PSYC 335 Developmental Psychology I Session 10 – Development in middle childhood Lecturer: Dr. Joana Salifu Yendork Department of Psychology Contact Information: jyendork@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017 godsonug.wordpress.com/blog
Session Overview • Middle childhood spans the period of 7-11/12 years of an i Ŷd i ǀi dual ’ s life. This sessi oŶ seeks to dis Đ uss Đ ha Ŷ ges 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. Slide 2
Session Outline 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 Slide 3
Reading List • Read Chapters 9 & 10 of Development through the lifespan, Berk (2006) Slide 4
T opic One PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD Slide 5
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 – 2 3 inches per year – 4 5 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 he while others decrease • Brain pathways and circuitry involving t prefrontal cortex continue to increase Slide 7
Motor Development • 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 Slide 8
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
T opic Two COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD Slide 11
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 • 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 Slide 13
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 • 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 : Đul tural i Ŷ fl ueŶĐ es oŶ Đhi ldr eŶ’ s spatial reaso ŶiŶg Slide 15
Piagetian class inclusion problem: Classification Slide 16
Limitations of concrete operational thought • 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 Slide 17
T opic Three SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD Slide 18
Emotional Development • Self-conscious emotions (pride and guilt) are governed by personal responsibility – Ŷo Ŷ eed for adul ts’ p rese ŶĐ e to e dž p erie ŶĐ e 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 • 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 Slide 20
Personality: Industry vs inferiority - Erik soŶ’ s theor LJ • 5-12 years • Adul ts’ e dž p e Đ tatio Ŷ s aŶd Đhi ld ’ s dri ǀ e to ǁ ards ŵa st erLJ 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 Slide 21
Personality: Industry vs inferiority - Erik soŶ’ s theor LJ • 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 Slide 22
Gender identity development • Childr eŶ’ s uŶ derst aŶdiŶg of g eŶd er ď r oadeŶs aŶd their gender-role identity change • Gender stereotypes – ͞ a fi dž ed, o ǀ er ge Ŷ eralized ď elief aď out a parti Đ ular group or Đ lass of people. ͟ ; Card ǁ ell, 1996 • 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) Slide 23
Changes in Family relations • Parent-child interactions: decrease as children get older – Autonomy and parental regulation – Less physical discipline: Parents are more likely to use depri ǀ ati oŶ of pri ǀi leges, appeals to the Đhi ld ’ s self- estee ŵ, use Đ oŵŵeŶ ts desi gŶed to i ŶĐ rease the Đhi ld ’ s sense of guilt – Co-regulation : gradual process in which general oversight while permitting children to be in charge of moment-to- moment decisions Slide 24
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 • 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 Slide 26
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