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College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017
PSYC 335
Developmental Psychology I
Session 10 – Development in middle childhood
Lecturer: Dr. Joana Salifu Yendork
Department of Psychology Contact Information: [email protected]
godsonug.wordpress.com/blog
Session Overview
Slide 2
• Middle childhood spans the period of 7-11/12 years of an
iŶdiǀ idual’s life. This sessioŶ seeks to disĐuss ĐhaŶges that occur in physical, cognitive and socio-emotional domain of development during middle childhood. It will also discuss
changes in family and peer relations as well as the impact of bullying on well-being.
Session Outline
Slide 3
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
• Physical development in middle childhood
• Cognitive development in middle childhood
• Socio-emotional development in middle childhood
Physical Changes Body Growth and Change • Growth is slow and follows regular pattern of early childhood
– E.g., height and weight, with an average of – 23 inches per year – 45 pounds/ 1.8-2.3 Kg per year
• Bodies look longer and leaner • Between 6-8 years girls are shorter and lighter
– By 9, trend reverses
• Girls have slightly more body fat and boys have more muscles • May show early signs of puberty • Lower portion of body grow fastest • Bones lengthen and broaden • Primary teeth are replaced by permanent teeth
Slide 6
Brain development
• Brain volume stabilizes
• Significant changes in structures and
regions in the prefrontal cortex (cortical thickness)
– Increases in thickness of the cerebral cortex
• Activation of some brain areas increase while others decrease
• Brain pathways and circuitry involving t prefrontal cortex continue to increase
he
Slide 7
Motor Development
Slide 8
• Gross motor skills improve
– Better developed than fine-motor skills
• Physical activities (ie., running, jumping, hopping) become more refined
– Due to gains in:
• Flexibility: physically more flexible
• Balance: Improved balance to support athletic skills
• Agility: Quicker and more accurate movement
• Force: Can kick and throw objects harder
Motor Development
• Fine Motor Skills Gains
– Writing: most can write the
alphabet; their name; number 1- 10, but writing is large
– Drawing: shows increase in
organization, detail and depth
cues
– Improved fine motor skills results in improved self-care
Slide 9
Sex Differences in Motor Development
• Girls better at fine motor skills
• Boys better at gross motor skills, sports
• Differences due to social environment
– Parental expectations
– Coaching
– Media messages
Slide 10
Piaget’s Theory – Concrete Operational Stage
• From 7 to 11 years
• Begins to think logically about objects and events
• Thinking is more flexible and organized than earlier
• Achievements of the concrete operational stage
– Conservation
– Reversibility
– Classification
– Seriation
– Spatial reasoning
Slide 12
Conservation
Slide 13
• Children achieve conservation of mass, weight and
numbers
• Reversibility: Awareness that actions can be reversed
– Children can think through a series of steps and then mentally
reverse direction, returning to the starting point.
• Decentration: focusing on several aspects of a problem and relating them, rather than centring on just one.
• ..\..\..\First Sem_2015-2016\First Sem\PSYC 335\videos on
infant socio dev\Piaget - Stage 3 - Concrete - Reversibility.mp4
Seriation
• The concrete operations that involves
ordering stimuli along a quantitative
dimension such as length or height
• Transitive inference: Ability to seriate
mentally
– E.g., A-B, B-C, mental inference of A-C
Slide 14
Spatial Reasoning
Slide 15
• Children gain understanding of space. – Able to mentally represent familiar large-scale spaces (e.g.,
neighbourhood or school) – Preschool to school age: able to display landmarks on maps they
draw
– 8 to 9 years: Able to show landmarks along organized routes of travel • able to give clear directions
– Middle childhood: children form overall view of a large-scale space • can draw and read maps
– Note: Đultural iŶflueŶĐes oŶ ĐhildreŶ’s spatial reasoŶiŶg
Limitations of concrete operational thought
Slide 17
• Operations work best with concrete information (information that can be perceived directly) – Problems with abstract ideas/ ones not apparent in real world
• Continuum of acquisition – Master concrete operational tasks step by step
– Eg. Learn to conserve numbers before length, mass and liquid
– ..\..\..\First Sem_2015-2016\First Sem\PSYC 335\videos on infant socio dev\Piaget's concrete operational stage experiments.mp4
Emotional Development • Self-conscious emotions (pride and guilt) are governed by
personal responsibility – Ŷo Ŷeed for adults’ preseŶĐe to edžperieŶĐe pride or guilt.
• Increased ability to understand complex emotions – Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a
situation
– E.g., can reconcile contradictory facial and situational cues to figure out others emotions
• Self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings – Improved ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions
• Capacity for genuine empathy – E.g., children are able to show sympathy for a distressed person and experience
the sadness the distressed person might be feeling. Slide 19
Emotional self-regulation
Slide 20
• Rapid gain in emotional self-regulation
– Motivated by self-esteem and peer approval
– Children learn to cope with stress using problem-centred coping or emotion-centred coping
• Problem-centred coping: situation is seen as changeable, identify
the difficulty, and decide what to do about it.
