Megan Troy

Text-based Analysis
1. Cognitive Development
a. Four Stages of Cognitive Development
i. The book says that children from ages 7 to 11 are in
Piagets concrete operational stage. It says that children in
this stage are now able to use mental operations to solve
problems and reason. Mental operations are strategies
and rules that make thinking more systematic and more
powerful (pg. 177). Some mental operations apply to
numbers and the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division of them. Collin displayed that he was able to
perform mental operations with numbers when we played
a game with the football where we had to add up two
points for throwing at someones chest and three points at
someones head. He was able to use addition to add up his
points and my sister Brianas points all at the same time.
He was even able to know if one of us was not calculating
our points correctly by gaging around how many points we
should have relative to his points. The book also said that
for children at the concrete operational stage thinking
abstractly and hypothetically is beyond [their] ability (pg.
177). I saw this when I showed Collin optical illusions. He
was unable to see anything out of the ordinary and could
only see one thing in each picture. He had a hard time
thinking abstractly and finding the illusions within the
pictures. Even when I gave him hints, he still struggled to
find them while the older members of the family behind us
were able to discover them with ease. However, he did not
completely match up with the book with his ability to think
hypothetically. Children and adolescents age 11 and above
are in Piagets formal operational stage where they can
think hypothetically and reason deductively (pg. 177).
Although Collin is 10, there was evidence of him being able
to use hypothetical thinking when we played the board
game Would You Rather. When asked hypothetical
questions like Would you rather forget your spouses
birthday or buy a dress for her that is 3 sizes too big, he
was able to think of the future negative consequences of

buying a dress too big for his wife and making her feel
like he thought she was fat. Also, when we played the
Conditions game, he displayed more hypothetical thinking
by being able to think of many alternative possibilities to
the hypothetical questions. When we started talking about
what he would do in the event of a zombie apocalypse, he
was able to show that he could envision alternative
realities and examine the consequences of those
propositions (pg. 178) because he was able to think about
what could happen or change and plan how he would react
or what he would do to survive in those circumstances.
b. Vygotsky
i. The text says that the difference between what a child can
do on her/his own and what she/he can do with assistance
is called the zone of proximal development (pg. 183). I saw
the zone of proximal development when I had Collin try to
figure out the optical illusions. By himself he had a hard
time understanding them, but when I was able to step in
and give him hints and guidance, he was able to find
almost all of the illusions. The difference in his level of
performance when he did it alone and when he worked
under my guidance were great. This affirms Vygotskys
sociocultural perspective that says that childrens
cognitive development is not brought about by social
interaction, it is inseparable from the cultural contexts in
which children live (pg. 182). Vygotsky believes children
learn from guidance of more skilled adults or peers. I also
saw this when I had him list as many birds as he could
think of on his own and then gave him hints to see how
much more he could come up with. When his parents told
him to think of the coast, he was able to come up with
many more bird names from his trips to the coast. I was
also able to use scaffolding while working with him.
Scaffolding refers to a teaching style that matches the
amount of assistance to the learners needs (pg. 184).
When we first looked back over the optical illusions, I had
to give him a lot of direct instruction to help him see the
illusions. I had to point to and explain images pretty
thoroughly for him to finally see the illusion. However, after
we had done a few, I was able to back off and just say a

word or hold the picture back, so he could find the illusion

himself.
c. Information Processing
i. The book says that humans have long-term memory that
acts as a limitless, permanent storehouse of knowledge of
the world (pg. 186). It holds facts, personal events, and
skills that are rarely forgotten but sometimes hard to
access. I saw Collins long-term memory when I asked him
about memories form a personal event that happened
when he was younger. He told me all about his disturbing
injury down to the finest, most grueling details. He
remembers facts of what happened during the day and
even little things that were said and done. I was also able
to see his inhibitory processing throughout the observation.
Inhibitory processes prevent task-irrelevant information
from entering the working memory (pg. 189). I was able
to see this when he was able to pay attention to the task I
was giving him and tune out all of the other distraction
around us. When we were talking and my family was also
having other conversations, moving, and getting things
ready for the game around us, he was still able to pay
attention to our conversation or the game that we were
playing at that time. Not many disruptions or irrelevant
stimulation were able to intrude on his working memory
and steal his attention away from what we were doing. The
book says executive functioning is defined by inhibitory
processes along with planning and cognitive flexibility
(pg.189). I saw this with Collin when he was able to
problem solve when we did not have dice for the
Conditions game. He was able to problem-solve and
create a plan to use a quarter instead to find out how many
spaces we would move. If we got heads we would move up
once and if we got tails we would move up twice. He was
also able to show that he could plan when we talked about
the zombie apocalypse. Whenever I brought up concerns,
like the zombies infiltrating his camp, he was able to adjust
his plans and think of things like using a helicopter to get
away. The book also talks about automatic processing as
cognitive activities that require virtually no effort (pg.
189). I was able to see this when we were playing with the

