Child Psychology Chapter 8

During early childhood, kids only grow about ___ inches per year and gain ___ pounds a year. Boys are also slightly taller than girls.

2-3, 4-6

We see a rapid growth in brain weight due to ___

Myelination

By age 5, the brain is ___ percent of its adult weight

90%

Left-brained people are better with ___

Logic, problem solving, language, and mathematical computations

Right-brained people are better with ___

Visual-spatial functions, recognition of faces, discrimination of color, aesthetic and emotional responses, understanding metaphors, and creative mathematical reasoning

The functions of the right and left hemisphere overlap because of the ___

Corpus callosum, which is responsible for communication between each hemisphere

What is brain plasticity?

The changeability of the brain and its compensatory ability (other areas may assume functions lost to injury)

The greatest brain plasticity is at ___ years

1 to 2

What is sprouting?

The growth of new dendrites

What is redundancy of neural connections?

The idea that information can be found in more than one place in the brain (this allows for a backup system in case one area that holds the information is damaged)

Gross motor skills involve ___

Large muscles used in locomotion

T/F There is little sex differentiation in gross motor

True

T/F There is great sex differentiation in gross motor

False

Activity levels vary but ___ factors interact to determine individual levels of activity

Genetic and environmental

Fine motor skills involve ___

Small muscles used in manipulation and coordination

The ___ trend accounts for lag in fine motor skills

Proximodistal (this accounts for children's drawing progression- placement, shape, design, pictorial stages)

Handedness emerges and shows preference during ___ but becomes strongly established during ___

Infancy; early childhood

What are certain problems that are connected with left-handed people?

Language problems like dyslexia and stuttering, health problems like hypertension and epilepsy, and psychological problems

There may be a ___ component in handedness

Genetic (it seems to run in families and identical (MZ) twins are usually opposite in handedness)

Kids need [more/less] overall calories than toddlers

More

What are some minor illnesses that children can contract in early childhood?

Respiratory infections (colds, sore throats) and stomach upsets (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea)

In developing countries, ___ is leading killer of children

Diarrheal illness

___ have greatly reduced major illness in US

Immunizations and antibiotics

The most common cause of death in young children in US includes ___

Motor vehicle accidents

The accident rate from motor vehicles is highest with ___

Low-income families

Legislation to prevent accidents from motor vehicles and buildings includes ___

Child safety in cars, window guards in apartment buildings, and toy and clothing safety standards

Preschoolers average ___ hours of sleep per 24 hour period

10-11 (9/10 a night and a 1-2 hour nap)

During the bedtime routine, there is a ___, an object that makes a child feel more comforted and able to sleep alone

Transitional object

Sleep terrors occur ___ and may be associated with stress

Early in night during deep sleep

Nightmares occur ___

Later in night during REM sleep

What is insomnia?

The inability to sleep

___ has an onset between ages 3 and 8 and occurs early in the night during deep sleep

Somnambulism (sleepwalking- same time frame as sleep terrors)

___ plays a critical role in toilet training

Maturation

Most US children are toilet trained between ___

3 and 4

What is enuresis?

The failure to control the bladder past a certain age. It is based on the age of child and frequency of "accidents

Bed-wetting is more frequent in boys than girls and occurs most often during ___

Deep sleep

What is encopresis?

The failure to control bowel movements (it is more common in boys than girls and less common than enuresis)