PSYC 335 Developmental Psychology I · PDF filePSYC 335 Developmental Psychology I ... Slide 20 •Rapid gain in emotional self-regulation ... •Have fewer social skills to make friends

College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

PSYC 335

Developmental Psychology I

Session 10 – Development in middle childhood

Lecturer: Dr. Joana Salifu Yendork

Department of Psychology Contact Information: [email protected]

godsonug.wordpress.com/blog

Session Overview

Slide 2

• Middle childhood spans the period of 7-11/12 years of an

iŶdiǀ idual’s life. This sessioŶ seeks to disĐuss ĐhaŶges that occur in physical, cognitive and socio-emotional domain of development during middle childhood. It will also discuss

changes in family and peer relations as well as the impact of bullying on well-being.

Session Outline

Slide 3

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Physical development in middle childhood

• Cognitive development in middle childhood

• Socio-emotional development in middle childhood

Reading List

Slide 4

• Read Chapters 9 & 10 of Development through the lifespan, Berk (2006)

Topic One

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN

Slide 5

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Physical Changes Body Growth and Change • Growth is slow and follows regular pattern of early childhood

– E.g., height and weight, with an average of – 23 inches per year – 45 pounds/ 1.8-2.3 Kg per year

• Bodies look longer and leaner • Between 6-8 years girls are shorter and lighter

– By 9, trend reverses

• Girls have slightly more body fat and boys have more muscles • May show early signs of puberty • Lower portion of body grow fastest • Bones lengthen and broaden • Primary teeth are replaced by permanent teeth

Slide 6

Brain development

• Brain volume stabilizes

• Significant changes in structures and

regions in the prefrontal cortex (cortical thickness)

– Increases in thickness of the cerebral cortex

• Activation of some brain areas increase while others decrease

• Brain pathways and circuitry involving t prefrontal cortex continue to increase

he

Slide 7

Motor Development

Slide 8

• Gross motor skills improve

– Better developed than fine-motor skills

• Physical activities (ie., running, jumping, hopping) become more refined

– Due to gains in:

• Flexibility: physically more flexible

• Balance: Improved balance to support athletic skills

• Agility: Quicker and more accurate movement

• Force: Can kick and throw objects harder

Motor Development

• Fine Motor Skills Gains

– Writing: most can write the

alphabet; their name; number 1- 10, but writing is large

– Drawing: shows increase in

organization, detail and depth

cues

– Improved fine motor skills results in improved self-care

Slide 9

Sex Differences in Motor Development

• Girls better at fine motor skills

• Boys better at gross motor skills, sports

• Differences due to social environment

– Parental expectations

– Coaching

– Media messages

Slide 10

Topic Two

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN

Slide 11

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Piaget’s Theory – Concrete Operational Stage

• From 7 to 11 years

• Begins to think logically about objects and events

• Thinking is more flexible and organized than earlier

• Achievements of the concrete operational stage

– Conservation

– Reversibility

– Classification

– Seriation

– Spatial reasoning

Slide 12

Conservation

Slide 13

• Children achieve conservation of mass, weight and

numbers

• Reversibility: Awareness that actions can be reversed

– Children can think through a series of steps and then mentally

reverse direction, returning to the starting point.

• Decentration: focusing on several aspects of a problem and relating them, rather than centring on just one.

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infant socio dev\Piaget - Stage 3 - Concrete - Reversibility.mp4

Seriation

• The concrete operations that involves

ordering stimuli along a quantitative

dimension such as length or height

• Transitive inference: Ability to seriate

mentally

– E.g., A-B, B-C, mental inference of A-C

Slide 14

Spatial Reasoning

Slide 15

• Children gain understanding of space. – Able to mentally represent familiar large-scale spaces (e.g.,

neighbourhood or school) – Preschool to school age: able to display landmarks on maps they

draw

– 8 to 9 years: Able to show landmarks along organized routes of travel • able to give clear directions

– Middle childhood: children form overall view of a large-scale space • can draw and read maps

– Note: Đultural iŶflueŶĐes oŶ ĐhildreŶ’s spatial reasoŶiŶg

Piagetian class inclusion problem: Classification

Slide 16

Limitations of concrete operational thought

Slide 17

• Operations work best with concrete information (information that can be perceived directly) – Problems with abstract ideas/ ones not apparent in real world

• Continuum of acquisition – Master concrete operational tasks step by step

– Eg. Learn to conserve numbers before length, mass and liquid

– ..\..\..\First Sem_2015-2016\First Sem\PSYC 335\videos on infant socio dev\Piaget's concrete operational stage experiments.mp4

Topic Three

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Slide 18

IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Emotional Development • Self-conscious emotions (pride and guilt) are governed by

personal responsibility – Ŷo Ŷeed for adults’ preseŶĐe to edžperieŶĐe pride or guilt.

