Cognitive Development, Resúmenes de Desarrollo Cognitivo

¡Descarga Cognitive Development y más Resúmenes en PDF de Desarrollo Cognitivo solo en Docsity! COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT — SUMMARY LESSON 1: Introduction to developmental psychology - Development is… • systematic continuities & changes that occur between conception & death - systematic —> orderly, patterned, relatively enduring (excludes: temporary mood swings + other transitory changes in appearance, thoughts, behaviours) - continuities —> we remain the same or continue to reflect our past • causes: - maturation —> in body/behaviour - learning —> experiences produce relatively permanent changes in feelings/thoughts/behaviours • we change in response to our environments (in response to actions/reactions of the ppl around us) • MOST developmental changes are the product of both maturation + learning - *Extra: Critical Period • a time in the early stages of an organism’s life during which it displays a heightened sensitivity to certain environmental stimuli, & develops in particular ways due to experiences at this time • if the organism doesn’t receive appropriate stimulus in this period, it may be difficult to develop some functions later in life • feral/wild child —> lived isolated from human contact at a very young age, little or no experience of human care/loving/social behaviour and human language - Basic Observations about the Character of Development • continual & cumulative process - the one constant is change - on life periods —> prenatal, infancy (birth-18months), toddlerhood (18months-3yo), preschool period (3-5yo), middle childhood (5-12yo), adolescence (12-20yo), young adulthood (20-40yo), middle age (40-65yo), old age (65-…) • a holistic process - unified view —> emphasises interrelationships among the physical-mental-social-emotional aspects of human development • plasticity - capacity for change in response to life experiences • historical/cultural context - cultural socialisation has influence on the attributes + competencies that individuals display - example: families experiences affect the ways that family functions are carried out - only by adopting a historical/cultural perspective we can fully appreciate the richness & diversity of human development - Research Designs for Studying Development • developmentalists HOPE to determine how ppl’s feelings/thoughts/abilities/behaviours develop/change over time… • cross-sectional design - different age levels studied at the same point in time - different cohorts = group of ppl of the same age who are exposed to similar cultural environment - this often identifies age-related changes in any aspect of development • longitudinal design - same participants are observed repeated times - assess stability/continuity of many attributes - identify normative developmental trend & processes by looking for commonalities - helps to understand individual differences Page of 1 23 • sequential design - combines cross-sectional + longitudinal studies - selects participants of different ages and follows these cohorts over time • micro genetic design - for children’s cognitive development —> their behaviour is monitored as it’s changing - used in an attempt to illuminate the processes that are thought to promote developmental changes - cognitive theorists —> to specify how children come to rely on new + more efficient strategies for solving problems - a promising new approach* LESSON 2: Main Theories in Developmental Psychology - Piaget’s Perspective (on intelligence & intellectual growth) • is a blueprint that describes the normal stages of intellectual development: children are independent explorers who make critical discoveries not heir own • all children progress through the same stages —> universal cognitive structures • it ignores social + cultural influences on human development • involves large qualitative changes - Vigotsky’s Theory & Sociocultural Influences • focuses on “how culture is transmitted” from generation to generation • cognitive growth as a socially mediated activity • new skills children master through their interactions with more competent ppl are often specific to their culture - Information Processing Theory • human mind = computer • cognitive development as the age-related changes that occur in the mind’s hardware (brain, PNS) & software (mental processes) • like Piaget —> biological maturation is important for cognitive growth • unlike Piaget —> maturation of the brain & NS enables processing info faster
