Module 8 Middle and Late Childhood Physical Cognitive and Socioemotional Development
Module 8 Middle and Late Childhood Physical Cognitive and Socioemotional Development
This module is intended for the AB PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS OF TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY
ONLY to address THE BLENDED LEARNING SCHEME for A.Y. 2022-2023 as implemented by
the Commission on Higher Education brought by the COVID -19 pandemic. Parts of this
module were directly lifted and adapted from different sources, then were compiled. All
credits and rights are reserved to the authors and/ or owners. No reproduction of any part of this
module may be used, sold, or distributed for commercial purposes or be changed or edited in other
business, work, or publication, whether in print or electronic copies unless prior permission has been
granted.
I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
EXERCISE
▪ Increasing children’s exercise levels has a number of positive outcomes (Dumuid & others, 2017; Walton-
Fisette & Wuest, 2018).
▪ 55 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily was associated with a lower incidence
of obesity (Nemet, 2016).
▪ Exercise programs with a frequency of three weekly sessions lasting longer than 60 minutes were effective
in lowering both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (Garcia-Hermoso, Saavedra, & Escalante, 2013).
▪ Aerobic exercise benefits children’s processing speed, attention, memory, effortful and goal-directed
thinking and behavior, and creativity (Chu & others, 2017; Davis & Cooper, 2011; Davis & others, 2011; Khan
& Hillman, 2014; Lind & others, 2018; Ludyga & others, 2018; Monti, Hillman, & Cohen, 2012; Pan & others,
2017).
▪ Sustained physical activity programs were linked to improvements in children’s attention, executive
function, and academic achievement (de Greeff & others, 2018).
▪ 6-week high-intensity exercise program with 7- to 13-year-olds improved their cognitive control and
working memory (Moreau, Kirk, & Waldie, 2018).
▪ A daily instructor led aerobic exercise program that lasted eight months was effective in improving the
efficiency of neural circuits that support better cognitive functioning (Kraftt & others, 2014).
▪ Screen time also is linked with low activity, obesity, and worse sleep patterns in children (Tanaka & others,
2017).
▪ Higher level of screen time increased the risk of obesity for low- and high-activity children (Lane, Harrison,
& Murphy, 2014)
▪ 8- to 12-year-olds found that screen time was associated with lower connectivity between brain regions, as
well as lower levels of language skills and cognitive control (Horowitz-Kraus & Hutton, 2018)
SCOPE OF DISABILITIES
▪ Students with a learning disability were by far the largest group of students with a disability to be given
special education, followed by children with speech or hearing impairments, autism, intellectual disability,
and emotional disturbance
▪ Learning Disabilities
o A child with a learning disability has difficulty in learning that involves understanding or using
spoken or written language, and the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking, reading, writing,
and spelling. A learning disability also may involve difficulty in doing mathematics (McCaskey &
others, 2017, 2018).
o The learning problem is not primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; intellectual
disability; emotional disorders; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (Friend,
2018; Heward, Alber-Morgan, & Konrad, 2017). Among the explanations for this gender difference
are a greater biological vulnerability among boys and referral bias. That is, boys are more likely to
be referred by teachers for treatment because of troublesome behavior.
o Three types of learning disabilities:
▪ Dyslexia is a category reserved for individuals who have a severe impairment in their
ability to read and spell (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2017).
▪ Dysgraphia is a learning disability that involves difficulty in handwriting (Hook & Haynes,
2017). Children with dysgraphia may write very slowly, their writing products may be
virtually illegible, and they may make numerous spelling errors because of their inability
to match sounds and letters.
▪ Dyscalculia, also known as developmental arithmetic disorder, is a learning disability that
involves difficulty in math computation (McCaskey & others, 2017, 2018; Nelson &
Powell, 2018).
o Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
▪ Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disability in which children
consistently show one or more of the following characteristics over a period of time:
• Children who are inattentive have such difficulty focusing on any one thing that
they may get bored with a task after only a few minutes—or even seconds.
• Children who are hyperactive show high levels of physical activity, seeming to be
almost constantly in motion.
• Children who are impulsive have difficulty curbing their reactions; they do not
do a good job of thinking before they act.
▪ Regardless of the symptoms described, boys were twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed
as having ADHD.
▪ ADHD have an increased risk of lower academic achievement, problematic peer relations,
school dropout, adolescent pregnancy, substance use problems, and antisocial behavior
(Machado & others, 2018; Regnart, Truter, & Meyer, 2017).
