Posted: August 3rd, 2022
journal
journals are your reflections on the course material (textbook, info links, discussion, videos, etc.). Select two topics per chapter that you find interesting and discuss in a paragraph what the information means to you or your experience with that topic or observations you have made related to the topic or how the topic relates to your life or the lives of others. Also your journal can briefly discuss any issues you wish to comments on related to the topics we cover for the discussion forum. Remember a journal submission is a reflection and not a description of what we did in class but what was covered in class and your thoughts, observations and experiences related to what was covered in class.
For journal I our learning modules will cover on Journal II covers chapters 8, 9, 10,11,12 and 13 two topics per chapter from the first seven chapters of the course.
Please set up format
chapter 1
Topic 1:
Topic 2:
COGNITIVEDEVELOPMENT
in
Early Childhood
Chapter 9
Piaget’s Stages of
Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor period (0-2yrs.)
• Preoperational (2-7yrs.)
• Concrete operational (7-11 yrs.)
– conservation (appearance vs.
reality distinction)
• Formal operational (12 yrs. – )
– thinking like a scientist
The Preoperational Stage
• Piaget’s second stage, is marked by rapid growth in
representational, or symbolic, mental activity. When
we left infancy and toddlerhood, the child was
beginning to mentally represent events and objects.
• Language is our most flexible means of mental
representation.
– Children begin to detach thought from action
– They begin thinking in words and can understand the
difference between the past, present and future.
However, they may be confused as to how long it takes
to get to the future.
Advances in mental representations
• A tremendous increase in representational activity at
the preoperational stage.
• Children begin to develop cognitive maps and
representations of people and places. But they still
make mistakes due to limited information about the
world and experiences.
– For example, sailing across the ocean – with a map
one can anticipate outcomes of one’s behavior, but
a map is not the terrain itself. Sometimes one must
experience the terrain to understand what they are
really deal with on a sailing trip.
Mental representations (contd.)
• Piaget described preschool children in terms of what they
cannot, rather than can, understand – cognitive development.
• Piaget believed that preschoolers did not understand basic
operations. He defined operations as mental representations of
actions that obey logical rules.
• During the preoperational stage of Cognitive Development,
thinking is animistic, rigid, limited to one aspect of a situation at
a time, and strongly influenced by the way things appear at the
moment.
Mental representations (contd.)
• Make-Believe Play
– Make-believe play increases dramatically during early
childhood
– Piaget believed that through pretending, young children
practice and acquire representational schemes.
– Opportunities to learn – to understand one object or
event can stand for another and opportunities to
practice real life situations to learn, cooperation with
others and, in some cases, overcome their fears.
– Also these opportunities to learn and practice real life
scenarios help preschoolers becomes less self-centered
and begin to understand another’s perspective or point
of view.
Mental representations (contd.)
• Sociodramatic Play
– Sociodramatic play is the play that appears around age
2 1/2 and increases until 4 to 5 years.
– The play that gradually includes more complex scheme
combinations. (start with drinking from a cup – later
pouring into the cup and serving and pretending to
drink)
– Research indicates that preschoolers who use
sociodramatic play:
• Have advanced intellectual development
• Are more social – they understand their own and others‘
fanciful play (understand the mental activities of others)
Limitations of Preoperational Thought
• Egocentric Thinking in Early Childhood
– Egocentrism is the inability to
distinguish the symbolic viewpoints of
others from one’s own.
– The three-mountains problem is Piaget’s
most convincing demonstration of
egocentrism.
– Understanding of others’ viewpoints
develops gradually through childhood
and adolescence.
– See Figure 7.7 on page 218 for more
information on Piaget’s three mountain
demonstration and the preschoolers
tendency to believe that everyone sees
and experiences what they see and
experience.
Limitations of preoperational thought
• When researchers change the nature of
Piaget’s three-mountain problem to include
familiar objects and use methods other than
picture selection, 4-year-olds show clear
awareness of other’s vantage points.
Limitations of preoperational
thought
• In Early childhood a preschoolers thinking in animistic.
– Preschoolers often have animistic thinking – inanimate
objects have intentions, life like qualities such as
thoughts, wishes, feelings. These objects are often
familiar objects and important to the preschooler.
– “the moon is following me”
– Young children’s thinking is so closely tied to their own
point of view that they do not accommodate, or revise
their thinking in response to feedback.
Animistic and Magical Thinking
• Research indicates children’s animistic responses
result from incomplete knowledge about objects,
not from a rigid believe that inanimate objects
are alive.
• Most preschoolers do not believe magic can alter
their everyday experiences. Instead, magic
accounts for events that violate their
expectations and that they cannot otherwise
explain. “must be magic”
Animistic and Magical Thinking
• Between 4 and 8 years, as familiarity with physical events and
principles increases, children’s magical beliefs decline. And in some
cases they are afraid not to believe because there is an unknown
element.
• For example, if parents and caregivers perpetuate the magical
believe in Santa, what happens if you stop believing…. Older
children sometimes pretend for awhile.
• The importance of knowledge, experience, and culture can be seen
in preschoolers’ in their behavior and in their thinking.
Research on Preoperational Thought
• Appearance versus Reality
– In certain situations, preschoolers are easily tricked by the
outward appearance of things. Sometimes an explanation
can help clear up confusion but preschoolers may not fully
understand the explanation.
– Experiencing the contrast between everyday and playful
use of objects may help children refine their understanding
of what is real and what is unreal in their environment.
Limitations
• Inability to conserve
– Conservation refers to the idea that certain physical characteristics of
objects remain the same, even when outward appearance changes.
– Preoperational children’s inability to conserve highlights several related
aspects of their thinking.
– 1) Centration – focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect other
important features.
– 2) Perception bound (appearance vs. reality) – describes thinking that is
easily distracted by the concrete appearance of things – perceptual
appearance of objects.
– 3) State vs. transformation focus – children treat the initial and final
states in a problems as completely unrelated, ignoring the dynamic
transformation.
Inability to Conserve
Limitations
– 4) Irreversibility- inability to follow a series of steps in a problem and return
to starting point – view the beginning and end as separate events.
• Lack of Hierarchical Classification
– Organization of objects into classes on the basis of similarities and
differences
“Are there more yellow flowers or flowers?”
Thank you
Berk, Laura E., (2016). Infants, Children, and
Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
COGNITIVEDEVELOPMENT
in
Early Childhood
Chapter 9
Piaget’s Stages of
Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor period (0-2yrs.)
• Preoperational (2-7yrs.)
• Concrete operational (7-11 yrs.)
– conservation (appearance vs.
reality distinction)
• Formal operational (12 yrs. – )
– thinking like a scientist
The Preoperational Stage
• Piaget’s second stage, is marked by rapid growth in
representational, or symbolic, mental activity. When
we left infancy and toddlerhood, the child was
beginning to mentally represent events and objects.
• Language is our most flexible means of mental
representation.
– Children begin to detach thought from action
– They begin thinking in words and can understand the
difference between the past, present and future.
However, they may be confused as to how long it takes
to get to the future.
Advances in mental representations
• A tremendous increase in representational activity at
the preoperational stage.
• Children begin to develop cognitive maps and
representations of people and places. But they still
make mistakes due to limited information about the
world and experiences.
– For example, sailing across the ocean – with a map
one can anticipate outcomes of one’s behavior, but
a map is not the terrain itself. Sometimes one must
experience the terrain to understand what they are
really deal with on a sailing trip.
Mental representations (contd.)