 cognitive development is a continuous process that isn’t stage-like (strategies evolve) Start Piagetian concept Definiton Example . . . Equilibrium harmony between one’s scheme & one’s experience they see a bird flying, so everything that flies is a bird Assimilation tries to adapt to new experience by interpreting it in terms of existing schemes seeing an airplane flying prompts the child to call it a bird Accommodation modifies existing schemes to better account for puzzling new experience but the new bird (airplane) has no feathers… so it’s not a bird, they invent a new name for it Finish Organisation rearranges existing schemes into new and more complex structures forms hierarchical scheme consisting of superordinate class (flying objects) and 2 subordinate classes (bird + airplane) Approximate Age Stage Primary Schemes/Methods of Representing Experience Birth—2yo Sensorimotor infants use sensory & motor capabilities to explore and gain a basic understanding of the environment. At first, they only have innate reflexes to engage in the world. By the end of this stage, they’re capable of complex sensorimotor coordinations 2—7yo Preoperational they use symbolism to represent & understand the environment. They respond to objects and events according to the way things appear to be. But is egocentric, children think everyone sees the world the way they see it 7—11/12yo Concrete operations they acquire & use cognitive operations (mental activities that are components of logical thought) 11/12— beyond Formal operations their cognitive operations are reorganised in a way that allows them to operate on operations (think about thinking). It’s systematic & abstract Page of 2 23 - Piaget’s stages of Cognitive Development (focus on sensorimotor for now…) • represent qualitatively different levels of functioning —> invariant developmental sequence —> all children progress through the same stages in the same order (they CANNOT be skipped) • sensorimotor (birth—2yo) - forming behavioural schemes that allow to “act on” and “know” the environment - develop reflexive creatures with very limited knowledge into problem solvers - it has 6 substages that describe the child’s gradual transition from reflexive to reflective being • we focus on: problem-solving skills, imitation, growth of the object concept… - 1) Simple Reflexes [1st month] • inborn reflexes are at the center of a baby’s physical & cognitive life • some of the reflexes begin to accommodate the infant’s experience with the nature of the world - 2) First Habits & Primary Circular Reactions [1—4 months] • infants begin to coordinate what were separate actions into single, integrated activities (grasping + sucking, staring + touching) • they might repeat an activity, this helps the baby start building cognitive schemes through a “circular reaction” process • primary circular reactions —> schemes reflecting an infant’s repetition of interesting or enjoyable actions, just for the enjoyment of doing them, which focus on the infant’s own body - 3) Secondary Circular Reactions [4–8 months] • infant’s actions are more purposeful • a child begins to act upon the outside wold • = Piaget’s secondary circular reactions —> schemes regarding repeated actions that bring about a desirable consequence • difference between primary & secondary circular reactions —> activity focused on their own body (1ª), or involves actions relating to the outside world (2ª) - 4) Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions [8—12 months] • begin to employ goal-directed behaviour —> several schemes are combined and coordinated to generate a singe act to solve a problem • example: push a toy to reach another one, anticipate upcoming events* • “purposefulness” —> new ability: anticipating future circumstances - 5) Tertiary Circular Reactions [12–18 months] • 3ª circular reactions —> schemes regarding the deliberate variation of actions that bring desirable consequences • infants appear to carry out miniature experiments to observe the consequences Substage Methods of solving problems / producing interesting outcomes Imitation Object Concept Reflex activity (0-1 month) exercising, accommodation of inborn reflexes some reflexive imitation of motor responses tracks moving objects but ignores its disappearance Primary circular reactions (1-4 months) repeating acts that are body centered repetition of own behaviour (mimic by comparison) looks at the spot where an object disappeared Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months) repeating acts that are directed towards external objects same as primary circular reactions looks for partly concealed object Coordination of secondary schemes (8-12 months) combines actions to solve simple problems (INTENTIONALITY) gradual imitation of novel responses (of motor acts after brief delays) signs of emerging objects concept; searches for & finds concealed object that hasn’t been visibly displayed Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months) finds new ways to solve problems or produce new outcomes gradual imitation of novel responses (of motor acts after long delays) searches for & finds object that has been visibly displaced Invention of new means through mental combinations (18-24 months) INSIGHT, symbolic level deferred imitation of complex behavioural sequences object concept completed; searches for & finds objects that have been hidden through invisible displacements Page of 5 23 - 6) Beginning of Thought [18 months — 2 yo] • major achievement —> capacity for mental representation (SYMBOLIC THOUGHT) • Piaget: infants can imagine where objects might be that they cannot see - Development of Imitation • Piaget —> deferred imitation: ability to reproduce the behaviour of an absent model / specially older infants cause they have symbolic thought • first appears at 