▪ ADHD was associated with long-term underachievement in math and reading (Voigt &
others, 2017).
▪ Piaget proposed that the concrete operational stage lasts from approximately 7 to 11 years of age. In this
stage, children can perform concrete operations, and they can reason logically as long as reasoning can be
applied to specific or concrete examples. Remember that operations are mental actions that are reversible,
and concrete operations are operations that are applied to real, concrete objects.
▪ Concrete operations allow the child to consider several characteristics rather than focusing on a single
property of an object. In the clay example, the preoperational child is likely to focus on height or width. The
concrete operational child coordinates information about both dimensions.
▪ One important skill is the ability to classify or divide things into different sets or subsets and to consider
their interrelationships.
▪ Children who have reached the concrete operational stage are also capable of seriation, which is the ability
to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as length).
▪ Another aspect of reasoning about the relations between classes is transitivity, which is the ability to
logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions. (Santrock, 2019)
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and to adapt and learn from experiences. Interest in intelligence has
often focused on individual differences and assessment. Individual differences are the stable, consistent ways in
which people differ from each other (Sackett & others, 2017).
o In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked psychologist Alfred Binet to devise a method of
identifying children who were unable to learn in school.
o Binet and his student Theophile Simon developed an intelligence test to meet this request. The
test is called the 1905 Scale. It consisted of 30 questions on topics ranging from the ability to touch
one’s ear to the ability to draw designs from memory and define abstract concepts.
o Another set of widely used tests to assess students’ intelligence is called the Wechsler scales,
developed by psychologist David Wechsler. They include the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale
of Intelligence—Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) to test children from 2.5 years to 7.25 years of age; the
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition (WISC-V) for children and adolescents 6 to
16 years of age; and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale— Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV).
o The WISC-V now not only provides an overall IQ score but also yields five composite scores (Verbal
Comprehension, Working Memory, Processing Speed, Fluid Reasoning, and Visual Spatial)
(Canivez, Watkins, & Dombrowski, 2017). These scores allow the examiner to quickly see whether
the individual is strong or weak in different areas of intelligence.
Sternberg Triarchic Theory
o Robert J. Sternberg developed the triarchic theory of intelligence, which states that intelligence
comes in three forms: (1) analytical intelligence, which refers to the ability to analyze, judge,
evaluate, compare, and contrast; (2) creative intelligence, which consists of the ability to create,
design, invent, originate, and imagine; and (3) practical intelligence, which involves the ability to
use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice.
o Sternberg (2017a, b, 2018a, b, c, d) says that children with different triarchic patterns “look
different” in school. Students with high analytic ability tend to be favored in conventional
schooling. They often do well under direct instruction, in which the teacher lectures and gives
students objective tests.
o In contrast, children who are high in creative intelligence often are not on the top rung of their
class. Many teachers have specific expectations about how assignments should be done, and
creatively intelligent students may not conform to those expectations. Instead of giving conformist
answers, they give unique answers, for which they might get reprimanded or marked down.
o Like children high in creative intelligence, children with predominantly practical intelligence often
do not relate well to the demands of school. However, many of these children do well outside of
the classroom’s walls.
o Howard Gardner (1983, 1993, 2002, 2016) suggests there are eight types of intelligence, or “frames
of mind.” These are described here, with examples of the types of vocations in which they are
regarded as strengths (Campbell, Campbell, & Dickinson, 2004):
▪ Verbal: The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning. Occupations:
authors, journalists, speakers.
▪ Mathematical: The ability to carry out mathematical operations. Occupations: scientists,
engineers, accountants.
▪ Spatial: The ability to think three-dimensionally. Occupations: architects, artists, sailors.
▪ Bodily-kinesthetic: The ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept.
Occupations: surgeons, craftspeople, dancers, athletes.
▪ Musical: A sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone. Occupations: composers and
musicians.
▪ Interpersonal: The ability to understand and interact effectively with others. Occupations:
successful teachers, mental health professionals.
▪ Intrapersonal: The ability to understand oneself. Occupations: theologians, psychologists.
▪ Naturalist: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and
humanmade systems. Occupations: farmers, botanists, ecologists, landscapers.
According to Gardner, everyone has all of these intelligences to varying degrees. As a result, we prefer to
learn and process information in different ways. People learn best when they can do so in a way that uses
their stronger intelligences. (Santrock, 2019)
EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE
• Intellectual Disability. The most distinctive feature of intellectual disability (formerly called mental
retardation) is inadequate intellectual functioning. Long before formal tests were developed to
assess intelligence, individuals with an intellectual disability were identified by a lack of age-
appropriate skills in learning and caring for themselves.