• Piaget described preschool children in terms of what they
cannot, rather than can, understand – cognitive development.
• Piaget believed that preschoolers did not understand basic
operations. He defined operations as mental representations of
actions that obey logical rules.
• During the preoperational stage of Cognitive Development,
thinking is animistic, rigid, limited to one aspect of a situation at
a time, and strongly influenced by the way things appear at the
moment.
Mental representations (contd.)
• Make-Believe Play
– Make-believe play increases dramatically during early
childhood
– Piaget believed that through pretending, young children
practice and acquire representational schemes.
– Opportunities to learn – to understand one object or
event can stand for another and opportunities to
practice real life situations to learn, cooperation with
others and, in some cases, overcome their fears.
– Also these opportunities to learn and practice real life
scenarios help preschoolers becomes less self-centered
and begin to understand another’s perspective or point
of view.
Mental representations (contd.)
• Sociodramatic Play
– Sociodramatic play is the play that appears around age
2 1/2 and increases until 4 to 5 years.
– The play that gradually includes more complex scheme
combinations. (start with drinking from a cup – later
pouring into the cup and serving and pretending to
drink)
– Research indicates that preschoolers who use
sociodramatic play:
• Have advanced intellectual development
• Are more social – they understand their own and others‘
fanciful play (understand the mental activities of others)
Limitations of Preoperational Thought
• Egocentric Thinking in Early Childhood
– Egocentrism is the inability to
distinguish the symbolic viewpoints of
others from one’s own.
– The three-mountains problem is Piaget’s
most convincing demonstration of
egocentrism.
– Understanding of others’ viewpoints
develops gradually through childhood
and adolescence.
– See Figure 7.7 on page 218 for more
information on Piaget’s three mountain
demonstration and the preschoolers
tendency to believe that everyone sees
and experiences what they see and
experience.
Limitations of preoperational thought
• When researchers change the nature of
Piaget’s three-mountain problem to include
familiar objects and use methods other than
picture selection, 4-year-olds show clear
awareness of other’s vantage points.
Limitations of preoperational
thought
• In Early childhood a preschoolers thinking in animistic.
– Preschoolers often have animistic thinking – inanimate
objects have intentions, life like qualities such as
thoughts, wishes, feelings. These objects are often
familiar objects and important to the preschooler.
– “the moon is following me”
– Young children’s thinking is so closely tied to their own
point of view that they do not accommodate, or revise
their thinking in response to feedback.
Animistic and Magical Thinking
• Research indicates children’s animistic responses
result from incomplete knowledge about objects,
not from a rigid believe that inanimate objects
are alive.
• Most preschoolers do not believe magic can alter
their everyday experiences. Instead, magic
accounts for events that violate their
expectations and that they cannot otherwise
explain. “must be magic”
Animistic and Magical Thinking
• Between 4 and 8 years, as familiarity with physical events and
principles increases, children’s magical beliefs decline. And in some
cases they are afraid not to believe because there is an unknown
element.
• For example, if parents and caregivers perpetuate the magical
believe in Santa, what happens if you stop believing…. Older
children sometimes pretend for awhile.
• The importance of knowledge, experience, and culture can be seen
in preschoolers’ in their behavior and in their thinking.
Research on Preoperational Thought
• Appearance versus Reality
– In certain situations, preschoolers are easily tricked by the
outward appearance of things. Sometimes an explanation
can help clear up confusion but preschoolers may not fully
understand the explanation.
– Experiencing the contrast between everyday and playful
use of objects may help children refine their understanding
of what is real and what is unreal in their environment.
Limitations
• Inability to conserve
– Conservation refers to the idea that certain physical characteristics of
objects remain the same, even when outward appearance changes.
– Preoperational children’s inability to conserve highlights several related
aspects of their thinking.
– 1) Centration – focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect other
important features.
– 2) Perception bound (appearance vs. reality) – describes thinking that is
easily distracted by the concrete appearance of things – perceptual
appearance of objects.
– 3) State vs. transformation focus – children treat the initial and final
states in a problems as completely unrelated, ignoring the dynamic
transformation.
Inability to Conserve
Limitations
– 4) Irreversibility- inability to follow a series of steps in a problem and return
to starting point – view the beginning and end as separate events.
• Lack of Hierarchical Classification
– Organization of objects into classes on the basis of similarities and
differences
“Are there more yellow flowers or flowers?”
Thank you
Berk, Laura E., (2016). Infants, Children, and
Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
SUMMARY
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT in EARLY CHILDHOOD
Two to Six Years of Age
BODY GROWTH
Changes in Body Size and Proportions
– On the average, 2 to 3 inches in height and about 5
pounds in weight are added each year.
– The child gradually becomes thinner; girls retain
somewhat more body fat, whereas boys are slightly
more muscular.
– During Early childhood posture and balance improve,
resulting in gains in motor coordination.
– Individual differences in body size are even more
apparent during early childhood than in infancy and
toddlerhood.
– To determine if a child’s atypical stature is a sign of a
growth or health problem, the child’s heritage must be
considered.
Skeletal Growth
– Between ages 2 and 6 growth centers in which
cartilage hardens into bone, emerge in various parts of
the skeleton.
– X-rays permit doctors to estimate children’s skeletal
age, the best available measure of progress toward
physical maturity. We don’t routinely subject children to
x-rays just to check on growth (unless needed).
– By the end of the preschool years, children start to lose
their primary teeth.
– Childhood tooth decay remains high, especially among
low-SES youngsters in the United States. Education is
important to prevent primary tooth decay that can damage
permanent teeth.
Asynchronies in Physical Growth
• Physical growth is an asynchronous process: different
body systems have their own unique, carefully timed
patterns of maturation.
• The term general growth curve describes a curve that
represents overall changes in body size, rapid growth during
infancy, slower gains in early and middle childhood, and
rapid growth once more
during adolescence. During early childhood their bodies
become more streamlined
– flat tummies and longer legs and arms. They tend to
reduce the amount of baby fat present during
toddlerhood.
FACTORS AFFECTING GROWTH AND HEALTH
Heredity and Hormones
– Children’s physical size and rate of growthare related to
that of their parents. It is important for parents to share
information about family members regarding physical
growth and development. Pediatricians use the
information to track normal growth for children.
– The pituitary gland is a gland located near the base of
the brain that releases hormones affecting physical
growth. The two hormones important to track in children
are:
Growth hormone (GH) affects the development of almost all
body tissues, except the central nervous system and the
genitals. Short children with GH deficiency can be treated
with injections of GH.
• Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) stimulates the thyroid
gland to release thyroxine, which is necessary for normal
development of the nerve cells of the brain and body
growth.
Sleep Habits and Problems
• Sleep contributes to body growth, since GH is released
during sleeping hours.
•For preschoolers total sleep declines from 12 to 13 hours at
ages 2 and to 10 to 11 hours at ages 4 to 6.
• Bedtime rituals, such as using the toilet, listening to a
story, and kissing before turning off the light, help Western
preschoolers adjust to being left by themselves in a
darkened room. Not all children sleep in alone in a room.
Some families share sleeping space and may create
different sleep rituals.
Sleep
• Almost all children begin to have a few nightmares
between ages 3 to 6. As they continue to experience the
world around them, dreams can sometimes seem a little
scary to the preschooler. Some children may have problems
getting back to sleep because they fear another dream.
• About 20 to 25 percent of preschoolers experience
difficulty falling and staying asleep. Persistent sleep
problems may be a sign of illness. Family stress can also
prompt childhood sleep disturbances.