18-24 months • disagreement with Piaget —> begins much earlier —> 6 months — Meltzoff - Object Permanence • the realisation that ppl & objects exist even when they cannot be seen • Piaget - 1-4 months will not search for attractive objects that are hidden from view • 4-8 months —> retrieve toys that are partially concealed • 8-12 months —> object permanence is far from complete • A-not-B-error: tendency to search for a hidden object where they previously found it even after they have seen it moved to a new location - substage 4 infants most ofter turn to the first hidden place, ignoring the second blanket where the toy is hidden - Perceptual Development • Fantz —> babies only 2 days old could easily discriminate visual patterns - newborns apparently do not interpret faces as a meaningful pattern - infants are interested in the scrambled face as the normal one • very young infants prefer to look at high-contrast patterns with many sharp boundaries between light and dark areas - + moderate complex patterns that have curvilinear feature • early pattern perception (0–2 months) - babies < 2 months —> see only a dark blob when looking at a highly complex checkerboard - poor vision in early infancy helps to explain a preference for moderately complex stimuli • later form perception (2 months — 1 year) - infant’s visual system is rapidly maturing - Kellman & Spelke experiment • presented infants with a display consisting of a rod partially hidden by a block in from of it • infants who had habituated to the stationary hidden rod showed no clear preference for display C (whole rod)or display D (2 rod segment) in the later test • infants did apparently perceive the moving rod as “whole”, for after habituating to this stimulus they much preferred to look at the two short rods than at a whole rod Page of 6 23 - Perception of 3D Space • size constancy - 1 month —> blinking reaction as defines - size constancy could not emerge until 3-5 months (after infants develop good binocular vision) • development of depth perception - Gibson & Walk —> visual cliff apparatus —> to determine whether infants can perceive depth - 6-6 1/2 months and older —> 90% would cross the shallow side / only 10% would cross the deep side - most infants of crawling age can perceive depth (afraid of drop-offs) - why? they’re more sensitive to kinetic, binocular and monocular depth cues than younger infants • motor development allows interpretation of meaning of depths —> pre-crawlers develop a healthy fear of heights - even at the same age —> a child who has crawled for some time (self-produced movement) is more afraid than one who has not crawled that much yet - so self-produced movement is important —> why? maybe because crawlers discovers that the visual environment changes as they move, they become more sensitive to optical flow LESSON 4: Preoperational Stage (2–7 years) - Preoperational Stage & Emergence of Symbolic Thought • = Piaget’s 2nd stage (2-7 yo) —> children think at a symbolic level but are not yet using cognitive operations • appearance of the SYMBOLIC FUNCTION —> ability to make on thing represent something else • mental reasoning emerges, use of concept increases, symbolic thinking grows • example: a kid using the mental symbol for car (the word itself) and see a toy and know it is a representation of a real object • symbolic function increases —> sophisticated use of language (most obvious form of symbolism young children display) • at 18 months children can combine 2 or + words to form simple sentences • does the use of cognitive language promote cognitive development? - Piaget: NO. Cognitive development promotes language development, not vice versa • symbolic thought (imaginary friend) allows preschoolers to represent actions symbolically —> greater speed • use of language allow thinking beyond the present to the future —> preschoolers can imagine future possibilities through language (fantasies, daydreams) • 2nd major hallmark —> blossoming of pretend (or symbolic) play - kids pretending to be ppl they are not (superheroes, parents, etc.) - this allows them to advance upon their cognitions about ppl/objects/actions —> representations of the world - Intuitive Thought • 4—7 yo • the use of primitive reasoning and their avid acquisition of knowledge about the world • it leads them to believe they know the answers to everything • BUT there is little or no logical basis for this confidence in their understanding of the way the world operates - Deficits in Preoperational Reasoning • Piaget - children have not yet acquired the operational schemes that enable them to think logically - a willingness to attribute life and lifelike qualities to inanimate objects Birth—1 month 2—4 months 5–12 months Depth perception sensitive to motor cues sensitive to binocular cues sensitive to pictorial cues (wariness of heights) Pattern perception prefers patterns with large elements visual exploration of entire stimulus. Combines patterns into a whole one detects more complex and meaningful patterns Face perception prefers simple, facelike patterns prefers complex facial patterns more fine-grained discrimination of faces (perceives emotional