FC 7

Developmental Psychology

CHAPTER 6
Middle Childhood
Module Overview:

Once children begin school their lives change considerably. They experience extensive physical,
social, and cognitive/mental growth. Middle childhood is marked by increased independence from the family and
increased focus on the demands of school, friends, and independent recreational activities. Socially, children develop
a clearer understanding of their place in the world. They are able to describe their experiences, thoughts, and feelings
and they want to be liked and accepted by friends, classmates, and teammates.

Learning Outcomes:

 Describe the general physical changes in middle childhood

 Explain the positive effects of sports and negative effects of childhood obesity
 Explain Piaget’s concrete operational stage
 Describe information processing research on memory
 Describe language development and differentiate types of learning, speech and language disorders
 Describe the theories of intelligence and the tests used to assess intelligence
 Identify various disabilities in childhood
 Describe the social emotional theories of development
 Evaluate the impact of labelling on children's self-concept and social relationships
 Identify the types of families children are part of
 Explain the consequences of broken family, cohabitation, remarriage and blended families on children
 Understand the implication of bullying, cyberbullying and its consequences

Pre-Test
Multiple choice: Choose the correct answer by writing the letter in the space provided before the number.

____1. What age group is considered as middle childhood?

a. 18 months to 3 years old b. 3-5 years of age c. 5-12 years of age

____2. Children’s participation in sports has been linked to the following, EXCEPT:

a. Higher levels of satisfaction with family and overall quality of life in children
b. Improved physical and emotional development
c. Higher chance of childhood obesity
d. Better academic performance

____3. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. Girls were more likely to have never participated in any type of sport.
b. Fathers may not be providing their daughters as much support as they do their sons.
c. Girls rated their fathers as their biggest mentor who taught them the most about sports.

____4. What is the most common type of injuries in middle childhood?

a. accident
b. fall
c. obesity
____5. The following are influences that place children at risk of injury, EXCEPT:

a. Poor parental and adult supervision is closely associated with childhood injury.
b. Some parents hold the belief that injuries are an inevitable part of child development and may therefore provide less
supervision and intervention.
c. Childhood injury is also associated with parental distraction, such as by talking to another parent or mobile use.
d. Children who are easy and inactive experience higher rates of unintentional injuries.

____6. Obesity is defined as having Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above the ____ percentile for height and age.

a. 75
b. 85
c. 95

____7. This term is called as a lack of recognition from parents that children are overweight or obese.

a. oblivobesity
b. obsesity
c. pediatric diabetes

____8. Which of the following statements about middle childhood nutrition is true?

a. Foods that are low in saturated fats, salt, sugar, preservatives, and calories can negatively impact children's health
and overall well-being.
b. Parents does not give an impact on their child’s nutritional choices.
c. Children in middle childhood is required to eat 4000 calories per day.
d. Family environment, societal trends, taste preferences, and messages in the media all impact the emotions that
children develop in relation to their diet.

____9. It is the third in Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development in which a child is capable of performing a
variety of mental operations and thoughts using concrete concepts.

a. sensorimotor stage
b. preoperational stage
c. concrete operational stage
d. formal operational stage

____10. The child uses this logical process in which multiple premises believed to be true are combined to obtain a
specific conclusion.

a. inductive reasoning
b. deductive reasoning

____11. Which statement is true regarding working memory?

a. Children with learning disabilities in speech often have difficulties with working memory.
b. Children with poor working memory may miss steps because they may lose track of where they are in the task.
c. Some studies have also shown that there is no need of training of working memory strategies to aid in improving the
capacity of working memory in children with poor working memory.
____12. A kind of memory strategies deficiency in which the child does not spontaneously use a memory strategy and
must be prompted to do so. In this case, children know the strategy and are more than capable of using it, but they fail
to “produce” the strategy on their own.

a. mediation deficiency
b. production deficiency
c. utilization deficiency
____13. A kind of memory strategies deficiency which occurs when a child does not understand the strategy being
taught, and thus, does not benefit from its use.

a. mediation deficiency
b. production deficiency
c. utilization deficiency

____14. A kind of memory strategies deficiency in which children uses an appropriate strategy, but it fails to benefit in
task performance from the use of a strategy.

a. mediation deficiency
b. production deficiency
c. utilization deficiency

____15. It refers to the knowledge we have about our own thinking and our ability to use this awareness to regulate
our own cognitive processes.

a. working memory
b. metacognition
c. critical thinking

____16. It involves better understanding a problem through gathering, evaluating, and selecting information, and also
by considering many possible solutions.

a. working memory
b. metacognition
c. critical thinking

____17. It is a theory of language development which refers to children receiving “rewards” for using language in a
functional manner.

a. Operant conditioning
b. Language acquisition device

____18. is a theory of language development which refers to a belief that children instinctively learn language without
any formal instruction.

a. Operant conditioning
b. Language acquisition device

____19. A theory of intelligence that is presented by Sternberg and offers three types of intelligences namely:
analytical, creative and practical.

a. triarchic theory of intelligence

b. Theory of multiple intelligence

____20. Gardner argued that it would be evolutionarily functional for different people to have different talents and
skills, and proposed that there are nine intelligences that can be differentiated from each other .

a. triarchic theory of intelligence

b. Theory of multiple intelligence

____21. It is regarded as the first intelligence test which consisted of a wide variety of questions that included the
ability to name objects, define words, draw pictures, complete sentences, compare items, and construct sentences.
a. Stanford-Binet intelligence test
b. Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale

____22. This test is combined with several subtests from other intelligence tests used between 1880 and World War I.
These subtests tapped into a variety of verbal and nonverbal skills.

a. Stanford-Binet intelligence test

b. Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale

____23. A chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome.

a. Down syndrome
b. learning disorder
c. giftedness
d. ADHD

____24.It refers to children who have an IQ of 130 or higher

a. Down syndrome
b. learning disorder
c. giftedness
d. ADHD

____25. It shows a constant pattern of inattention and/or hyperactive and impulsive behavior that interferes with
normal functioning.

a. Down syndrome
b. learning disorder
c. giftedness
d. ADHD

____26. It is a learning disorder which refers to having difficulty with reading.

a. dyslexia
b. dyscalculia
c. dysgraphia
d. dyspraxia

____27. It is a learning disorder which refers to difficulty with fine motor skills or motor coordination.

a. dyslexia
b. dyscalculia
c. dysgraphia
d. dyspraxia

____28. It refers to beliefs about general personal identity. These beliefs include personal attributes, such as one’s
age, physical characteristics, behaviors, and competencies.

a. self-concept
b. self-esteem
c. self-efficacy

____29. It refers to the belief that you are capable of carrying out a specific task or of reaching a specific goal.

a. self-concept
b. self-esteem
c. self-efficacy

____30. Listed below are the three stages to children’s conceptualization of friendship, EXCEPT:

a. reward-cost
b. normative expectation
c. empathy and understanding
d. sympathy and understanding

Module Concept:

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Physical
●Body Growth
●Child Sports
●Health Issues

Cognitive Psychosocial
●Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development ●Socio-emotional Theories
●Information Processing ●Knowing Oneself
●Language Development ●Children having Friends and
Peers
●Theories of Intelligence
●Significance of Family
●Bullying

DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS:

