher rates of people never getting married; delayed childbearing or no children

Be able to describe/identify some of the influences of poverty on child development. What percentage of children are living in poverty in U.S.?

-40% of children in the U.S. live in low- income households -In 2017, the poverty line was $28,000 for four people -Low income is making twice as much as the poverty line -18% in poverty Problems: - Low quality housing, health care, schools, recreation choices - Safety a big issue - Higher stress from multiple sources How parents deal with it: - Larger emphasis on obedience (authoritarian parenting) - Discourage exploration - More likely to resort to physical punishment - Less nurturant -They still have affection for their child, but they just do not show it - May be ADAPTIVE for the current circumstances but may LIMIT long-term developmental achievements

Be familiar with changes in attention and planning during middle childhood

-A classic study by Elaine Vurpillot (1968) illustrates the kinds of changes observed by many researchers. She recorded the eye move- ments of children age 3 to 10 while the children examined pairs of line drawings of houses -Vurpillot found that all the children responded correctly when the houses were identical but that the younger children were more likely to make mistakes when the houses differed, especially if the houses differed in only one way -Rather than systematically paying atten- tion to each of the houses to see how they differed, the younger children scanned the houses in a haphazard order. By contrast, the older children paid attention to each of the houses, scanning, and sometimes rescanning, row by row or column by column. It seems from this that older children have a greater ability to select and ex- ecute an effective attentional strategy -William Gardner and Barbara Rogoff (1990) asked groups of 4- to 6-year-olds and 7- to 10-year-olds to solve mazes -When both speed and accuracy mattered, the children in both age groups planned out the beginning of their route ahead of time and thereafter planned only when they came to uncertain choice points. When accuracy in navigating the maze was the only factor that counted, many of the older children realized that a better strategy was to plan their entire set of moves before they began -In contrast, when only accuracy, not speed, mattered, 4- to 6-year-olds did not change their planning, either because they did not understand that they would make fewer errors if they planned ahead more systematically or because they could not keep this possibility in mind as they tackled the maze

Be familiar with research on math skills in Brazilian street vendors (children)--how does their math performance change depending upon the context in which it is evaluated?

-Able to compute math problems in the context of street vending but showed poor understanding when the same problems were presented on paper

Describe boy-girl relationships during middle childhood

-Across cultures, children often spend a lot of time in gender-segregated groups -At age 6: 68% of best friends = same gender -At age 12 = 90% of best friends = same gender -Less gender-segregated play in neighborhoods vs. schools -Mix between "cooties" vs. fascination with other gender in middle childhood

Causes of abuse?

-Affected by many interacting variables—no one single cause -Risk factors: - Family level: • History of abuse in parent's family of origin (but 70% of parents who were abused DO NOT GO ON TO ABUSE THEIR OWN CHILDREN) • Premature, sick, or temperamentally difficult child • Unmanageable parental stress (chronic poverty, marital discord, substance abuse, unemployment) - Community level: • Isolation from social support - Cultural level: • Availability of violent images • Acceptance of corporal punishment -Parents who were abused are more likely to abuse their children, but only 30%

What are some of the positive effects of Head Start programs?

-Began in 1964 ("War on Poverty") -Specially designed preschools for 3-to 5-year-old children from disadvantaged homes -They serve about 750,000 children right now -They also had better social skills than other kids -They are not too different in IQ than other kids -Some findings: - Children less likely to be assigned to remedial classrooms in grade school - More likely to graduate from high school - Less likely to be incarcerated or on welfare in adulthood - Positive results dependent on actual classroom (can vary by quality too, just as regular daycare)

The Rise of Peer Influence

-Between 6 & 12 years, children spend about 40% of waking hours with peers -Increasing opportunities to interact with friends WITHOUT adult supervision -Content of peer activity changes -Forms of social control change

Bullying & Victimization

-Bullies = aggressive without provocation -Often have social knowledge but use it "antisocially" -Some male bullies are "popular" among pre-adolescent boys -Victimized kids -Targets of aggressive behavior -Often have many social difficulties -Immature -Have difficulty controlling emotions p Poor social skills -Boys more likely to be bullied physically, whereas girls more likely to be bullied relationally by rumor-spreading or being made fun of -Much of bullying takes place before or after school -Typically not just one bully, but several children "ganging up" on a victim -The group bullying is becoming more prevalent in recent years due to social media

Witnessing Marital Violence

-Children who repeatedly witness marital violence exhibit many of the same symptoms of those children directly abused - Lower school achievement - Internalizing & externalizing problems - Poor peer relationships - Difficulty in understanding and expressing appropriate emotions

Cautions about Parenting Style Data

-Correlational: Can't prove direction of effect -Influence of parenting style may vary by culture: - Authoritative parenting correlated with better outcomes for European-American and Hispanic- American children - Authoritarian correlated with better outcomes (e.g., school performance, social competence) for African-American children (esp. girls); especially in low income neighborhoods - Authoritarian parenting also correlated with higher academic achievement in Asian-American families

Effects of Abuse

-Depends on type of abuse, age & gender of child, and how information of the abuse is handled -Common effects: - Lower school achievement - Internalizing problems (anxiety/depression) -more likely to happen in girls - Externalizing problems (aggression/acting out) -more likely to happen in boys - Poor peer relationships - Low self-esteem - Inappropriate sexual behavior & promiscuity (in cases of sexual abuse)

What are specific learning disabilities?