football. Throwing the football had become automatic to

him because he had done it so much already in his life. He
was able to talk, think about other things, and add up
multiple peoples scores while he threw because it was
natural for him. The rest of us were thinking about our form
and focusing on throwing, so we had a hard time
remembering our scores and doing other things while
playing the game.
2. Gender Development
a. Gender related differences
i. The book says how there are gender differences in grossmotor skills that require strength; boys normally perform
better. It also says that boys are able to throw and jump
farther than girls because they are usually larger and
stronger than girls (pg. 413). I saw this in the way that
Collin was able to throw the football. He was very
coordinated and had a really strong throw opposed to the
girls less coordinated and less strong throws. Also, the
book talks about physical aggression being far more
common among boys (pg. 417). I could see this in Collin
when we talked about his sports. He is very active in sports
and has great sportsmanship. However, he did say that he
got competitive and at school, they would play any way
they like and bend the rules to be more aggressive. The
book says that girls rely more on relational aggression. I
could see this when Collin was talking about the girl in his
class who always tells on him even when he does nothing
wrong. She tries to get at him by talking bad about him
and getting him in trouble by the teacher but he did not
understand that.
b. Peer influence and interaction
i. The book says that by age three, most childrens play
shows the impact of gender stereotypes (pg. 422). I could
see how Collins gender affected what he played on the
playground. Since he is a boy, him and the other guys in
his class play basketball, football, kickball, or other sports
during recess. He describes his friends who are guys as
funny, cool, and athletic. The boys that play Pokmon at
recess instead of sports with the other guys are thought of
as weird or nerds. Also, the book says that by age 10 or 11,
the vast majority of peer activity is with same-sex

children, and most of this involves sex-typed play (pg.

423). I saw this when Collin talked about how him and his
guy friends play football. He also talked about how he is
well liked by guys and not girls because girls do not have a
sense of humor and need a humor transplant. All the
friends he showed me were guys and a lot of the people he
did not like were girls. The girls seemed to get on his
nerves.
c. Gender roles and stereotypes
i. The book says that by age 4, children have knowledge of
gender stereotypic activities (pg. 342). I could see this in
Collin when I asked him if he would rather play football or
play house or chat about life. He did not want to do the
latter two because they were embarrassing and he was not
a girl. He understood that those last two activities were
stereotypical girl things to do. The book also says that
during elementary school years, children come to know
stereotypical gender behaviors and traits. He knew it was
more of a girl thing to be expressive and talk about our
lives. He also knew that girls normally could not throw as
well as boys. He demonstrated this by telling me not to
throw like a girl while we played football. Lastly, the book
talks about how older children can understand that traits
and occupations associated with males have higher social
status and that stereotypes are not necessarily binding
(pg. 342). Collin demonstrated this when I quizzed him with
the Gender Beliefs Interview. He asked me during it if he
could pick both male and female for some of the traits,
occupations, and activities that I gave him, but I told him to
pick one. He was supposed to tell me if it was more of a
male thing or a female thing. He chose mostly male for
things that were stereotypically male things and mostly
female for things that were stereotypically female things.
However, he showed that stereotypes can be broken when
he chose male for wearing pink because he likes pink
himself! Although pink is stereotypically a girl color, he
understood that boys can like pink too. He had hard times
with some of them and truly hesitated before he picked
anything because he knew both guys and girls could do
them. For instance, he knew both girls and guys could

become doctors or nurses, so he had a hard time just

choosing one.
d. Gender identity
i. The books talks about how in gender-schema theory,
children first decide if an object, activity, or behavior is
female or male, then use this information to decide
whether or not they should learn more about the object,
activity, or behavior (pg. 425). I saw this when Collin
decided that playing house or chatting about our life were
girl things. Since he called them girl things, he did not want
to do them. He wanted to do an activity that was more of a
guy thing like football. He had no interest about learning
more about girl activities.
3. Moral Understanding and Behavior
a. Self-control
i. The book says that self-control is the ability to control
ones behavior and to inhibit responding to temptations
(pg. 373). It also talks about how self-control emerges early
on but is mastered as the years go on. I could see Collin
display self-control when he was waiting for his turn while
playing Would You Rather with my sister Briana who has
Down syndrome. She took a lot longer to read the cards
and to make her decisions, but he waited extremely
patiently for his turn instead of trying to hurry her or going
on to his turn. I also saw how he exhibited self-control
when he waited until the very end of our time together to
play football. We had the football in the room, and he knew
that we would eventually get to that, but I had him sit
through a bunch of silly games before it to figure other
things out. He was definitely ready to go outside and play
with the football by the end, but he was so patient and selfcontrolled throughout our time together. He did not
complain or ask if we could play with it right then but
waited for delayed gratification.
b. Prosocial behavior
i. The book defines prosocial behavior as actions that
benefit others and altruism is a type of prosocial
behavior that helps another with no direct benefit to the
individual (pg. 387). I definitely saw these at work with
Collin. While we were playing the board game, he was very
patient with and helpful for my sister with Down syndrome.