Nutrition
– food intake reduced and social mealtime climate
important
– Preschoolers’ appetites decrease because growth has
slowed.
• In addition, they may become picky eaters. This may be
adaptive as
young children are still learning which items are safe to eat
and which are not.
•Because caloric intake is reduced, preschoolers need a
high-quality diet parents and caregivers can provide
•There is no room for junk foods.
•The social environment and emotional climate at mealtimes
have a powerful impact on children’s eating habits. Take
dinner time seriously as it may be the only time the
preschooler will concentrate on food for 5 minutes.
Nutrition
– Introducing New Foods
• Repeated exposure to a new food as this will
increases children’s acceptance.
• Insufficient amounts of iron, calcium, vitamin C, and
vitamin A are the most common diet deficiencies of the
preschool years.
•By age 7, low-SES children in the United States are,
on the average, about 1 inch shorter than their middle-
class counterparts. Nutritious foods need to be
available to all children. Food programs such as WIC
can help parents with advice and food support.
Infectious Disease and Malnutrition
In well-nourished children, ordinary childhood illnesses have
no effect on physical growth.
– Disease is a major cause of malnutrition, and, through
it, it is malnutrition that affects physical growth.
– Most growth retardation and deaths due to diarrhea
from illnesses in developing countries can be prevented
with oral rehydration therapy (ORT). ORT provides sick
children with a glucose, salt, and water solution that
replaces lost body fluids. It helps to rebuild a balance in
the body.
Immunization
– Overall 24 percent of American preschoolers lack
essential immunizations, a rate that rises to 40 percent
for poverty stricken children.
– In contrast, fewer than 10 percent of preschoolers lack
immunizations in Denmark and Norway and less than 7
percent in Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
– In 1994, all medically uninsured American children
were guaranteed free immunizations, a program that
has led to steady improvement in early childhood
immunization rates.
– Misconceptions about vaccinations also contribute to
inadequate immunization rates. Some parents and
caregivers are afraid of the side effects and opt out of
immunizations for their children.
Research in Europe and the United States indicates that
childhood
illness rises with child-care attendance.
Childhood Injuries
– Auto accidents, drownings, and burns are the most
common injuries during early childhood in the US. We
are a very mobile society and we take our children
everywhere. This increases the chances of childhood
injuries due to accidents. Other countries encourage
young children to stay close to home with family
members and parents and caregivers conduct their
business with children safe at home with a family
member or a babysitter.
– In the US motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause
of death among children over 1 year of age.
Childhood Injuries
Factors Related to Childhood Injuries
– Because of their higher activity level and greater
willingness to take risks during play, boys are more
likely to be injury victims than girls.
Chapter11
Physical Development in Middle Childhood
BODY GROWTH
• Add 2 to 3 inches in
height and 5 pounds
each year
– Girls slightly shorter
and lighter than boys
at ages 6 to 8; but by
age 9 this trend is
reversed.
– Girls have more body
fat and boys more
muscle.
• After 8, girls
accumulate fat at a
faster rate.
Height Weight
BODY GROWTH
• The lower portion of the body
is growing faster and
school-age children appear long-legged
• Bones lengthen and broaden
• ligaments not yet firmly attached to bones
granting unusual flexibility of movement
• From 6 to 12, primary teeth are replaced with
permanent.
COMMON HEALTH PROBLEMS
Nutrition
• Good nutrition + rapid development of the body’s
immune system = disease protection.
• Poverty is a predictor of ill health.
• It is important for children between the ages of 6 to 11
to eat a variety of nutritious foods
• Prolonged malnutrition retards physical growth and
intelligence.
– Poor motor coordination
– Inattention and distractibility
– Slow physical growth
COMMON HEALTH PROBLEMS
Vision and Hearing
• The most common vision problems in middle
childhood is nearsightedness due to the increase in
board work and reading and stressing the eyes (Berk,
2016).
• During middle childhood, the Eustachian tube becomes
longer, narrower, and more slanted; as a result, ear
infections occur less frequently.
• Child experiencing ear infections will usually out grow
them during this period of development.
Obesity
• Obesity
– Is a greater than 20 percent
increase over average body weight, based on
the child’s age, sex, and physical build.
• 25 percent of American children suffer from
obesity – leading to a life long struggle with
weight and adding to health problems.
• Obese children are at risk for health problems.
– Family eating behavior
– School lunches and snacks
Causes of Obesity
• Overweight parents
• Identical twins more likely than fraternal twins
• Low-SES more likely to be overweight
• Parents use food as a reward and to relieve
anxiety.
• More cued to external stimuli
• Less active
• TV time correlated with
obesity
7
Psychological Consequences of Obesity
• Less accepted
• Low self-esteem, depressed, and more behavior
problems
• Difficult to treat as it is a family disorder.
• Effective interventions are family based and focus on
changing behaviors.
8
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/projects/fighting_fat/images/3_24_03fighting_fat1
Back in the ’60s, only 5% of children were considered overweight.
Today, it is over 13%. What happened? Fast food s and video
games immediately come to mind – but there’s more. Researcher
and practitioners have charted the percentage of overweight
children against some of the major events in American cultural life
Fast foods, video games, play stations, television,
snack foods, fewer outdoor activities, family eating
habits, high fat foods in school
Bedwetting
Nocturnal enuresis
• Nocturnal enuresis is bedwetting that occurs during the
night.
• In most cases, it is caused by a failure of muscular
responses that inhibit urination (Berk, 2016).
• The most effective treatment is a urine alarm
– Wakes the child at sign of dampness
– Can adjust volume to wake the child
– Conditions the child to respond to the first signs of dampness
Illnesses
• Higher rate of illness in first 2 years of elementary school
due to the immune system is still developing.
• Asthma
– A condition of the bronchial tubes in which the tubes become
highly sensitive.
– Most frequent cause of absence and hospitalization
– Increased by 40% over the last decade.
– Greatest risk for
• Boys
• African Americans
• Those with low birth weight
• Those with parents who smoke
• Poor
Unintentional Injuries
• Unintentional injuries
increase over middle
childhood into
adolescence
• Higher rate of injury for
boys
• Mostly auto and bicycle
collisions
• Risk takers’ parents
– Do not act safely
– Use punitive or
inconsistent discipline
• School-based safety
programs help children
act in a safe manner and
think before they act. 12
Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents.
Boston, MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
13
Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood
ERIKSON’S THEORY – Psychosocial Stages of Development
Basic conflict of middle childhood:
• Industry versus Inferiority
• 7 to 11 years of age
According to Erikson this conflict is resolved positively when
experiences lead children to develop a sense of competence at
useful skills and tasks.
This period of development is marked by the beginning of formal
schooling – industry, gains in knowledge and skill building
ERIKSON’S THEORY
The danger at this stage is inferiority, reflected in the sad
pessimism of children who have come to believe they will never be
good at anything. Children realize they are good at some things
and not so good at others
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities, attitudes and
values that an individual believes defines who he or she is.
In Middle childhood there are some changes in self-concept
– More refined self-concept, or me-self
– Children begin to view themselves less in terms of external
physical attributes and more in terms of psychological traits
– Social comparisons are made with peers and others
– Cognitive development affects the structure of the self
– Organize their observations of behaviors
– Children are better at reading others emotional states
– Peer influence increases
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
– Hierarchically Structures – Contexts of Evaluation of self, peers and others
– Evaluations take place in classrooms, playgrounds, peer groups, home
– Between the ages of 6-7 years, three self-esteems begin to appear:
– Physical appearance is primary through adolescence.