• Increased ability to understand complex emotions – Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a

situation

– E.g., can reconcile contradictory facial and situational cues to figure out others emotions

• Self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings – Improved ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions

• Capacity for genuine empathy – E.g., children are able to show sympathy for a distressed person and experience

the sadness the distressed person might be feeling. Slide 19

Emotional self-regulation

Slide 20

• Rapid gain in emotional self-regulation

– Motivated by self-esteem and peer approval

– Children learn to cope with stress using problem-centred coping or emotion-centred coping

• Problem-centred coping: situation is seen as changeable, identify

the difficulty, and decide what to do about it.

• Emotion-centred coping: used when problem-centred coping fails; internal, private, and aimed at controlling distress when little can be

done.

• Emotional self-efficacy (a feeling of being in control of emotional experiences); emerges from well developed

emotional self-regulation

Personality: Industry vs inferiority - EriksoŶ’s theorLJ

Slide 21

• 5-12 years

• Adults’ edžpeĐtatioŶs aŶd Đhild’s driǀ e toǁ ards ŵasterLJ set the stage for the psychological conflict

Industry

• Developing a sense of competence and useful skills – Want to be productive instead of just waiting to play

– School provides many opportunities – Positive but realistic self-concept, pride in accomplishment, moral

responsibility, and cooperative participation with age mate

Personality: Industry vs inferiority - EriksoŶ’s theorLJ

Slide 22

• Inferiority

– Develops when not encouraged to learn skills – Pessimism and lack of confidence in own ability to do

things well

– Feeling of failure when a child cannot accomplish a task – Family environment, teachers, and peers can contribute to

negative feelings

Gender identity development

Slide 23

• ChildreŶ’s uŶderstaŶdiŶg of geŶder ďroadeŶs aŶd their gender-role identity change

• Gender stereotypes

– a fidžed, oǀ er geŶeralized ďelief aďout a partiĐular group or Đlass of people. ;Card ǁ ell, 1996Ϳ

• Traditionally: males dominant, females nurturing

• Boys and girls gender identity follow different patterns – Boys strengthen identification with masculine traits

– Girls’ identification with feminine traits declines (e.g., girls are more likely to consider future work roles that are stereotyped for men)

Changes in Family relations

Slide 24

• Parent-child interactions: decrease as children get older

– Autonomy and parental regulation

– Less physical discipline: Parents are more likely to use

depriǀ atioŶ of priǀ i leges, appeals to the Đhild’s self-

esteeŵ, use ĐoŵŵeŶts desigŶed to iŶĐrease the Đhild’s

sense of guilt

– Co-regulation: gradual process in which general oversight

while permitting children to be in charge of moment-to-

moment decisions

Changes in Family Relations

• Siblings: important source of support

– Rivalry increases

– Companionship and assistance

– Influenced by parental comparison

• Only children

– High in self-esteem, achievement motivation

– Closer relationships with parents

• Pressure for mastery

– Peer acceptance may be a problem

• Lack of practice in conflict resolution

Slide 25

Changes in Peer Relations

Slide 26

• Peers become more important

– Want to be part of a group

– Peer interaction increases for recreation, group identification, and friendships

– Look for acceptance and loyalty

• Same-sex group preferences until age 12

– Begin to show empathy and caring

– Exclusion from groups may result in bullying problems

– Peer acceptance to predict psychological adjustment

Peer Statuses Popular Frequently nominated as a best friend;

rarely disliked by peers

Average Receive average number of positive and negative nominations from peers

Neglected Infrequently nominated as a best friend but not disliked by peers

Rejected Infrequently nominated as a best friend; actively disliked by peers

Controversial Frequently nominated as someone’s best friend and as being disliked

Determinants of peer status

Slide 28

• Why is one child liked while another is rejected?

• Skills of popular children – Give out reinforcements, act naturally

– Listen carefully, keep open communication

– Are happy, control negative emotions

– Show enthusiasm, concern for others

• Controversial/neglected children – Blend of positive and negative social behaviours

– Hostile and disruptive but also engage in positive prosocial acts

– Often bully others and aggressive to sustain their dominance

– Surprisingly, socially well adjusted: no loneliness or unhappiness,

Determinants of peer status

Slide 29

• Behaviors of rejected children

– Less classroom participation

– Negative attitudes on school attendance

– More often report being lonely

– Aggressive peer-rejected boys

• Impulsive, problems being attentive, disruptive

• Emotionally reactive, slow to calm down

• Have fewer social skills to make friends

Bullying

Slide 30

• Verbal or physical behavior intended to disturb

someone less powerful

– ..\..\..\First Sem_2015-2016\First Sem\PSYC 335\videos on

infant socio dev\Casey Heynes - Origional Video fight guy.mp4

Bullying

Slide 31

Bullies • Most are boys • Physically, relationally

aggressive • High-status, powerful • Some may have low self-

esteem • May be previous victims of

bullying • More likely to have lower

grades, smoke or drink alcohol

• Popular – But most become disliked

Victims •Passive when active behavior expected •Give in to demands •Lack defenders •Inhibited temperament •Physically weak •Overprotected, controlled by parents •Tend to have low self- esteem

Sample Question

Slide 32

• Contrast socio-emotional development in early and middle

childhood