expressions as a whole) Page of 7 23 • during the 2 years before children move into the concrete operational period, they shift back & forth between preparational & concrete operational thinking… - Rise of Concrete Operational Thought • permits understanding concepts (e.g. the relationship between time & speed) • problem example —> 2 cars start and finish at the same points in the same amount of time; but they took different routes - children entering the concrete operational period: the reason is that the cars are going at the same speed - 8–10 yo: the car traveling the larger route goes faster • examples of operational thought: - conservation • is the recognition that an object/substance properties don’t change when its appearance is altered in some superficial way • concrete-operational children can solve several of Piaget’s conservation problems —> liquids puzzle (7yo can decenter), reversibility (ability to mentally undo the process and imagine the original one) • use of logic to reach a conclusion - relational logic • important hallmark of concrete-operational thinking —> a better understanding of quantitative relations and relational logic • capable of mental seriation —> ability to mentally arrange items along a quantifiable dimension such as height/weight - example: line up by height from tallest to shortest • master the related concept of transitivity —> ability to recognise relations among elements in a serial order - example: juan is taller than pedro, and pedro is taller than pablo, who is taller juan or pablo? J - without transition —> preoperational children rely on perception to answer the question. BUT they might have a better understanding than Piaget thought, but they still have difficulty grasping the logical necessity of transitivity - Sequencing of Concrete Operations • Piaget: “horizontal decalage" = some forms of conservation are understood sooner than others - HD is a term for a child uneven cognitive performance = inability to solve certain problems even though one can solve similar problems with the same mental operations Concept Preoperational thought Concrete-operational thought Egocentrism assume that others share the same POV they are now much more aware of others’ perspectives Animism likely to assume that unfamiliar objects that move on their own have lifelike qualities more aware of biological bases for life + don’t attribute lifelike qualities to inanimate objects Causality Limited awareness of causality. Occasionally display transductive reasoning (causality) better appreciation of causal principles (although this knowledge continues to develop) Perception-bound thought/ centration judgments based on perceptual appearances and focus on 1 aspect of a situation when seeking answers to a problem can ignore misleading appearances and focus on more than 1 aspect of a situation when seeking answers (decentration) Irreversibility/ reversibility cannot mentally undo an action they have witnessed (cannot think back to the way an object/situation was before it changed) can mentally negate changes they’ve witnessed to make before/after comparisons Performance on Piagetian tests of logical reasoning egocentrism & perception-bound, centred reasoning: they often fail conservation tasks, difficulty on making hierarchies, little ability to order objects mentally along such quantitative dimensions (height, length) declining egocentrism & acquisition of reversible cognitive operations permit conserve + correctly classify objects on several dimensions, mentally order objects on quantitative dimensions. Conclusions are based on logic Page of 10 23 • Why does the child display different levels of understanding of conservation tasks that seem to require the same mental operations? - Piaget: horizontal décalage occurs because problems that appear quite similar may actually differ in complexity - conservation of volume is not attained until 9–12 yo • Piaget —> operational abilities develop gradually & sequentially • kind of why societies begin formal education at 6—7 yo; Piaget: this is the time when children are decentering from perpetual illusions and acquiring the cognitive operations that enable them to comprehend arithmetic, language, classify objects and beings, understand relations between upper and lowecare letter, words and sentences… LESSON 6: The Formal-Operational Stage 11—12yo &+ - Formal Operations • Piaget’s 4th & final stage of cognitive development • begging of thinking more rationally and systematically about abstract concepts and hypothetical events - Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning • the benchmark of formal operations [Piaget] • entails reasoning from the general to the specific; not itself a formal-operational ability • concrete-operational children —> can arrive at a correct conclusion if they have proper “facts” as evidence • formal-operations children —> not restricted to previously acquired facts; they CAN generate hypothesis - what is possible is more important to them than what is real • example —> suppose that you were given a their eye and that you could choose anyplace in your body to place it. Where would you place it and why? - Thinking like