-Failure in particular school subjects despite overall average of high IQ You have trouble with reading but not math

How and why can birth order affect intellectual development? Is this a meaningful difference between siblings?

-Family environment affects siblings differently based on the timing of their birth - Results of birth order effects on intelligence have been mixed • Depends on the AGE children are tested • A significant correlation between birth order and educational achievement has been found for children over 11-years-old (firstborns outscore later borns) • Damian & Roberts (2015): Meta-analysis with 377,000 U.S. high school students - Correlation between birth order and intelligence = .04 -The first person born will slightly do better on an IQ test but is a very small correlation - Why? (Zajonc) • In their earliest years of development they did NOT have to share parental resources • Firstborn children get intellectual advantage of being "tutor" to younger as they grow older

Be able to describe some of the short and long term consequences of divorce

-Financial hardship - Mother-headed house holds experience a sharp drop in income - Three-fourths of mothers get less child support than they should • About 25% get nothing - Move to new household can be disruptive resulting in less support from family and friends Effects of Divorce -Depends on age and gender - Young children may • Exhibit separation anxiety • Blame themselves -related to egocentrism • Fantasize about parents reuniting - Older children may • Respond positively to extra responsibility • Exhibit negative behaviors like: - Truancy - Delinquency - Running Away - Promiscuity - Girls more likely to exhibit internalizing problems and boys externalizing problems

How do the percentages vary by maternal education level?

-For white women with some college education, the share of births that occur outside of marriage has grown especially quickly as it is now more than triple that in 1990 For women with no college, the ratio has more than doubled -For women with a college degree, the ratio has also more than doubled -51% of people with no college degree who get pregnant will have them outside of marriage

Be able to describe the RESOURCE DILUTION MODEL for the influence of multiple children on the intellectual development

-General consensus in research literature: children with FEWEST siblings have the best educational outcomes -Why? (Downey, 2001) - Resource Dilution Model: Parental resources become "diluted" with each additional child (settings, treatments, opportunities) - Other causal possibility: More educated parents tend to have fewer children (therefore: smart people have small families; instead of small families make smart people)

Has the average # of children per family increased or decreased in the past 50 years? What are some reasons for why?

-In mid 1950s average # children in U.S. family was 3.8 -2014: average # = 2.4 -Currently: average # = 1.87 (est. 2017) -Why reduction? - Greater access to contraception - Higher education level of women - Delay of childbirth - Higher divorce rate - More expensive to raise children

Be familiar with historical/societal influences on mandatory schooling

-Influenced by the industrial revolution in the 19th century -Two early forms: o "mass education" • for working class • large group sizes • teaching basic skills -Learning how to be a successful worker o "liberal education" • for elite class • small classes or tutors • teaching complex subjects •Most contemporary schools provide "liberal education" •In many places around the world, children are required by law to attend school from ages of about 5 to 16 o 9+ months/year, 5+ days/week, 5-7 hours/day o By adulthood, Americans have spent 15,000+ hours in classroom settings

Be familiar with the percentage of children born outside of marriage to women between 20-30 years of age (New York Times article) and how this has changed in recent years. How do the percentages vary by mother's race or ethnicity? How do the percentages vary by maternal education level?

-Majority headed by women -New York Times, February 2012 - Now, > 50% of children born to mothers under age 30 are born outside of marriage • Fastest growth since 1990 in white women with some college, but not a 4-year degree • Varies by education level (majority of women with 4-year degrees marry before having children) • Varies by race/ethnicity (73% of black children are born outside marriage, compared with 53% of Latino children, 29% of white children) -The amount of women with no college is the most, but the growth rate is the highest in women with some college

How do researchers measure children's social status with peers?

-Measuring Social Status -These are used to see who kids want to play with -Three sociometric techniques: -Nomination Procedure -Kids will be asked to tell what kids that they like to play and name 3 kids that you do not like to play with -They nominate the top and low people in the class -Issue with nom. and rating: When children are rating, they are still more likely to tell other friends who they picked which can be hurtful to the kids -Rating Scale -The kids rate their peers on a scale -The researchers see who has the highest ratings -Paired-comparison -Children are given two names of children in the class and asked who they would rather play with -They see who was consistently chosen to play with and who was not -This way people are not rated as most liked, so it hurts their feelings less -Sociogram = graphic representation of friendships in a group -There are some kids with not friends which can be a problem

What are changes in parental views of their children during middle childhood?

