PSYC 2314 Lifespan Development

1
PSYC 2314Lifespan Development

• Chapter 9
• The Play Years
• Cognitive Development

2
How Young Children Think

• Piagets Preoperational Thought
• Symbolic thought
• Centration
• Egocentrism
• Conservation

3
How Young Children Think

• Vygotsky Children as Apprentices
• Guided participation
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
• Scaffolding

4
Vygotskys

• Believed that language advances thinking in two
  ways
• Private speech
• Social mediation

5
Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky

• Piaget
• Active learning
• Egocentrism
• Structure
• Symbolic thought

• Vygotksy
• Guided participation
• Apprenticeship in thinking
• Scaffold
• Proximal development

6
Childrens Memory

• Abilities and Limitations
• Deficient in storage and retrieval skills
• Do not attend to the features of an event that
  are most pertinent to adults
• Scripts skeletal outlines of the usual sequence
  of events during certain common, recurring
  experiences.
• Meaningful past experiences

7
Childrens Eyewitness Testimony

• When children are required to give eyewitness
  testimony, they should be provided a structure
  sequence that enhances their ability to remember
  accurately.
• Children should be interviewed by a neutral
  professional who asks specific but not misleading
  questions in a friendlynot stern or
  shockedmanner.

8
Childrens Eyewitness Testimony

• The interview of a child should occur only once,
  soon after the event, and be videotaped for later
  trial use.
• Although young children can provide accurate
  details concerning what happened, remembering who
  was involved may be more difficult.
• Children sometimes add false information to
  follow a script that makes sense to them,
  especially if a long delay occurs between the
  event and the account.

9
Theory of Mind

• An understanding of human mental processes
• Clearly distinguish between mental phenomena and
  the physical events to which they refer
• Appreciate how mental phenomena (like beliefs,
  expectations, and desires) can arise from
  experiences in the real world
• Understand that mental phenomena are subjective

10
Theory of Mind

• An understanding of human mental processes
• Recognize that people have differing opinions and
  preferences
• Realize that beliefs and desires can form the
  basis for human action
• Realize that emotion arises not only from
  physical events but also from goals and
  expectations

11
Theory of Mind

• Preschoolers conceptual growth quickly becomes
  enlisted for practical purposes, such as
  persuasion, sympathy, and teasing.
• Theory of mind is strengthened by a combination
  of factors brain maturation, language ability,
  having at least one sibling, and culture.

12
Language

• Fast mapping used by children to add words to
  their vocabulary, the process of hearing word
  once or twice and then quickly defining it by
  categorizing it with other words.

13
Language

• Young children have greater difficulty with
  abstract nouns as well as with words that express
  comparisons or relationships.
• Have difficulty understanding metaphors and
  analogies
• By age 3, children typically demonstrate
  extensive grammatical knowledge.

14
Preschool Education

• Characteristics of high-quality preschool
  programs
• Low teacher-child ratio
• Well-trained staff
• A curriculum geared toward cognitive development
  rather than behavioral control
• An organization of space that facilitates
  creative and constructive play.

15
Head Start

• Children score higher on achievement tests, have
  higher grades, and less likely to be placed in
  special classes or develop a criminal record.