Chapter 4: Early

Childhood

Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective

By Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French (Published 2017)
In this chapter:

 Physical development
 Growth, motor skills, toilet training, nutrition
 Cognitive development
 Theories of development, theory of mind, language,
education
 Psychosocial development
 Erikson’s theory, self-understanding, family relationships,
play, morality
Learning objectives: Physical
development in early childhood
 Summarize the overall physical growth
 Describe the changes in brain maturation
 Describe the changes in sleep
 Summarize the changes in gross and motor skills
 Describe when a child is ready for toilet training
 Describe sexual development
 Identify nutritional concerns
Physical growth

 Average 2 year-old weighs 23-28 pounds and is 33-35

inches tall
 From 2-6 years grow about 3 inches in height and gain 4-
5 pounds each year
 Slower growth rate than in infancy
 Appetite decreases from ages 2-6
Brain development in childhood: Brain
weight
 Brain is 75% of adult weight by age 3, 95% by age 6
 Growth caused by:
 Myelination
 Development of dendrites
Brain development in infancy: Brain
growth
 Prefrontal cortex – Improvements in attention, planning,
inhibition
 Hemispheres grow during childhood
 Left – Improvements in language
 Right – Improvements in spatial skills

 Corpus callosum connects hemispheres

 Improved coordination/communication
 Neuroplasticity – Brain’s ability to change structure and
function in response to experience or damage
Figure 4.2
Corpus callosum
Motor skill development in early
childhood
 Acquire basic gross motor skills
 Locomotion – Running, jumping, skipping
 Object control – Throwing, catching,
kicking
Motor skill development in early
childhood (continued)
 Refine fine motor skills – Buttoning,
using utensils, drawing
 Can draw recognizable shapes by age
4-5
 “Tadpoles” (age 3) common cross-
culturally
Toilet training

 98% of children toilet trained by age 3

 Physical/emotional readiness important
 Daytime control develops first

 Elimination disorders
 Enuresis (urine)
 Encopresis (feces)

 Both can be involuntary or intentional

Sleep

 Sleep needs typically decline age 2-6

 Poor sleep associated with cognitive and attention
problems
 Sometimes misdiagnosed as ADHD
Figure 4.6
Sleep recommendations
Sexual development in early childhood

 Sexual arousal does not indicate sexual desire

 Erections or vaginal lubrication may occur in infants
 Self-stimulation and curiosity common in young children
 May indicate problem but may also be normal
 Parental responses may affect later attitudes/behavior
Nutritional issues

 Young children like routine and

predictability
 Reluctance to try new foods
 Preference for limited range of foods

 Taste preferences established in early

childhood
 Setting good habits now is important
 Avoid power struggles, bribing, short-
order cooking
Learning objectives: Cognitive
development in early childhood
 Describe Piaget’s preoperational stage and the characteristics of
preoperational thought
 Summarize the challenges to Piaget’s theory
 Describe Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
 Describe information processing research on attention and memory
 Describe the views of the neo-Piagetians
 Describe theory-theory and the development of theory of mind
 Describe the developmental changes in language
 Describe the various types of early childhood education
 Describe the characteristics of autism
Piaget’s preoperational stage

 Use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas

 Operation – Logical manipulation of information
 Symbolic function substage (2-4 years)
 Mentally represent an object that is not present
 Rely on perception in problem solving

 Intuitive thought substage (4-7years)

 Greater dependence on intuitive thinking
 Use immature reasoning to understand world
Elements of preoperational thought

 Pretend play – Learn and represent learning

 Egocentrism – Belief that other people have same
thoughts/perceptions they do
 Centration – Focusing on only one characteristic of an
object to the exclusion of others
 Classification errors
 Animism – Attributing life-like qualities to objects
 Transductive reasoning – Inferring connections between
unrelated situations
Conservation

 Ability to recognize that moving or rearranging matter

does not change the quantity
 Preoperational children can’t conserve
 Centration – Focus on height of liquid in containers but fail
to account for shape of container
 Transductive reasoning – If they look different, they must be
different
 Unable to perform necessary operation (mentally reverse
actions)
Figure 4.10
Conservation of liquid
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of
cognitive development
 Cognitive development facilitated by:
 Cultural products (language, writings, and
concepts)
 Social interactions with adults and more learned
peers
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of
cognitive development (continued)
 Zone of proximal development – Tasks a child can’t do
independently, but can do with support
 Scaffolding – Temporary support given to do a task
 Gradually decrease support as skills improve

 Teachers should teach within child’s ZPD

 Piaget believed children should discover concepts on their

own
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of
cognitive development (continued)
 Children talk to themselves to solve problems or clarify
thoughts
 Initially speak out loud, later use private (inner) speech
 Piaget believed this was egocentric
Attention

