Chapter 8 - Developmental Psychology PDF

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Chapter 8: Early Childhood: Biosocial Development: I. Body Changes: body and brain develop according to epigenetic forces, biologically driven and socially guided, experience-expectant and experience-dependent. A. Growth Patterns: center of gravity moves to the belly which helps with motor skills. Increases in height and weight. Height differences between ethnic groups is lower than within them B. Nutrition: young children’s small appetites are satiated with unhealthy food. Overfed children become overweight adults. This generation gets much less exercise than former generations did. 1. Nutritional deficiencies: do not always obtain adequate iron, zinc, and calcium. Problems with sugar. Allergies may get in the way of a healthy diet. 2. Oral health: too much sugar and too little fiber causes tooth decay. Severe decay can cause jaw malformation, chewing difficulties, and speech problems. Affected by diet and illness. C. Hazards of “Just Right”: young children are compulsive about their daily routines. Just Right Just So phenomenon signifies OCD potential in older children. However, a desire for continuity and sameness is normal and widespread. It usually disappears by middle childhood. II. Brain Development: prefrontal cortex. Better at controlling their emotions as they develop. A. Speed of Thought: proliferation of communication pathways. Myelination is the process by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty substance that speeds transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron. Several thoughts can occur in rapid succession. Slower until myelination completes. B. Brains connected hemispheres: Corpus callosum is the long thick band of nerve fibers connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain and allows communication between the 2 of them. Can now coordinate both sides of their body. Failure to develop can cause autism. Lateralization is sidedness referring to the specialization in certain functions of each side of the brain. Left controls the right side of the body and vice versa. 1. Left handed child: 1 in 10 children are left handed. Partly genetic. Advise against switching handedness. Acceptance of left handedness is more widespread. 2. The whole brain: left controls the right side, logical reasoning, detailed analysis, and the basics of language. The right side controls the left, emotional and creative impulses. Brain however is plastic. Both sides involved in every skill. 3. Maturation of the prefrontal cortex: frontal lobe will continue to develop all throughout childhood. Sleep is more regular, emotions are responsive, less temper tantrums, uncontrollable fits of laughter and crying are less common. Ex: color/shape game 4. Impulsiveness and Perseveration: developing a balanced brain. Impulse control is the ability to postpone or deny the immediate response to an idea or behavior. Perseveration is the tendency to preserve or stick to one thought or action for a long time. Both of these are caused by immaturity of the prefrontal cortex.

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C. Emotions and the brain: the limbic system is the major system for emotions. Emotional expression and regulation advance during early childhood. 1. The Limbic System: amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus a. Amygdala: tiny brain structure that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety. Increased activity may cause nightmares. b. Hippocampus: a brain structure that is the central processor of memory especially memory of locations. c. Hypothalamus: responds to the amygdala and the hippocampus to produce hormones that activate other parts of the brain and body. 2. Stress hormones: cortisol is the primary stress hormone. Some is needed but excess can be detrimental. Context is always crucial. Ex: Romanian orphans Improving Motor Skills: corpus callosum and lateralization of the brain permit better physical coordination. A. Gross Motor skills: improve dramatically 1. Specific Skills: balanced coordination, need a safe space and guided practice to gain motor skills. 2. Environmental Hazards: heavy pollution could impair brain development. Affects all SES but especially low. Air pollution and lead exposure can cause poor health and affect the brain thus impede balance, finger dexterity, and motivation. B. Fine Motor Skills: harder to master than gross motor skills. 2 hands needed thus both sides of the brain. Limited myelination and short stubby fingers make these actions difficult. C. Artistic Expression: imaginative, creative, and not self-critical. Love to express themselves and gain approval. Cultural differences in the type of expression. Injuries and abuse: more children die from violence than any specific disease. A. Avoidable injury: nations with high rates of child disease also have high rates of child injury. More than twice as likely to be seriously hurt in early childhood as middle childhood. 1. Age-related dangers: immaturity of the prefrontal cortex makes kids impulsive and uninhibited. 2. Injury control: practices aimed at anticipating, controlling, and preventing dangerous activities; these practices reflect the belief that accidents are not random and that injuries can be less harmful with the right controls. B. Prevention: accident autopsy to find out causes in microsystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. 1. Levels of prevention: a. Primary prevention: actions that change overall background conditions to prevent some unwanted event or circumstance b. Secondary prevention: actions that avert harm in a high risk situation. c. Tertiary prevention: actions like immediate and effective medical treatment that are taken after an adverse event that are aimed at reducing harm or preventing disability. (golden hour) C. Child Maltreatment: ongoing maltreatment is much more harmful than a single incident 1. Definitions and statistics:

a. Child maltreatment: intentional harm to or avoidable engagement of anyone under 18 years of age b. Child abuse: deliberate action that is harmful to a child’s physical emotional or sexual well being c. Child neglect: failure to meet a child’s basic needs, physical educational or emotional d. Substantiated maltreatment: harm or endangerment that has been reported investigated and verified e. Reported maltreatment: harm or endangerment about which someone has notified the authorities. 2. Frequency of Maltreatment: rates of abuse are underestimated because so much goes unreported. Some people may not even realize they have been abused. 3. Warning signs: delayed development, fearful nature. PTSD. Physical signs, deficits in social skills. Deficits are life long. D. Three Levels of Prevention, again: 1. Primary: social context is positive to protect the child 2. Secondary: spotting warning signs and intervening 3. Tertiary: limit harm of maltreatment, find a new home. 4. Permanency planning: effort by child welfare authorities to find long term living situation that will provide stability and support for a maltreated child. 5. Foster care: Legal publicly supported system in which a maltreated child is removed from parents custody and entrusted to another adult or family who is then reimbursed. 6. Kinship care: form of foster care where a relative takes care of the maltreated child 7. Adoption: legal proceeding in which an adult or couple is granted the joys and obligation of being that child’s parents....