Exam 4 Study Guide PDF

Preview

Summary

Study guide for the fourth exam of the semester which focused heavily on middle childhood and the development within that time....

Description

Psychology 148 - Study Guide for Exam 4 Key terms or concepts to understand: Changes in body size during middle childhood- At age 6—> about 45 lbs and 3 1/2 ft tall. Over the next few years, children will add about 2-3 in in height and 5 lbs in weight per year. 6-8—> girls slightly shorter/lighter. This reverses by 9. 9 in gap of physical size of 8 y.o. worldwide—> shortest in S. America, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Africa—> Colombian, Burmese, Thai, Vietnamese, Ethipian, and Bantu. Tallest in Australia, N/Central Europe, Canada, and the U.S.—> Czech, Dutch, Latvian, Norweigan, Swiss, and African populations - Changes due to heredity/environment - Long, lean physiques are typical in hot, tropical regions and short, stocky ones in cold - Tallest children found in developed nations where food is plentiful/infectious diseases largely controlled - Nighttime “growing pains” are common (stiffness/aches in legs) - Children tend to lose flexibility as they age - 6-12—> lose teeth, facial bones grow - Malocclusion: A condition in which the upper/lower teeth do not meet properly (prevalence: 1/3 school age children) - BRAIN GROTWH: increases by about 10% in middle childhood and adolescence Prefrontal cortex- The region in the cerebral cortex lying in front of areas controlling body movement that is responsible for thoughtin particular, for consciousness, impulse control, integration of info, and use of memory, reasoning, planning, and problem-solving strategies. Myelination in prefrontal cortex, and its progression over middle childhood- white matter (mostly myelinated nerve fibers) steadily increases in middle childhood/adolescence - As children acquire more complex abilities, stimulated neurons increase in synaptic connections and their neural fibers become more elaborate and myelinated Synaptic pruning in prefrontal cortex, and its progression over middle childhood- Peaks in middle childhood and then declines ~40% of synapses are pruned over middle childhood/adolescence - Children gain in executive function and (like sustained attention, inhibition, WM capacity, and organized, flexible thinking) Corpus callosum- The large bundle of fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. Supports smooth coordination of movements on both sides of the body and integration of many aspects of thinking - White matter in this area steadily increases throughout middle childhood/adolescence (more efficient communication b/w the two cortical hemispheres) Gains in gross-motor skills during middle childhood- Increase in flexibility, increased balance (supports many athletic skills like running, hopping, jumping, skipping, throwing, kicking, rapid changes of direction), Greater agility —> quicker and more accurate movements, increases in force Gains in fine-motor skills during middle childhood- by 6, most children can write their name and the alphabet and 1-10. Large writing due to the use of the full arm rather than just the hand and wrist, master uppercase 1st because they are simpler with larger bases—> legibility greatly increases during the school years - Drawing also increases —> gains in organization, depth Effect of heredity and environment on motor skills- Children whose parents encourage physical exercise enjoy it more, income greatly affects children’s access to lessons to develop abilities in music, ballet, tennis, gymnastics. When low SES children are given affordable activities and parental encouragement, they become highly skilled - Girls have an edge in fine-motor skills like handwriting and drawing and in gross-motor capacities that depend on balance and agility (hopping/skipping) - Boys outperform girls in running, gait variations, vertical jumping, standing broad jumping, precision jumping and hopping on a mat divided into squares, throwing, catching, kicking, batting, and dribbling—> social environment plays a large role in this—> parents hold higher expectations for boys’ athletic performance Recommendations for physical activity- Parents should be educated on the minimal differences in abilities b/w school-aged boys and girls, sensitizing them to unfair biases against promotion of girls’ athletic abilities may help increase girls’ self-confidence and participation in athletics—> MIDDLE CHILDHOOD CRUCIAL Games with rules- These play experiences contribute greatly to emotional/social development, Gains in perspective taking permit the transition to rule-oriented games - Children today spend less time gathering informally on sidewalks and playgrounds—> concerns about safety, increased screen time, and increase in adult-organized sports contributes to this (esp. for economically advantaged children) - In low SES communities/village societies in developing countries—> still very common Recess- Recess periods BOOST classroom learning. When recess is taken away, children have reported aching tummies and headaches, children shown to be more attentive after recess than before it - Regular, unstructured recess fosters children’s health and competence- physically, socially, and academically Physical education- School-based physical activity linked to improved academic achievement - Physical activity supports many aspects of development- health, self-worth as physically active and capable human beings, and the cognitive and social skills necessary for getting along with others - < 1/3 of 6-17 y.o. engage in at least moderate-intensity activity for 60 mins a day

