Child Psychology

COHORT A cohort refers to a group of people that were born at the same period of time. They are likely to share some common experiences such as social, cultural, and historical influences that are unique to them. Examples of ... [full story]

Reflectivity and Impulsivity Reflectivity and impulsivity are polar ends of a spectrum in a third and very substantial cognitive style. Studies in this domain began in the early 1960s with several researchers, such as Jerome Kagan. One of the methods ... [full story]

Field-Dependence and Field- Independence Another area where individuals show differences in their abilities to discriminate events or visual, auditory, or tactile cues from their surrounding environments is known as field-dependence/fieldindependence. Herman Witkin conducted much of the original research in this ... [full story]

Leveling and Sharpening Leveling and sharpening is a cognitive style that represents the way in which an individual uses previous memories when attempting to assimilate new information with prior knowledge. This cognitive style was described in the mid-1950s and was ... [full story]

COGNITIVE STYLE How can several people look at one common object and describe it correctly, yet in so many different ways? Why is it that people exhibit the same variability when experiencing identical events? Psychologists believe that individual biological and ... [full story]

Implications of Cognitive Development for Schooling and Parenting Research in cognitive development prompted by information-processing theories, Piaget’s stage theory, and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory have not only informed the work of developmental psychologists but also proved useful in schools and to ... [full story]

Information-Processing Theories Vygotsky believed the influence of the environment was crucial for development, whereas Piaget believed that the child’s ability to independently explore her world was important. Although neither researcher emphasized the role of physiological changes in the brain and ... [full story]

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Vygotsky’s theory emphasized the influence of culture, peers, and adults on the developing child. To understand this influence, Vygotsky proposed the ‘‘zone of proximal development.’’ This zone refers to the difference in a child’s performance when she ... [full story]

Beyond Piaget The work examining children’s ‘‘theory of mind’’ is one example of how cognitive development research at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century has moved away from experiments designed to test Piaget’s ... [full story]

Critiques of Piaget’s Theory Piaget is widely recognized for his substantial contribution to the study of cognitive development. 88 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT His experiments laid the foundation for much of the early work that examined cognitive development. During the 1970s and ... [full story]

Piaget’s Four Stages The sensorimotor stage describes the years from birth to about age two. During this time the infant learns to coordinate the visual and tactile information she receives from the world around her with her emerging motor skills. ... [full story]

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Piaget is considered the father of cognitive development because his studies were the first to examine children’s thinking and because he offered a comprehensive theory of how cognition changed over time. His theory of cognitive ... [full story]

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT It does not take an expert to observe the many magnificent changes that take place in a human being from the time of birth through early childhood and beyond. Parents lovingly mark these changes in baby books and ... [full story]

CLEFT LIP/CLEFT PALATE A cleft lip is a birth defect that occurs when the lip and the front part of the dental arch fail to form and fuse correctly. Cleft palate is the failure of the back part of the ... [full story]

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Classical conditioning is a basic behavioral process in which stimuli come to evoke responses: When an object or event (such as food) that already evokes a behavior (such as salivation) is associated with one that does not (such ... [full story]

CIRCUMCISION Circumcision in the United States refers to the removal of foreskin from the glans (head) of the penis. This is a surgical procedure, primarily performed in neonates. Developmentally, the foreskin becomes retractable by three years of age. Neonatal circumcision ... [full story]

CHRONOLOGICAL AGE Chronological age refers to the period that has elapsed beginning with an individual’s birth and extending to any given point in time. Chronological age is used in research and in test norm development as a measure to group ... [full story]

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is the clearest and most comprehensive expression of what the world community wants for its children. It arose in the 1970s as a reaction to the weakening ... [full story]

CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL HEALTH CARE NEEDS Children with special health care needs include those with chronic illnesses (i.e., asthma, sickle cell anemia, diabetes), physical disabilities (i.e., cerebral palsy, spina bifida), and developmental/emotional disabilities (i.e., autism, Down syndrome). As advances in ... [full story]

Child Support All states require that parents support their children financially until they reach the age of majority (age eighteen) and in some instances even longer if the child has special needs. Noncustodial parents are typically required to pay child ... [full story]

Evaluation of Various Custody Arrangements Because of the great diversity of individual and family characteristics it is not possible to make a generalization that one custody type is better for all children or all parents. Nevertheless, when examining research on ... [full story]

The Number of Children in Custody Allocations The exact number of children involved in custody allocations is not known. Reporting is not uniform, consistent, or comprehensive within and across states. Based on figures from the National Center for Health Statistics, ... [full story]

Factors in Determining the Child’s Best Interest The majority (an estimated 90%) of custody cases are settled according to parents’ wishes. The court will accept whatever parents agree on. This process has been criticized because it does not necessarily ensure ... [full story]

Historical Overview of Custody Law What constitutes the ‘‘child’s best interests’’ has been marked by great ideological shifts. Until the mid-nineteenth century, fathers were unequivocally favored in custody decisions and mothers had virtually no rights. Under English law, upon which ... [full story]

CHILD CUSTODY AND SUPPORT Child custody refers to the legal and physical rights and responsibilities parents have with respect to their child. Legal child custody refers to the right to make all major decisions regarding the child’s health, welfare, education, ... [full story]

Prevention of Maltreatment Unfortunately, there is little data on how to prevent child maltreatment. Home visiting programs have shown the most promise in the primary prevention of maltreatment, which is preventing abuse or neglect before it occurs. Home visiting programs ... [full story]

Developmental Perspectives of Child Maltreatment It is very important to have an understanding of the relationship between child development and child maltreatment. Childhood is typically a time of rapid change and growth. Each stage of development brings new challenges and ... [full story]

Incidence of Child Maltreatment Annual data on the occurrence of child maltreatment in the United States are collected and analyzed by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). This is a systematic, nationwide effort that was launched to ... [full story]

CHILD ABUSE The world in which many children live is punctuated by violent act after violent act. In many situations children become victims of this violence. Some children have been the direct targets of an act of violence, while other ... [full story]

CESAREAN DELIVERY There are two ways that a baby can be born. The most common way is through the mother’s birth canal. This is known as vaginal birth. The other way is by means of incisions made in the mother’s ... [full story]

CATTELL, JAMES (1860–1944) Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1860, J. McKeen Cattell was the fourth president of the American Psychological Association (1896) and the first psychologist elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1901. He was ... [full story]

BRUNER, JEROME (1915–) Jerome Bruner was born October 15, 1915 in New York, the youngest of four children in a ‘‘nominally observant’’ Jewish family. He was a leading voice in the cognitive revolution that overtook psychology in the 1960s, ending ... [full story]