Chapter 7 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Copyright © 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Exploring.

Chapter 7Physical and Cognitive

Development in Early Childhood

Copyright © 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Physical Developmentin Early Childhood

Skeletal growth: new epiphyses emerge lose baby teeth

Brain development: rapid growth of the prefrontal cortex hemispheres continue to lateralize


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HandednessReflects dominant cerebral

hemisphere: right-handed (90%)—

left hemisphere left-handed (10%)—

both hemispheresJointly influenced by

nature and nurture: position in uterus practice

© Elena Stepanova/Shutterstock


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Brain Development inEarly Childhood

Left hemisphere especially active: language skills handedness

Links among parts ofthe brain increase: cerebellum reticular formation hippocampus corpus callosum

Figure 7.2


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Influences on Physical Growth and Health Heredity and hormones:

growth hormone thyroid-stimulating

hormone Nutrition Infectious disease:

malnutrition immunization

Childhood injuries© CandyBox Images/Fotolia


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Nutrition in Early Childhood

Appetite declines Wariness of new foods is adaptive Needs a high-quality diet Imitates others’ food choices Poor-quality diet is associated with

cognitive deficits and behavior problems


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Infectious Disease and Malnutrition

Poor diet depresses immune system

Illness reduces appetite Diarrhea a danger in

developing countries; can be helped by oral rehydration therapy zinc supplements

© Creativa/Fotolia


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Immunizations

About 30% of U.S. children lack immunizations

Reasons include cost parents’ stressful daily

lives misconceptions about

vaccine safety

© Jaimie Duplass/Shutterstock


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Factors Related to Childhood Injuries

Gender and temperament Poverty, single parenthood, low parental

education Societal conditions:

international differences teenage parents shortage of high-quality child care


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InternationalDeath Rates Due to Injury

Figure 7.3

(Adapted from World Health Organization, 2008.)


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Motor Development in Early Childhood

Gross-motor skills: balance improves gait smooth and rhythmic by age 2 upper- and lower-body skills combine into

more refined actions by age 5 greater speed and endurance

Fine-motor skills: self-help: dressing, eating drawing and printing


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Progression of Drawing Skills Scribbles First representational forms:

draws first recognizable pictures: 3 years draws boundaries

and tadpole people:3–4 years

More complexdrawings: 5–6 years

Early printing: 4–6years

Figure 7.4

(Left: Reprinted by permission from Artful Scribbles by Howard Gardner. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of The Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 1982. Right: From E. Winner, “Where Pelicans Kiss Seals,” Psychology Today, 20[8], August 1986, p. 35. Reprinted by permission from the collection of Ellen Winner.)


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Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

Ages 2 to 7 Gains in mental representation:

make-believe play symbol–real-world relations

Limitations in thinking: egocentrism lack of conservation lack of hierarchical classification


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Early ChildhoodDevelopment of Make-Believe

With age, make-believe gradually detaches from real-life

conditions becomes less

self-centered becomes more complex

Sociodramatic playdevelops

© Lisa Eastman/Shutterstock


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Benefits of Make-Believe Play

Contributes to cognitive and social skills Strengthens mental abilities:

sustained attention memory language and literacy creativity regulation of emotion perspective taking

© Mat Hayward/Fotolia


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Dual Representation

Viewing a symbolic object as both an object and a symbol

Strengthens around age 3 Adult teaching can help:

experiences with maps, photos, drawings, and make-believe play

pointing out similarities of symbols to real world


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Egocentrism

Failure to distinguish others’ viewpoints from one’s own

Figure 7.5


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Animistic Thinking

Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities

© Rob Marmion/Shutterstock


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Conservation

Understanding that physical characteristics remain the same when appearance changes: Centration: focus on one aspect to

neglect of others Irreversibility: inability to mentally

reverse a series of steps


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Piagetian Conservation Tasks


Figure 7.6

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Piaget’s Class Inclusion Problem

Figure 7.7


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Follow-Up Research on Preoperational Thought

Egocentrism

Able to take others’ perspectives Animistic thinking results from

incomplete knowledge of objects

Logical thought

Conservation evident on simplified tasks

Reasons by analogy about physical changes

Categorization Hierarchical classification evident

in everyday knowledge


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Evaluation of Piaget

Development of logical operations is gradual

Disagreement over whether a preoperational stage really exists some experts deny the stage approach others support a flexible stage notion—a

related set of competencies develops over an extended period


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Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Private speech Zone of proximal

development Scaffolding: support

of an “expert” © Blend Images/Shutterstock


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Children’s Private Speech

For Piaget, “egocentric speech” For Vygotsky, the foundation for all higher

cognitive processes Serves a self-guiding function; increases

during challenging tasks Gradually internalized as silent, inner

speech


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Zone of Proximal Development

Scaffolding: Adults aid learning

by adjusting support to child’s level of performance

Effectiveness varies culturally© Irina Schmidt/Shutterstock


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Evaluation ofVygotsky’s Theory

Helps us understand cultural variation in cognition

Focuses on language, deemphasizes other routes to cognitive development

Says little about how basic elementary capacities (motor, perceptual, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills) contribute to higher cognitive processes


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Gains inInformation Processing

Attention:inhibition, planning

Memory:recognition, recall,episodic memory

Theory of mind:false belief

Emergent literacy: Active efforts to construct knowledge through informal experience.

© David Huntley Creative/Shutterstock


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Recognition and Recall

Recognition Noticing that a

stimulus is identical or similar to one previously experienced

Recall Generating a mental

representation of an absent stimulus

More difficult than recognition


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Episodic Memory

Scripts: memory for familiar everyday events

Autobiographical memory: memory for one-time events© auremar/Shutterstock


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Autobiographical Memory

Improves with cognitive and conversational skills

Influence of adult interaction: elaborative style: fosters

organized and detailed personal stories

repetitive style: weak at promoting autobiographical recall


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The Young Child’sTheory of Mind

Early awareness of mental life: infancy through age 3

Mastery of false belief tasks: around age 4 Factors contributing to mastery of false

belief: language executive function social experiences


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Fostering Emergent Literacy Language skills:

phonological awareness vocabulary and grammar

Informal literacy experiences: games interactive reading writing

Books for low-SES

families© Ami Parikh/Shutterstock


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Early Childhood Mathematical Reasoning

Ordinality: order relationships

between quantities 14–16 months

Cardinality: when counting, last

number is the total 3½–4 years© Michael Jay Berlin/Shutterstock


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Features of a High-Quality Home Environment

Stimulation: toys, games, reading language academic

Physical organization Emotional support Modeling and encouragement Variety in stimulation No physical punishment

© Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock


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Types of Preschool

Child-Centered Children select

from wide variety of activities

Learn through play

Academic Teachers structure

learning Formal lessons:

letter, numbers, colors, shapes

repetition and drill


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Vocabulary Development

Fast-mapping: object names verbs modifiers

Coins new words Uses metaphors

© Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock


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Supporting Early Childhood Language

Conversation with adults Recasts: restructuring

inaccurate speech to correct form

Expansions: elaborating on children’s speech

© Jenkedco/Shutterstock


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Chapter 7 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Copyright © 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Exploring.

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