1. oblivobesity- lack of recognition from parents that children are overweight or obese.
2. inductive reasoning- logical process in which multiple premises believed to be true are combined to obtain a
specific conclusion.
3. classification- is the ability to understand hierarchies, identify relations between a general category and more
specific subcategories.
4. identity- the understanding that objects have qualities that do not change even if the object is altered in some
way.
5. reversibility- some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state.
6. conservation- something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes.
7. decentering- do not focus on only one dimension of any object, instead consider the changes in other
dimensions too.
8. seriation- is the ability to order subjects in a series according to a physical dimension such as height, weight, or
color.
9. metacognition- refers to the knowledge we have about our own thinking and our ability to use this awareness to
regulate our own cognitive processes.
10. critical thinking- understanding a problem through gathering, evaluating, and selecting information, and also by
considering many possible solutions.
11. operant conditioning- Skinner's system of operant conditioning is a descriptive behaviorism that seeks to
establish the laws of behavior through the study of operant learning. It is a method of learning that employs
 rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a
behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior.
12. Theory of Multiple Intelligences- Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that people are
not born with all of the intelligence they will ever have. This theory challenged the traditional notion that there is
one single type of intelligence, sometimes known as “g” for general intelligence, that only focuses on cognitive
abilities.
13. intelligence test- consists of series of tasks of graded difficulty that have been standardized on a representative
sample of population.
14. intelligence scale- a standardized intelligence test.
15. intellectual disability- is a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning
(reasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behavior, which covers a range of everyday social and
practical skills.
16. Giftedness- refers to children who have an IQ of 130 or higher.
17. Psychoanalytic theory- Sigmund Freud 's psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is
the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego.

Lesson 1: Physical Development

Middle childhood is approximately at 5 to 12 or so years of age (until the onset of puberty)

Body Growth and Motor Development

Rates of growth generally slow during these years. Typically, a child will gain about 5-7 pounds a year and
grow about 2-3 inches per year (CDC, 2000). They also tend to slim down and gain muscle strength and lung
capacity making it possible to engage in tiring physical activity for long periods of time.
Genes and nutrition influence the rate of children's growth. Children who enter middle childhood with stunted
growth and nutritional deficits often do not catch up. Instead, stunting often continues and worsens in middle
childhood, especially if children remain in the same environment that caused malnourishment.
Children of this age tend to sharpen their abilities to perform both gross motor skills, such as riding a bike, and
fine motor skills, such as cutting their fingernails. In addition, fine motor development is particularly important
in penmanship. Most 6-year-old children can write the alphabet, their names, and numbers in large print,
making strokes with their entire arm. In gross motor skills (involving large muscles) boys typically outperform
girls, while with fine motor skills (small muscles) girls outperform the boys. These improvements in motor skills
are related to brain growth and experience during this developmental period.
Contextual influences, such as: nutrition, opportunities to practice motor skills, and health, also influence
motor development. For example, children in different contexts have different opportunities to practice motor
skills through vigorous physical play and other activities.

Common Health Issues

Middle childhood generally is a healthy time. However, injuries and obesity pose risks to children.

Childhood Injuries

The most common types of injuries may vary with age. Falls are the most common source of injuries
in children under age 9; from age 10 to 12, children are equally likely to be injured by a fall or being struck by an object
or a person.

A variety of individual and contextual influences place children at risk of injury. Poor parental and
adult supervision is closely associated with childhood injury. Some parents hold the belief that injuries are an
inevitable part of child development and may therefore provide less supervision and intervention. Children who are
impulsive, overactive, and difficult, as well as those diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD), experience
higher rates of unintentional injuries. Childhood injury is also associated with parental distraction, such as by talking to
another parent or mobile use. Parents who work long hours or multiple jobs and who live in
challenging environments may find it difficult to keep tabs on their children or may feel
overwhelmed.

Childhood Obesity
Developmental
The decreased participation in Psychology
school physical education and youth sports is
just one of many factors that has led to an
increase in children being overweight or obese.
Excess weight and obesity in children are
associated with a variety of medical and
cognitive conditions including high blood
pressure, insulin resistance, inflammation,
depression, and lower academic achievement
(Lu, 2016).

Obesity is defined as having Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above the the 95th
percentile for height and age as indicated by Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC)
Being overweight has also been linked to impaired brain functioning, which
includes deficits in executive functioning, working memory, mental flexibility,
and decision making.
Children themselves are not accurately identifying if they are overweight.
Obese children run the risk of suffering orthopedic problems such as knee
injuries, and they have an increased risk of heart disease, pediatric diabetes
and stroke in adulthood.
Children who are overweight show less inhibitory control than normal weight
children, which may make it more difficult for them to avoid unhealthy foods.
A growing concern is the lack of recognition from parents that children are overweight or
obese. It is called oblivobesity.
Children who are overweight tend to be rejected, ridiculed, teased and bullied by others.
It is hard for a child who is obese to become a non-obese adult.

Nutrition

Middle childhood is characterized by a slow, steady rate of physical growth. To achieve optimal
growth and development, children need a variety of healthy foods that provide sufficient energy,
protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals. They need three meals per day, plus snacks.

Children benefit greatly from practicing healthy eating behaviors. These behaviors are essential
for:

 Promoting optimal growth, development, and health.

 Preventing immediate health problems (e.g., iron-deficiency anemia, undernutrition,
obesity, eating disorders, dental caries).
 Laying the foundation for lifelong health and reducing the risk of chronic diseases (e.g.,
cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, some forms of cancer,
osteoporosis).

 Facts about children's nutrition (middle childhood)

A number of factors can influence children’s eating habits and attitudes toward food.
Family environment, societal trends, taste preferences, and messages in the media all
impact the emotions that children develop in relation to their diet. Television
 commercials can entice children to consume sugary products, fatty fast foods, excess calories,
refined ingredients, and sodium. Therefore, it is critical that parents and caregivers direct
children toward healthy choices.
Foods that are high in saturated fats, salt, sugar, preservatives, and calories
that negatively impact children's health and overall well-being should be avoided such as junk
foods like donuts, sugary breakfast cereals, cookies, ice cream, candy, fizzy drinks and fried
potato chips.
Developmental
Psychology
Children who ate more saturated fats performed worse on relational memory
tasks, while eating a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids promoted relational memory skills.
Parents greatly impact their child’s nutritional choices. This time in a child’s life
provides an opportunity for parents and other caregivers to reinforce good eating habits and to
introduce new foods into the diet, while remaining mindful of a child’s preferences. Parents
should also serve as role models for their
children, who will often mimic their
behavior and eating habits. Parents
must continue to help their school-aged
child establish healthy eating habits and
attitudes toward food. Their primary role
is to bring a wide variety of health-
promoting foods into the home, so that
their children can make good choices.

Requires to eat 2200 calories per day

Children over the age of two should typically be eating whole grains, fruits,
vegetables, lean protein, calcium-rich dairy products, and some oils every day.
Making sure that children have proper nutrients will allow for optimal growth
and development.

Sports
Middle childhood seems to be a great time to introduce children to organized
sports, and in fact, many parents do. This activity promises to help children build social skills,
improve athletically and learn a sense of competition. However, it has been suggested that the
emphasis on competition and athletic skill can be counterproductive and lead children to grow
tired of the game and want to quit.

Sports are important for children. Children’s participation in sports has been linked to:

Higher levels of satisfaction with family and overall quality of life in children
Improved physical and emotional development
Better academic performance

Girls were more likely to have never participated in any type of sport. Fathers
may not be providing their daughters as much support as they do their sons. While boys rated
their fathers as their biggest mentor who taught them the most about sports.

Activity 1

Check your understanding of the physical development acquired in middle childhood by

answering the questions.
1. What physical developments occur when you were in your middle childhood?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________ Developmental
_________________________________________________________________________. Psychology

2. How does biological and contextual factors contributed on your physical development during
your middle childhood years?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________.

