Middle Childhood

1. Middle Childhood The Developing Person: From Childhood Through Adolescence Kathleen Stassen Berger Chapters 11-13

2. Middle Childhood • “The School Years” • Period between early childhood and adolescence • 6 or 7 - 11 or 12

3. Growth • Average 10-year-old • 70 pounds • 4 ½ feet tall • Throws a ball twice as far as a 6-year-old

4. Overweight • Body mass index (BMI) that is that is above the 85th percentile • Obese = 95th percentile • BMI = weight in pounds * 703 • height in inches² • BMI Weight Status • Below 18.5Underweight • 18.5—24.9Normal • 25.0—29.9Overweight • 30.0 and Above Obese

5. Overweight - Health • Asthma • High blood pressure • Elevated cholesterol • More likely to die of diabetes, strokes, and liver & heart diseases

7. Overweight - Genes • Genes • Body type • Metabolic rate • Activity level • Food preferences

8. Overweight – Social Influences • School lunches • Vending machines in schools • Parks, bike paths, sidewalks • Cost of fresh fruits and vegetables • Exposure to food commercials

10. Overweight – Social Influences • Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food

11. Health - Asthma • Chronic inflammation of airways • Prevention • Primary: proper ventilation, decreased pollution, more outdoor play spaces • Secondary: advise parents to breast feed, rid homes of allergens, and take children for check-ups • Tertiary: injections and inhalers to treat symptoms (comply as prescribed)

12. Brain Development • Prefrontal cortex • Neurotransmitter production • Myelination • Reaction time: the time is takes to respond to a stimulus, physically or cognitively

13. Brain Development • Selective attention: the ability to concentrate on the most important elements from among an array of information • Crucial for school competence • Expected in many contexts

14. Brain Development • Automatization: a process in which repetition of a sequence of thoughts and actions makes the sequence routine so that it no longer requires conscious thought

15. Aptitude & Achievement • Aptitude tests: designed to measure learning potential • Achievement tests: designed to measure what a child has learned

16. WISC • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC): an IQ test developed for school-age children • Most commonly used psychological test • Subscales for abilities (vocabulary, memory, general knowledge, etc.) • Verbal and performance components

17. IQ • Predict school achievement • Predict adult success • Flynn effect: rise in average IQ scores of entire nations • Potential can change over time • Hard to tease apart effects of education on adult success • Cultural bias / influence over time

18. IQ • Potential can change over time • Hard to tease apart effects of education on adult success • Cultural bias / influence over time

19. Gardner’s Domains of Intelligence • Intrapersonal • Interpersonal • Naturalistic • Existential • Logical-mathematical • Linguistic • Spatial • Bodily-kinesthetic • Musical

20. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence • Academic (Componential) • Creative (experiential) • Practical (contextual)

21. Concrete Operational Thought • The ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions

22. Principles of Logic • Classification • Identity • Reversibility • Seriation • Reciprocity

23. Classification • Organization into groups, categories, or classes according to some common property

24. Identity • Certain characteristics of an object stay remain the same even if some characteristics shift

25. Reversibility • Sometimes a thing that has been changed can be returned to its original state by reversing the process by which it was changed

26. Seriation • Arrangement of items in a series

27. Reciprocity • Things may change in opposite ways and balance each other out

28. Vygotsky & School-Age Children • The role of social interaction • Children who start 1st grade at 5 years old (Dec. birthdays) exceed the learning of 5-year-old kindergartners (Jan. birthdays) • Correlation between percentage of qualified teachers in a school and learning • w/ SES, prior achievement , motivation , other factors accounted for • Formal education only one context

29. Cultural Variations • Zimbabwe – children’s understanding of classification influenced by age and other factors related to social interaction • Schooling factors • SES • Brazilian street children • Demands of the situation • Learning from other sellers • Daily experience

30. Information Processing • Cognition is comparable to the functioning of a computer • Mental processes are used to perform 3 functions: • Retrieval: search for information we need • Analyze • Express our analysis to others using a format they can interpret • Focus on details, not theory

