Psychology 233
Chapters 4-7
Chapter 4
I. What are the aspects of Physical Development?
A. Height and Weight
1. By the age of 4, the baby should be double it’s birth weight
2. This means they need to gain roughly 2kgs per year
B. Physical proportions
1. Loss of “baby weight”
C. Muscle and bone growth
1. Increased daily activities
2. Ossification
D. Teeth
1. Lose “baby teeth”
E. Brain development
1. 90% of total adult weight by the age of 5
2. Increased brain plasticity
F. Perceptual development
1. Figure ground perception improves from 4-6 years
2. Can distinguish letters at age 6
3. Consistently label colours at age 4
4. Age 2-3 Auditory perception sharpens
G. Motor development
1. Gross motor skills
2. Fine motor skills
3. Bilateral coordination
II. What are the influences on Physical Development?
A. Hereditary hormones
1. Pituitary gland
a) Produces the growth hormone
2. Thyroid stimulating hormone
a) Produces thyroxin
B. Nutrition
1. Malnutrition
2. Undernourishment
3. Obesity
C. Emotional Well-being
1. Influence of environmental factors
a) Divorce
b) Marital conflict
c) Stress
2. Psychosocial/ deprivation dwarfism
3. Stress
a) On hormones
b) On digestion
c) On immune system
III. Cognitive Development
A. We have numerous theories about cognitive development including:
1 of 20
, 1. Piaget’s theory: Pre-operational stage
2. Neo-piagetains
3. Naïve theories
4. Theory of Mind
5. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
6. Theory of information processing
B. We are going to start off with Piaget’s theory
1. Pre-operational thinking is illogical thinking and therefore you cannot engage in
mental operations
2. The Symbolic/ pre-conceptual period starts between 2-4 years of age and
involves complex symbols
3. The Intuitive period is between 4-7 years and children are so sure of their world
and what they know
a) They can’t tell you how they’ve come to know or what exactly they know
(1) This shows primitive reasoning and
(2) They develop their own ideas about the world
4. The advances of pre-operational thought
a) Deferred imitation
b) Symbolic play/pretend play
c) Spoken language
Early Childhood
I. Personality Development (some questions)
A. What does theory tell us about personality development in early childhood?
B. How do children understand and express their emotions in early childhood, and
how are these regulated?
C. How do children develop their self concept and self esteem in early childhood?
D. How do gender, race and ethnicity influence personality development?
II. Aspects of personality development
A. Theory
B. Emotions
C. The self concept
D. Gender
E. Racial and ethnic identity
III. Theories of personality development
A. Freud
1. Phallic stage
B. Erikson
1. Development of basic trust
2. 2-3 years: emerging autonomy
3. 3-6 years: initiative develops
4. Guilt feelings
5. Social learning perspective
a) External rewards
b) Punishment
c) Role models
6. Big 5 personality traits
IV. Emotions
A. Emotional understanding
1. The self
2 of 20
, 2. Others
3. Factors that influence emotional understanding
4. Importance of emotional understanding
B. Emotional expression: basic emotions
1. Happiness
a) Babies
(1) Smiling/laughing
b) 2 years
(1) Spontaneous expression
c) Children
(1) Socialisation leads to emotional regulation
2. Fear and anxiety
a) Responses vary
b) Some fear is helpful
c) Fears are contextual
d) Researcher in SA
(1) Parental support to cope with fears
(a) Encouraged to talk about fears
(b) Associate feared object with something neutral
(c) Others should handle object without any fear
(d) Gradually brought into contact with feared object
(e) Taught skills to deal with fears
(f) Explain feared situation
(g) Visit feared situation beforehand
(h) Divorce
i) Reasons should be explained (if possible)
(i) Distinguish between fantasy and reality
(j) Sympathy, comfort and safe haven
3. Anger
a) Objections to routines
b) Conflict with parents
c) Disagreement with peers
d) Physical discomfort
e) Reactions include:
(1) Outbursts
(2) Active resistance (temper-tantrums)
(3) Become more controlled as the child gets older
(4) Cultural variations
(5) They now acknowledge feelings, taught strategies to deal with them
4. The Self
a) Self conscious emotions develops as self concepts become better defined
(1) Emerges before 2nd year
(2) 18 months - shame and embarrassment
(3) 2 years - jealousy
(4) 3 years - guilt, pride, remorse
b) Self evaluation (evaluate own thoughts, desires and plans)
(1) avoidance
(2) Role of complex emotions
5. Others
a) Empathy (understanding of another’s situations and feelings)