3. How does your physical development during middle childhood affect your daily life?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________.
4. Is nutrition and sports essential during middle childhood? Elaborate your answer.

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________.
Lesson 2: Cognitive Development

Cognitive skills continue to expand in middle and late childhood as thought

processes become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information. Children
at this age understand concepts such as past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan
and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and
subtraction and cause-and effect relationships.

PIAGET'S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Concrete Operational Thought

The concrete operational stage is the third in Jean Piaget's theory of

cognitive development in which a child is capable of performing a variety
of mental operations and thoughts using concrete concepts.

The word concrete refers to that which is tangible; that which can be
seen, touched, or experienced directly. The concrete operational child is
able to make use of logical principles in solving problems involving the
physical world. For example, the child can understand principles of
cause and effect, size, and distance.

The child can use logic to solve problems tied to their own direct
experience, but has trouble solving hypothetical problems or considering
more abstract problems.
 Inductive reasoning- child uses this logical process in which multiple
premises believed to be true are combined to obtain a specific conclusion. For example, a
child has one friend who is rude, another friend who is also rude, and the same is true for a
third friend. The child may conclude that friends are rude.

Developmental Six Major abilities that the concrete child exhibits:

Psychology

1. Classification- is the ability to Classification

understand hierarchies, identify relations
Conservation Identity
between a general category and more
specific subcategories.
Concrete
Piaget and stated that the child focuses Operations
on one aspect, either class or sub-class
Reversibility
or also called as class inclusion. Seriation
Decentering
For example, a child is shown four red
flowers and two white ones and is asked
'are there more red flowers or more flowers?'. A typical five year old would say 'more red ones'.

2. Identity- the understanding that objects have qualities that do not change even if the object is
altered in some way. For instance, mass of an object does not change by rearranging it.

Example:
●A piece of chalk is still chalk even when the piece is broken in two.
● A broken egg is still an egg
● A deflated balloon is still a balloon

3. Reversibility- The child learns that some things that have

been changed can be returned to their original state.
Arithmetic operations are reversible as well: 2 + 3 = 5 and 5
– 3 = 2. Many of these cognitive skills are incorporated into
the school's curriculum through mathematical problems and
in worksheets about which situations are reversible or
irreversible.
Example: Water can be frozen and then thawed to become
ice cubes melt is an example of reversibility liquid again, but eggs cannot be unscrambled.

4. Conservation- the understanding that

something stays the same in quantity
even though its appearance changes. To
be more technical conservation is the
ability to understand that redistributing
material does not affect its mass,
number, volume or length.

Example: There is the same amount of

water in each container, although one is
taller and narrower and the other is shorter and wider.

5. Decentering- or decentration; Concrete operational children no longer focus on only one

dimension of any object (such as the height of the glass) and instead consider the changes in
other dimensions too (such as the width of the glass). This allows for conservation to occur.

example: When asked to choose between two candies, a child might choose based on how one
flavor is better than the other even though the other is the same size and color.
6. Seriation- is the ability to order subjects in a series
according to a physical dimension such as height, weight,
or color. For example, they can methodically arrange a
series of different-sized sticks in order by length.
Developmental
The new cognitive skills stated above Psychology
increase the child's understanding of the physical world,
however according to Piaget, they still cannot think in abstract ways. Additionally, they do not think
in systematic scientific ways.

INFORMATION PROCESSING

Children differ in their memory abilities, and

these differences predict both their readiness for
school and academic performance in school.
During middle childhood, children make step in
several areas of cognitive function including the
capacity of working memory, their ability to pay
attention, and their use of memory strategies.
Both changes in the brain and experience foster
these abilities.

Working Memory

Research has suggested that

both an increase in processing speed and the
ability to inhibit irrelevant information from
entering memory are contributing to the greater
efficiency of working memory during this age.

Children with learning disabilities in math and reading often have difficulties with
working memory. They may struggle with following the directions of an assignment. When a task
calls for multiple steps, children with poor working memory may miss steps because they may
lose track of where they are in the task. Some studies have also shown that more intensive
training of working memory strategies, such as chunking, aid in improving the capacity of working
memory in children with poor working memory.

Attention

Children also improve in their ability to shift their attention between tasks or
different features of a task. A child can already manage if you let them switch from asking them to
sort their toys based on type to having them sort based on its color; meaning there is greater
flexibility in their attentional skills. These changes in attention and working memory contribute to
children having more strategic approaches to challenging tasks.

Memory Strategies

Memory strategies include rehearsing information you wish to recall, visualizing

and organizing information, creating rhymes, such “i” before “e” except after “c”, or inventing
acronyms, such as “roygbiv” to remember the colors of the rainbow. Schneider, Kron-Sperl, and
Hünnerkopf (2009) reported a steady increase in the use of memory strategies from ages six to
ten in their longitudinal study. Moreover, by age ten many children were using two or more
memory strategies to help them recall information. Schneider and colleagues found that there
were considerable individual differences at each age in the use of strategies, and that children
who utilized more strategies had better memory performance than their same aged peers.
 Common memory strategies:

1. Rehearsal- refers to systematically repeating information in order to retain it in working

memory.
Developmental
Psychology example: A child may say a phone number over and over so that he does not forget it before
before writing it down.

2. Organization- categorizing or chunking items to remember by grouping it by theme or type,

such as flowers, trees, and animals.

3. Elaboration- involves creating an imaged scene or story to link the material to be remembered.

Three (3) deficiencies in children's use of memory strategies:

1. mediation deficiency- occurs when a child does not understand the strategy being taught,
and thus, does not benefit from its use.

example: If you do not understand why using an acronym might be helpful, or how to create an
acronym, the strategy is not likely to help you.

2. production deficiency- the child does not spontaneously use a memory strategy and must be
prompted to do so. In this case, children know the strategy and are more than capable of using it,
but they fail to “produce” the strategy on their own.

example: Children might know how to make a list, but may fail to do this to help them remember
what to bring on a family vacation.

3. utilization deficiency- children using an appropriate strategy, but it fails to benefit in task
performance from the use of a strategy.

Metacognition

Children in middle childhood also have a better understanding of how well they
are performing a task, and the level of difficulty of a task. As they become more realistic about
their abilities, they can adapt studying strategies to meet those needs. Young children spend as
much time on an unimportant aspect of a problem as they do on the main point, while older
children start to learn to prioritize and gauge what is significant and what is not. As a result, they
develop metacognition. Metacognition refers to the knowledge we have about our own thinking
and our ability to use this awareness to regulate our own cognitive processes.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking, or a detailed examination of beliefs, courses of action, and

evidence, involves teaching children how to think. The purpose of critical thinking is to evaluate
information in ways that help us make informed decisions. Critical thinking involves better
understanding a problem through gathering, evaluating, and selecting information, and also by
considering many possible solutions.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Language can be conceptualized in terms of sounds, meaning, and the environmental factors
that help us understand it. Phonemes are the elementary sounds of our language, morphemes
are the smallest units of meaning in a language, syntax is the set of grammatical rules that
control how words are put together, and contextual information is the elements of
communication that are not part of the content of language but that help us understand its
meaning. Developmental
Psychology

Vocabulary- One of the reasons that children can classify objects in so many ways is that they
have acquired a vocabulary to do so.

New Understanding- Those in middle childhood are also able to think of objects in less literal
ways. For example, if asked for the first word that comes to mind when one hears the word
"pizza", the younger child is likely to say "eat" or some word that describes what is done with a
pizza. However, the older child is more likely to place pizza in the appropriate category and say
"food".

