Life Span Psychology Chpt. 9 Early
Childhood: Cognitive Development
Piaget: Preoperational Thought
2nd of four periods of cognitive development
Named because they don't yet use logical operations (reasoning)
But they can think in symbols (symbolic thought) a.k.a an
object or word can stand for something imaginary or not seen
This helps explain children's belief of animism (basically
personification of nonhuman objects)
Characteristically described as illogical and unrealistic
What causes this difficulty to grasp logic?
1. Centration- the tendency to focus on one aspect
of a situation to the exclusion of others
2. Focus on appearance- where a young child
excludes all attributes that are not apperant
3. Static Reasoning- the world is unchanging,
always in the state they currently encounter it
4. Irreversibility- where a child believes that
nothing can be undone/restored to previous
state
ex: conservation with two glasses equal
amounts of liquid moving one into a taller glass
so there is now "more" in that glass
ex: girl worried she will turn into a
boy with short hair
ex: insisting dad is a father not a brother
Vygotsky: Social Learning
emphasis on each person's
thinking is shaped by others and
social aspects of development
Children are curious and observant
and seek answers from mentors
(basically any older person) and their
mentor's answers are affected by
culture and perception
Vygotsky said children learn
because their mentors: present
challenges, offer assistance, add
crucial information, and
encourage motivation
Vygotsky believed people learned
within a zone of proximal
development or area where new ideas
and skills can be mastered... including
skills they can almost reach but are
incapable of doing the task
independently... so mentors provide
temporary support. I.e. scaffolding
There is also
unintentional
scaffolding for traits
such as with
cursing/kicking/etc.
basically due to
children's tendency to
overimitate: when a
person imitates an
adult's behavior
especially non-relevant
actions that may be
irrelevant/inefficent
He also believed that talking to
oneself (private speech) helped
cognitive development
The Theory-Theory
Let's gather round the classroom and
sing our theory theory song; Our
T-H-E-O-R-I-E T-H-E-O-R-I-E SONG and if
you think you know em' than you'd
better sing along. I promise this song
will get stuck in your head. Bum bum
bum. C-H-I-L-D-E-R-N naturally
construct theories about whatever they
see and hear. Even if they're not always
correct. T-H-E-O-R-I-E, T-H-E-O-R-I-E
states that children seek explanations
through theories and theorize about
whatever they see and hear. Bum bum
bum. Your turn! Sing it! I apologize for
misspelling theory but hey! it rhymed.
T-H-E-O-R-I-E T-H-E-O-R-I-E it's where
kids construct theories about what
they see and hear! Even if they're not
always correct. They do it anyways.
Bum Bum bum. T-H-E-O-R-I-E
T-H-E-O-R-I-E it's where kids construct
theories about what they see and hear!
Even if they're not always correct. They
do it anyways!!!!!!!!!!!! OH YEAH!
Brain and Context
Child's ability to develop theories
correlates with maturity or
prefrontal cortex (which develops
executive processing)
Nurture is also important in the
development of the theory of mind
such as when a mother discusses
thoughts and wishes with her child
she develops theory of mind
Chinese kids are about 6 months ahead of US in
formation of theory of mind and other markers of
early cognition
Language Learning
Early childhood=sensitive period not
critical; rapid and easy mastery at this
age
Kids in this stage are
unfazed by misuse,
mispronunciation, ignorance,
stuttering, and so forth... so
confident and
non-self-critical
Kids learn rapidly at 2 they
know on average 500 words
by 6 more than 10,000 on
average
How? Fast-mapping: putting new words
into mental categories by perceived
meaning for fast access and addition
Related to fast mapping is logical
extension where kids learn a word
and use it to describe other objects
in the same category
ex: dalmatian cow
or in bilingual children
inserting a word from the
other language when they
don't know what it is in the
language they are speaking
Five strategies for reading have
been found to be especially
effective
1. Code-focused teaching-
breaking down the code
from spoken to english
this can be done by doing
things such as learning the
alphabet
2. Book reading- vocab is
built when adults read to
kids and familiarity with
pages and print increases
3. Parent
education- when
mentors/older
adults stimulate
cognition (such as
using book reading)
4. Language enhancement-
when mentors expand
vocab and grammar based
on child's knowledge and
experience
5. Preschool programs-
where kids learn from
teachers, songs,
excursions, and others
Kids begin
learning and
applying basic
grammar at
the age of 2
genes affect
expressive
(spoken/written)
more often than receptive
Kids
overregularize
where they
apply basic rules
of (grammar) to
all things. Such
as adding s to all
plurals (i.e foots)
pragmatics-
difficult for
children to learn
knowledge of
pragmatics evident
in sociodramatic
play
Learning Two Languages
U.S has no official
language although
everyone applying for
citizenship must be able to
speak english
Early childhood is when kids can learn languages most
easily it's when they're designed to learn language and
they easily can become balanced bilingual or trilingual
where they can speak all their languages equally as well
Language shift is when kids shift from minority
language to dominant language but it is not inevitable
it can be prevented by attitudes and practices of
parents and the community are crucial
Bilingual adults and advanced in
theory of mind and executive
functioning and it
prevents
dementia when
older/thought to
Early childhood Education
Homes and Schools
Child- Centered Programs
Stress children's development and growth.
Belief kids need to follow own interests
rather than adult directions. encourage
artistic expression. they also guide the kids
in academics that interest them.
Monterssori Schools-
emphasis: individual
pride and achievement
and literacy tasks
Kids in these schools are more
advanced in prereading, math,
and theory of mind
their tasks lead to
self-confidence, curiosity,
and exploration
Reggio Emilia: emphasis:
skills normally taught in
U.S. schools around age 7
learning things such as
writing and using tools
no tests and strong application
of arts with low child:adult ratio
goal is to foster individuality
and self-expression
Teacher-Directed Programs
Stress academics, often taught by one
adult to entire group kids learn letters
numbers shapes and colors as set out by
a curriculum, set up to make kids ready
to learn in formal schools
Kids practice
sounding out
words and
counting.
Inspired by
behavorism
If home
education is
poor preschool
helps cognition,
health, and
social skills
Head Start: a federally funded childhood intervention
program for low-income children of preschool age
Goals: lifting families from poverty, promoting
literacy, providing dental care, and
immunizations, and teaching standard english.
Most are child centered but most have become
increasingly teacher-directed.
Long term gains from Intensive
Programs: preschool advances learning;
early education has long term benefits
on kids; Perry, Abecedarian, and Child
parent centers have all proven sucessful.
Kids with early education are likely to go
to college and less likely to go to jail. they
have higher aspirations, etc.
cost is 6,000-18000 per child which is low compared to the cost
of specialized education thus a wise investment, avg. funding
now is 5000
Theory of Mind
A person's theory
on what they
believe someone
else might be
thinking
Normally occurs around age 4
because to do this the person must
realize that everyone's thoughts are
not the same as their own
Development of theory of mind can be seen when
kids try to escape punishment by lying because
their faces will betray them thus showing they have
an expectation of what their parents will say/do or a
theory of what is going/will go on in their parent's
minds thus they react by giving themselves away