-Middle childhood: -Increasing responsibility and freedom -Changes in friendship and peer interactions -Changes in parental expectations & parent- child relationships -Changes in self-concept -Lay important foundations for transition to adolescence

Morality

-Morality = understanding issues of right and wrong; including rules and social obligations -Issues: -Links between moral reasoning (cognition) and moral behavior (action) Cognitive Theories -Focus on how children's moral development is closely linked to advances in cognitive skills: -Especially, how they THINK about situations and how many FACTORS or PERSPECTIVES they can keep in mind

Child Abuse

-More than 3 million cases of child abuse are reported to authorities each year - Most abuse remains unreported - Approx. 1500 children die each year at hand of parent (most under 3 years) -Types of abuse: - Physical abuse - Sexual abuse - Neglect (emotional and/or physical) - Psychological abuse -Note: Corporal punishment in U.S. schools was not banned by the American Psychological Association until 1974; Still legal in 19 states and many countries worldwide

Does the American Academy of Pediatrics believe that children under 18 months should watch television/videos? Does this match parents' opinions/practices?

-Multi-billion $ industry - Fueled by parent concerns about giving their baby a competitive edge -These videos do not help them any more compared to other people who just talk to their family members -AAP recommends no media for children < 18 months aside from video-chatting; but 50% of US public believes that such videos are important for cognitive development in infants and toddlers

Ecological Models of Development

-Need to consider human development IN THE CONTEXT of the multiple systems that influence the child/adult - Microsystem (home, church, school) - Mesosystem (interactions between microsystems) - Exosystem [mass media, parent workplace, church (dominant religious beliefs of community), government] -Having a dominant religion in your community also affects you even fi you are not religious, so that will be an exosystem

What are some cultural issues in development of moral reasoning?

-Other researchers, using slightly different methods to elicit judgments, have concluded that certain issues North Americans tend to see as mat- ters of social convention may in some other cultures tend to be considered moral issues

What can be done about limiting the effects of television/media violence?

-Parents need to take an active role in monitoring children's viewing and watch shows TOGETHER - Problem: Joint television viewing typically happens for adult programs -Media needs to more accurately report the scientific evidence; and researchers need to spend more time being public policy advocates

What are some social influences on children's moral development?

-Peer interaction -More popular children are also more morally mature -Modeling and Imitation -Children learn by observing others' behavior and its consequences -Parental discipline -Use of induction (explanation) correlated with higher levels of moral reasoning (especially in U.S.)

Bystanders to Bullying

-Peer witnesses are present in nearly all bullying episodes -When bystanders interfere on behalf of the victim the bullying episode usually ends -But, other children: -help less than 20% of the time -assist the bully about 30% of the time -stand by and watch or leave the scene (most common reaction) -Why? -Negative feelings about victim -Fear retaliation or victimization

Be familiar with the descriptions for each social status "category" (e.g., popular, neglected, etc.)

-Popular -actively liked -Most people like you -Rejected -actively disliked -Most people dislike you -They are the islanders in the map -Neglected -ignored -Kids who are not chosen in the rating scale -They are in the middle -Controversial -receive both + and - nominations -Victimized -actively harmed by part of group -Bullies -act aggressively to dominate the group

What are central predictors of popularity? Of rejection? Does it depend on culture?

-Popular kids -Physically attractive -Strong social skills -(good at initiating and maintaining interactions; good at resolving conflicts) -Smart -Girls are told to act less smart -Often athletic/coordinated n React well to teasing -Friendly -Rejected kids -Often aggressive (BIGGEST FACTOR) -Low skills in entering group play -Disrupt play -Call attention to themselves -Inappropriate behaviors -Some extremely shy -Overreact to teasing -Often have problems in perspective taking (e.g., hostile attribution bias) -Physically unattractive

Be familiar with Kohlberg's theories on the development of moral reasoning—preconventional, conventional, postconventional

-Presented children with moral dilemmas (e.g., the Heinz dilemma) -Three levels: -You figure out a person's morality on not if they say they yes or no but why they say yes or no to that the situation was moral or not -Preconventional: morality based on rewards, punishment, individual needs -He will get in trouble if he steals, if you let your wife die, you will get in trouble -is focused on rewards and punishments -Conventional: based on importance of conforming to social rules; loyalty, respect, trust, law & order -He has the duty to save his wife's life, if everybody acted in his way of stealing, society would not function -Postconventional: based on abstract principles and values -If Heinz does not do things to save her life, then he is putting other things at greater value than the value of life -Not everybody reaches these ideas -There was a person who was selling the drugs 10 times the price, and Heinz needed the drug for his wife for her to live -He stole it because he did not have the money -This is the highest moral reasoning -How is children's ability to reason about morality in HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS related to their ACTUAL behavior? -General findings: -Higher levels of moral reasoning correlated with higher levels of prosocial & moral behavior -BUT. . this is only a modest correlation; can't explain everything -Children (like adults) find it hard to resist temptation even though they know the rules -Moral behavior may be context specific

Causes of Friendship

-Proximity/closeness -Opportunities to play -Degree of similarity to each other in age, gender, values, interests (esp. like to do the same activities), skills -Stability of friendship increases with age (and is affected by changes in the environment)

Be able to describe some of the child outcomes associated with teenage motherhood. What helps children of teenage moms remain resilient?