Context- Words do not possess fixed meanings but change their

interpretation as a function of the context in which they are spoken. We
use contextual information—the information surrounding language—
to help us interpret it. Context is how everything within language works
together to convey a particular meaning. Context includes tone of
voice, body language, and the words being used. Depending on how a
person says something, holds his or her body, or emphasizes certain
points of a sentence, a variety of different messages can be conveyed.

Example: The word “awesome,” when said with a big smile, means the
person is excited about a situation. “Awesome,” said with crossed
arms, rolled eyes, and a sarcastic tone, means the person is not thrilled
with the situation.

Theories of Language Development

Skinner: Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner believed that children learn language through operant conditioning; in other words,
children receive “rewards” for using language in a functional manner. For example, a child learns
to say the word “drink” when she is thirsty; she receives something to drink, which reinforces her
use of the word for getting a drink, and thus she will continue to do so. This follows the four-term
contingency that Skinner believed was the basis of language development—motivating
operations, discriminative stimuli, response, and reinforcing stimuli. Skinner also suggested that
children learn language through imitation of others, prompting, and shaping.

Chomsky: Language Acquisition Device

Noam Chomsky’s work discusses the biological basis for language and claims that children have
innate abilities to learn language. Chomsky terms this innate ability the “language acquisition
device.” He believes children instinctively learn language without any formal instruction. He also
believes children have a natural need to use language, and that in the absence of formal
language children will develop a system of communication to meet their needs. He has observed
that all children make the same type of language errors, regardless of the language they are
taught. Chomsky also believes in the existence of a “universal grammar,” which posits that there
are certain grammatical rules all human languages share. However, his research does not
identify areas of the brain or a genetic basis that enables humans’ innate ability for language.
 Theories of Intelligence
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

An alternative view of intelligence is presented by Sternberg (1997; 1999). Sternberg offers

Developmental
Psychology three types of intelligences:

1. Analytical (componential)- sometimes described as academic; includes the ability to solve

problems of logic, verbal comprehension, vocabulary, and spatial abilities.
2. Creative (experiential)- the ability to apply newly found skills to novel situations
3. Practical (contextual)-the ability to use common sense and to know what is called for in a
situation.

Analytical Creative Practical

Readingsupports analytical intelligence Navigating social settings is

practical intelligence

Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Another champion of the idea of specific types of intelligences rather than one overall intelligence
is the psychologist Howard Gardner (1983, 1999). Gardner argued that it would be evolutionarily
functional for different people to have different talents and skills, and proposed that there are nine
intelligences that can be differentiated from each other .

INTELLIGENCE DESCRIPTION
Linguistic The ability to speak and write well
Logical-mathematical The ability to use logic and mathematical skills to solve problems
Spatial The ability to think and reason about objects in three dimensions
Musical The ability to perform and enjoy music
Kinesthetic (body) The ability to move the body in sports, dance, or other physical
activities
Interpersonal The ability to understand and interact effectively with others
Intrapersonal The ability to have insight into the self
Naturalistic The ability to recognize, identify, and understand animals, plants, and
other living things
Existential The ability to understand and have concern from life’s larger
questions, the meaning of life, and other spiritual matters

Gardner contends that these are also forms of intelligence. A high IQ does not always ensure
success in life or necessarily indicate that a person has common sense, good interpersonal skills,
or other abilities important for success. Gardner investigated intelligences by focusing on children
who were talented in one or more areas. He identified these 9 intelligences based on other
criteria including a set developmental history and psychometric findings. Howard Gardner (1983,
1998, 1999) suggests that there are not one, but nine domains of intelligence. The first three are
skills that are measured by IQ tests:

Table: Howard Gardner's Nine Intellgences

The concept of multiple intelligences has been influential in the field of education, and teachers Developmental
have used these ideas to try to teach differently for individual students. Psychology

Intelligence Testing

The value of IQ testing is most evident in educational or clinical settings. Children who seem to be
experiencing learning difficulties or severe behavioral problems can be tested to ascertain whether
the child’s difficulties can be partly attributed to an IQ score that is significantly different from the
mean for her age group. Without IQ testing—or another measure of intelligence—children and
adults needing extra support might not be identified effectively .

Stanford- Binet Intelligence Test

From 1904- 1 the French psychologist Alfred inet 18 7–1 1 and his colleague Th odore
Simon (1872–1961) began working on behalf of the French government to develop a measure that
would identify children who would not be successful with the regular school curriculum. The goal
was to help teachers better educate these students (Aiken, 1994).

Binet and Simon developed what most psychologists today regard as the first intelligence test,
which consisted of a wide variety of questions that included the ability to name objects, define
words, draw pictures, complete sentences, compare items, and construct sentences. Binet and
Simon (Binet, Simon, & Town, 1915; Siegler, 1992) believed that the questions they asked the
children all assessed the basic abilities to understand, reason, and make judgments.

Soon after Binet and Simon introduced their test, the American psychologist Lewis Terman at
Stanford University (1877–1 6 developed an American version of inet’s test that became
known as the Stanford- Binet Intelligence Test. The Stanford-Binet is a measure of general
intelligence made up of a wide variety of tasks including vocabulary, memory for pictures, naming
of familiar objects, repeating sentences, and following commands.

Stanford-Binet Classification of Intelligence

Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale

In 1939, David Wechsler, a psychologist who spent part of his career working with World War I
veterans, developed a new IQ test in the United States. Wechsler combined several subtests from
other intelligence tests used between 1880 and World War I. These subtests tapped into a variety
of verbal and nonverbal skills, because Wechsler believed that intelligence encompassed “the
global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his
environment” Wechsler, 1 8, p. 7). He named the test the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence
Scale (Wechsler, 1981). This combination of subtests became one of the most extensively used
intelligence tests in the history of psychology.
 EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE: Intellectual Disability and
Giftedness

Developmental
Psychology
Intellectual Disabilities

Intellectual disability or intellectual developmental disorder is assessed based on cognitive

capacity (IQ) and adaptive functioning. The severity of the disability is based on adaptive
functioning, or how well the person handles everyday life tasks.

Down syndrome- a chromosomal disorder

caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st
chromosome. The incidence of Down syndrome is estimated at
approximately 1 per 700 births, and the prevalence increases as
the mother’s age increases CDC, 2 1 a . People with Down
syndrome typically exhibit a distinctive pattern of physical
features, including a flat nose, upwardly slanted eye, a protruding
tongue, and a short neck.

Fortunately, societal attitudes toward individuals with intellectual

disabilities have changed over the past decades. We no longer use terms such as “retarded,”
“moron,” “idiot,” or “imbecile” to describe people with intellectual differences, although these were
the official psychological terms used to describe degrees of what was referred to as mental
retardation in the past. Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have made it
illegal to discriminate on the basis of mental and physical disability.

Giftedness

Being gifted refers to children who have an IQ of 130 or higher (Lally & Valentine-French, 2015).
Having an extremely high IQ is clearly less of a problem than having an extremely low IQ but
there may also be challenges to being particularly smart. It is often assumed that school children
who are labeled as “gifted” may have adjustment problems that make it more difficult for them to
create and maintain social relationships.

Kids who are gifted have higher scores on general intelligence “g”, but there are also different
types of giftedness. Some children are particularly good at math or science, some at automobile
repair or carpentry, some at music or art, some at sports or leadership, and so on. There is a
lively debate among scholars about whether it is appropriate or beneficial to label some children
as “gifted and talented” in school and to provide them with accelerated special classes and other
programs that are not available to everyone. Although doing so may help the gifted kids
(Colangelo & Assouline, 2009), it also may isolate them from their peers and make such
provisions unavailable to those who are not classified as “gifted.”