• Such differences in social competence led psychologists to include deficits in adaptive behavior in
their definition of intellectual disability.
• Intellectual disability is a condition of limited mental ability in which the individual (1) has a low
IQ, usually below 70 on a traditional intelligence test; (2) has difficulty adapting to the demands of
everyday life; and (3) first exhibits these characteristics by age 18 (Heward, Alber-Morgan, &
Konrad, 2017).
• Organic intellectual disability describes a genetic disorder or a lower level of intellectual
functioning caused by brain damage. Down syndrome is one form of organic intellectual disability,
and it occurs when an extra chromosome is present.
• When no evidence of organic brain damage can be found, cases are labeled cultural familial
intellectual disability. Individuals with this type of disability have IQs between 55 and 70.
Psychologists suspect that this type of disability often results from growing up in a below average
intellectual environment. Children with this type of disability can be identified in schools, where
they often fail, need tangible rewards (candy rather than praise), and are highly sensitive to what
others expect of them.
People who are gifted have above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent
for something. There also are increasing calls to further widen the criteria for giftedness to include such
factors as creativity and commitment (Sternberg, 2017c; Sternberg, 2018g; Sternberg & Kaufman,
2018a). Characteristics of giftedness:
o Precocity. Gifted children begin to master an area earlier than their peers. Learning in
their domain is more effortless for them than for ordinary children.
o Marching to their own drummer. Gifted children learn in a qualitatively different way
from ordinary children. One way that they march to a different drummer is that they need
minimal help, or scaffolding, from adults to learn.
o A passion to master. Gifted children are driven to understand the domain in which they
have high ability. They display an intense, obsessive interest and an ability to focus.
• Individuals who are gifted recall that they had signs of high ability in a particular area at a very
young age, prior to or at the beginning of formal training. This suggests the importance of
innate ability in giftedness. However, researchers have also found that individuals with world-
class status in the arts, mathematics, science, and sports all report strong family support and
years of training and practice (Bloom, 1985).
• Individuals who are highly gifted are typically not gifted in many domains, and research on
giftedness is increasingly focused on domain-specific developmental trajectories (Sternberg &
Kaufman, 2018a; Winner, 2014).
LANGAUGE DEVELOPMENT
• Vocabulary
o At about 7 years of age, children begin to respond with a word that is the same part of speech
as the stimulus word. For example, a child may now respond to the word dog with “cat” or
“horse.” To eat, they now might say “drink.” This is evidence that children now have begun to
categorize their vocabulary by parts of speech.
o The process of categorizing becomes easier as children increase their vocabulary (Clark, 2012,
2017). Children’s vocabulary increases from an average of about 14,000 words at age 6 to an
average of about 40,000 words by age 11.
o During the elementary school years, children’s improvement in logical reasoning and
analytical skills helps them understand such constructions as the appropriate use of
comparatives (shorter, deeper) and subjunctives (“If you were president . . .”)
o During the elementary school years, children become increasingly able to understand and use
complex grammar, such as the following sentence: The boy who kissed his mother wore a hat.
They also learn to use language in a more connected way, producing connected discourse.
o These advances in vocabulary and grammar during the elementary school years are
accompanied by the development of metalinguistic awareness, which is knowledge about
language, such as understanding what a preposition is or being able to discuss the sounds of
SELF REGULATION
▪ One of the most important aspects of the self in middle and late childhood is an increased capacity for self-
regulation (Blair, 2017; Galinsky & others, 2017; Neuenschwander & Blair, 2017; Schunk & Greene, 2018;
Usher & Schunk, 2018; Winne, 2018). This increased capacity is characterized by deliberate efforts to
manage one’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts, leading to increased social competence and achievement
(Blair, 2017; Eisenberg, 2017; McClelland & others, 2017; Schunk & Greene, 2018).
▪ A study of almost 17,000 3- to 7-year-old children revealed that self-regulation was a protective factor for
children growing up in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) conditions (Flouri, Midouhas, & Joshi, 2014). In this
study, 7-year-old children with low self-regulation living in low-SES conditions had more emotional
problems than their 3-year-old counterparts with higher self-regulation. Thus, low self-regulation was
linked to a widening gap in low-SES children’s emotional problems over time.
▪ The increased capacity for self-regulation is linked to developmental advances in the brain’s prefrontal
cortex (Bell, Ross, & Patton, 2018; Wendelken & others, 2016).