Influences on Self-Esteem
Children with high social self-esteem are better liked by peers.
Academic self-esteem predicts school achievement. Children
begin to compare themselves to others. They look at the work of
peers to gage how they stack up academically.
Culture
– Research indicates that Japanese/Taiwanese children place
more emphasis on social comparison.
Child-Rearing Practices
– Authoritative child-rearing style leads to self-esteem.
– Warm, positive parenting
– Firm but appropriate expectations
View of Oneself
A person’s self-esteem, the overall positive or negative self-
evaluation develops in important ways during middle childhood.
Children continue to
– compare themselves to others.
– develop their own internal standards.
– Internalize feedback from others (positive or negative)
Self-esteem, for most children, increases during middle childhood.
Children with low self-esteem may become enmeshed in a
cycle of failure that is difficult to break – a cycle of low self-
esteem
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
School-aged children are more likely to explain emotions by
making references to internal states than to external events.
Although aware of the external event, children in middle childhood
have a range of emotional experience and become better at
reading the emotional state of others.
Aware of their Emotions
• Pride motivates children to take on challenges
• Guilt prompts making amends, striving for self-improvement.
Emotional Understanding
Children explain emotion by making reference to internal states.
By age 8, children realize they can experience more than one
emotion at a time
– Take more information into account in detecting emotions of
others.
– Experience a blend of emotions
Emotional Self-Regulation
By age 10, most children have an adaptive set of strategies for
managing emotions. They use strategies internalized from
experiences with parent, caregiver and peer models.
Emotionally well-regulated children are:
– Upbeat in mood
– Empathic and pro-social
– Liked by their peers.
UNDERSTANDING OTHERS
In middle childhood children have a better understanding of others
and begin perspective taking. Perspective taking is defined as:
– Imagining what other people may be thinking and feeling
Perspective Taking and Social Skills can vary greatly among children
of the same age. Children with poor social skills have difficulty
imagining others’ thoughts and feelings.
Interventions
– Provide practice in perspective taking
– Helpful in reducing antisocial behavior
– Increases empathy and prosocial responding
PEER RELATIONS
Peers become an increasingly important context for development.
A peer group is composed of peers who form a social unit by
generating shared values and standards for behavior and a social
structure of leaders and followers.
Aggression declines in middle childhood, especially physical attacks.
Peer Groups
Peers generate
– Shared values and standards
– Social structure of leaders and followers
The “peer culture” of a peer group typically consists of:
– a specialized vocabulary
– dress code
– place(s) to “hang out”
Children who deviate are often rejected (rebuffed, snubbed) by
their peers.
Peer groups provide a context for children to practice
– Cooperation
– leadership and followership
– And develop a sense of loyalty to collective goals
Participation in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, church groups, and
other associations promote gains in social and moral
understanding.
From third grade on, relational aggression rises among girls (verbal
and physical aggression toward both ingroup and outgroup). Boys
are more straight forward (hostile) toward the “outgroup.”
Friendships
Friendship becomes a mutually agreed on relationship in which
children like each other’s personal qualities and respond to one
another’s needs and desires. Trust is the defining feature. Violations
of trust are a serious breach of friendship and may bring the
friendship to an end.
Friendships are among the same age, sex, ethnicity, and SES
– Schools and neighborhoods can affect friendships.
Through the development of friendships children learn emotional
commitment, respect and responsibility
Stages of Friendship
According to William Damon, childhood friendship has three stages:
– 1. Basing friendship on other’s behavior.
• Age 4-7; friends are children who like you and with whom you share
toys and activities.
– 2. Basing friendship on trust.
• Age 8-10; focus on mutual trust.
– 3. Basing friendship on psychological closeness.
• Age 11-15; focus on intimacy and loyalty.
Children in middle childhood provide a list of behaviors favored in
their good friends.
Most-liked
• Sense of humor
• Nice/friendly
• Helpful
• Complementary
• Sharing
• Loyalty and Trusting
Peer Acceptance
Four types of peer acceptance:
– Popular children
• Many positive interactions with their peers
– Rejected children
• Actively disliked by their peers
– Controversial children
• Hostile and disruptive, but they engage in high rates of
positive, prosocial acts.
– Neglected children
• Shy by their classmates, but are not less socially skilled
Chapter
11 (continued)
Physical Motor Development in Middle Childhood
Chapter 12
Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT AND PLAY
• Gross Motor Development
– During middle childhood, running, jumping,
hopping, and ball skills become more refined.
– Motor skills improve in flexibility, balance, agility,
and force.
– Improvement in reaction time
Fine Motor Development
• Improves steadily – gains in writing and
drawing
• Girls remain ahead in fine motor-balance and
agility
• Boys outperform girls on other gross motor
tasks.
– Environment plays a large role in motor
development (opportunities to develop).
Fine Motor Development
• Gains in writing and drawing
Berk, 2016
Organized Games With Rules
• Gains in perspective allow understanding of several
players
• Organized games with rules become common in middle
childhood.
• Children gain:
– An understanding of different roles in a
game that have specific rules for behavior
– Develop a mature concept of fairness
– Develop a mature concept of justice
• Adult-structured athletics may impede development.
Adults may place additional pressures on children for
performance and forget the important lessons to be
learned
Physical Education
• Physical education classes that provide regularly
scheduled opportunities for exercise and play
ensure that all children have access to activity that
supports:
– a healthy body
– a sense of self-worth as physically active and capable
people
– the development of cognitive and
social skills necessary for getting
along well with others.
Physical Education
• Average is only 20 minutes a week in middle
school.
• National children and youth fitness study
– 2/3 of 10- to 12-year-old boys and
– 1/2 of 10- to 12-year-old girls
meet fitness standards
• Informal games and individual
exercise most likely to last into
later years
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
PIAGET’S THEORY
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
• 7 to 11 years
– Piaget’s third stage
– Thought is more logical, flexible,
and organized.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
• Piaget regarded conservation tasks as the
most important achievements of this stage
because the tasks provided clear evidence
of operations (mental actions that obey
logical rules).
• Conservation
– Clear evidence of operations
• Mental actions that obey logical rules
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
• Decentration
– Focus on several aspects of a problem at once
• Reversibility
– Mentally go through steps in a problem and then
return to the starting point
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
• Hierarchical classification
– Group objects into hierarchies
– Collections common
• Seriation
– Order items by dimension
• Transitive inference
– Ability to perform seriation mentally
Limitations of Concrete
Operational Thought
• Children think logically only when dealing with
concrete information
• Gradual development occurs within stage
– Conservation of number, length, mass, and liquid
grasped in this order
Children in Middle Childhood
can perform conservation task because their thinking is
logical, flexible and organized. Children at this age take more
information into consideration when making decisions.
Research on Concrete Operational
Thought
• Cultural and school practices impact mastery.
• To master conservation etc., must take part in
activities that promote thinking.
• School promotes mastery of tasks.
Memory in Middle Childhood
Attention
• Attention is more selective, adaptable, and planned
• Scan details for similarities and differences more
thoroughly
• Make decisions is conducted in an orderly fashion
• Learning and behavior problems can involve learning
disorders such as ADHD.
Memory Strategies
• Deliberate mental activities to store and retain information
take place in middle childhood.
– Rehearsal
• Repeating information over and over again
– Organization
• Grouping together related items
– Elaboration
• Creating a relation between two or more items
• Organization and elaboration combine into meaningful
chunks.