31. Memory • Sensory memory: stores incoming information (sensations) • May be moved on for further processing (perception) • Levels out at about age 10 • Working memory: current, conscious memory occurs • Meaningful perceptions are further processed • Steady & significant improvement from 4 to 15

32. Memory • Long-term memory: indefinite storage; limitless capacity • Minutes to years • Capacity expands through middle childhood • Assists in organizing ideas and reactions • Storage and retrieval both impact perfromance

33. Speed & Knowledge • Ongoing myelination and experience facilitate speed • Increases through first 2 decades • Automatization: processes that once required effortful thought become automatic • Repetition boosts coordinated and simultaneous firing of neurons • Repetition and practice are essential • Overlearning must take place

34. Speed & Knowledge • Knowledge base: a broad body of knowledge in a particular subject area • Makes it easier to learn new information in that area • Depends upon • Past experience • Current opportunity • Personal motivation

35. Control Processes • Mechanisms that combine memory, processing speed, and knowledge to regulate the analysis and flow of information within the information processing system • Selective attention • Metacognition • Emotional regulation • Develop spontaneously with age, but also taught • Explicit and implicit learning

36. Metacognition • Thinking about thinking • The ability to evaluate a cognitive task to determine how best to accomplish it • Monitoring and adjusting performance on task • Improved storage that makes retrieval possible

37. Culture of Children • The particular habits, styles, and values that reflect the set of rules and rituals that distinguish children as distinct from adult society • Passed down from older children to younger children • Encourages independence from adults • Play with others is an advantage • Clothes and language

38. Culture of Children • Social comparison: the tendency to assess one’s abilities, achievements, social status and other attributes by measuring them against those of other people, especially peers

39. Culture of Children • Deviance training – validating peers’ urges to be free of adult influences • Avoid adult-imposed restrictions (Snyder et al., 2005)

40. Culture of Children • Gender stereotypes become more elaborate • Prefer to play with peers of same gender (Ruble et al., 2006) • Racial and ethnic prejudice recognized and rejected (Nesdale, 2004; Brown & Bigler, 2005; Killen, 2007)

41. Culture of Children • Moral Engagement • More likely than younger children to behave prosocially • Self-efficacy: the belief that one can affect his or her circumstances

42. Moral Development • Kohlberg (1963) • Level 1: Preconventional Moral Reasoning • Level 2: Conventional Moral Reasoning • Level 3:Postconventional Moral Reasoning

43. Popularity How often selected by classmates to play • 1/3 Popular, ½ average, 1/6 unpopular • Almost every child changes cluster over six years • Popular • Kind, trustworthy, cooperative • Athletic, cool, dominant, arrogant, and aggressive (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004a)

44. Unpopular Children • Neglected, not rejected • Not chosen or avoided • Protective factors: • Good family situation • Special talents protect • Ignorance • Indifference

45. Unpopular Children • Aggressive-rejected • Antagonistic • Confrontational • Withdrawn-rejected • Timid • Withdrawn • Anxious • Misinterpret social situations • Dysregulate emotions • Likely to be mistreated at home • (Pollack et al., 2000)

46. Social Awareness • Social cognition: the ability to understand social interactions, including the causes • Infancy: social referencing • Preschool: theory of mind • Middle childhood: well-established • Impairment often leads to rejection

47. Friendship • Leads to psychosocial growth and buffers against psychopathology • Close friendship > peer acceptance in social interactions and emotional health 12 years later (Bagwell, et al., 2001) • Intensity increases • Seek friends who understand and agree with them • Same sex, age, ethnicity, and SES • Not increased prejudice

48. Bullying • Repeated systematic efforts to inflict harm on someone who is unable or unlikely to defend him or herself • Physical, verbal, or social • Victims • Withdrawn-rejected • Aggressive-rejected (bully victims): least-liked among peers; mean just to be mean

49. Bullying • Bullies • Not rejected, have henchmen • Socially perceptive, without empathy • Avoid adult awareness • Selective in choosing victims

50. Bullying • Boys • Above average in size • Target smaller, weaker boys • Use force or threat of force (physical aggression) • Girls • Above average verbal assertiveness • Harrass shyer, soft-spoken girls • Mock, ridicule, spread gossip, tell secrets (relational aggression)