-Rate decreasing from 1990 (59.9 per 1,000 females aged 15-19) to 2016 (20.3 per 1,000) - [Note: Rate of abortions in teenagers also at historic low in 2016] -Children of teenage moms are: - Often more aggressive and perform more poorly in school compared to other children - Do better if live in extended family households -Why? - Teenage moms don't talk to their babies as much - Limited financial resources (typically live in poverty) - Social isolation of mothers - Lower education level of mother • 2/3 of mothers never complete high school 2016: Record low, declined another 9% to 20.3 births per 1,000 women from 22.3 in 2015

What are some developmental outcomes of peer rejection?

-Rejected-shy children are aware of their social failure and report feeling lonelier, and more distressed about their lack of friends -Controversial and neglected children not overly concerned by their lack of social success—(often have a few good friends) -Peer rejection and victimization can have long-lasting effects: -Depression -Self harm -Substance abuse -Delinquency -Suicidal thoughts or actions -These negative effects are reduced if other children sometimes intervene on their behalf during bullying incidents

Vulnerability & Resilience

-Risk factor = characteristic of child or environment that increases the probability of a negative outcome -Protective factor = characteristic of child or environment that increases the probability of resilience or success despite negative situations -Transactional models of development = interactions between characteristics of child and characteristics of the environment interact over time to determine the developmental outcome -Can be DISCONTINUITY in: - Environment - Child's developing capacities - Way the child experiences & understands the environment at different ages - What is ADAPTIVE for environment • E.g., early behavior problems following divorce may help child get attention; but not adaptive in long- term

Parental Influences on Peer Relationships

-Secure attachment related to: n Positive peer relationships -High negativity and coercive, aggressive family interactions related to: -Aggressiveness with peers n Peer rejection -Parent also have some control over: -When, where, and with whom their children play with (especially outside of school hours)

How did Harter measure self-esteem in children? What are some differences between the self-esteem of younger (4- to 7-year-olds) and older children (8- to 12-year-olds)?

-Self-esteem is the positive evaluation of one's own worth -Having a sense of optimism is good for mental health -Research by Harter: -Important index of mental health -High self-esteem in childhood predicts satisfaction & happiness in adulthood -Related to general sense of optimism -Typically through self- report questionnaires: -Children judge whether a statement is "really true for me" or "sort of true for me" -Usually use pictures with children 4- to 7- years -If you have high self-esteem, you should relate to the picture where they are able to complete the puzzle -Young children (4- to 5-year-olds) typically self-report higher self-esteem than older children. May be caused by: -Overly positive views about their skills and abilities -Lower social comparison

Be familiar with the findings from Sherif's Robber's Cave experiment

-Sherif et al. (1961) -Group of 5th grade boys at summer camp -Two groups: The "Rattlers" and the "Eagles" -Competition BETWEEN groups fostered solidarity WITHIN each group: "us vs. them" mentality -This rivalry was only reduced through engagement in cooperative tasks -The main experimenter acted like a janitor -You can first get people to not like each other through competition and then like each other with a common goal -General findings: -Children form groups based on common interests and goals -Cohesiveness is formed by common goals and competition with other groups -Inspired "cooperative learning" programs in schools

Cross-Cultural Predictors of Sociometric Status

-Similarities: -Across many cultures aggression is largest predictor of PEER REJECTION -Differences: -Shyness is NOT a predictor of NEGLECTED status in many Asian cultures; associated with POPULARITY

Gender differences in Moral Reasoning Research

-Some studies report that females respond differently to males on moral reasoning tests -Some studies find "lower" moral reasoning for females n Others find "higher" moral reasoning in females -Gilligan: -Women's morality may have different focus: -Focus less on justice (RIGHTS) and more on responsibility and care (OBLIGATIONS) compared to men -Gender differences may depend on the type of moral dilemma -When it involves PARENTING ISSUES (e.g.) no difference by gender (both focus on OBLIGATION AND CARE)

Be familiar with Piaget's theory of moral reasoning—especially shift from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality

-Stage 1 = Heteronomous morality (5 to 10 years) -Rules handed down by authorities -Rules = unchangeable, must be obeyed -"moral realism" (rules should not be questioned) -"immanent justice" (wrongdoers will be punished) -You do not question why things are right or wrong, and wrongdoers will be punished -A kid accidentally broke 12 glasses and one broke one on purpose -Kids think that the person who 12 is worse even though they did it accidentally -Stage 2 = Autonomous morality (> age 9 years) -Rules are socially agreed upon; decision to follow the rule is personal -Rules = flexible, revisable -"moral relativism" (consider multiple factors when evaluating their moral conduct)

Interventions with Rejected Children

-Status as REJECTED highly stable over time without intervention -Successful interventions: -Modeling and reinforcement -Training of social skills and social problem- solving -Training in academic skills

How do siblings and birth order relate to theory of mind development?