a Scientist • inductive reasoning —> type of thinking scientists display (1st the hypotheses and then they are tested) • formal-operational children are hypothesised to be able to think inductively, going from specific to broad observations • Inhelder + Piaget —> tasks to asses scientific reasoning (formal thinking) with a pendulum problem… - task: discover which factor(s) influence how fast the string pendulum oscillates - is it 1 or more variables that matter? length of the string, heaviness of the weight, force, height from it is released…?? - how to solve the task —> 1st: identify the 4 factors and then systematically test each of these hypotheses (“if…”) - answers… • formal operators —> weight hypothesis is wrong. The pendulum’s oscillation depend on only 1 factor (length of the string) • 9—10 yo (concrete operators) —> not able to generate systematically test the full range of possibilities. They begin with a reasonable hypothesis but they cannot isolate the effects of each variable - formal-operational thinking is rational, systematic, abstract - formal operator can think in an organised way + can operate on ideas & hypothetical concepts (even the ones that contradict reality) - Personal & Social Implications of Formal Thought • formal-operational thinking can have good and so not good changes in adolescents… - positive: • forms a stable identity, achieving a much richer understanding of other’s perspectives + causes of their behaviours Concrete operational children Formal operational children 9 1/2 yo: I want it so I could see better 11 1/2 yo: on top of a tuft of hair so I could remove the eye to looking all direction 9 yo: I want it so I can see x3 times 11 1/2 yo: in the pal of his left hand so I can see around corners 9 1/2 yo: beside my two other eyes so if one eye went out I could still see with two 11 yo: in the most so I can see what I am eating Page of 11 23 • better equipped to make difficult personal decisions that involve weighing alternative causes of action + their probable consequences for themselves and other ppl (e.g. moral reasoning) - negative (painful aspects): • being able to imagine hypothetical alternatives to present realities, may begin to question everything (e.g. parents authority, government, hunger, …) • finding more logical inconsistencies & other flaws in the real world, makes more confusion on how we become and the more inclined we are to become frustrated or display rebellious anger toward the agents - Piaget —> “things ought to be” is a perfectly normal outgrowth of the adolescent’s newly acquired abstract reasoning abilities —> “generation gap” • resurgence of (adolescent) egocentrism that accompanies the intellect tools of formal operations: young teens often believe that other ppl are as concerned with their feelings + behaviour as they are themselves —> it makes them highly critical of authority figures (unwilling to accept criticism) - Elking: “adolescent’s imaginary audience” • egocentrism leads to “distortion in thinking: the notion that one’s experiences are unique” • consequences of adolescents’ use of formal operations - ability to reason abstractly —> change in their daily behaviour - question authority figures - become more argumentative - Brain Development across Adolescence • adolescence —> greater independence —> auto assertiveness • # of neurones grow —> interconnections become riches + more complex —> more sophisticated thinking • prefrontal cortex - not fully developed until early 20s • during adolescence —> PFC is biologically immature • ability to inhibit impulses is not fully developed —> more risk and impulsive behaviour - this part allows: think, evaluate, make complex judgements - in adolescence… becomes increasingly efficient in communicating with other parts of the brain*, better information processing - when fully developed —> able to inhibit the desire for action that stems from emotions like anger/ rage LESSON 7: Attention and Memory Development (information processing approaches) - Development of Memory • information processing approach - seek to identify the way that individuals take in, use & store information - the hallmarks of cognitive development are: the quantitative changes in infants’ abilities to organise & manipulate information represent - cognitive growth is characterised by increasing sophistication, speed & capacity in information processing • the foundations of information processing - encoding = info is initially recorded in a form usable to memory - storage = placement of material into memory - retrieval = success in using the material in the future/ process by which material in memory storage is located, brought into awareness and used - automatisation = degree to which an activity requires attention - in some cases, encoding, storage & retrieval are relatively automatic - Multistore Model [Atkinson & Shiffrin] • STS: a processing unit that can store a limited amount of information • LTS: vast and relatively permanent storehouse of info that included knowledge of the world, impressions, strategies Page of 12 23 • words combined into simple sentences = telegraphic speech (they contain only critical words, no