Children with Disabilities

When children don’t seem to be developing or learning in the typical pattern one might be
assessed for a disorder or disability.

Learning disorder is a classification of disorders in which a person has

difficulty learning in a typical manner within one of several domains. Types of learning disorders
include difficulties in reading (dyslexia), mathematics (dyscalculia), and writing (dysgraphia).
These disorders are diagnosed with certain criteria.
 Learning disability has problems in a specific area or with a specific task or
type of activity related to education.

These difficulties are identified in school because this is when children's

academic abilities are being tested, compared, and measured. Consequently, Developmental
Psychology
once academic testing is no longer essential in that person's life (as when they
are working rather than going to school) these disabilities may no longer be
noticed or relevant, depending on the person's job and the extent of the
disability.

The following is an example of the DSM-5 learning disorders:

Learning disorders:

Dyslexia - Reading
Dyscalculia – Mathematics
Dyspraxia - Motor
Coordination or developmental
coordination disorder
Dysgraphia - Writing
Auditory Processing
Disorder -Hearing
Visual Processing Disorder -
Visual

Speech and Language Disorders:

●Aphasia - Loss of language (expressive and receptive)

●Articulation Disorder - inability to correctly produce speech sounds
(phonemes) because of imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed,
or flow of movement of the lips, tongue, or throat
●Fluency Disorders - affect the rate of speech. Speech may be labored
and slow, or too fast for listeners to follow. The most common fluency
disorder is stuttering.

Stuttering is a speech disorder in which sounds, syllables, or

words are repeated or last longer than normal. These problems cause a
break in the flow of speech, which is called dysfluency.

●Voice Disorders- involve problems with pitch, loudness, and quality of

the voice. It only becomes a disorder when problems with the voice
make the child unintelligible.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)- shows a constant pattern of

inattention and/or hyperactive and impulsive behavior that interferes with normal functioning
(American Psychological Association (APA), 2013). Some of the signs of inattention include great
difficulty with, and avoidance of tasks that require sustained attention (such as conversations or
reading), failure to follow instructions (often resulting in failure to complete school work and other
duties), disorganization (difficulty keeping things in order, poor time management, sloppy and
messy work), lack of attention to detail, becoming easily distracted, and forgetfulness.
Hyperactivity is characterized by excessive movement, and includes fidgeting or squirming,
leaving one’s seat in situations when remaining seated is expected, having trouble sitting still
(e.g., in a restaurant), running about and climbing on things, blurting out responses before
 another person’s question or statement has been completed, difficulty waiting one’s turn for
something, and interrupting and intruding on others. Frequently, the hyperactive child comes
across as noisy and boisterous. The child’s behavior is hasty, impulsive, and seems to occur
Developmental without much forethought.
Psychology

Activity 2

A. Matching: Check your understanding of the cognitive development acquired in middle

childhood by matching the major abilities that concrete child exhibits to its description.

a. Classification
b. Identity
c. Reversibility
d. Conservation
e. Decentering
f. Seriation

_____1. The child learns that some things that have been changed can be returned to their
original state.
_____2. Concrete operational children no longer focus on only one dimension of any object
(such as the height of the glass) and instead consider the changes in other dimensions too
(such as the width of the glass).
_____3. It is the ability to understand hierarchies, identify relations between a general category
and more specific subcategories.
_____4. The understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its
appearance changes.
_____5. This term means that objects have qualities that do not change even if the object is
altered in some way.
_____6. It is the ability to order subjects in a series according to a physical dimension such as
height, weight, or color.
_____7. An example of this is: a piece of chalk is still chalk even when the piece is broken in
two.
_____8. It is the ability to understand that redistributing material does not affect its mass,
number, volume or length.
_____9. The child focuses on one aspect, either class or sub-class or also called as class
inclusion.
_____10. A child can methodically arrange a series of different-sized sticks in order by length.

B. Check your understanding of the cognitive development acquired in middle childhood by

matching the common memory strategies of a child to its description.

a. Rehearsal

b. Organization

c. Elaboaration

_____1. Categorizing or chunking items to remember by grouping it by theme or type.

_____2. It refers to systematically repeating information in order to retain it in working memory.
_____3. It involves creating an imaged scene or story to link the material to be remembered.
_____4. A child repeatedly says the items that the mother ordered him to buy at the store.
_____5. A child labelled roses and daisies as flowers.

C. List the domains of intelligence that you possess. Enumerate two activities that you do in order
to improve those domains.
Developmental
_____________________________________________________________________________ Psychology

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 3: Socio-emotional Development

Social Emotional Theories of Development

Erik Erikson- Industry vs. Inferiority

Erik Erikson proposed

that we are motivated
by a need to achieve
competence in certain
areas of our lives. As
we’ve learned in
previous chapters,
Erikson’s psychosocial
theory has eight
stages of development
over the lifespan, from infancy through late adulthood. At each stage there is a conflict, or task,
that we need to resolve. Successful completion of each developmental task results in a sense of
competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of
inadequacy.

During the elementary school stage (ages 6-12), children face the task of Industry versus
Inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves to their peers to see how they measure up.
They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social
activities, and family life as well as get a sense of confidence for future challenges or they feel
inferior and inadequate when they don’t measure up.

Sigmund Freud - Psychoanalytic Theory

 The great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) focused on unconscious, biological forces
that he felt shape individual personality. Freud (1933) thought that the personality consists of
three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the selfish part of the personality and
consists of biological instincts that all babies have, including the need for food and, more
generally, the demand for immediate gratification. As babies get older, they learn that not all their
Developmental needs can be immediately satisfied and thus develop the ego, or the rational part of the
Psychology personality. As children get older still, they internalize society’s norms and values and thus begin
to develop their superego, which represents society’s conscience. If a child does not develop
normally and the superego does not become strong enough, the individual is more at risk for
being driven by the id to commit antisocial behavior.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Kohlberg (1963) built on the work of Piaget and was interested in finding out how our moral
reasoning changes as we get older. He wanted to find out how people decide what is right and
what is wrong. Just as Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development follows specific
patterns, Kohlberg (1984) argued that we learn our moral values through active thinking and
reasoning, and that moral development follows a series of stages. Kohlberg's six stages are
generally organized into three levels of moral reasons.
To study moral development, Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to children, teenagers, and adults,
such as the following:

A man’s wife is dying of cancer and there is only one drug that can
save her. The only place to get the drug is at the store of a pharmacist
who is known to overcharge people for drugs. The man can only pay
$1,000, but the pharmacist wants $2,000, and refuses to sell it to him
for less, or to let him pay later. Desperate, the man later breaks into
the pharmacy and steals the medicine. Should he have done that?
Was it right or wrong? Why? (Kohlberg, 1984)

Level One - Preconventional Morality

In stage one, moral reasoning is based on concepts of punishment. The child believes that if the
consequence for an action is punishment, then the action was wrong. In the second stage, the
child bases his or her thinking on self-interest and reward ("You scratch my back, I'll scratch
yours"). The youngest subjects seemed to answer based on what would happen to the man as a
result of the act. For example, they might say the man should not break into the pharmacy
because the pharmacist might find him and beat him. Or they might say that the man should
break in and steal the drug and his wife will give him a big kiss. Right or wrong, both decisions
were based on what would physically happen to the man as a result of the act. This is a self-
centered approach to moral decision-making. He called this most superficial understanding of
right and wrong preconventional morality. Preconventional morality focuses on self-interest.
Punishment is avoided and rewards are sought. Adults can also fall into these stages,
particularly when they are under pressure.