Piaget and Education
Three educational principles derived from
Piaget’s theory are:
– An emphasis on discovery learning
– Sensitivity to children’s readiness to learn
– Acceptance to individual differences
Parents, caregivers and educators take these
principles seriously in order to help children learn at
their own pace and when they are ready.
Learning in School
• Class size can influence learning
– Study of small classes (13-14 students) indicates that
students in grades K-3 scored higher in reading and
math achievement than classes with higher number
of students.
– Small classes benefit because the teacher is spending
less time disciplining and more time giving individual
attention.
– Students develop more positive attitudes toward
school and peer interactions.
(Berk, 2016)
Educational Philosophies
• Traditional Classrooms – children are passive
learners who acquire information presented
by the teacher.
• Students are evaluated on the basis of how
well they keep up with a uniform set of
standards for all.
Educational Philosophies
• Open Classroom – children are active agents
in their own development
• The teachers shares decision making with
students, who learn at their own pace.
• Students are evaluated in relation to their own
prior development and monitor their own
improvement along with the teacher.
Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston,
MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
Chapter10
Emotional and
Social Development
in Early Childhood
Social Development
ERICKSON’S THEORY
(2-6 yrs)
1. Trust –Mistrust
2. Autonomy-Shame (2 years)
3. Initiative–Guilt(2-6 years)
Autonomy & Initiative:
“I do it MINE self!!!!”
“No! I won’t!”
Erikson’s theory
• The basic conflict of early childhood:
initiative versus guilt is resolved
positively through play experiences that:
– fosters a healthy sense of initiative and develops a conscience that is not overly strict.
– develops new skills.
• Play permits preschoolers to try new skills and cooperate with other children to achieve
common goals.
Cooperation vs. Isolation
“a firmer sense of self also permits children to cooperate for the first time in playing games,… and
resolving disputes over objects” (Berk, 2016, p. 249)
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Foundations of Self-concept
a few definitions
• Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values that an individual
believes defines who he or she
• Your answer to the “Who am I?” question
– What is your sense of self based upon? (friends, work/school, weight & shape,
activities, work, morality, personality, etc.)
• Preschoolers usually describe themselves with concrete terms such as their name, physical
appearance, possessions and everyday behaviors.
• By age 3 ½ children can also describe themselves in terms of typical beliefs, emotions and
attitudes.
– “I’m 4. I’m a boy. Got this new T-shirt. I can brush my teeth. I have a new doll.”
• Children’s struggle over objects seems to be positive efforts at forming boundaries between the
self and others – mine
• A firmer sense of self also permits children to cooperate with others for the first time
Self-esteem is an aspect of self-concept that involves judgments about one’s own worth and the feelings
associated with those judgments.
Evaluations about our own competence is affected by emotional experiences – future behavior and long-
term psychological adjustment.
Preschoolers usually relate their own ability as extremely high and underestimate the difficulty of a task.
Emergence of Self-Esteem
Self-esteem
Sense of self-worth
Competencies affect emotions, behavior, and adjustment.
Preschoolers usually rate own ability high.
High self-esteem initiative
Criticism undermines self-esteem.
“I can’t do it!! I can’t do anything!!”
Fostering a healthy self-image
If think you “are worth it” you will avoid disrespectful relationships.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Understanding Emotion
Gains in representation, language, and self-concept support emotional development.
By 4-5 years children correctly judge the causes of many basic emotions (“sad because he misses his
mommy”), yet stress external factors. Since the preschooler has experienced emotions and the external
factors causing the emotion.
Language contributes to preschoolers’ improved emotional self-regulation, or the ability to control the
expression of emotion.
Understanding Emotions
Preschoolers know that emotions can be blunted by restricting sensory input, talking to yourself, or
changing the goals.
Because of the increased use to these self-regulating strategies, intense emotional outbursts become
less frequent over the preschool years.
Emotional self-regulation – intense emotional outbursts decrease
parents can:
-model strategies used to cope with stress
-use adult-child coping conversations – internalized
-prepare children for difficult experiences
-children’s vivid imaginations in addition to difficulty in separating appearance from reality
makes fears common among preschoolers
e.g., going into hospital for some surgery
Helping children manage common childhood fears
-Be creative: flashlights that melt monsters.
-Empathy
-altruism: actions that benefit another without any expected reward for self
-In the preschool years, empathy becomes an important motivator of prosocial or altruistic
behavior.
Empathy does not always yield to acts of kindness and helpfulness.
In some children, empathizing with an upset peer or adult can escalate into distress.
Focuses on self rather than on person in need
Likely to react to the suffering of others in the same way that their parents and caregivers respond to
the suffering of others – modeling.
PEER RELATIONS
parallel play
Peer Sociability
Parten’s Stage of Social Interaction
Advances in Peer Sociability: Mildred Parten, 1932, observing 2 to 5 year olds, concluded that social
development proceeds in a three step sequence
1 – Nonsocial activity – unoccupied, onlooker behavior and solitary play
2 – Parallel play – is a form of limited social participation in which the child plays near other children with
similar materials but does not interact with them.
3 – Highest level = Social Interaction
Associative play
Engaged in separate activities, but interact
Cooperative play
Actions are directed toward a common goal
Peer Sociability
Parten’s Stage sequence?
Preschoolers engage in two forms of true social interaction
Associative play – children engage in separate activities, but they interact by exchanging toys and
commenting on one another’s behavior
Cooperative play – children’s actions are directed toward a common goal
Peer Sociability
Play emerges in Parten’s order.
Layer-cake model of development vs. stages.
Type, not just amount, of social activity changes.
Most play is positive and constructive – teachers foster by setting out puzzles, art supplies, etc.
Sociodramatic play is common.
Supporting cognitive and social development
-act out and respond to one another’s pretend feelings
-exploring fear-arousing experiences when pretend to search for monsters
Chapter10
Emotional and Social Development
in Early Childhood
Social Development
ERICKSON’S THEORY
(2-6 yrs)
1. Trust –Mistrust
2. Autonomy-Shame (2 years)
3. Initiative–Guilt(2-6 years)
Autonomy & Initiative:
“I do it MINE self!!!!”
“No! I won’t!”
Erikson’s theory
• The basic conflict of early childhood:
initiative versus guilt is resolved
positively through play experiences that:
– fosters a healthy sense of initiative and develops a
conscience that is not overly strict.
– develops new skills.
• Play permits preschoolers to try new skills and
cooperate with other children to achieve
common goals.
Cooperation vs. Isolation
“a firmer sense of self also permits children to
cooperate for the first time in playing games,…
and resolving disputes over objects” (Berk,
2016, p. 249)
Chapter 8 in outline
Preschoolers
• Self-Development
– self-concept and self-esteem
• Emotional development
• Peer relations
• Foundations of morality
• Gender typing
• Child rearing – parenting styles
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Foundations of Self-concept
a few definitions
• Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities,
attitudes, and values that an individual believes
defines who he or she
• Your answer to the “Who am I?” question
– What is your sense of self based upon? (friends,
work/school, weight & shape, activities, work, morality,
personality, etc.)
• Preschoolers usually describe themselves with
concrete terms such as their name, physical
appearance, possessions and everyday behaviors.
Foundations of Self-concept
• By age 3 ½ children can also describe themselves in
terms of typical beliefs, emotions and attitudes.
– “I’m 4. I’m a boy. Got this new T-shirt. I can brush my teeth. I
have a new doll.”