 Divided attention – Switch focus between tasks

 Selective attention – Focus on single task or stimulus
 Sustained attention – Stay on task for long periods of
time
 All types improve with age
 Temperament may play a role
Memory

 Sensory memory (also called sensory register)

 Briefly stores sensory input in its raw form
 Short-term/working memory
 Where current conscious mental activity occurs
 Adults: 7 items, 5-year-olds: 4 items
 Executive function – Self-regulatory processes (including use
of memory strategies)
 Improvement caused by nature and nurture
Memory (continued)

 Long-term memory – Permanent

 Declarative (Explicit) – Memories for facts or events that we
can consciously recollect
 Semantic – Facts and knowledge not tied to a timeline
 Episodic – Tied to specific events in time

 Nondeclarative (Implicit) – Automated skills that do not

require conscious recollection
Figure 4.14
Types of memory
Neo-Piagetians

 New interpretations of Piaget’s theory

 Similarities: Constructivism, qualitatively different stages
with increasingly complex thinking
 Difference: Improvements in information processing
increase complexity of thinking
Children’s understanding of the world

 Theory-theory – Children generate

theories to explain
experiences/concepts
 May not be accurate
Children’s understanding of the world
(continued)
 Theory of mind – Ability to consider others’ thoughts
 Diverse-desires – People may have different desires
 Diverse-beliefs – People may have different beliefs

 Knowledge access – People may not have access to

information
 False belief – People may believe something not true

 Hidden emotion – People may not express real feelings

 Crucial for social interaction

Figure 4.17
False belief task
Table 4.2
Components of theory of mind
Component Description
Diverse-desires Understanding that two people may have
different desires regarding the same object.
Diverse-beliefs Understanding that two people may hold
different beliefs about an object.
Knowledge access Understanding that people may or may not
(knowledge/ignorance) have access to information.
False belief Understanding that someone might hold a
belief based on false information.
Hidden emotion Understanding that people may not always
express their true emotions.
Language development in early
childhood
 Vocabulary growth – Learn 9000 words ages 2-6
 Fast mapping – Learn new words quickly by connecting to
familiar concepts
 Interpret figures of speech literally (“easy as pie”)
 Overregularization – Overuse of regular grammar rules
(e.g., “runned”, “gooses”)
 Adult interaction and input improves skills
Preschool

 NAEYC criteria include:

 Curriculum supporting all aspects of learning and
development
 Assessing student progress

 Promoting collaborations with families

 Promoting children’s health and safety

 Head Start not shown to have long-lasting benefits

 Difficulties studying this experimentally
Autism spectrum disorder

 Deficits in social interaction

 Lack of theory of mind
 Often avoid interacting with others

 Deficits in communication (verbal and nonverbal)

 Parroted speech (echolalia) or limited speech
 Repetitive patterns of behavior or interests
 Often adjust poorly to change
 May include self-injurious behavior
Autism spectrum disorder (continued)

 Not the same as intellectual disability

 Children with ASD may be hard to test
 Variation in skills and symptoms
 Affects 1 in 88 children (more common in boys)
 Cause unknown
 Genetic factors (identical twin concordance rate 90%)
 Environmental factors? (e.g., pollution, chemicals)

 Vaccines NOT linked to autism development

Learning objectives: Psychosocial
development in early childhood
 Describe Erikson’s third stage of initiative vs. guilt
 Describe the changes in self-concept and self-esteem
 Describe children’s understanding of others
 Describe emotional regulation and delayed gratification
 Describe young children’s understanding of morality
 Summarize the main theories of gender development
 Describe the major parenting styles and their consequences for
children
 Describe the role of siblings in children’s development
 Summarize the types of play in which children engage
 Describe the influence of the media on young children’s social
development
Erikson: Initiative vs. guilt

 Initiative – Motivation to do things

 Autonomy – Ability
 Caregivers should praise efforts
 Avoid harsh criticism
Self-concept and self-esteem

 Self-concept – Self-description in categories

 Categorical self – External qualities (e.g.,
physical descriptors, favorite
activities/possessions)
 With age, focus more on internal qualities

 Self-esteem – Evaluative judgment of self

 Often positive in young children due to lack of
comparison
Self-control

 Response initiation – Ability to delay action until you have

evaluated all of the information
 Response inhibition – Ability to stop a behavior that has
already begun
 Delayed gratification – Ability to hold out for a larger
reward by forgoing a smaller immediate reward
 Marshmallow test – Predicts good academic performance,
health
Gender

 Socially constructed aspects of masculinity

and femininity
 Gender identity – Sense of one’s own
gender
 Often occurs by 3 years old
 Gender roles – Expectations associated
with gender
 Affected by social and cultural messages
 Gender schemas – Conceptions of the
attributes associated with maleness or
femaleness
Gender (continued)