Preconventional Morality (young children)

Developmental
Stage Description Psychology
Stage 1 Focus is on self-interest and punishment is avoided. The man
shouldn’t steal the drug, as he may get caught and go to jail.
Stage 2 Rewards are sought. A person at this level will argue that the
man should steal the drug because he does not want to lose
his wife who takes care of him.

Level Two - Conventional Morality

Those tested who based their answers on what other people would think of the man as a result
of his act, were placed in Level Two. For instance, they might say he should break into the
store, then everyone would think he was a good husband, or he should not because it is against
the law. In either case, right and wrong is determined by what other people think. In stage three,
the person wants to please others. At stage four, the person acknowledges the importance of
social norms or laws and wants to be a good member of the group or society. A good decision is
one that gains the approval of others or one that complies with the law. This he called
conventional morality, people care about the effect of their actions on others. Some older
children, adolescents, and adults use this reasoning.

Conventional Morality (older children, adolescents, most adults)

Stage Description
Stage 3 Focus is on how situational outcomes impact others and
wanting to please and be accepted. The man should steal the
drug because that is what good husbands do.
Stage 4 People make decisions based on laws or formalized rules. The
man should obey the law because stealing is a crime.

Level Three, post conventional morality, is not included because it focuses on adolescence
and adulthood.

Kohlberg’s idea of moral reasoning changes from an early emphasis on punishment and social
rules and regulations to an emphasis on more general ethical principles, as with Piaget’s
approach, Kohlberg’s stage model is probably too simple. For one, people may use higher
levels of reasoning for some types of problems but revert to lower levels in situations where
doing so is more consistent with their goals or beliefs (Rest, 1979). Second, it has been argued
that the stage model is particularly appropriate for Western, rather than non-Western, samples
in which allegiance to social norms, such as respect for authority, may be particularly important
(Haidt, 2001). Perhaps the most important critique of Kohlberg’s theory is that it may describe
the moral development of males better than it describes that of females (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000).
Gilligan (1982) has argued that, because of differences in their socialization, males tend to value
principles of justice and rights, whereas females value caring for and helping others.

KNOWING ONESELF

Children in middle childhood have a more realistic sense of self than do those in early
childhood. That exaggerated sense of self as “biggest” or “smartest” or “tallest” gives way to an
understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be attributed to greater experience
in comparing one’s own performance with that of others and to greater cognitive flexibility. A
child’s self-concept can be influenced by peers and family and the messages they send about a
 child’s worth. Contemporary children also receive messages from the media about how they
should look and act. Movies, music videos, the internet, and advertisers can all create cultural
images of what is desirable or undesirable and this too can influence a child’s self-concept.

Self-concept refers to beliefs about general personal identity. These beliefs

Developmental include personal attributes, such as one’s age, physical characteristics, behaviors, and
Psychology competencies. Children in middle childhood have a more realistic sense of self than do those in
early childhood, and they better understand their strengths and weaknesses. They are also able
to include other peoples’ appraisals of them into their self-concept, including parents, teachers,
peers, culture, and media.
self-esteem is defined as an evaluation of one’s identity. Internalizing others’
appraisals and creating social comparison affect children’s self-esteem. Children can have
individual assessments of how well they perform a variety of activities and also develop an
overall global self-assessment. If there is a discrepancy between how children view themselves
and what they consider to be their ideal selves, their self-esteem can be negatively affected.
self-efficacy- the belief that you are capable of carrying out a specific task or
of reaching a specific goal (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). Large discrepancies between self-
efficacy and ability can create motivational problems for the individual (Seifert, 2011). If a student
believes that he or she can solve mathematical problems, then the student is more likely to
attempt the mathematics homework that the teacher assigns. If a student believes that he or she
is incapable of math, then the student is less likely to attempt the math homework regardless of
the student's actual ability in math. Since self-efficacy is self-constructed, it is possible for
students to miscalculate or misperceive their true skill, and these misperceptions can have
complex effects on students' motivations. It is possible to have either too much or too little self-
efficacy.

Motivation as Self-Efficacy

Motivation refers to a desire, need, or drive that contributes to and explains behavioral
changes. In general, motivators provide some sort of incentive for completing a task.
Motivations can be either intrinsic (arising from internal factors) or extrinsic (arising from
external factors).

Intrinsically motivated behaviors are performed because of the sense of

personal satisfaction that they bring. According to Deci (1971), these behaviors are defined as
ones for which the reward is the satisfaction of performing the activity itself. Intrinsic motivation
thus represents engagement in an activity for its own sake. For example, if comforting a friend
makes a child feel good, they are intrinsically motivated to respond to their friend’s distress.

Extrinsically motivated behaviors are

performed in order to receive something from others or avoid
certain negative outcomes. The extrinsic motivator is outside
of, and acts on, the individual. Rewards—such as a sticker, or
candy—are good examples of extrinsic motivators. Social and
emotional incentives like praise and attention are also
extrinsic motivators since they are bestowed on the individual
by another person.

Gender Identity

The development of gender and gender identity is likewise an

interaction among social, biological, and representational influences
(Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006). Young children learn about
gender from parents, peers, and others in society, and develop their
own conceptions of the attributes associated with maleness or
femaleness (called gender schemas). They also negotiate biological
transitions (such as puberty) that cause their sense of themselves and their sexual identity to
mature.

Social influences such as cultural norms impact children's interests, dress, style of speech and
even life aspirations
Developmental
Child and the Family Psychology

Family Tasks: One of the ways to assess the quality of family life is to consider the tasks of
families. Berger (2014) lists five family functions:

1. Providing food, clothing and shelter

2. Encouraging learning
3. Developing self-esteem
4. Nurturing friendships with peers
5. Providing harmony and stability

Notice that in addition to providing food, shelter, and clothing, families are responsible for
helping the child learn, relate to others, and have a confident sense of self. Hopefully, the family
will provide a harmonious and stable environment for living. A good home environment is one in
which the child's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs are adequately met.
Sometimes families emphasize physical needs but ignore cognitive or emotional needs. Other
times, families pay close attention to physical needs and academic requirements but may fail to
nurture the child's friendships with peers or guide the child toward developing healthy
relationships. Parents might want to consider how it feels to live in the household as a child. The
tasks of families listed above are functions that can be fulfilled in a variety of family types-not
just intact, two-parent households.

The Family Stress Model

Family relationships are significantly affected by conditions outside the home. For instance, the
Family Stress Model describes how financial difficulties are associated with parents’ depressed
moods, which in turn lead to marital problems and poor parenting that contributes to poorer child
adjustment (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010).

Longitudinal evidence shows that poverty or economic pressure impacts on parents’ mental
health, which can cause parental conflict and difficulties with parenting. These then negatively
impact on child outcomes and their future life chances, including externalising and internalising
problems, academic and physical health difficulties, and social and interpersonal relationship
problems. Increasingly parental conflict is seen as the central mechanism of or a precursor to
 poor parenting and negative child outcomes. This means that parenting interventions in families
where there are high levels of parental conflict are unlikely to be effective, unless the
interparental relationship is also addressed.

Family Forms
Developmental
Psychology
The sociology of the family examines the family as an institution and a unit of socialization.
Sociological studies of the family look at demographic characteristics of the family members:
family size, age, ethnicity and gender of its members, social class of the family, the economic
level and mobility of the family, professions of its members, and the education levels of the family
members.

Different Types of Families:

Families with One Parent- A single parent family usually refers to a parent
who has most of the day-to-day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, who are not
living with a spouse or partner, or who is not married. The dominant caregiver is the parent with
whom the children reside for the majority of the time; if the parents are separated, children live
with their custodial parent and have visitation with their noncustodial parent.