-Strong evidence that having siblings is associated with higher performance on theory of mind tests (such as false belief) in preschool years - Children with siblings outperform singletons - Having more older siblings (that is, being one of the youngest in the family) appears most beneficial - Not just in preschool years; extends into middle childhood as well -Younger children need to learn why they are not getting what they want, so they can convince their older siblings to get what they want

Divorce a Period of Transition

-The divorce rate in America is the highest in the world. -At any given time about 25% of American children live in single parent households. -About two-thirds of parents remarry - Half of these children experience the end of their parents' second marriage

How can parents influence the development of their children's self-esteem?

-Three important parental characteristics: -Acceptance of children & affection -Setting clear limits -Respect for children's individuality & point of view

What are common features of classroom instruction (e.g., instructional discourse)?

-Today, as in centuries past, the most com- mon classroom arrangement is for the teacher to sit at a desk or stand at a blackboard facing the children, who sit in parallel rows facing front -These physical circumstances reflect the assumption that the teacher is an authority figure who is there to talk to and teach children who are there to listen and learn -This assumption is also reflected in the routine use of instructional dis- course, a unique way of talking that is typical in school but rarely encountered in everyday interactions in the community or home -A common pattern for instruc- tional discourse is the "known-answer question." When the teacher asks a student, "What does this word say?" the teacher already knows the answer (a fact the student fully understands) and is actually seeking information about the student's progress in learning to read -In the reciprocal-teaching procedure, a teacher and a small group of students read silently through a text one segment at a time and take turns leading discus- sions about what each segment means

Be familiar with Dweck's research on mastery versus helpless/performance orientations & incremental versus entity views of intelligence. (Note: incremental view = "growth mindset;" entity view = "fixed mindset")

-Why do some children try harder in the face of failure and others give up? (Research by Dweck) • Mastery Orientation o Persist in face of failure o Have incremental theory of intelligence (growth mindset) •Focus on effort vs. ability •Performance/Helpless Orientation o Give up in face of failure, or avoid challenges o Have entity theory of intelligence (fixed mindset) •Focus on ability vs. effort o More common in high performing girls vs. boys • This is why parents/teachers should praise effort and NOT ability -When girls fail, they think the are not smart and should have done better, but when boys fail, they think that the test was not fair and that maybe they did not study enough but still consider themselves to be smart -The kids that were praised for their effort picked the harder puzzle, but the kids that were praised for being smart picked the easier puzzle to prevent losing their smart reputation

What are some of the issues surrounding the influence of television/media on child development (e.g., stereotypes, violence, sexual content)?

-Young children watch an average of 2-5 hours of t.v. per day (with some estimates as high as 40 hours per week) -Issues: - Can children separate fantasy from reality? - Problem of television form: difficult to process? (need to develop "television literacy") -Shows like Spongebob have quick scene changes, so they require cognitive processing - Good vs. bad television - Stereotypes, violence - Over 1,000 studies point to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior

Four Factors that Make a Difference in how Kids Handle Divorce (Hetherington)

1) Boys have more difficulty immediately especially if they live with their mother. 2) Children whose relationship with their father continues, do better. 3) Children whose parents behave well towards each other do better. 4) Children's whose financial circumstances do not dramatically change do better. -The high majority of children experience no serious negative long-term effects

What are some developmental effects of having no siblings?

Positive outcomes: - High self-esteem - Achievement-oriented (as much as children with 1 other sibling) - More privacy - More financial resources Negative outcomes: - May be more pressure from parents - May have more difficulty in social relationships - Lack of sibling relationship

Be familiar with developmental changes in friendships and descriptions of friends. Why is having friends considered important for healthy development?

< age 6/7 years focus on physical attributes and preferences: -Friends are people who are nice to you and who you like to play with -They do not focus on the commitment and trust of friendship > age 7 see friendship as an enduring relationship; increasingly focus on issues of loyalty and intimacy -Children with friends -Typically go on to develop in adaptive and healthy ways -Immediate benefits: -Higher self-esteem -Better adjustment to school -Social support -Children without friends -Are at risk for many problems including: -Delinquency; criminal records -Poor school achievement; higher drop-out rates -Difficulty in intimate relationships -Mental health problems

Know the definition of conservation, standard procedures for conservation tasks, and how "concrete operational children" solve them based on their knowledge about identity, compensation, and reversibility

= ability to understand that the properties of an object/ substance are not changed by a change in appearance Between 5 to 8 years children solve conservation problems by taking into account: • Identity: - outward changes don't change substances involved • Compensation - Changes in one dimension compensate for changes in another • Reversibility - One operation can be negated or reversed

Friendship

= relationship of affection, reciprocity, and commitment -Developmental functions: -Provide context to develop social skills -Source of knowledge/information -Companionship/fun -Mutual assistance -Models of intimate relationships

Be familiar with changes in the brain during middle childhood and their connection to changes in cognition

Brain Development • Increases in: - myelination of frontal cortex - synapses (more connections) • Pruning is happening as well

Intelligence: General or Specific?