▪ Increased focal activation in the prefrontal cortex that is linked to improved cognitive control, which
includes self-regulation (Diamond, 2013).
▪ Self-regulation fosters conscientiousness later in life, both directly and through its link to academic
motivation/success and internalized compliance with norms.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
▪ Emotional Changes:
o Improved emotional understanding.
o Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation.
o Increased tendency to be aware of the events leading to emotional reactions.
o Ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions.
o The use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings
o A capacity for genuine empathy.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
▪ Piaget proposed that younger children are characterized by heteronomous morality—but that by 10 years
of age they have moved into a higher stage called autonomous morality. According to Piaget, older children
consider the intentions of the individual, believe that rules are subject to change, and are aware that
punishment does not always follow wrongdoing.
▪ A second major perspective on moral development was proposed by Lawrence Kohlberg (1958, 1986) who
suggested that there are three levels of moral development. These levels, he argued, are universal.
Development from one level to another, is fostered by opportunities to take the perspective of others and
to experience conflict between one’s current level of moral thinking and the reasoning of someone at a
higher level.
▪ A key concept in understanding progression through the levels is that the person’s morality gradually
becomes more internal or mature. That is, their reasons for moral decisions or values begin to go beyond
the external or superficial reasons they gave when they were younger.
▪ Kohlberg’s Three levels of Moral Development:
o Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning Preconventional reasoning is the lowest level of moral
reasoning in Kohlberg’s theory. At this level, children interpret good and bad in terms of external
rewards and punishments. Or they might be nice to others so that others will be nice to them. This
earliest level has sometimes been described as “What’s in it for me?”
o Level 2: Conventional Reasoning Conventional reasoning is the second, or intermediate, level in
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Individuals abide by certain standards (internal), but they
are the standards of others, such as parents or the laws of society.
o Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning Postconventional reasoning is the third and highest level in
Kohlberg’s theory. At this level, morality is more internal. Also, in postconventional reasoning,
individuals engage in deliberate checks on their reasoning to ensure that it meets high ethical
standards.
GENDER
▪ Gender stereotypes are broad categories that reflect our impressions and beliefs about females and males.
▪ By the time children enter elementary school, they have considerable knowledge about which activities are
linked with being male or female. Until about 7 to 8 years of age, gender stereotyping is extensive because
young children don’t recognize individual variations in masculinity and femininity. By 5 years of age, both
boys and girls stereotype boys as powerful and in more negative terms, such as mean, and girls in more
positive terms, such as nice (Martin & Ruble, 2010).
▪ Gender Similarities and Differences
▪ Females
o Women have about twice the body fat of men, most of it concentrated around their breasts and
hips. In males, fat is more likely to go to the abdomen.
o Females have a longer life expectancy than males, and females are less likely than males to develop
physical or mental disorders.
o Female brains are approximately 10 percent smaller than male brains (Giedd, 2012; Giedd &
others, 2012).
o Female brains have more folds; the larger folds (called convolutions) allow more surface brain
tissue within the skulls of females than males (Luders & others, 2004).
o The areas of the brain involved in emotional expression show more metabolic activity in females
than males (Gur & others, 1995).
o Research has shown that in general girls and women have slightly better verbal skills than boys
and men, although in some verbal skill areas the differences are substantial (Blakemore,
Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009). Girls have more negative math attitudes
o There is strong evidence that females outperform males in reading and writing. Girls had higher
reading achievement than did boys in every country (Reilly, 2012).
o Girls earn better grades and complete high school at a higher rate, and they are less likely to drop
out of school than boys are (Halpern, 2012).
o Girls are more likely than boys to be engaged with academic material, be attentive in class, put
forth more academic effort, and participate more in class (DeZolt & Hull, 2001).
▪ Males
o Males grow to be 10 percent taller than females
o From conception on, Males have twice the risk of coronary disease compared with females
o A research review revealed that boys have better visuospatial skills than girls (Halpern & others,
2007). An area of the parietal lobe that functions in visuospatial skills is larger in males than
females (Frederikse & others, 2000).
Boyd, D. G., & Bee, H. L. (2014). The Developing Child Thirteenth Edition. Edinburg: Pearson Education
Limited.
Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2015). Lifespan Development 7th Edition. Essex, England: Pearson Education
LImited.
Feldman, R. S. (2018). Development Across the Life Span (8th ed.). England: Pearson.
Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life Span Development 17th edition. New York: Mcgraw Hill Education.