b) Role of parents
6. Emotional regulation
3 of 20
Chapters 4-7
Chapter 4
I. What are the aspects of Physical Development?
A. Height and Weight
1. By the age of 4, the baby should be double it’s birth weight
2. This means they need to gain roughly 2kgs per year
B. Physical proportions
1. Loss of “baby weight”
C. Muscle and bone growth
1. Increased daily activities
2. Ossification
D. Teeth
1. Lose “baby teeth”
E. Brain development
1. 90% of total adult weight by the age of 5
2. Increased brain plasticity
F. Perceptual development
1. Figure ground perception improves from 4-6 years
2. Can distinguish letters at age 6
3. Consistently label colours at age 4
4. Age 2-3 Auditory perception sharpens
G. Motor development
1. Gross motor skills
2. Fine motor skills
3. Bilateral coordination
II. What are the influences on Physical Development?
A. Hereditary hormones
1. Pituitary gland
a) Produces the growth hormone
2. Thyroid stimulating hormone
a) Produces thyroxin
B. Nutrition
1. Malnutrition
2. Undernourishment
3. Obesity
C. Emotional Well-being
1. Influence of environmental factors
a) Divorce
b) Marital conflict
c) Stress
2. Psychosocial/ deprivation dwarfism
3. Stress
a) On hormones
b) On digestion
c) On immune system
III. Cognitive Development
A. We have numerous theories about cognitive development including:
1 of 20
, 1. Piaget’s theory: Pre-operational stage
2. Neo-piagetains
3. Naïve theories
4. Theory of Mind
5. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
6. Theory of information processing
B. We are going to start off with Piaget’s theory
1. Pre-operational thinking is illogical thinking and therefore you cannot engage in
mental operations
2. The Symbolic/ pre-conceptual period starts between 2-4 years of age and
involves complex symbols
3. The Intuitive period is between 4-7 years and children are so sure of their world
and what they know
a) They can’t tell you how they’ve come to know or what exactly they know
(1) This shows primitive reasoning and
(2) They develop their own ideas about the world
4. The advances of pre-operational thought
a) Deferred imitation
b) Symbolic play/pretend play
c) Spoken language
Early Childhood
I. Personality Development (some questions)
A. What does theory tell us about personality development in early childhood?
B. How do children understand and express their emotions in early childhood, and
how are these regulated?
C. How do children develop their self concept and self esteem in early childhood?
D. How do gender, race and ethnicity influence personality development?
II. Aspects of personality development
A. Theory
B. Emotions
C. The self concept
D. Gender
E. Racial and ethnic identity
III. Theories of personality development
A. Freud
1. Phallic stage
B. Erikson
1. Development of basic trust
2. 2-3 years: emerging autonomy
3. 3-6 years: initiative develops
4. Guilt feelings
5. Social learning perspective
a) External rewards
b) Punishment
c) Role models
6. Big 5 personality traits
IV. Emotions
A. Emotional understanding
1. The self
2 of 20
, 2. Others
3. Factors that influence emotional understanding
4. Importance of emotional understanding
B. Emotional expression: basic emotions
1. Happiness
a) Babies
(1) Smiling/laughing
b) 2 years
(1) Spontaneous expression
c) Children
(1) Socialisation leads to emotional regulation
2. Fear and anxiety
a) Responses vary
b) Some fear is helpful
c) Fears are contextual
d) Researcher in SA
(1) Parental support to cope with fears
(a) Encouraged to talk about fears
(b) Associate feared object with something neutral
(c) Others should handle object without any fear
(d) Gradually brought into contact with feared object
(e) Taught skills to deal with fears
(f) Explain feared situation
(g) Visit feared situation beforehand
(h) Divorce
i) Reasons should be explained (if possible)
(i) Distinguish between fantasy and reality
(j) Sympathy, comfort and safe haven
3. Anger
a) Objections to routines
b) Conflict with parents
c) Disagreement with peers
d) Physical discomfort
e) Reactions include:
(1) Outbursts
(2) Active resistance (temper-tantrums)
(3) Become more controlled as the child gets older
(4) Cultural variations
(5) They now acknowledge feelings, taught strategies to deal with them
4. The Self
a) Self conscious emotions develops as self concepts become better defined
(1) Emerges before 2nd year
(2) 18 months - shame and embarrassment
(3) 2 years - jealousy
(4) 3 years - guilt, pride, remorse
b) Self evaluation (evaluate own thoughts, desires and plans)
(1) avoidance
(2) Role of complex emotions
5. Others
a) Empathy (understanding of another’s situations and feelings)
b) Role of parents
6. Emotional regulation
3 of 20
