HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

EARLY CHILDHOOD

I. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

BODY GROWTH
• Rapid for infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood
• However growth does not occur in a steady rate
→ Starts out very rapid and then slows down by the time that they are 4-6 years
old

MOST CHILDREN AGES SIX TO EIGHT WILL:

• Experience slower growth of about 2½ inches and 8 pounds per year
• Grow longer legs relative to their height and begin resembling the proportions of
legs to body of an adult
• Develop less fat and grow more muscles than in earlier years
• Increase in strength
• Lose their baby teeth, which will be replaced by adult teeth or your permanent teeth
• Use small and large motor skills in sports and other activities

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
• Size of our brains also increase rapidly
→ At the age of 2yo our brain is already 55% of its adult size, and by the time
that we reach the age of 6yo our brain is already 90% of it
• By the time children reach school age, they are developmentally capable of
controlling their attention and behavior

II. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY: PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

• Approx. 3-6yo
• Begin to age in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols
→ They are able to use an object to represent something else
→ Role-playing – Children playing different roles and characters
• Do not yet understand concrete logic
• Language development is one of the hallmarks of this period

KEY FEATURES OF THE PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

• Egocentrism
→ Inability to see a situation from another person’s point of view
→ A child assumes that other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same as
they do
• Centration
→ Tendency to concentrate on one aspect of a problem but ignores the other
• Appearance as Reality
→ An objects appearance tells what the object is really like

GEORGE MILLER’S INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY

• Human thinking is based on
→ Mental Hardware – Mental and neural structures that are built in and allow
the mind to operate
 → Mental Software – Mental programs that are the basis for performing
particular tasks
• By 2-5yo children should have developed the skills to focus attention for extended
period, recognize previously encountered information, recall old information, and
reconstruct it in the present

INFORMATION PROCESSING SKILLS

• Attention
→ Process that determines which sensory information receives additional
processing
→ Orienting Response – When an individual views a unfamiliar stimulus and
there is a reaction
→ Habituation – Becoming unresponsive to the stimulus that is presented
repeatedly
• Learning
→ Classical Conditioning – Pairing a neutral stimulus and a response originally
produced by another stimulus (When bell rings at school it means it is
recess)
→ Operant Conditioning – Relation between the consequences of behavior
and the likelihood that the behavior will recur (Reward and Punishment)
→ Imitation – Observing and replicating another persons behavior
• Memory
→ Autobiographical Memory – Peoples memory of the significant events and
experiences of their own lives. It is richer when parents talk about past
events in detail and by asking open-ended questions
• Learning to Count
→ Three Basic Principles of Counting:
o One-To-One Principle – One number is equivalent for a counted
object. Numbers can be skipped (1, 4, 5, 9…)
o Stable-Order Principle – Numbers should always be counted in the
same order (1, 2, 3, 4…)
o Cardinality Principle – Last number name denotes the number of
objects being counted (6 is the last number named therefore there
are 6 fried chickens on my plate)

LEV VYGOTSKY’S THEORY: MIND AND CULTURE

• Development is an apprenticeship in which children advance when they collaborate
with others who are more skilled. We see better progress when a person with higher
skills is there to guide them.

THREE OF VYGOTSKY’S MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS

• Zone of Proximal Development
→ The areas where a child can do it by himself, with help, or cannot at all
• Scaffolding
→ Amount of assistance offered to match the learner’s needs. (Instructions to
Reminders)
• Private Speech
→ Comments that are not intended for others, instead it is something to help
the children regulate their own behavior. It becomes inner speech or
thought when children gets greater skills
III. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

