Psychology for Early Childhood Care

Gesell concluded from his twin study that development proceeds mainly through maturation and that learning requires readiness (maturation theory). Watson stressed experience (environmentalism), Stern held that heredity and environment add together (convergence theory), Jensen argued that the environmental threshold differs by trait (environmental threshold theory), and Portmann called human infants "physiologically premature".

The environmental threshold theory holds that genetic potential appears when the environment passes a certain level (threshold), and that this threshold differs by trait. Explaining development as heredity plus environment is Stern's convergence theory; saying development is decided almost entirely by maturation is close to Gesell's maturation theory; the claim that any child can be made into any specialist is Watson's environmentalism; following the first object seen is Lorenz's imprinting.

Portmann used "physiological premature birth" to describe how humans are born in an immature state compared with other higher mammals and need adult care for a long time. It does not mean medical preterm birth. It does not mean that early-born babies develop more slowly, nor does it limit bonding to a fixed period (a critical period). Human babies cannot walk at birth, so the option saying they can move by themselves right after birth is the opposite of the truth.

Lorenz named the phenomenon in which chicks learn, during a very limited period after hatching, to follow the first moving object they see 'imprinting'. Classical conditioning is Pavlov's form of learning, assimilation is Piaget's term, observational learning is Bandura's idea, and social referencing means using an adult's expression as a cue when unsure; all are different concepts.

The child does not take part in the parent's workplace, but how the parent works affects the child through the home. This kind of environment is called the exosystem. The microsystem is a setting the child directly takes part in, such as home or the day care centre; the mesosystem is the links between microsystems, such as home–centre links; the macrosystem is culture, values and institutions; the chronosystem is change over time.

The commentary explains that children act on their environment based on earlier experiences and develop through interaction with it, and that the term "developmental process" is used to avoid a uniform view based on "can / cannot do". It is not a uniform standard. The Guidelines require "full consideration of individual differences", so ignoring them is wrong. Growth can also move back and forth, so it is not always a straight line.

Watson is the leading figure of environmentalism (behaviourism), which stresses experience, and Stern of convergence theory, which holds that heredity and environment add together. Gesell is associated with maturation theory and Jensen with environmental threshold theory. Portmann is known for "physiological premature birth", not convergence theory.

The commentary states that development has a fairly consistent order and direction, and that physical, motor, emotional, cognitive and social aspects develop together while relating to one another. They are not unrelated. Within one child, aspects can differ (fast language but slow motor skills), and development can move back and forth. Because there is some order, it is not completely unpredictable.

Today, development is generally seen as change that continues from conception to death (lifespan development). It covers psychological change as well as body size. It does not end in adolescence or adulthood, and old age is included. It also includes losses as well as gains.

Learning through senses and movement and acquiring object permanence happens in the sensorimotor stage (about 0–2 years). The preoperational stage is marked by symbolic function and egocentrism, the concrete operational stage by conservation, and the formal operational stage by abstract reasoning. 'Latency' is a stage name from Freud's psychosexual theory, not Piaget's.

The child focuses on one striking feature, the height of the liquid (centration), and does not yet understand conservation of quantity — a feature of the preoperational stage. Object permanence is acquired in the sensorimotor stage and is not the issue here. Hypothetical, abstract reasoning belongs to the formal operational stage, and reversible thinking to the concrete operational stage; this child cannot do these yet. Animism (believing objects have minds) is also preoperational, but it is unrelated to this answer.

The three mountains task examines preoperational egocentrism: difficulty understanding that things look different to someone at another position. Animism is believing objects have minds; object permanence is acquired in the sensorimotor stage; reversibility is a feature of the concrete operational stage; inner speech is Vygotsky's term.

Fitting something new into an existing schema is assimilation. Changing the schema so that cats can later be told apart from dogs is accommodation, and moving toward a more stable state through both is equilibration. Generalization is a conditioning term meaning the same response to similar stimuli, and imitation is copying others' behaviour; neither is Piaget's explanation of this scene.

The zone of proximal development is the area between the level a child can reach alone and the level the child can reach with help from adults or more capable peers. It is not the range of what the child can already do alone, nor what cannot be done even with help. A period in which an experience only works at that time is a critical period, and learning through senses and movement is Piaget's sensorimotor stage.

Vygotsky is known for the zone of proximal development and for the idea that speech is first used as external speech directed at others and later becomes inner speech used for thinking. Object permanence is Piaget's term, psychosocial crisis is Erikson's, and imprinting is Lorenz's.

The task of early childhood is 'autonomy vs. shame and doubt'. Basic trust vs. mistrust belongs to infancy, initiative vs. guilt to the play age (late early childhood), industry vs. inferiority to school age, and identity vs. identity diffusion to adolescence.