• Children’s struggle over objects seems to be positive
efforts at forming boundaries between the self and
others – mine
• A firmer sense of self also permits children to
cooperate with others for the first time
Foundations of Self-concept
• Self-esteem is an aspect of self-concept that involves judgments
about one’s own worth and the feelings associated with those
judgments.
• Evaluations about our own competence is affected by emotional
experiences – future behavior and long-term psychological
adjustment.
• Preschoolers usually relate their own ability as extremely high and
underestimate the difficulty of a task.
Emergence of Self-Esteem
• Self-esteem
– Sense of self-worth
– Competencies affect emotions, behavior, and
adjustment.
– Preschoolers usually rate own ability high.
– High self-esteem initiative
– Criticism undermines self-esteem.
– “I can’t do it!! I can’t do anything!!”
Suggestions Descriptions
Build a Positive
Relationship
Indicate that you want to be with the child by arranging times to be
fully available. Listen without being judgmental, and express some
of your own thoughts and feelings. Mutual sharing helps children
feel valued.
Nurture Success Adjust expectations appropriately, and provide assistance when asking
the child to do something beyond his or her current limits. Focus on the
positive in the child’s work or behavior. Promote self-motivation by
emphasizing praise over concrete rewards. Instead of simple saying,
“That’s good.” Mentioned effort and specific accomplishments. Display
the child’s artwork and other products, pointing out increasing skill.
Foster the Freedom to
Choose
Choosing gives children a sense of responsibility and control over their
own lives. Where children are not yet capable of deciding on their own,
involve them in some aspect of the choice, such as when and in what
order a task will be done.
Acknowledge the Child’s
Emotions
Accept the child’s strong feelings and suggest constructive ways to handle
them. When a child’s negative emotions result from an affront to his or
her self-esteem, offer sympathy and comfort along with realistic appraisal
of the situation so that the child feels supported and secure.
Use a Warm Rational
Approach to Child-rearing
These authoritative child-rearing or parenting strategies promote self-
confidence and self-control.
If you think you “are worth it” you will
avoid disrespectful relationships.
Fostering a healthy self-image
Berk, 2010
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Understanding Emotion
• Gains in representation, language, and self-
concept support emotional development.
• By 4-5 years children correctly judge the causes
of many basic emotions (“sad because he misses
his mommy”), yet stress external factors. Since
the preschooler has experienced emotions and
the external factors causing the emotion.
• Language contributes to preschoolers’ improved
emotional self-regulation, or the ability to
control the expression of emotion.
Understanding Emotions
• Preschoolers know that emotions can be
blunted by restricting sensory input, talking to
yourself, or changing the goals.
• Because of the increased use to these self-
regulating strategies, intense emotional
outbursts become less frequent over the
preschool years.
Emotional self-regulation
• intense emotional outbursts decrease
• parents can:
– model strategies used to cope with stress
– use adult-child coping conversations – internalized
– prepare children for difficult experiences
– children’s vivid imaginations in addition to difficulty
in separating appearance from reality makes fears
common among preschoolers
• e.g., going into hospital for some surgery
Helping children manage common
childhood fears
• Be creative: flashlights that melt monsters.
phobias
Empathy
• altruism: actions that benefit another without any expected
reward for self
• In the preschool years, empathy becomes an important
motivator of prosocial or altruistic behavior.
• Empathy does not always yield to acts of kindness and
helpfulness.
• In some children, empathizing with an upset peer or adult can
escalate into distress.
– Focuses on self rather than on person in need
– Likely to react to the suffering of others in the same way that their
parents and caregivers respond to the suffering of others – modeling.
PEER RELATIONS
parallel play
Peer Sociability
Parten’s Stage of Social Interaction
• Advances in Peer Sociability: Mildred Parten, 1932, observing 2
to 5 year olds, concluded that social development proceeds in a
three step sequence
– 1 – Nonsocial activity – unoccupied, onlooker behavior and
solitary play
– 2 – Parallel play – is a form of limited social participation in
which the child plays near other children with similar
materials but does not interact with them.
– 3 – Highest level = Social Interaction
• Associative play
– Engaged in separate activities, but interact
• Cooperative play
– Actions are directed toward a common goal
Peer Sociability
Parten’s Stage sequence?
• Preschoolers engage in two forms of true
social interaction
– Associative play – children engage in separate
activities, but they interact by exchanging toys and
commenting on one another’s behavior
– Cooperative play – children’s actions are directed
toward a common goal
Peer Sociability
Parten’s Stage sequence?
• Play emerges in Parten’s order.
– Layer-cake model of development vs. stages.
• Type, not just amount, of social activity changes.
• Most play is positive and constructive – teachers foster by
setting out puzzles, art supplies, etc.
• Sociodramatic play is common.
– Supporting cognitive and social development
• act out and respond to one another’s pretend
feelings
• exploring fear-arousing experiences when pretend
to search for monsters
Berk, Laura E., (2010). Infants, Children, and
Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
Berk, Laura E., (2016). Infants, Children, and
Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
Chapter 11
Physical Development in Middle Childhood
How the body grows for children in middle childhood:
Children at this age also add 2 to 3 inches in height and 5
pounds each year. Girls are slightly shorter and lighter than
boys at ages 6 to 8; but by age 9 this trend is reversed.
Girls have more body fat and boys more muscle. After 8,
girls accumulate fat at a faster rate.
The lower portion of the body is growing faster and school-
age children appear long-legged. Bones lengthen and
broaden, and ligaments not yet firmly attached to bones
granting unusual flexibility of movement.
From 6 to 12, primary teeth are replaced with permanent.
Common Health Problems
Nutrition – Good nutrition plus rapid development of the
body’s immune system = disease protection. Poverty is a
predictor of ill health. It is important for children between the
ages of 6 to 11 to eat a variety of nutritious foods. Prolonged
malnutrition retards physical growth and intelligence and
also poor motor coordination, inattention and distractibility,
slow physical growth.
Vision, Hearing and other concerns – The most common
vision problems in middle childhood is nearsightedness due
to the increase in board work and reading and stressing the
eyes (Berk, 2016). During middle childhood, the Eustachian
tube becomes longer, narrower, and more slanted; as a
result, ear infections occur less frequently. Child
experiencing ear infections will usually out grow them during
this period of development.
Obesity Is a greater than 20 percent increase over average
body weight, based on the child’s age, sex, and physical
build. 25 percent of American children suffer from obesity
leading to a life long struggle with weight and adding to
health problems. Obese children are at risk for health
problems. Childhood obesity is considered a family eating
behavior and not just an issue for the child. School lunches
and snacks have been changed to healthier options for
children.
What are some of the causes of obesity in children?
– Overweight parents
– Identical twins more likely than fraternal twins
– Low-SES more likely to be overweight
– Parents use food as a reward and to relieve anxiety.
– More cued to external stimuli
– Less active
– TV time correlated withobesity
What are some of the psychological Consequences of
obesity in children?
– Less accepted by peers
– Low self-esteem, depressed, and more behavior
problems
Child obesity is difficult to treat as it is a family disorder. An
effective intervention is a family based intervention and a
focus on changing behaviors.
Bedwetting – Nocturnal Enuresis
Nocturnal enuresis is bedwetting that occurs during the
night. In most cases, it is caused by a failure of muscular
responses that inhibit urination (Berk, 2016). The most
effective treatment is a urine alarm which wakes the child at
sign of dampness and a volume control which can be adjust
to wake the child. The urine alarm also conditions the child
to respond to the first signs of dampness and permits the
child to wake up and then go to the bathroom.
