Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Lecture Notes
Chapter 4: Early Childhood
Learning Objectives
4.1: Compare one’s own emotional and cognitive reactions to three case studies.
4.2: Summarize typical physical, cognitive and language, moral, personality and
emotional, and social development during early childhood.
4.3: Describe the role of play in early childhood development.
Chapter Summary
As you read this chapter, take note of these central ideas:
1. Typical development is in many ways defined by the environment and culture in
which the child is raised. In addition, although growth and development in young
children have some predictability and logic, the timing and expression of many
developmental skills vary from child to child.
4. As young children struggle to discover stability and regularity in the environment,
they are often rigid in their use of rules and stereotypes.
5. Regardless of country of residence or culture, all children aged 3–6 engage in
spontaneous play.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
A. Case Studies 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3
i. 4.1 Terri’s Terrible Temper
II. Typical Development in Early Childhood
i. Transition to finding regularity in the external world
ii. The literature suggests a variety of early childhoods based on
geography, race, class, and gender rather than one universal model
A. Physical Development
iii. Changing growth and eating patterns from infancy and toddlerhood to
early childhood
viii. Brain plasticity and vulnerability
ix. Gross motor skills: skills that require use of the large muscle groups
x. Fine motor skills: skills that require use of the small muscle groups
such as hands, wrists, and fingers and involve hand-eye coordination
xi. Exhibit 4.1 Gross Motor and Fine Motor Skills in Early Childhood
B. Cognitive and Language Development
xii. Categorization of ideas, memory, curiosity, and imaginative thinking
xiii. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development: preconceptual and intuitive
stages
xiv. Transductive reasoning: way of thinking about two or more
experiences without using abstract logic
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
a. Children’s awareness of their own and other people’s mental
xix. Language skills
a. Language is used to communicate cognitive interpretations to
others
b. Language learning in children is nonformal and differs by child
and language
xx. Overregularization: the overregular use of rules as they pertain to
specific aspects of learning
C. Moral Development
xxiv. Three components of moral development: knowledge of community’s
moral code, emotional capacity to care about others, and actions to
inhibit negative impulses
xxviii. Exhibit 4.2 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
xxix. Empathy: the ability to understand another person’s emotional
condition
xxx. Perspective taking: the ability to see a situation from another person’s
point of view
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
b. Impact of overreacting or underreacting to child emotion
xxxv. Aggression
a. Instrumental aggression: a fight over objects or space
xxxvi. Attachment
a. Infant and toddler attachment effects on developmental
trajectory
E. Social Development
xxxvii. Peer relations
a. Peer acceptance, sex-homogenous groups, rejection, and
relationship security
xxxviii. Self-concept
a. Self-theory: an understanding of the self in relation to the
xxxix. Gender role development
a. Correct use of gender label, understanding gender as stable,
understanding gender constancy, and understanding the genital
basis of gender
b. Five different concepts pertaining to gender and sex
xl. Racial and ethnic identity
a. Racial group identification typically appears earlier than ethnic
group identification
b. Self-esteem development in minority children
F. The Role of Play
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
xliv. Play as an opportunity to explore reality
xlv. Play’s contribution to cognitive development
a. Learning play: play focused on language and thinking skills
G. Developmental Delays and Disabilities
li. Disabilities result from an interaction between personal and
environment factors and health conditions
III. Early Childhood Education
i. Emphasis on the benefits of early education and later life outcomes
ii. U.S. rankings in early education categories
IV. Early Childhood in the Multigenerational Family
i. Parents are educators and advocates for children between 3 and 5
ii. Grandparents as primary caregivers
iii. Emotional impact on children of being raised by grandparents
V. Risks to Healthy Development in Early Childhood
i. Poverty
a. Inadequate nutrition, restrictions on play, inadequate health
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
b. Inability of parents to provide the care their children need
B. Ineffective Discipline
i. Discipline: the methods a parent uses to teach and socialize children
toward acceptable behavior
ii. Authoritarian parenting: uses low warmth and high control
iii. Authoritative parenting: warm and sensitive to the child’s needs but
C. Divorce and Parental Relationship Dissolution
i. Divorce and relationship dissolution is a process comprised of legal
divorce, physical divorce, financial divorce, emotional divorce, social
D. Violence
i. Community violence
a. Effects of community violence on brain and nervous system
b. Resilience through the presence of a supportive adult, a safe
haven, and personal protective factors enable children to cope
iii. Child maltreatment
a. Child maltreatment: the abuse, neglect, or psychological
maltreatment of a child
VI. Protective Factors in Early Childhood
i. Exhibit 4.6 Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment at the Child, Parent,
Community, and Societal Level
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
ii. Exhibit 4.7 Potential Effects of Child Abuse on Growth and
Development
iii. Protective factors include:
a. Social support
b. Positive parent–child relationship