- Greater physical strength, resistance to many illnesses, enhances psychological well-being, and a longer life Adult-directed sports teams- 60% of US boys and 37% of US girls participate in some organized sport b/w 5-18 y.o. - Low SES children (esp. girls) are at a disadvantage in this ares - Associated with an increase in self-esteem and social skills - Helps shy children fosters self-confidence and a decline in social anxiety - Weaker performers experience social ostracism (esp. boys) - Parents who are extreme about their children’s participation in sports hurt their children’s performance, may be punishing their child for not performing as well as the parent thinks they should, hold them back in school to allow physical advantage, and force them to continue to play during injury - When coaches and parents emphasize effort, improvement, participation, and teamwork, young athletes enjoy sports more, exert greater effort to improve skills, and perceive themselves as more competent in their chosen sport Rough-and-tumble play- Friendly chasing and play-fighting - Emerges in preschool years and peaks in middle childhood - More common in boys - Boys tend to hit and wrestle, girls tend to chase and run with only brief physical contact - As much as 10% of free-play behavior in middle childhood - Helps children form a dominance hierarchy: stable ordering of members that predicts who will win when conflict arises CHAPTER 11 REVIEW Common health problems- poverty-stricken children in developing countries and in the US suffer from serious and prolonged malnutrition, can permanently impair physical and mental development - Overweight and obesity have increased dramatically in developing and industrialized nations—> heredity, parental feeding practices, maladaptive eating habits, reduced sleep, lack of exercise, and high-fat diets common in the W contribute - The most common vision problem, myopia, is influenced by heredity, early bio trauma, and time spent reading and doing other close work—> one of few health conditions that increases with family education/income - Ear infections decline in middle childhood, but many low SES children experience some hearing loss because of chronic, untreated otitis media: middle ear infection. As many as 20% of low SES children experience hearing loss due to this - Nocturnal enuresis: bedwetting during the night, heredity is responsible in most cases, failure of muscular responses that inhibit urination or a hormonal imbalance that permits too much urine to accumulate - Most effective treatment is a urine alarm - Asthma is the most frequent cause of absence/hospitalization in the US children—> most common among AfricanAmerican children and poverty-stricken children —> childhood obesity a factor - Children with severe chronic illnesses are at risk for academic, emotional, and social difficulties, but positive family interactions improve adjustment Concrete operational stage of cognitive development- 7-11 y.o. More logical, flexible, and organized thought Operations Decentration- Focusing on several aspects of a problem and relating them, rather than centering on just one Reversibility- The capability to think through a series of steps and then mentally reverse direction, returning to the starting point Classification- At this stage, children become more aware of classification hierarchies and can focus on relations between a general category and two specific categories at the same time - Ex: Think of Mari’s Pokemon cards and her obsession with them Seriation- The ability to order items along a quantitative dimension such as length or weight Transitive inference: Concrete-operational child can also seriate mentally Spatial reasoning- School aged children’s understanding of space is more accurate than that of preschoolers Cognitive maps- Mental representations of spaces, such as a classroom, school, or neighborhood Processing speed- Time needed to process information on a wide variety of cognitive tasks declines rapidly b/w 6-12 in diverse cultures, likely due to the myelination and synaptic pruning in the cerebral cortex Working memory- Children with learning difficulties in reading and math are often deficient in WM, elementary school children with limited WM revealed that they often failed at school assignments with heavy demands on memory - These children struggled with following complex instructions, would lose their place in tasks with multiple steps, and frequently gave up before completing their work - Children from low SES homes tend to score lower on WM tasks - Research shows us that children in high stress homes endured chronic stress which caused impaired brain structure and function esp. in the prefrontal cortex/hippocampus (responsible for WM capacity) Digit span Memory strategies (i.e., rehearsal, organization, elaboration)- Rehearsal: repeating the info to themselves - Organization: grouping related items together - Elaboration: Creating a relationship, or shared meaning, b/w 2+ pieces of information that are not members of the same category Attention (i.e., selective attention)- Selective attention improves sharply b/w 6-10 and steadily increases continuing through adolescence

