Psychology 1100: Lifespan Development - Chapter 4: Early Childhood

Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Work by Jean Piaget

• Symbolic Play: Children use symbols to represent objects, central in pretend play.
• Pre-Operational Stage (Ages 2-7):
  • Logic is developing, characterized by the use of symbols.
  • Language and drawings as symbols of real-life objects/events.
  • Limitations reflecting cognitive immaturity:
    • Egocentrism
    • Problems with causality
    • Confusion of mental and physical events
    • Centration, lack of conservation
    • Irreversibility, difficulty with class inclusion

Egocentrism

• Definition: Inability to view from others' perspectives.
• Example: Three mountains test - children often assume others see what they see.
• Milestone: Recognizing others do not know what they have not experienced.

Cognitive Development Influences

• Home Environment:
  • HOME Inventory: Assesses parental emotional/verbal responsiveness, physical environment, etc.
  • Better predictor of child’s IQ than infant IQ, parental IQ, or social class.
• Cognitive Scaffolding:
  • Temporary support by adults, working within the zone of proximal development.

Early Childhood Education

• Preschool Education:
  • Enhances school achievement.
  • Programs like Head Start benefit economically disadvantaged children.
• Television:
  • Provides cognitive skills, social behaviors, attitudes (Bandura's social cognitive learning).

Theory of Mind

• Definition: Children's understanding of the mind's functions.
• Study Example: Difficulty in understanding different beliefs - clown/crayons video.

Memory Development

• Infantile Amnesia: Lack of memory from infancy.
• Autobiographical Memory:
  • Begins around age 4.
  • Traumatic/social events (e.g., Hurricane Katrina) are more memorable.
• Memory Aids:
  • Fixed order events, interest levels, retrieval cues, and memory measurement types.
  • Strategies like rehearsal and organization can improve memory.

Language Development

• Preschool Years:
  • Rapid vocabulary increase, with fast mapping and grammar explosion by age 3.
  • Speech becomes fluent by age 4, with complex sentence structures.
• Abstract Thinking:
  • Development of scripts, describing concepts in sequences.

These notes provide a summary of cognitive development in early childhood as covered in Chapter 4 of the psychology course. Key theorists, concepts, and developmental milestones are highlighted to facilitate understanding of early childhood cognitive processes.