• Emotion-centred coping: used when problem-centred coping fails; internal, private, and aimed at controlling distress when little can be
done.
• Emotional self-efficacy (a feeling of being in control of emotional experiences); emerges from well developed
emotional self-regulation
Personality: Industry vs inferiority - EriksoŶ’s theorLJ
Slide 21
• 5-12 years
• Adults’ edžpeĐtatioŶs aŶd Đhild’s driǀ e toǁ ards ŵasterLJ set the stage for the psychological conflict
Industry
• Developing a sense of competence and useful skills – Want to be productive instead of just waiting to play
– School provides many opportunities – Positive but realistic self-concept, pride in accomplishment, moral
responsibility, and cooperative participation with age mate
Personality: Industry vs inferiority - EriksoŶ’s theorLJ
Slide 22
• Inferiority
– Develops when not encouraged to learn skills – Pessimism and lack of confidence in own ability to do
things well
– Feeling of failure when a child cannot accomplish a task – Family environment, teachers, and peers can contribute to
negative feelings
Gender identity development
Slide 23
• ChildreŶ’s uŶderstaŶdiŶg of geŶder ďroadeŶs aŶd their gender-role identity change
• Gender stereotypes
– a fidžed, oǀ er geŶeralized ďelief aďout a partiĐular group or Đlass of people. ;Card ǁ ell, 1996Ϳ
• Traditionally: males dominant, females nurturing
• Boys and girls gender identity follow different patterns – Boys strengthen identification with masculine traits
– Girls’ identification with feminine traits declines (e.g., girls are more likely to consider future work roles that are stereotyped for men)
Changes in Family relations
Slide 24
• Parent-child interactions: decrease as children get older
– Autonomy and parental regulation
– Less physical discipline: Parents are more likely to use
depriǀ atioŶ of priǀ i leges, appeals to the Đhild’s self-
esteeŵ, use ĐoŵŵeŶts desigŶed to iŶĐrease the Đhild’s
sense of guilt
– Co-regulation: gradual process in which general oversight
while permitting children to be in charge of moment-to-
moment decisions
Changes in Family Relations
• Siblings: important source of support
– Rivalry increases
– Companionship and assistance
– Influenced by parental comparison
• Only children
– High in self-esteem, achievement motivation
– Closer relationships with parents
• Pressure for mastery
– Peer acceptance may be a problem
• Lack of practice in conflict resolution
Slide 25
Changes in Peer Relations
Slide 26
• Peers become more important
– Want to be part of a group
– Peer interaction increases for recreation, group identification, and friendships
– Look for acceptance and loyalty
• Same-sex group preferences until age 12
– Begin to show empathy and caring
– Exclusion from groups may result in bullying problems
– Peer acceptance to predict psychological adjustment
Peer Statuses Popular Frequently nominated as a best friend;
rarely disliked by peers
Average Receive average number of positive and negative nominations from peers
Neglected Infrequently nominated as a best friend but not disliked by peers
Rejected Infrequently nominated as a best friend; actively disliked by peers
Controversial Frequently nominated as someone’s best friend and as being disliked
Determinants of peer status
Slide 28
• Why is one child liked while another is rejected?
• Skills of popular children – Give out reinforcements, act naturally
– Listen carefully, keep open communication
– Are happy, control negative emotions
– Show enthusiasm, concern for others
• Controversial/neglected children – Blend of positive and negative social behaviours
– Hostile and disruptive but also engage in positive prosocial acts
– Often bully others and aggressive to sustain their dominance
– Surprisingly, socially well adjusted: no loneliness or unhappiness,
Determinants of peer status
Slide 29
• Behaviors of rejected children
– Less classroom participation
– Negative attitudes on school attendance
– More often report being lonely
– Aggressive peer-rejected boys
• Impulsive, problems being attentive, disruptive
• Emotionally reactive, slow to calm down
• Have fewer social skills to make friends
Bullying
Slide 30
• Verbal or physical behavior intended to disturb
someone less powerful
– ..\..\..\First Sem_2015-2016\First Sem\PSYC 335\videos on
infant socio dev\Casey Heynes - Origional Video fight guy.mp4
Bullying
Slide 31
Bullies • Most are boys • Physically, relationally
aggressive • High-status, powerful • Some may have low self-
esteem • May be previous victims of
bullying • More likely to have lower
grades, smoke or drink alcohol
• Popular – But most become disliked
Victims •Passive when active behavior expected •Give in to demands •Lack defenders •Inhibited temperament •Physically weak •Overprotected, controlled by parents •Tend to have low self- esteem