Patterns in language development during middle childhood- On average, children learn about 20 new words a day - Children enlarge their vocabulary by analyzing the structure of complex words. For ex: happy and decide—> happiness and decision - Reading helps greatly in vocabulary increasing - As children age, they are better able to understand double meanings (ex: cool) - Mastery of complex grammatical constructions improves in the school years Meta-linguistic awareness- The ability to think about language as a system Whole-language approach- Argued that from the beginning, children should be exposed to text in its complete form- stories, poems, letters, posters, and lists- so that they can appreciate the communicative function of written language Phonics approach- Believing that children should first be coaches on phonics- the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds. Only after mastering these skills should they get complex reading material Traditional classrooms- The teacher is the sole authority for knowledge, rules, and decision making and does most of the talking. Students are relatively passive- listening, responding when called on, and completing teacher-assigned tasks. Their process is evaluated by how well they keep pace with a uniform set of standards for their grade Constructivist classrooms- Encourages students to construct their own knowledge. Although constructivist approaches vary, many are grounded in Piaget’s theory, which views children as active agents who reflect on and coordinate their own thoughts, rather than absorbing those of others. A glance inside a classroom like this reveals richly equipped learning centers, small groups and IND solving self-chosen problems, and a teacher who guides and support in response to children’s needs. Students are evaluated by considering their progress in relation to their own prior development. CHAPTER 12 REVIEW Information Processing - Recursive thought: The ability to view a situation from at least 2 perspectives- that is, to reason simultaneously about what 2+ people are thinking - Children begin to think of the mind as an active, constructive agent IND Differences in Mental Development - IQ becomes more stable, relates to academic achievement - Triarchic theory of successful intelligence: views intelligence as an interaction of analytical intelligence (info-processing skills), creative intelligence (ability to solve novel problems), and practical intelligence (application of intellectual skills in everyday situations) - Theory of multiple intelligences: ID’s at least eight mental abilities, each with a distinct bio basis and course of development. Helpful in stimulating efforts to define, measure, and foster emotional intelligence - Heredity and environment important - Flynn effect: Dramatic generational gains in IQ - ^ suggest that environment plays a role in the black-white IQ gap - Culture influences IQ scores - *** IQ tests have been proven to be extremely culturally biased, we know this is a flawed system, but we haven’t found a better way to measure IQ yet - Stereotype threat can trigger anxiety that may impair test performance - Dynamic assessment: An innovative approach to testing consistent with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, in which an adult introduces purposeful teaching into the testing situation to find out what the child can attain with social support, helps many minority children perform more competently on mental tests Lang. Development - Bilingual children are better at diverse executive functioning skills and certain aspects of metalinguistic awareness Children’s Learning in Schools - Ethnically diverse magnet schools are associated with higher achievement - US children are about average or below average performers - US instruction is less focused on high-level reasoning and critical thinking - US low income and ethnic minority students typically attend inferior-quality schools Industry vs. inferiority- Set by combination of adult expectations and children’s drive toward mastery (according to Erikson) Believed to be resolved positively when experiences lead children to develop a sense of competence at useful skills/tasks Self-concept- Children begin to organize their observations of behaviors and internal states into general dispositions - Major change b/w 8-11—> older children are less likely to describe themselves in extreme classifications - Children’s evaluative self descriptions come from their social comparisons Attributions- Our common, everyday explanations for the causes of behavior Mastery-oriented attributions- Crediting their successes to ability- a characteristic they can improve by trying hard and can count on when faced with new challenges Learned helplessness- Attributing their failures, not their successes, to ability. When they succeed, they are likely to conclude that external factors, such as luck, are responsible —> hold a fixed view of ability, believing it unchangeable, give up easily Child-rearing styles Changes in friendships during middle childhood- Contribute to the development of trust and sensitivity