A is correct. B is wrong: industry vs. inferiority belongs to school age; the play age is initiative vs. guilt. C is correct. D is wrong: integrity vs. despair belongs to old age; adulthood is generativity vs. stagnation. So the answer is 'A○ B× C○ D×'.

Scaffolding is help from an adult with what a child cannot do alone, reduced as the child becomes able. The term was used by Wood, Bruner and Ross in a 1976 paper and is often linked to the zone of proximal development. Doing things the child can already do is too much help, not scaffolding. Teaching the answer first for memorisation is also different. It is not Piaget's term.

Showing distress at separation, then being comforted on reunion, calming down and returning to exploration is the secure type (Type B). Avoidant children rarely cry at separation and avoid the caregiver on reunion. Ambivalent children seek contact on reunion but angrily push away and do not settle. Disorganized children show behaviour without a coherent pattern. There is no 'shy type'.

The infant monkeys clung for long periods to the cloth mother that gave no milk, and ran to it when frightened. This showed that comfort from soft contact, not only milk (satisfying hunger), matters for attachment. They did not cling to the wire mother, and they clearly showed a difference. Because the result shows the importance of the environment (contact experiences), the idea that attachment is fixed at birth is also wrong.

The internal working model is an inner model — 'Am I someone worth caring for?' 'Can people be relied on?' — built through attachment experiences and thought to underlie later relationships. A figure to return to is the secure base; classifying types by separation and reunion is Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure; individual plans belong to care planning; understanding others' thoughts is theory of mind.

The commentary states that at about 9 months children try to express their intentions through pointing and gestures and come to understand adults' feelings and simple words. About 2–3 months is described as when babies make soft sounds when content, about 4 months as when the head becomes steady and babbling appears, about 6 months as when they recognise familiar faces and show stranger anxiety, and around 1½ years as when self-assertion becomes strong.

Child and adult attending to the same object and mutually understanding this is joint attention, forming a triadic 'self–other–object' relationship. Social referencing means using an adult's expression to decide how to act when unsure, which is different. Parallel play is a play category, egocentrism is a feature of preoperational thinking, and object permanence is knowing objects exist when unseen.

Using an adult's expression or similar cues to decide how to act when unsure is social referencing. Imprinting is following the first object seen in a limited period after hatching; observational learning is acquiring a behaviour by watching others; a one-word sentence is a language stage in which one word conveys a sentence-like meaning; undermining is the weakening of intrinsic motivation by rewards.

For children aged 1 to under 3, the documents note stronger self-assertion from around 1½ years, and the development of symbolic function — such as treating toys as real things — with enjoyment of simple pretend play with adults. Near-independent daily habits and a sense of group membership with cooperative activity are features of children aged 3 and over. Recognising familiar faces and stranger anxiety are infant features (about 6 months).

This is a false-belief task, which examines 'theory of mind': understanding that others can hold beliefs different from one's own (and from reality). To answer correctly, the child must reason that Mika does not know the cookie was moved, so she will look in the blue box. Conservation is knowing quantity is unchanged despite appearance; object permanence is knowing objects exist when unseen; attachment type is assessed with the Strange Situation; the zone of proximal development is Vygotsky's concept.

Babbling is vocalisation before meaningful words; the commentary describes it at about 4 months. A one-word sentence conveys a sentence-like meaning with one word, as when "Mama" means "Mama, come here". Two-word sentences come after babbling and one-word sentences. Pointing is a way of communicating intentions and is closely tied to language development. Generally, words understood increase before words spoken, so understanding does not start after speaking.

Playing similarly beside other children without interacting is parallel play. Onlooker behaviour is watching others play without joining; solitary play is playing one's own game regardless of nearby children; associative play involves talking and sharing but no division of roles; cooperative play has a shared goal and divided roles.

They share a goal (building a shop) and divide roles in an organised way, so this is cooperative play. In associative play, children play together with talk and sharing, but roles and a shared goal are unclear. Parallel play is playing similarly nearby without interacting, onlooker behaviour is just watching, and solitary play is playing alone.

Treating one object as another or taking on a role is symbolic play (pretend play), supported by symbolic function. Functional play is enjoying movement itself, and games with rules involve shared rules and appear later. Cooperative play and onlooker behaviour belong to Parten's classification, not Piaget's.

The 10 images are things nursery teachers consider when guiding children; it is noted that they are not goals to be reached and are not taught by taking items out one by one. So they are not goals for checking whether every item has been reached, and records should not be written item by item. They do not appear suddenly at age 5 but build up from infancy, so they are not only for the 5-year-old class. They are not taught item by item like school subjects.

