Preschool years Flashcards
Describe body growth and brain development during early childhood.
during early childhood growth slows down (compared to toddler years, but still is very rapid overall) shape more similar to adults, new epitastes form, lose baby teeth → start dental care as soon as teeth come in
posture and balance improve
Brain: rapid growth of prefrontal cortex, L hemisphere especially active, supporting language learning. R increases too, increased spatial reasoning
reticular formation: sustained, controlled attention
corpus callosum: more complex, coordinated movements and thinking
Describe advances in mental representation, and limitations of thinking, during the preoperational stage.
Gains in representational activity include: make believe play, symbole-real-world relations
Limitations: egocentric thinking, lack of conservation, lack of hierarchical classification (can’t organize objects into classes and subclasses)
Trace the development of vocabulary, grammar, and conversational skills in early childhood.
1- 1 word
2: skilled face to face interaction and turn taking
3: can infer speaker’s intention, indirectly expresssed
4: adjusts speech to fit listeners age, gender, and status
4-8: casually converses and can give directions over the phone, overcoming a lack of conversational aids
Identify changes in understanding and expressing emotion during early childhood, citing factors that influence those changes.
Preschoolers can correctly judge causes, consequences and behaviors of emotions. May need help labeling and responding to emotions
3-4: verbalize strategies for alleviating negative emotions (language, logic, executive function, parent-child interactions)
What are the central features of psychoanalytic, social learning, and cognitive-developmental approaches to moral development?
Psychoanalytic: emotional side of conscience out of fear of punishment. guild and identity as motivators for moral action
Social learning theory: moral behavior learned through modeling
Cognitive-developmental perspective: child is active thinker, age 4 child consider intentions in making moral judgements & lying, but with rigid reasoning
Describe and evaluate theories that explain the emergence of gender identity.
Social learning: find gender typing through modeling and reinforcement
Cognitive developmental theory: master gender constancy before developing gender typed behavior
Gender schema theory: combines above 2 features→ acquire gender references/behaviors, they form masculine & feminine categories (schemas) and apply it to themselves & the world
Discuss the multiple origins of child maltreatment, its consequences for development, and prevention strategies.
Prevention:
intervening with high risk parents (young, low education, low SES, lack of support)
parents anonymous
home visitations
consequences: poor emotional regulation and understanding, poor adjustment (abuse and violent crimes), impaired working memory, executive function, and academic motivation, CNS damage, impaired cortisol regulation and response
Parental contributors to peer development and social skills
how parents role model dealing with conflict
show how to initiate peer contacts, offer guidance how to act towards others
indirect influences: secure attachment, emotionally expressive, sensitive communication, parent-child play
Children’s response to authoritative vs. authoritarian vs. permissive vs. uninvolved parents
authoritative: self control, social and moral maturity, high self esteem (warm and loving, sets boundaries, and lets kid be involved in making decisions)
Authoritarian: comply just to escape punishment, will repeat behavior – don’t see it as wrong bc its wrong but bc they got in trouble; anxiety, defiance, low self esteem (makes decisions for the kid, is cold and rejecting)
permissive: lets kids do what they want, impulsivity, disobedience, poor school achievement (warm but overindulgent parent)
uninvolved: depression, poor emotional regulation, school achievement difficulties, anti-social behavior (emotionally detached and withdrawn)