 Gender dysphoria – Distress caused by mismatch between

gender identity and biological sex
 Mismatch itself is not a disorder (American Psychiatric
Association)
 Gender roles and stereotypes affect development
 Beliefs about “acceptable” behaviors/qualities
 Experience of sexual harassment, rape, income gap
Baumrind’s parenting styles

 Based on two dimensions

 Control/expectations
 Warmth/responsiveness

 Each dimension can be high or low

Baumrind’s parenting styles (continued)

 Authoritative – High control and high responsiveness

 Emphasis on communication, appropriate negotiation
 Associated with children’s competence and confidence

 Authoritarian – High control and low responsiveness

 Parents may be overly strict and aloof
 Children may fear rather than respect parents
Baumrind’s parenting styles (continued)

 Permissive – Low control and high responsiveness

 Parents provide little structure and allow child to make the
rules
 Associated with insecurity, poor self-discipline

 Uninvolved – Low control and low responsiveness

 Associated with worst outcomes for children
Table 4.3
Comparison of four parenting styles
Parenting styles and culture

 Baumrind’s model assumes authoritative is best

 Creates qualities valued in individualistic cultures
 Creates qualities valued in middle-/upper-class SES

 Some groups value authoritarian parenting

 Collectivistic – Obedience and compliance more valued
 SES – Working-class jobs emphasize obedience and
compliance; parents may encourage these qualities
Spanking

 Numerous studies indicate negative outcomes

 More aggressive behavior
 More likely to break rules

 Lower vocabulary scores

Sibling relationships

 Important for social skills development

 Empathy, sharing, cooperation
 Negotiation and conflict resolution

 Quality of relationship affected by:

 Quality of parent-child relationship
 Emotional/behavioral characteristics of children

 Age of children
Play

 Freud
 Release pent-up emotions
 Manage emotional distress in
secure environment
 Vygotsky and Piaget
 Develop children’s intellectual
abilities
Parten’s classification system
 Unoccupied play – Children’s behavior seems random and
goal-less
 Solitary play – Children play by themselves, different activities
from others
 Onlooker play – Observing others playing without joining in
 Parallel play – Children play alongside each other, using
similar toys, but do not directly interact
 Associative play – Children interact and share toys, but are not
working toward a common goal
 Cooperative play - Children interact to achieve a common
goal
 May take on different tasks to reach that goal
Table 4.4
Parten’s classification of types of play in preschool children

Category Description
Unoccupied Play Children’s behavior seems more random and without a specific
goal. This is the least common form of play.
Solitary Play Children play by themselves, do not interact with others, nor are
they engaging in similar activities as the children around them.
Onlooker Play Children are observing other children playing. They may
comment on the activities and even make suggestions, but will
not directly join the play.
Parallel Play Children play alongside each other, using similar toys, but do
not directly act with each other.
Associative Play Children will interact with each other and share toys, but are not
working toward a common goal.
Cooperative Play Children are interacting to achieve a common goal. Children
may take on different tasks to reach that goal.
Children and the media

 2/3 of kids age 6 and under watch up

to 2 hours of TV daily
 Screen time negatively affects
development
 Lower vocabulary scores
 Less active, hands-on play

 Associated with attention problems later

Child care

 Not associated with negative outcomes

 But depends on quality of child care
 Teacher-child ratio
 Child-centered curriculum
 Knowledgeable staff

 Also depends on family characteristics

 Parent SES
 Emotionally supportive home
environment
 Cognitively enriched home environment
Child abuse and neglect

 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act:

 Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or
caretaker which results in death, serious physical or
emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or an act or
failure to act, which presents an imminent risk of serious
harm.
 Each state has own definition based on this Act
Child abuse and neglect (continued)

 Types of child maltreatment

 Neglect – Most common
 Physical abuse

 Psychological maltreatment

 Sexual abuse

 May occur separately or in combination

Child abuse statistics

 2013: 3.5 million referrals involving 6.4 million children

 Infants under 1 year old most likely to be abused
 2013: 1,520 children died from abuse and neglect
 73.9% were younger than 3 years old
 Victims most likely to be white (39.3%) or African-
American (33.0%)
 78.9% of child fatalities caused by parents
Sexual abuse

 Sexual contact between child and adult or much older

child
 Incest – Sexual contact between family members
 Sexual abuse rates: 25% of girls, 10% of boys
 Boys more likely abused by strangers, less likely to report
 Median age for sexual abuse is 8 or 9 years
Stress and child development

 Normal, everyday stress can help children build coping

skills
 Long-lasting or extreme stress can affect:
 Brain development in hippocampus and amygdala
 Affects memory abilities, emotional regulation
 Immune system functioning
 Ability to cope with future stress

 Supportive, caring adults are crucial