The 10 images are: a healthy mind and body; independence; cooperativeness; budding morality and sense of norms; connection with social life; budding ability to think; connection with nature and respect for life; interest in and sense of numbers, shapes, signs and letters; communication through words; and rich sensitivity and expression. 'Cooperativeness' and 'budding ability to think' are included. 'Establishing basic daily-life habits' and 'adapting to the group' are not item names. 'Mastering reading, writing and arithmetic' is not an item either; for letters and numbers the aim is to nurture interest and sense.

The Guidelines list "foundations of knowledge and skills", "foundations of the ability to think, judge and express", and "motivation to learn and humanity". Because this is early childhood, the first two include "foundations of". "Health", "human relationships" and "environment" are areas of care content; "maintaining life" and "emotional stability" are the content of nurturing care (養護); "cooperativeness" and "rich sensitivity and expression" are items of the 10 images.

Giving rewards for an activity that was originally enjoyed for its own sake (intrinsic motivation) can reduce spontaneous engagement once the rewards stop. This is the undermining effect, known from Deci's research. Observational learning is acquiring behaviour by watching others; classical conditioning is learning by linked stimuli shown by Pavlov; imprinting is Lorenz's concept; social referencing is using adults' expressions as cues.

Bandura showed observational learning (modelling): acquiring behaviour just by watching others. Pavlov is known for classical conditioning, Skinner for operant conditioning, Gesell for maturation theory, and Deci for the undermining effect.

The Vision states that play is not something children are made to do for some effect but is an end in itself. The Guidelines set out, as a method of care, providing care holistically through daily life and play so that children gain experiences suited to early childhood. Since learning in early childhood happens through play, separating play and learning is wrong. Nursery teachers have the role of arranging an environment children engage with on their own. The commentary warns against leaning toward acquiring specific knowledge or abilities.

Family systems theory sees the family as one unit whose members influence each other, and holds that problems continue within family relationships as each person's behaviour is both cause and effect (circular causality). This differs from blaming one person or from linear, one-way causation. Since members influence one another, saying they are independent is the opposite. It is not a view that heredity decides problems.

Chapter 4 lists as a basic principle 'accepting the parents' feelings and, based on mutual trust, respecting the parents' self-determination'. Making parents follow the teacher's policy, or pointing out problems and instructing them to change, does not fit respect for self-determination. The Guidelines call for sharing children's daily lives through everyday opportunities, so being involved only when asked is wrong. They also set out individual support considering each family's situation, so identical support for all does not fit.

The Guidelines state that when abuse is suspected, the centre should 'promptly notify the municipality or the child guidance centre and respond appropriately'. Waiting for proof, requiring parental consent, or resolving it within the centre do not match the Guidelines. The commentary also notes that daily observation and records can serve as supporting material in responding to abuse, so keeping no records is wrong.

Article 2(2) of the Act defines a 'child with developmental disabilities' as a person with developmental disabilities who is under 18. 'Aged 18 or younger' would include 18-year-olds, so it differs from the text. Under 15, under 20, and before primary school are not the definitions in this Act.

The Guidelines require understanding each child's developmental process and condition, 'placing their care within the guidance plan so that children with disabilities can grow together through life with other children', and taking appropriate steps such as preparing individual support plans in cooperation with families and related agencies. Separate care as a rule, not sharing plans with families and agencies, or leaving the care out of the guidance plan do not fit this. The Guidelines base consideration on understanding the child's condition and do not make a diagnosis a condition.

Observing behaviour as it naturally occurs in everyday settings, without setting conditions, is naturalistic observation. Experimental observation sets up controlled situations. The questionnaire method collects answers to questions, the interview method asks people directly, and the testing method uses standardised tests. For understanding infants and young children, who find it hard to explain themselves in words, naturalistic observation is central.

The task of adulthood is 'generativity vs. stagnation', centred on concern for raising and guiding the next generation. Intimacy vs. isolation belongs to young adulthood, integrity vs. despair to old age, industry vs. inferiority to school age, and identity vs. identity diffusion to adolescence.

Recording observations, rereading them and reflecting on one's practice to improve the next round of care, and talking among staff to understand children from many angles are key methods. The Guidelines ask that self-evaluation consider 'not only the content and results of activities but also children's emotional growth, motivation and the process of their efforts', so looking only at results is wrong. Views should be reviewed rather than fixed after one observation. The Guidelines call for mutual understanding with parents, so not sharing with them is also wrong.

The Guidelines state that 'for children under 3, individual plans should be made based on each child's history of growth, physical and mental development, actual activities and so on', because individual differences are large at this age. A whole-class plan only, nationwide age standards, using parents' plans as they are, or using the same plan as for older children are not in the Guidelines.