General o Spearman's g factor (i.e., ability to see relations among objects, events, and ideas; practical sense and initiative) -All of your skills are related, so you are not smarter in one perspective than another perspective Specific o Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence -Three kinds of intelligence: -Analytic = ability to analyze, compare, judge -Creative = ability to invent, discover, imagine -Practical = ability to put knowledge into practice (i.e., analytic, creative, practical) o Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence -is more domain specific

Metamemory, metacognition

Metamemory • = knowledge about memory processes • 5-year-olds: - Overestimate how much they can remember - Underestimate the effort it takes to remember or the strategies required Metacognition • = knowledge about thinking and learning • Important component of children's developing understanding of the mind • Evident in reasoning skills and in everyday conversations: increasing use of "think", "know", "remember", "remind"

What are some of the causes of sibling rivalry?

Role of Siblings: - Care-taking - Teacher & Role Model - Playmate/companion -Compete for resources, including attention New baby can be especially difficult for children < 4 -It is because they are not able to understand that other people can be thinking differently than them because they do not have a theory of mind yet -Rivalry most common in situations of: - Differential treatment - Unstable family circumstances -Stressors: economic, emotional, etc. - Coercive or hostile parenting

Memory Strategies

• = deliberate actions to increase storage and retrieval of information • Requires individual to: - Think about goal - Plan how to achieve goal • Three common strategies: - Rehearsal (quietly repeat items or repeat in "head") - Memory Organization (mentally group or chunk in meaningful units) - Elaboration (make connections between 2 or more things) -The story behind it like it was the first day of class and today

Be familiar with findings about child chess-experts versus adult non-experts (research by Chi) on memory. How does this reveal the importance of content knowledge for memory?

• = store of information about objects, people, the world • Expertise improves memory • Research by Chi - 10-yr-old chess "experts" had better memory for meaningful arrangements of chess pieces than adult "non-experts"; but adult "non-experts" had larger memory spans for random objects -The children did better because they had meaningful arrangements related to the chess board

What are some of the limitations of concrete operational thinking?

• According to Piaget: - Logic and reasoning only applied to concrete, directly perceivable objects, people, or events - More difficult for children to reason "hypothetically" -A concrete operational child can imagine that a hammer can break glass -However, in an imaginary world, a feather can break the glass, but they will not recognize the rule because in reality, a feather can not break the glass

Be familiar with symptoms of ADD/ADHD, gender differences, effects on school performance and social skills, and treatment options

• Affects 3-5% of school-age children • Boys diagnosed 5-10 times more than girls [largely because they often have ADD combined with hyperactivity (ADHD)] • ADD is likely UNDERDIAGNOSED in females because they don't exhibit the disruptive, acting out behaviors • Symptoms: o Great difficulty staying on task o Impulsivity (act without thinking) o Immature behavior o Often aggressive o Poor social skills & often rejected by peers -Do poorly on tasks requiring sustained attention • Difficulty planning, reasoning, and problem solving in academic situations • Most continue to have difficulties through adolescence into adulthood

What are some cultural differences in memory?

• Better memory strategies in children who attend school - Greater spontaneous use of organizational strategies - But: no memory differences if objects are presented as part of a story instead of randomly

Be familiar with biological changes between 5 and 12 years in height & weight, and influences on this development

• Between 5 & 12 children: - Grow about 15-20 inches in height - Double in weight (gain about 45-55 lbs.) - Girls have pre-puberty growth spurt earlier than boys • Influences on growth - Genes - Good nutrition - Overall health

Causes of ADD/ADHD

• Biology o Higher concordance in MZ vs. DZ twins o Abnormal activity of prefrontal cortex o Delayed brain development, particularly in frontal cortex • Environment o Prenatal exposure to alcohol, drugs, and other teratogens (including bacterial and viral infections) o Exposure to lead (for example from lead paint) o Recent research suggests advanced paternal age (45+ years) • Unlikely causes • Frequentt.v.watching • food/diet (such as too much sugar)

Be familiar with skills needed in reading and with the different approaches to teaching reading (bottom-up versus top-down)

• Bottom-up o Decode phonemes, combine into words, then sentences, then paragraphs o Emphasis on phonemic analysis -Building from the smallest unit to the largest unit • Top-down o Reading for meaning; interpret words based on prior knowledge o Emphasis on comprehension o Emphasis on visual retrieval of entire words o "Whole language approach" o Example: What do with an unknown word in a sentence? • "The manager insulted all the employees in the office. Everyone was furious, so he gave them a day off in an attempt to mollify them." -Recognizing words from past knowledge -You do not have to do tedious steps of reading the phenomes, so kids are more interested in reading

Be familiar with skills needed in reading and with the different approaches to teaching reading (bottom-up versus top-down) for math

• Bottom-up o Focus on correct procedures for adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing o Learning through number drills, recitation scripts • Top-down o Math for meaning; focus on math concepts in relation to "real world problems" o Emphasis on comprehension and the use of math as an important tool

What is the Min strategy? How can a researcher determine if a child is using the Min strategy?

