Middle childhood.

Essay by rezindwogUniversity, Bachelor's May 2003

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Middle childhood

Middle childhood comprises a number of distinctive and important transformations in human development. Many studies of cognitive development have involved children from ages six to twelve. Several distinctive qualities of children emerge especially from this period of time. There are numerous development changes that occur during the middle childhood, which are distinctive to this period and must be recognised as distinctive to this period.

"Any division of human development into age periods is arbitrary from the perspective of current knowledge about developmental change"(Berk, L.E, 1994). Some features of middle childhood can be noticed and distinguished from the early childhood years. Middle childhood emerges from three general themes (Nicki R.C. & Kenneth A.D, 1994) From around age six to seven, children show skills and characteristic modes of thought and behavior that are different significantly with type patterns before age five. Earlier periods, appear to be processes of consolidation, extension and integration operating on social and personal knowledge, skills, emotions and modes of response and interaction.

Secondly, middle childhood is a time of marked changes in marked changes in capacities and typical behavior. These years cannot be considered a time of homogeneous functioning. It is because; it is a time during which major transformations in abilities take place, especially in cognitive behavior (Shantz, C., 1983). Thirdly, development in middle childhood appears to have considerable significance for behavioral orientations, success and adjustment in adolescence and adulthood (Shantz, C., 1983).

Social cognition is the mechanisms leading to social behaviors that, in turn, are the bases of social adjustments (Nicki R.C. et al, 1994). As David G. Perry and Kay Bussey (cited Nicki R.C. et al, 1994), indicate that the fundamentals of social cognition are social schemas. A child's social schemas become more multitudinous and sophisticated as the child develops. There are basically...