Single parent by choice families refer to a family that a single person builds by choice. These
families can be built with the use of assisted reproductive technology and donor gametes (sperm
and/or egg) or embryos, surrogacy, foster or kinship care, and adoption.

Two Parent Families- The nuclear family is often referred to as the

traditional family structure. It includes two married parents and children.

Cohabitation is an arrangement where two people who are not married live together in an
intimate relationship, particularly an emotionally and/or sexually intimate one, on a long-term or
permanent basis.

Lesbian and Gay Parenting- Research has consistently shown that the children of lesbian and
gay parents are as successful as those of heterosexual parents. More than 25 years of research
have documented that there is no relationship between parents' sexual orientation and any
measure of a child's emotional, psychosocial, and behavioral adjustment. Conscientious and
nurturing adults, whether they are men or women, heterosexual or homosexual, can be excellent
parents. The rights, benefits, and protections of civil marriage can further strengthen these
families.

Blended families- describe families with mixed parents: one or both parents remarried, bringing
children of the former family into the new family. Blended families are complex in a number of
ways that can pose unique challenges to those who seek to form successful stepfamily
relationships (Visher & Visher, 1985). These families are also referred to as stepfamilies. Children
may be a part of two households, each with different rules that can be confusing.

Members in blended families may not be as sure that others care and may require more
demonstrations of affection for reassurance. For example, stepparents expect more gratitude and
acknowledgment from the stepchild than they would with a biological child. Stepchildren
experience more uncertainty/insecurity in their relationship with the parent and fear the parents
will see them as sources of tension. Stepparents may feel guilty for a lack of feelings they may
initially have toward their partner's children. Children who are required to respond to the parent's
new mate as though they were the child's "real" parent often react with hostility, rebellion, or
withdrawal. This occurs especially if there has not been time for the relationship to develop.
 Families by choice are relatively newly recognized. Popularized by the LGBTQ
community to describe a family not recognized by the legal system. It may include
adopted children, live-in partners, kin of each member of the household, and close
friends. Increasingly family by choice is being practiced by those who see benefit to
including people beyond blood relatives in their families.
Developmental
Psychology
Kinship families are those in which the full-time care, nurturing, and protection of a child
is provided by relatives, members of their Tribe or clan, godparents, stepparents, or other
adults who have a family relationship to a child. When children cannot be cared for by
their parents, research finds benefits to kinship care.

Adoptive families- When a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child,
from that person's biological or legal parent or parents this creates adoptive families.
Legal adoption permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities and is intended to
affect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either
through legal or religious sanction.

CHANGES IN FAMILIES-separation of parents

The tasks of families listed above are functions that can be fulfilled in a variety of family types—
not just intact, two-parent households. Harmony and stability can be achieved in many family
forms and when it is disrupted, either through divorce/annulment, or efforts to blend families, or
any other circumstances, the child suffers (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002). Changes continue to
happen, but for children they are especially vulnerable. Divorce and how it impacts children
depends on how the caregivers handle the divorce as well as how they support the emotional
needs of the child.

Annulment

Marriage as an institution is strongly revered in the Philippines (Gultiano et al. 2009). It usually
takes the form of either legal marriage (through a church or civil wedding) or living with a partner,
but the majority of marriages in the Philippines are legal (Xenos 1997; Gultiano et al. 2009).
Although legal means are available to terminate marriage in the Philippines, Filipino couples
rarely resort to them because of their prohibitive cost, the very long legal procedure involved, and
the lack of any guarantee that they will be granted (Taylor 1983; Lopez 2006; Emery 2013;
Calonzo and Cayabyab 2 13 . In Metro Manila, attorneys’ fees for matrimonial dissolution cases
range from approximately P20,000 to P1,000,000 (USD 398 to USD 19,8782 ), or more for
complex cases, with an average fee of P50,000 (USD 994) (Lopez 2006: 95).

A lot of attention has been given to the impact

of annulment on the life of children. The
assumption has been that annulment has a
strong, negative impact on the child and that
single-parent families are deficient in some
way.

Factors Affecting the Impact of

Annulment or Separation of Parents

As you look at the consequences (both pro

and con) of annulment and remarriage on
children, keep these family functions in mind. Some negative consequences are a result of
financial hardship rather than annulment per se. Some positive consequences reflect
improvements in meeting these functions. For instance, we have learned that a positive self-
esteem comes in part from a belief in the self and one’s abilities rather than merely being
complimented by others. In single-parent homes, children may be given more opportunity to
 discover their own abilities and gain independence that fosters self-esteem. If annulment leads to
fighting between the parents and the child is included in these arguments, their self-esteem may
suffer. The impact of annulment on children depends on a number of factors. The degree of
conflict prior to the annulment plays a role. If the annulment means a reduction in tensions, the
child may feel relief. If the parents have kept their conflicts hidden, the announcement of a divorce
Developmental
Psychology can come as a shock and be met with enormous resentment. Another factor that has a great
impact on the child concerns financial hardships they may suffer, especially if financial support is
inadequate. Another difficult situation for children of annulment is the position they are put into if
the parents continue to argue and fight—especially if they bring the children into those arguments.

Is cohabitation and remarriage more difficult than annulment for the child?

The remarriage of a parent may be a more difficult adjustment for a child than the divorce of a
parent (Seccombe & Warner, 2004). Parents and children typically have different ideas of how the
stepparent should act. Parents and stepparents are more likely to see the stepparent's role as that
of parent. A more democratic style of parenting may become more authoritarian after a parent
remarries. Biological parents are more likely to continue to be involved with their children jointly
when neither parent has remarried. They are least likely to jointly be involved if the father has
remarried and the mother has not.

Friends and Peers

Parent-child relationships are not the only significant relationships in a child’s life. Friendships take
on new importance as judges of one’s worth, competence, and attractiveness. Friendships provide
the opportunity for learning social skills such as how to communicate with others and how to
negotiate differences. Children get ideas from one another about how to perform certain tasks,
how to gain popularity, what to wear, say, and listen to, and how to act. This society of children
marks a transition from a life focused on the family to a life concerned with peers. Peers play a key
role in a child’s self-esteem at this age as any parent who has tried to console a rejected child will
tell you. No matter how complimentary and encouraging the parent may be, being rejected by
friends can only be remedied by renewed acceptance.

Children’s conceptualization of what makes someone a “friend” changes from a more egocentric
understanding to one based on mutual trust and commitment. Both Bigelow (1977) and Selman
(1980) believe that these changes are linked to advances in cognitive development. Bigelow and
La Gaipa (1975) outline three stages to children’s conceptualization of friendship:

Stage Descriptions
Stage One Reward-cost- friendship focuses on mutual activities. Children in
early, middle, and late childhood all emphasize similar interests as
the main characteristics of a good friend.
Stage Two Normative expectation- focuses on conventional morality; that
is, the emphasis is on a friend as someone who is kind and shares
with you. Clark and Bittle (1992) found that fifth graders
emphasized this in a friend more than third or eighth graders.
Stage Three Empathy and understanding- friends are people who are
loyal, committed to the relationship, and share intimate
information. Clark and Bittle (1992) reported eighth graders
emphasized this more in a friend. They also found that as early as
fifth grade, girls were starting to include the sharing of secrets and
not betraying confidences as crucial to someone who is a friend.

Friendships are very important for children. The social interaction with another child who
is similar in age, skills, and knowledge provokes the development of many social skills
that are valuable for the rest of life (Bukowski, Buhrmester, & Underwood, 2011). In
these relationships, children learn how to initiate and maintain social interactions with
other children. They learn skills for managing conflict, such as turn-taking, compromise,
and bargaining. Play also involves the mutual, sometimes complex, coordination of
goals, actions, and understanding. Through these experiences, children develop
Developmental
friendships that provide additional sources of security and support to those provided by Psychology
their parents.