LANGUAGE MILESTONES
• Birth To 1yo
→ Babies hear phonemes at birth
→ Begin to coo (vowels) at 2-4 months then babble (consonant+vowel) by their
6th month
→ At the age of one they start talking and making gestures which shows that
they begin to use symbols
• 1yo To 3yo
→ Vocabulary expands rapidly due to fast mapping
→ Telegraphic speech becomes evident at 18 months
→ More complex sentences becomes more evident by 3 years
→ Turn-taking communication can be seen by 2 years
• 3yo To 5yo
→ Vocabulary begins to expand
→ Grammatical morphemes are added
→ Begin to adjust their speech to listeners but as listeners they often ignore
problems in messages they receive
Note:
First Words – Infants appearing like they understand what others say even if their speech is
limited to advanced babbling. In a few months, they utter their first word. Age 2, they have a
vocab of a few hundred words. By age 6, their vocab includes more than 10,000 words.
Word as Symbols - Particular sounds form words that can refer to objects, actions, and
properties.
Fast Mapping – The children’s ability to connect new words to referents so rapidly that they
cannot be considering all possible meanings for the new word.

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE IN LEARNING NEW WORDS RAPIDLY

• Joint Attention
→ It is when both the toddler and the parents are participating actively in word
learning
• Constraints on Word Names
→ If an unfamiliar word is heard in the presence of objects that already have a
label and an object that don’t, they would connect the unfamiliar word to
the object with no label
• Sentence Cues
→ Context clues
• Naming Errors
→ Underextension – Defining words more narrowly than adults do
→ Overextension – Defining words more broadly than adults do
• Cognitive Factors
→ Increased cognitive skills = Learning more new word
• Developmental Change in Word Learning
→ Transition from attentional cues to language and social cues

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN WORD LEARNING

• Bilingualism
→ Ability to speak two languages (duh)
 → Children’s language skills progress more rapidly in the language they hear
the most and when the encoder is a native speaker
• Word-Learning Styles
→ Referential Style – Intellectual tool in which it is a means of learning and
talking about objects
→ Expressive Language – Social tool in which it is a way of enhancing
interaction with others
• Grammatical Development
Formula Example
Actor + Action Zayn leave , Niall eat
Action + Object Read book , Change shirt
Possessor + Possession Minghao camera , Sunwoo hat
→ Telegraphic speech – Words that contain only the necessary words
→ Grammatical Morphemes – Words or ending of words that make a sentence
grammatical (Hook-ed)
→ Overregularizations - Grammatical usage that results from applying rules to
words that are exceptions to the rule (Goed instead of went)

HOW DO CHILDREN ACQUIRE GRAMMAR?

• The Behaviorist Answer
→ B.F. Skinner
→ Imitation of sounds and words without the complexities of grammar
• The Linguistic Answer
→ We are born with brain circuits for inferring the grammar of our native
language
• The Cognitive Answer
→ Learning grammar to powerful cognitive skills that detect regularities in the
environment, including patterns in the speech they hear
• The Social-Interaction Answer
→ This complements the others in emphasizing that much language learning
takes place in the context of interaction

THREE KEY ELEMENTS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE ORAL COMMUNICATION

• People should take turns, alternating as speaker and receiver
• When speaking, remarks should be clear to a listener
• Listeners should let speakers know when their remarks don’t make sense

IV. SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ERIK ERIKSON’S STAGES OF EARLY PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
• First three stages are related to infancy until preschool years: Trust VS Mistrust,
Autonomy VS Shame and Doubt, Initiative VS Guilt
• Initiative VS Guilt – It is when children are curious with everything, which leads to
exploration. Initiative happens when they explore the world around them and it is
countered by guilt where they will realize the effects of their exploration

JOHN BOW LBY’S PHASES OF ATTACHMENT

• Preattachment (Birth-6weeks)
→ Recognizing mother through smell and sound
→ Behavior of infant + Response of an adult to it = Interactive system
• Attachment in the Making (6-8weeks to 6-8months)
 → Start identifying their primary caregivers
• True Attachment (6-8months to 18months)
→ Established attachment to primary caregivers and built trust with them
• Reciprocal Relationship (18months)
→ Can initiate interactions and understand feelings