Illnesses
Important to know that there is a higher rate of illness in first
2 years of elementary school due to the immune system is
still developing. Asthma is still a problem for children.
It is a condition of the bronchial tubes in which the tubes
become highly sensitive. Asthma is the most frequent
cause of absence and hospitalization for children in middle
childhood. Interesting to note that asthma increased by
40% over the last decade. What is at greater risk?
• Boys
• African Americans
• Those with low birth weight
• Those with parents who smoke
• Poor
Unintentional Injuries – Unintentional injuries increase over
middle childhood into adolescence. There is a higher rate of
injury for boys due to their willingness to take risks. The
types of unintentional injuries are mostly a result of auto and
bicycle collisions.
Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents.
Boston, MA: Pearson.
EIGHTH EDITI
PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT in
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Two to Six Years of Age
BODY GROWTH
Changes in Body Size and Proportions
– On the average, 2 to 3 inches in height and about 5 pounds in
weight are added each year.
– The child gradually becomes thinner;
girls retain somewhat more body fat,
whereas boys are slightly
more muscular.
– During Early childhood
posture and balance improve,
resulting in gains in motor
coordination.
Changes in Body Size and Proportions
– Individual differences in body size are even
more apparent during early childhood than in
infancy and toddlerhood.
– To determine if a child’s atypical stature is a
sign of a growth or health problem, the child’s
heritage must be considered.
Skeletal Growth
– Between ages 2 and 6 growth centers in which
cartilage hardens into bone, emerge in various
parts of the skeleton.
– X-rays permit doctors to estimate children’s
skeletal age, the best available measure of
progress toward physical maturity. We don’t
routinely subject children to x-rays just to
check on growth (unless needed).
Skeletal Growth
– By the end of the preschool years, children
start to lose their primary teeth.
– Childhood tooth decay remains high,
especially among low-SES youngsters in the
United States. Education is important to
prevent primary tooth decay
that can damage permanent
teeth.
Asynchronies in Physical Growth
• Physical growth is an asynchronous process: different
body systems have their own unique, carefully timed
patterns of maturation.
• The term general growth curve describes a curve that
represents overall changes in body size—rapid growth
during infancy, slower gains in early and middle
childhood, and rapid growth once more during
adolescence. (Please see the next slide)
• During early childhood their bodies become more
streamlined – flat tummies and longer legs and arms.
They tend to reduce the amount of “baby” fat present
during toddlerhood.
Asynchronies in Physical Growth
FACTORS AFFECTING
GROWTH AND HEALTH
Heredity and Hormones
– Children’s physical size and rate of growth
are related to that of their parents. It is important for parents to share
information about family members regarding physical growth and
development. Pediatricians use the information to track normal growth for
children.
– The pituitary gland is a gland located near the base of the brain that
releases hormones affecting physical growth. The two hormones important
to track in children are:
• Growth hormone (GH) affects the development of almost all body
tissues, except the central nervous system and the genitals. Short
children with GH deficiency can be treated with injections of GH.
• Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) stimulates the thyroid gland to
release thyroxine, which is necessary for normal development of the
nerve cells of the brain and body growth.
Sleep Habits and Problems
• Sleep contributes to body growth,
since GH is released during sleeping
hours.
• For preschoolers total sleep declines from 12 to 13
hours at ages 2 and 3 to 10 to 11 hours at ages 4 to 6.
• Bedtime rituals, such as using the toilet, listening to a
story, and kissing before turning off the light, help
Western preschoolers adjust to being left by
themselves in a darkened room. Not all children sleep
in alone in a room. Some families share sleeping
space and may create different sleep rituals.
Sleep Habits and Problems
• Almost all children begin to have a few nightmares
between ages 3 to 6. As they continue to experience
the world around them, dreams can sometimes seem a
little scary to the preschooler. Some children may have
problems getting back to sleep because they fear
another dream.
• About 20 to 25 percent of preschoolers experience
difficulty falling and staying asleep. Persistent sleep
problems may be a sign of illness. Family stress can
also prompt childhood sleep disturbances.
Nutrition – food intake reduced and social
mealtime climate important
• Important – Preschoolers’ appetites decrease because
growth has slowed.
• In addition, they may become picky eaters. This may be
adaptive as young children are still learning which items
are safe to eat and which are not.
• Because caloric intake is reduced, preschoolers need a
high-quality diet parents and caregivers can provide
• There is no room for junk foods.
• The social environment and emotional climate at
mealtimes have a powerful impact on children’s eating
habits. Take dinner time seriously as it may be the only
time the preschooler will concentrate on food for 5
minutes.
Nutrition – Introducing
New Foods
• Repeated exposure to a new
food as this will increases
children’s acceptance.
• Insufficient amounts of iron,
calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin A are the most
common diet deficiencies of the preschool years.
• By age 7, low-SES children in the United States are, on
the average, about 1 inch shorter than their middle-
class counterparts. Nutritious foods need to be
available to all children. Food programs such as WIC
can help parents with advice and food support.
Infectious Disease
• Infectious Disease and Malnutrition
– In well-nourished children, ordinary childhood illnesses have
no effect on physical growth.
– Disease is a major cause of malnutrition, and, through it, it is
malnutrition that affects physical growth.
– Most growth retardation and deaths due to diarrhea from
illnesses in developing countries can be prevented with oral
rehydration therapy (ORT). ORT provides sick children with a
glucose, salt, and water solution that replaces lost body fluids.
It helps to rebuild a balance in the body.
Infectious Disease
• Immunization
– Overall 24 percent of American preschoolers lack essential
immunizations, a rate that rises to 40 percent for poverty
stricken children.
– In contrast, fewer than 10 percent of preschoolers lack
immunizations in Denmark and Norway and less than 7
percent in Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
– In 1994, all medically uninsured American children were
guaranteed free immunizations, a program that has led to
steady improvement in early childhood immunization rates.
– Misconceptions about vaccinations also contribute to
inadequate immunization rates. Some parents and
caregivers are afraid of the side effects and opt out of
immunizations for their children.
• Research in Europe and the United States indicates that
childhood illness rises with child-care attendance.
Childhood Injuries
• Auto accidents, drownings, and burns are the most common
injuries during early childhood in the US. We are a very mobile
society and we take our children everywhere. This increases
the chances of childhood injuries due to accidents. Other
countries encourage young children to stay close to home with
family members and parents and caregivers conduct their
business with children safe at home with a family member or a
babysitter.
• In the US motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of
death among children over 1 year of age.
Childhood Injuries
Factors Related to Childhood Injuries
– Because of their higher activity level and greater willingness to
take risks during play, boys are more likely to be injury victims
than girls.
– Irritability, inattentiveness, and negative mood are also related
to childhood injuries. If children do not attend to the parents
wishes, this could place them at risk of injury. Some children
tend to be difficult and oppositional and this also place them at
risk when they don’t attend to a parents wish.
– Poverty, low parental education, and more children in the home
are strongly associated with injury due to stress and
preoccupation of caregivers.
– Among Western industrialized nations, the United States ranks
among the highest in childhood injury mortality.
Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston,
MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
Chapter
13
Emotional and Social Development in
Middle Childhood
http://www.clipartconnection.com/searchsite/download?oid=1228866&fmt=GIF&kw=teen&at=966&ra=23
ERIKSON’S STAGES
Toddlerhood Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
Early Childhood Initiative vs. Guilt
Infancy Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
Middle Childhood Industry vs. Inferiority
Adolescence Identity vs. Identity Confusion
Early Adulthood Intimacy vs. Isolation
Middle Adulthood Generativity vs. Stagnation
Late Adulthood Ego Integrity vs. Despair
ERIKSON’S THEORY
• Basic conflict of middle childhood:
Industry versus Inferiority
7 to 11 years of age
• According to Erikson this conflict is resolved positively
when experiences lead children to develop a sense of
competence at useful skills and tasks.
• This period of development is marked by the beginning
of formal schooling – industry, gains in knowledge and
skill building
ERIKSON’S THEORY
• The danger at this stage is inferiority,
reflected in the sad pessimism of children
who have come to believe they will never
be good at anything.
• Children realize they are good at some things and
not so good at others
Parents and caregivers provide
support and point out the skills
and knowledge children have
mastered up to middle
childhood.
Children need to feel a sense of
industry and appreciation for
who they are and what they can
do.
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
• Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities,
attitudes and values that an individual believes defines
who he or she is.
• In Middle childhood there are some changes in self-
concept
– More refined self-concept, or me-self
– Children begin to view themselves less in terms of external physical
attributes and more in terms of psychological traits
– Social comparisons are made with peers and others
– Cognitive development affects the structure of the self
– Organize their observations of behaviors
– Children are better at reading others emotional states
– Peer influence increases
Self-Esteem
Berk, 2012
View of Oneself
• A person’s self-esteem, the overall positive or negative
self-evaluation develops in important ways during middle
childhood. Children continue to
– compare themselves to others.
– develop their own internal standards.
– Internalize feedback from others (positive or negative)
• Self-esteem, for most children, increases during middle
childhood.
A Cycle of Low Self-Esteem
If a child has low
self-esteem and
expects to do
poorly on a test,
she may
experience anxiety
and not do as well,
which confirms the
negative self view.
Parents can break
this cycle a warm
and supportive
style of caregiving.
Emotional Understanding
• By age 8, Children are aware of their Emotions
• Pride motivates children to take on challenges
• Guilt prompts making amends, striving for self-
improvement.
• Although aware of the external event, children in middle
childhood have a range of emotional experience and
become better at reading the emotional state of others.
Emotional Self-Regulation
• By age 10, most children have an
adaptive set of strategies for
managing emotions. They use
strategies internalized from
experiences with parent, caregiver
and peer models.
• Emotionally well-regulated
children are:
– Upbeat in mood
– Empathic and pro-social
– Liked by their peers.
UNDERSTANDING OTHERS
• In middle childhood children have a better
understanding of others and begin perspective taking.
Perspective taking is defined as:
– Imagining what other people may be thinking and
feeling
Perspective Taking and Social Skills
• Varies greatly among children of the same age.
• Children with poor social skills have difficulty
imagining others’ thoughts and feelings.
• Interventions
– Provide practice in perspective taking
– Helpful in reducing antisocial behavior
– Increases empathy and prosocial responding
Moral Development
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development:
• People pass through stages of the kind of
reasoning they use to make moral judgments,
primarily based on cognitive characteristics.
• Reasoning moves from concrete rules to
abstract principles in three stages.
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development:
Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
• Preconventional Morality (stages 1 & 2) –
children follow unvarying rules based on rewards
and punishments.
• Stage 1 – children follow rules to avoid
punishment
• Stage 2 – children follow rules for their own
benefit, e.g., if they are rewarded.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
• Conventional Morality (stages 3 & 4) is where
people approach problems in terms of their own
position as good, responsible members of society.
• Stage 3 – desire to be “good boy” in the eyes of
others
• Stage 4 – conform to societal rules and norms;
what’s “right” is what society defines as right.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
• Postconventional Morality (stages 5 & 6) is
where universal moral principles are invoked
and considered broader than the values of a
particular society.
• Stage 5 – do what is right out of sense of
obligation to laws agreed upon in society.
• Stage 6 – a person’s behavior is based upon
universal ethical principles, which trump
societal laws.
Kohlberg’s Theory
• Kohlberg assessed people’s moral
reasoning using moral dilemmas.
• According to Kohlberg, people move
through these stages in a fixed order.
• Middle childhood is at stage 1 & 2, the
preconventional stage, because of the limits
of children’s cognitive abilities.
Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory
• Kohlberg’s theory is a good account of moral
judgment but not adequate at predicting
moral behavior.
• The theory is based on data from boys, and
may be inadequate in describing the moral
development of girls.
Moral Development in Girls
• Carol Gilligan says:
– The way boys and girls are raised in our own society
leads to differences in moral reasoning.
– Kohlberg’s theory is inadequate and places girls’
moral reasoning at a lower level than boys‘
reasoning.
– Boys view morality primarily in terms of justice and
fairness.
– Girls see morality in terms of responsibility and
compassion toward individuals and a willingness to
sacrifice for relationships.
Moral Development in Girls
• Gilligan sees morality in girls developing in 3 stages.
– Orientation toward individual survival – where females
concentrate on what is practical and best for them.
– Goodness as self-sacrifice – where females think they must
sacrifice their own wishes to what others want.
– Morality of nonviolence – women come to see hurting
anyone as immoral, including themselves.
PEER RELATIONS
• Peers become an increasingly important context for
development.
• A peer group is composed of peers who form a social
unit by generating shared values and standards for
behavior and a social structure of leaders and followers.
• Aggression declines in
middle childhood, especially
physical attacks.
Peer Groups
• Peers generate
– Shared values and standards
– Social structure of leaders and followers
• The “peer culture” of a peer group typically consists of:
– a specialized vocabulary
– dress code
– place(s) to “hang out”
• Children who deviate are often rejected (rebuffed, snubbed) by
their peers.
Peer Groups
• Peer groups provide a context for children to practice
– Cooperation
– leadership and followership
– And develop a sense of loyalty to collective goals
• Participation in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, church
groups, and other associations promote gains in social
and moral understanding.
• From third grade on, relational aggression rises among
girls (verbal and physical aggression toward both ingroup
and outgroup). Boys are more straight forward (hostile)
toward the “outgroup.”
Friendships
• Friendship becomes a mutually agreed on relationship in
which children like each other’s personal qualities and respond
to one another’s needs and desires.
• Trust is the defining feature. Violations of trust are a serious
breach of friendship and may bring the friendship to an end.
• Same age, sex, ethnicity, and SES
– Schools and neighborhoods can affect friendships.
• Through the development of friendships children learn
emotional commitment, respect and responsibility
Stages of Friendship
• According to William Damon (1983),
childhood friendship has three stages:
1. Basing friendship on other’s behavior.
• Age 4-7; friends are children who like you and with
whom you share toys and activities.
2. Basing friendship on trust.
• Age 8-10; focus on mutual trust.
3. Basing friendship on psychological closeness.
• Age 11-15; focus on intimacy and loyalty.
Children in middle childhood provide a list of
behaviors favored in their good friends.
Most-liked
• Sense of humor
• Nice/friendly
• Helpful
• Complementary
• Sharing
• Loyalty and Trusting
Least-liked
• Verbal aggression
• Dishonesty
• Critical
• Greedy/bossy
• Teasing
• Physical aggression
Peer Acceptance
Four types of peer acceptance:
– Popular children
• Many positive interactions with their peers
– Rejected children
• Actively disliked by their peers
– Controversial children
• Hostile and disruptive, but they engage in high rates of
positive, prosocial acts.
– Neglected children
• Shy by their classmates, but are not less socially skilled
Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston,
MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION
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