• Children use different strategies to solve different problems • Over time and experience, less effective strategies are replaced by more sophisticated strategies that are: • More efficient = more rapid solution • More accurate = correct answer - Example: "Min" strategy in adding • Problem: 2+10 • start with larger number and add the smaller number • Without "min" strategy, takes longer to add 2 + 10 than 10 + 2

School Cut-Off Approach

• Compare the skills of students who were born a few months AFTER the cut-off date for their class ("old") vs. students who were born a few months BEFORE the cut-off date ("young") • Findings: o Better memory (including strategy use), reading & math skills in "young 1st graders" vs. "old kindergarteners" o BUT young students may do worse academically than old students in the same grade (e.g., in 4th and 8th grade) o Important that child is socially mature enough to start school

Piaget

• Concrete Operations = coordinated, logical mental actions -He thinks that the concrete operations period is between 7-12 • Children's thinking becomes more: - organized - flexible - "reversible" - decentrated -Decentrated means that they can focus on more than one perspective at a time

Contrast education versus apprenticeship

• Education o Deliberate teaching of information and skills o Explicit instruction • First "schools" appeared around 4000 B.C. -Formal education in a classroom setting • Apprenticeship o Learning by observing and participating o Combine instruction with productive labor o Typically implicit instruction -While you are helping, you are also learning -Explicit: The master plumber tells you what to do -Implicit: The master plumber starts working, and you just watch them

What is "emergent literacy?" What are some things young children know about reading and writing before they enter school and learn to read and write conventionally?

• Emergent literacy o Basic knowledge about literacy. Knowing that "words provide the meaning" and ability to identify letters o Related to exposure to literacy materials in the home (varies widely between families) -They understand that words mean something • Decoding o Analyzing sounds • In English, more phonemes than letters in the alphabet • Examples o Consider "c" in the word "circus" o The "f" sound can be made by "f" or "ph" o Breaking words into syllables & phonemes o "phonological awareness" = ability to do letter to sound translations

Be familiar with research presented in lecture on gender differences in math achievement and how it links to child attitudes

• Gender differences in math are typically small in grammar school and favor females • Gender differences wider in countries with less gender equity • Still, only 20% of math and science Ph.D. Full Professors at top research universities are female • Negative societal feelings/images about mathematically "smart" girls • Males and females differ in their background training (number and type of courses) • Parental and teacher expectations and values • Females more likely to doubt their abilities when challenged than males • Explicit or implicit discrimination by professors and classmates • Male-dominated classroom and work environments • Later career vs. family choices that affect women more than men

Besides conservation, what are some other indices of concrete operational thought?

• Hierarchical Classification - Can focus on subordinate and superordinate categories at the same time (can solve class inclusion tests) • Seriation - =ability to order items along quantitative dimension - Understanding of "transitive inference" = if A < B and B < C then A must be < C • Spatial Operations - Better ability to represent spatial layouts, or "cognitive maps", of locations or routes

What is "emergent numeracy"?

• Includes language of math o numbers and symbols signify quantity

Motor Development

• Increase in strength, agility, and balance • Gender differences - Boys: better at force & strength skills (e.g., running, throwing, catching) - Girls: better at balance & coordination skills (e.g., skipping, cartwheels, jump-rope) • Source of gender differences -Practice/experience/opportunities during early childhood - Reinforcement from parents

Be familiar with how speed of processing, knowledge base, strategies, and metamemory influence children's memory and cognition in middle childhood (e.g., know what each of these are, how they develop)

• Increase in: - Speed of processing - Knowledge base - Effective strategies for remembering - Metamemory Increase in Speed of Processing • Increase in "memory span" - 4-5 yrs = 4 digits - 9-10yrs = 6 - Adults = 7 • Related to the speed at which children can name the items to be remembered (faster = less memory decay) • Also an increase in age with retrieval of information from long-term memory

Research by Eccles

•Related to children's competence and value beliefs: o Girls, as young as 1st graders(!), believe they are less competent in math (even when their performance is better than boys) o Girls value math less than boys o Affects their motivation and participation decisions

What is interpretative theory of mind? When do children typically pass the standard task (when you can't tell what is hidden underneath)

• Interpretive Theory of Mind - = Different people can interpret the same situation in multiple reasonable ways • Not just that someone could have a false belief, but that two beliefs could both be true! • One character sees the full picture • Another character only sees the partially covered picture • What will each character think the full picture is? -Children younger than 6 will say that it is an elephant because they can not unthink it, so they do nto believe that other people can have different views • Awareness of interpretive diversity (or having an IToM) is an important achievement in theory of mind in middle childhood - Children consistently pass these tasks by 6 to 7 years of age • Passing standard IToM task = Awareness of interpretive diversity • Failing = No awareness - But... What if the hidden picture is clearly obvious?

What type(s) of intervention is/are successful? What kinds of new laws are being passed?

• Lifestyle change: - diet & exercise - Typically FAMILY BASED intervention -You can not single one child out and only make them change their diet and exercise • Many states (including CA) implementing new laws: - State mandated body mass screenings in schools - New nutritional standards for school lunches - Expand P.E. requirements for schools - New standards for foods/drinks provided in school vending machines

What are some explanations for increased rate of childhood obesity?