THE JOYS OF PLAY

• Parallel Play – Independently play but attentively watch what the other children are
doing
• Simple Social Play – Children play, talk, and laugh with each other. Play has become
interactive (15-18months)
• Cooperative Play – A play that is themed. Children take on special roles.
→ Make-believe – Imagining
→ Imaginary Companions – Allows children to be friendly and more sociable
• Solitary Play – Children preferring to play alone (Solitude = Alone)

GENDER DIFFERENCE IN PLAY

• Enabling Actions – One’s actions may tend to support others and sustain interactions
(Usually girls)
• Constricting Actions – It happens when a person tries to emerge as the victor by
threatening or contradicting the other (Usually boys)
• Separation of playmates by style meant that boys learn primarily from boys and girls
learn from girls

PARENTAL INFLUENCE IN PLAY

• Playmate – They help their children when playing
• Social Director – They help their children become more sociable by visiting peers
and enrolling them in different activities
• Coach – They help their children to initiate interactions, make decisions, and solve
conflicts. This should be constructive
• Mediator – They are present in play to help iron on conflicts

HELPING OTHERS
• Prosocial Behavior – Behavior that benefits a person
• Cooperation – Working together towards a common goal
• Altruism – Behavior driven by feelings or responsibility toward others. An individual
does not benefit directly from their action
• Empathy – Experiencing other people’s feelings. Helping out others because one
can empathize on others feelings
Note:
- Genes also affects prosocial behavior, by influencing temperament
- Children who are temperamentally less able to control their emotions are unlikely to
help others, while children who can control their emotions and not shy could help
others

SOCIALIZATION OF ALTRUISM
• Modeling – When children see adults helping and caring for others, they often
imitate this behavior
 • Disciplinary Practices – Children behave prosocially when they are being encouraged
and supported, by settling guidelines and feedback. However prosocial behavior is
not common when parents threaten children and include physical punishment
• Opportunities to Behave Prosocially – Children develop prosocial behavior when
continuously given opportunities

GENDER ROLES AND IDENTITY

• Social Role – Cultural guidelines on how one should behave
• Gender stereotypes
• Roles in relation to gender are the ones being learned first by children

GENDER RELATED DIFFERENCE

• In terms of physique and social roles

DIFFERENCE IN TERMS OF INTELLECTUAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ARENAS

• Verbal Ability – Females have larger vocabularies than males
• Mathematics – Elementary Years: Females are more advanced than males however in
Higher years: Males are more advanced than females
• Spatial Ability – Males react more rapidly and accurately during infancy however as
they grow, sex differences become small and sometimes they vanish
• Memory – Females remembers more accurately than males (So fuckin true)
• Social Influence – Females value group harmony more than males
• Aggression – Physical aggression: Males and Relational aggression: Females
• Emotional Sensitivity – Females are more capable of expressing their emotions than
males
• Effortful Control – Females have the ability to control themselves better than males

GENDER TYPING
• Social Cognitive Theory – Children learn gender-roles by observing everyone around
them and through their culture
• Children tend to play with same-sex peers
• Mothers: Knowledge on needs and capabilities
• Father: Gender stereotypes

GENDER IDENTITY
• Lawrence Kohlberg
→ Children learn that gender is stable and the gender-typical behaviors
• Carol Martin
→ Gender-Schema Theory – Decides if an object, behavior, or activity is for a
specific gender before trying to learn more about it. They tend to focus on
gender-appropriate activities and behaviors
• Biological Influences – Hereditary impact on gender-role learning.

THREE STEPS IN GENDER DEVELOPMENT

• Gender Labeling
→ They can label whether they are boys or girls
• Gender Stability
→ Understanding that girls become women and boys become men
→ However children in this stage may believe that a boy with long hair is a girl
(Siha) and a girl who likes dinosaurs is a boy (Naeun)
 • Gender Constancy
→ Understanding that femaleness and maleness do not change over situations
or according to personal wishes. Your sex is not affected by the clothing you
wear or toys you like

EVOLVING GENDER ROLES

• Gender roles change with the times
• Family Lifestyle Project – Examined families who lived gender-neutral lives
• Features of gender roles and identities are more influenced by experience