- 50-70% of friendships during middle childhood last longer than the school year and many last many years - Friendships spanning multiple contexts are more enduring - Children learn the importance of emotional commitment Peer acceptance (e.g., popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, and average children)- The likability- the extent to which a child is viewed by a group of agemates, such as classmates, as a worthy social partner - One-sided perspective - Better-Accepted children tend to be socially competent and have more friends and more positive relationships with those fiends Peer victimization Popular-prosocial children- Both socially accepted and admired, combine academic and social competence —> perform well in school, communicate with peers in friendly and cooperative ways, and solve problems constructively Popular-antisocial children- Includes “tough boys”- athletically skilled, but poor students who cause trouble/defy adult authority- and relationally aggressive boys/girls who enhance their own status by ignoring, excluding, and spreading rumors about other children Rejected-aggressive children- Show high rates of conflict, physical and relational aggression, and hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive behavior Rejected-withdrawn children- passive/socially awkward, hold negative expectations about interactions with peers CHAPTER 13 REVIEW Self-Understanding - Person praise promotes learned helplessness - Process praise fosters a mastery orientation by focusing on behavior and effort

Understand the following theories and be able to compare/contrast them: Piaget’s Cognitive-developmental Theory- An approach that views children as actively constructing knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world, and in which cog development takes place in stages Information Processing Theory- An approach that views the human mind as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows and that regards cog development as a cont. process Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (specifically pertaining to classroom settings)- Focuses on how children acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community’s culture through social interactions, esp. cooperative dialogues with more knowledgable members of society

Example questions: 1) Emma, age 8, can turn cartwheels, do the splits, and do handsprings. This is probably due to which two factors of growth in middle childhood? A) ligaments not firmly attached to bones and increasing muscle strength B) hardening and lengthening of the bones and tightening of ligaments C) muscles that are loosely attached to bones and undeveloped muscle tone D) underdeveloped hip joints and muscles that do not fully develop until adolescence 2) When Kelli, a researcher, asks school-age children in a small city in India to draw maps of their neighborhoods, Kelli will probably see maps that depict A) main streets. B) key directions. C) people and vehicles. D) formal, extended space. 3) Charles received few positive and many negative votes on peer-acceptance self-reports from the children in his class. How would Charles be classified? A) average B) rejected C) controversial D) neglected 4) Describe one of the major changes in brain development in middle childhood and the effect this change has on cognition. Although the brain only increases in size by about 10%, a major change we see in middle childhood is the vast increase in both myelination and synaptic pruning. About 40% of synaptic pruning occurs during middle childhood. As a result of myelination and synaptic pruning, the corpus callosum- the fibers connecting both hemispheres of the brain- and the prefrontal cortex- which plays a big role in inhibition control, reasoning, memory, and planning is also impacted. When we see these changes in the prefrontal cortex, we see that children are better able to practice selective attention and control their impulsive behaviors. At this

point, children will be better able to engage in tasks with many steps that require them to think critically.

5) Describe the features of friendship in middle childhood. In middle childhood, we see that friendships tend to last longer than they did in preschool years. 50-70% of friendships last longer than a school year and many of those friendships last years. Children are more choosy about their friends in these years as well. We see that relationships that occur in multiple environments last longer and are stronger. We see that trust becomes crucial to friendships during middle childhood. These friendships are more psycholog...