Peer Relationships are studied using sociometric assessment (which measures attraction
between members of a group). Children are asked to mention the three children they like to play
with the most, and those they do not like to play with. The number of times a child is nominated
for each of the two categories (like and do not like) is tabulated. Based on those tabulations,
children are categorized into the following:

Category Description
Popular Children Receive many votes in the “like” category, and very
few in the “do not like” category.
Rejected children Receive more unfavorable votes, and few favorable
ones.
Controversial children Mentioned frequently in each category, with several
children liking them and several children placing them
in the do not like category.
Neglected children Rarely mentioned in either category.
Average children Have a few positive votes with very few negative ones.
Popular-prosocial children Are nice and have good social skills; tend to do well in
school and are cooperative and friendly
Popular-antisocial children May gain popularity by acting tough or spreading
rumors about others.
Rejected-withdrawn children Are shy and withdrawn and are easy targets for bullies
because they are unlikely to retaliate when belittled.
Rejected-aggressive children Are ostracized because they are aggressive, loud, and
confrontational. They may be acting out of a feeling of
insecurity.

Bullying and Victims

Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves
a real or perceived power imbalance. Further, the aggressive behavior happens more than once
or has the potential to be repeated. There are different types of bullying, including verbal
bullying, which is saying or writing mean things, teasing, name calling, taunting, threatening, or
making inappropriate sexual comments. Social bullying, also referred to as relational bullying,
involves spreading rumors, purposefully excluding someone from a group, or embarrassing
someone on purpose. Physical Bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions.

A more recent form of bullying is cyberbullying, which involves electronic technology. Examples
of cyberbullying include sending mean text messages or emails, creating fake profiles, and
posting embarrassing pictures, videos or rumors on social networking sites. Children who
experience cyberbullying have a harder time getting away from the behavior because it can
occur any time of day and without being in the presence of others ([Link], 2016).

Those at Risk for Bullying

Bullying can happen to anyone but some students are at an increased risk for being bullied,
including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) youth, those with disabilities, and those
who are socially isolated. Additionally, those who are perceived as different, weak, less popular,
overweight, or having low self-esteem, have a higher likelihood of being bullied.
 Those Who are More Likely to Bully

Bullies are often thought of as having low self-esteem, and then bully others to feel better about
themselves. Although this can occur, many bullies in fact have high levels of self-esteem. They
Developmental possess considerable popularity and social power and have well-connected peer relationships.
Psychology They do not lack self-esteem, and instead lack empathy for others. They like to dominate or be in
charge of others.

Bullied Children

Unfortunately, most children do not let adults know that they are being bullied. Some fear
retaliation from the bully, while others are too embarrassed to ask for help. Those who are socially
isolated may not know who to ask for help or believe that no one would care or assist them if they
did ask for assistance. Consequently, it is important for parents and teachers to know the warning
signs that may indicate a child is being bullied. These include: unexplainable injuries, lost or
destroyed possessions, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, declining school grades, not
wanting to go to school, loss of friends, decreased self-esteem and/or self-destructive behaviors.

Activity 3
A. Check your understanding of the socio-emotional development acquired in middle childhood by
writing the letters that corresponds to the three socio-emotional theories of development.

Industry vs. Psychoanalytic Stages of Moral

Inferiority Theory Development

A. The child believes that if the consequence for an action is punishment, then the action was
wrong.
B. The person acknowledges the importance of social norms or laws and wants to be a good
member of the group or society.
C. Children begin to compare themselves to their peers to see how they measure up. They either
develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social activities, and
family life as well as get a sense of confidence for future challenges or they feel inferior and
inadequate when they don’t measure up.
D. If a child does not develop normally and the superego does not become strong enough, the
individual is more at risk for being driven by the id to commit antisocial behavior.
E. We learn our moral values through active thinking and reasoning, and that moral development
follows a series of stages.
F. The founder of this theory is Erik Erikson.
G. The founder of this theory is Lawrence Kohlberg.
H. The founder of this theory is Sigmund Freud.
I. Focused on unconscious, biological forces that he felt shape individual personality.
J. A child may say "I'll work hard to succeed" or "I'll work hard to avoid failing".

B. Check your understanding about the Child, Family forms and Peers by answering this question:

What are the pros and cons of the family type that you have on your development especially
during your middle chidhood?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

On what categories of children do you belong when you were on your middle childhood? And how does being on that
category affect your peer relationship during those years?

______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

C. Propose a program in school or community that will raise the awareness of students regarding the awareness and
prevention of bullying.

SYNTHESIS

During middle childhood, growth in height and weight slows. Advances in growth and motor development are
influenced by genetic and contextual factors. Middle childhood is a time of health, but injuries and obesity pose risks to
children. Most children do not go out of obesity but instead become obese adults. Programs that are effective at
reducing childhood obesity is an increase in their physical activity and teaching children about nutrition.

Attention, working memory and working strategies are at hand in middle childhood. Cognitive skills continue to
expand in middle and late childhood. Children in middle childhood have thought processes that become more logical
and organized when dealing with concrete information. Children at this age understand concepts such as past,
present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals.

As children get grown-up, their experiences allow them to develop a more realistic understanding of
themselves, including both their strengths and weaknesses. This developing self-concept is influenced by messages
they receive from their peers, their family, and the media.

Post-Test

Direction: Read each sentences carefully. Write the correct term that best describes the statement.

___________1. Age group/range that is considered as middle childhood.

___________2. Children’s participation in sports has been linked to improved physical and emotional
development. True or False?
___________3. It is the most common type of injuries in middle childhood.
___________4. It is defined as having Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile for height and
age.
___________5. It is called as a lack of recognition from parents that children are overweight or obese.
___________6. The third in Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development in which a child is capable of
performing a variety of mental operations and thoughts using concrete concepts.
___________7. Child uses this logical process in which multiple premises believed to be true are combined to
obtain a specific conclusion.
___________8. A kind of memory strategies deficiency which occurs when a child does not understand the
strategy being taught, and thus, does not benefit from its use.
___________9. A kind of memory strategies deficiency in which the child does not spontaneously use a
memory strategy and must be prompted to do so. In this case, children know the strategy and
are more than capable of using it, but they fail to “produce” the strategy on their own.
___________10. It refers to the knowledge we have about our own thinking and our ability to use this
awareness to regulate our own cognitive processes.
___________11. A theory of language development which refers to children receiving “rewards” for using
language in a functional manner.
___________12. A theory of intelligence that says it would be evolutionarily functional for different people to
have different talents and skills, and proposed that there are nine intelligences that can be
differentiated from each other.
___________13. This test is combined with several subtests from other intelligence tests used between 1880
and World War I. These subtests tapped into a variety of verbal and nonverbal skills.
___________14. It refers to the belief that you are capable of carrying out a specific task or of reaching a
specific goal.
___________15. It shows a constant pattern of inattention and/or hyperactive and impulsive behavior that
interferes with normal functioning.
___________16. This socio-emotional theory of development focused on unconscious, biological forces that
he felt shape individual personality.
___________17. Children begin to compare themselves to their peers to see how they measure up. They
either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social
activities, and family life as well as get a sense of confidence for future challenges or they feel
inferior and inadequate when they don’t measure up.
___________18. We learn our moral values through active thinking and reasoning, and that moral development
follows a series of stages.
___________19. It is a children category that receives many votes in the “like” category, and very few in the
“do not like” category.
___________20. It is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a
real or perceived power imbalance.

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