• May be linked to increasing adoption of "Western" fast food diet - Ronald McDonald 2nd most recognized figure worldwide (after Santa Claus) - > 31,000 restaurants worldwide Causes of Obesity • Altered dietary intake (esp. increase in high-fat, high- sugar foods; increased portion sizes) • Decreased physical activity -In middle childhood, the more TV that you watch, the more likely you are to be obese because you are less likely to do something more straining • Increased TV watching • Lower cost & higher availability of junk food • Also, genetic link - Twin studies -Monozygotic twins are more positively correlated for weight -There is a correlation for dizygotic too but just not as much - Adoption studies

Emergent Reading

• Often tested by having preschoolers "read" one of their favorite books (before they know how to read conventionally) • Young children who have more experience with reading books show: • greater understanding that words provide the meaning (may even pretend to "track" the words with their fingers) • greater understanding of story conventions (for example, starting with "once upon a time," ending with "the end") • better narrative skills (better able to tell a cohesive, detailed story)

What is the overinterpretative mind error? At what age do children tend to make this error? Do younger children make this error?

• One character sees full picture • Another character only sees the partially covered picture • What will each character think the full picture is? -Kids between 6 and 7 will have an overinteprative theory of mind error, so they will assume that the second character will see something different even though it is easy to tell that it is a giraffe • Expect mental diversity when there should be none • U-shaped developmental curve • Most common in 6- to 7-year-olds - Evident in predictions - Evident in explanations - NOT related to executive function (performance on ambiguous picture IToM tasks predicted by EF) - Predicted only by age -6/7-year-olds pass IToM tasks, BUT make overinterpretive mind error

Are their cultural differences in achieving concrete operational thought? If so, what are they?

• Piaget argued that concrete operations is UNIVERSAL development • Main finding: Yes it appears to be a universal cognitive achievement but there are cultural variations in age achieved • Need to test knowledge in native language with familiar materials

Be familiar with Stevenson's studies on comparisons between U.S. versus China & Japan on math performance

• ResearchbyStevensonetal. o American children do not perform as well as Chinese and Japanese students on math tests o Why? • Differences in Asian schools • Differences in Asian home environments •Chinese and Japanese home environments: o Asian mothers focus more on effort vs. ability as key to success o Asian parents are less satisfied with their child's performance and encouraged them to try harder o Asian families spend more time in academic-type activities outside of school and provide more assistance with homework

Treatments for ADD/ADHD

• Stimulant medication (e.g., Ritalin) most commonly prescribed • Improves academic and social functioning in approx. 70% of cases • Most effective treatments combine drug treatment with cognitive-behavioral interventions (to learn appropriate academic and social skills)

Why is obesity concerning?

• Type 2 diabetes • Elevated blood pressure levels • Stroke • Cardiovascular disease • Orthopedic problems • Fatty liver disease • Sleep apnea • Early onset of puberty • Asthma • Lowered life expectancy • Mental health issues - Depression, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation • Peer rejection

Be familiar with obesity rates. How do obesity rates vary by social economic status (SES), ethnicity, and race?

•Child obesity rate has nearly tripled in the past 30 years • Currently approximately 19% of children are obese in the United States - More common in children of obese vs. non-obese parents - Among youth, highest obesity rates are in African-American girls (38%), and Mexican-American boys (44%) - More common in low SES families • 80% chance that obese children stay obese through adulthood - > 67% of American adults are overweight; > 30% obese Criteria for Obesity • Body Mass Index > 30 • BMI = weight in kg divided by (height in meters)2 • They have BMI charts by age and gender for children • This translates to being at or above the 95 percentile for weight (given height and gender) • Note that BMI can misclassify people as obese

Cross-cultural Approaches about school

•Compare cultures withnand without formal educational training • Findings: o Concrete operational thought not affected by schooling (if testing is appropriately sensitive) o Memory STRATEGIES better in children with formal schooling o Metacognitive skills & explanations better in children with formal schooling o Knowledge base more extensive in children with formal schooling

Contrast mental age versus chronological age

•Index of intelligence = Mental Age (MA) o MA = Test performance of an average child at a certain age o For example, a 7-year-old with a mental age of 9 would be "precocious": answering as a 9-year- old would on a series of questions

What are the main conclusions about the influence of nature versus nurture on IQ?

•Some part of differences in performance on IQ test is inheritable o Researchers vary in their conclusions about how much of the variance is due to genes (ranging from .4 to .7) •There are differences between ethnic groups on IQ scores o Asian-American > European-American > Native American and Hispanic > African-American • Important: No evidence that differences in IQ scores BETWEEN ethnic groups is genetic o May be caused by differences in overall environment -If you control everyone for SES and schooling, there would be absolutely no difference between races, so the differences between ethnic groups is environmental -There are more differences within the race than between different races because there are individual differences

What is dyslexia?

•The most common specific learning disability o High quantitative (math) IQ, low verbal IQ o Severe problems in phonological processing • Cause? o Abnormalities in brain development—especially in the ability to rapidly process sounds; both visual and auditory (Research by Tallal) • Intervention? o Training and practice in discrimination speech sounds in writing and speech -They use the whole language approach because it is hard to sound out words -25% of kids are not able to sound phonologically in general