He also talked about the boy with autism in his classroom

that he helped out and walked different places. He was
very excited that he got the opportunity to do that and it
was obvious he really cared about the boy. He also talked
about how he could help teammates with certain
weaknesses if that was his strength. He really appreciated
teamwork and showed that when we played football. He
counted Brianas points even though he did not have to.
These instances were all done on his own initiative and are
actions that help others but bring no direct benefit to him.
He did not receive any reward for helping Briana, the boy
in his class, or his teammates, but he did it out of his own
good will. He had empathy for the boy in his class that
needed help getting places and needed friends, and he
acted upon it by taking up the responsibility of helping him.
c. Aggression
i. The book says that aggression is behavior meant to harm
others (pg. 393). In contrast, assertive behaviors are
goal-directed actions to further the legitimate interests of
individuals or the groups they represent, while respecting
the rights of other persons (pg. 393). Collin did not exhibit
any type of aggression during our time together. He talked
about being aggressive during sports but only in a good
way to get the ball. Since he respected the rights of the
other players and was trying to win the ball to help his
team achieve the goal of winning, I believe he was talking
more about assertive behaviors. He said he was not a sore
loser and his mom agreed, but he said that some of his
teammates are sore losers and get mad if they do not do
well. His teammates would be demonstrating reactive
aggression. They are reacting angrily to losing. It is good
that he did not exhibit signs of being an aggressive child
because highly aggressive children often grow up to be
adults who are aggressive, violent, and commit crimes
(pg. 394).
d. Moral Understanding and development
i. In Piagets view children progress to the stage of moral
realism at age 8. This is where they understand that rules
are created by people to help them get along (pg. 379).
They are able to understand the needs for rules and why

they are in place. Collin demonstrated moral realism when

I asked him if he wanted to make rules for a game with the
football. He said he did want to make rules and when I
asked him why, he told me because somebody could get
hurt if you do not have them. He understood that you need
rules to keep everyone safe. With Kohlbergs theory, the
conventional level of moral development moral decision
making is based on social norms [and] what is expected by
others (pg. 381). Collin demonstrated that he was at the
conventional level of moral development because he
wanted to have rules to maintain order and promote the
good of others. He knew the importance of rules to keep
people safe, so he thought that we should follow rules for
our game. He learned this by looking at social norms and
looking at all the games and sports he has been involved
in. He is very athletic and talked a lot about the sports he
played in and out of school where they also followed rules.
In Giligans ethic of caring, he explains how reasoning
about moral issues is often rooted in concern for others
(pg. 383). Although Giligan did his research with females, I
saw Collins compassion for others drive his actions when
he talked about helping out the boy with Autism in his
school. He cared about him and was driven to do things
like walk him where he needed to go and help him during
class because of that caring attitude.
4. Beyond the Family
a. Friendship
i. The book says that for children around ages 8 to 11,
friendships consist of mutual liking and shared activities
are joined by trust and assistance (pg. 474). I could see
this with Collin because he definitely had a mutual liking
with his friends. He described them as funny and cool. He
talked about the boy that was a troublemaker and
smashed an egg on his head as being his friend. He
seemed very proud of his friends actions and laughed
talking about them. He talked about another one of his
friends Hayden being the king of comebacks. He also found
a lot of his friends by having shared activities with them . A
lot of his friends were from school and they liked to play
football, basketball, and kickball together during recess. He

described his friends as being athletic. They enjoy doing

sports together. He also has a good friend named Alec from
his neighborhood and friends from his sports team. He
seemed to really admire and trust his friends. He definitely
emphasized teamwork with the sports he played at school
and on organized teams. The boys gave each other help
when needed and worked together to build up strengths
and win. He said they needed to help each other out. You
have to have trust to let someone else help you with a
weakness you may have, and he said that they help each
other with those and work together all the time. The book
also says that childrens friendships are overwhelmingly
with members of their own sex (pg. 475). This is very true
for Collin seeing as all the friends he named were boys. He
also said that the girls at his school needed humor
transplants and most of the people he showed me in his
yearbook that he did not like were girls.
b. Popularity and rejection
i. Popular children are well-like among their classmates (pg.
482). When Collin talked about the popular boy at his
school, he affirmed this statement by saying that everyone
likes him. In contrast, rejected children are disliked by most
of their classmates. When I asked him about who was
rejected or who people do not like in his school, he showed
me the kids that play Pokmon during recess. He called
them awkward because they did that while everyone else
was playing football. However, he said that they had each
other as friends. He did not talk about them being
aggressive, but they are not liked because they do not fit
social-norms and are withdrawn from what the other boys
are doing. He said that they are too old for playing
Pokmon at recess. This shows that these kids do not mold
to the social norms at their school.
c. Peer influence and interaction
i. The book talks about peer interactions developing into
cooperative play after a child turns two. Cooperative play
happens when children organize their play around a
distinct theme and take on special roles based on the
theme (pg. 470). After age 6, children will choose samesex peers to play with two-thirds of the time (pg. 470).

Collin demonstrated this when he told me how he loves to

play sports in and out of school. He played along with
others, mostly other boys, to reach a common goal. His
team all played different positions but used teamwork to
achieve their goal of winning. Even though he talked about
most of his friends being of the same sex, he also enjoyed
playing with Briana, Christina, and I who are all girls!