articles, no prepositions, no auxiliary verbs) - function of sentence: to locate or name, to demand, to negate, to indicate possession, to modify or qualify, to question - e.g. “kitty go”, “mommie drink milk”, “daddy eat”, “ma come” • first sentences —> two-word combination —> is important because the linkage provides labels for things in the world and indicates the relations between them - Common Errors in Word Use • over regularisation —> “I brushed my tooths”, “she goed”, “it ruined away” - in 2 1/2 — 3 yo • under extension —> child’s inability to generalise the label of “blankie” to blankets in general • overextension —> a child refers to buses/trucks/tractos as “cars”, they are guilty of this, making the assumption that any object with wheels must be a car • decontextualisation —> only use the word dog to refer to a specific picture of a dog • overlap —> a word used to refer to not all appropriate references (using “dog” referring to a specific race of dogs and to a cow, but not to all dogs) • individual difference in the style of language… - some use a referential style, language is used primarily to label objects - some use an expressive style, language is used primarily to express feelings and needs - Milestones in Language Development - Theories of Language Development • Learning (empiricists) perspective - *caregivers “teach” language by modelling & by reinforcing gramatical speech - imitation & reinforcement play some part in early language development - [Skinner] —> children learn to speak appropriately because they are reinforced for grammatically correct speech • adults shape a child’s speech by selectively reinforcing those aspects of babbling that most resemble words • adults help children “shape” sounds into words —> adults withhold further reinforcement - [Bandura, Whitehurst & Vasta] Age Phonology Semantics Morphology/ Syntax. Pragmatics Metalinguistic Awareness 0—1 receptivity to speech + discrimination of sounds // babbling some interpretation of intonational cues; preverbal gestures; vocables; little understanding of words prefers phrase structures + stress patterns of native language turn-taking in games + vocalisations; proverbial gestures X 1—2 strategies to simplify word pronunciations 1st words appear; expansion of vocab (<18months); overextension + under extensions holophrases, two- word telegraphic speech; sentences w/ semantic relations; some grammatical morphemes gestures + intonational cues; richer; vocal turn- taking rules; 1st signs of etiquette X 3—5 pronunciation improves vocab expands; spatial relations; spatial words + grammatical morphemes; awareness of rules of transformational grammar illocutionary intent; adjustment of speech to different audiences; clarifying ambiguous messages some phonemic + grammatical awareness 6— adolescence pronunciation becomes adult-like dramatic expansion of vocab; abstract words; semantic integrations morphological knowledge; correction of previous errors; complex syntactical rules referential communication improves metalinguistic awareness blossoms Page of 15 23 • children acquire much of their linguistic knowledge by carefully listening to & imitating the language of older companions - CONS • learning theorists have had little success accounting for the development of syntax —> analyses have shown that a mother’s approval/disapproval depends more on the truth value (semantics) of what a child says (not on the syntax —grammatical correctness—) • Nativist approaches: language as an innate skill - there’s a genetically determined, innate mechanism that directs the development of language - Chomsky —> universal grammar - human brain is wired with —> LAD (= language-acquisition device) • permits understanding of language structure • enable processing of linguistic input by young children - Slobin —> children have an inborn language-making capacity (LMC): set of cognitive & perceptual abilities that are highly specialised for language learning - support: • brain specialisation & language - damage to language areas in the brain results in aphasia (loss of 1 or + language functions) - injuries to Broca’s area (FL-left hemisphere) —> affects speech production - injury to Wenicke’s area (TL-left hemisphere) —> difficulty understanding speech - left hemisphere is sensitive to some aspects of language form birth • 1st day of life —> speech sounds elicit more electrical activity on that side • infants can discriminate important phonetic contrasts in the 1st few days and weeks of life • sensitive-period hypothesis [Lenneberg] - “languages should be most easily acquired between birth and puberty” - child aphasics often recover their lost language functions without special therapy; but in adults this requires therapeutic interventions - the right hemisphere of a child is unspecialised, so it can assume any linguistic functions lost when the left hemisphere is damaged —> so aphasia may persist in adolescents and adults because the right hemisphere is no longer available to assume linguistic skills lost from an injury - examples: Genie • sensitive-period hypothesis on “learning a 2nd language” - is acquiring a foreign language a tougher task for a post-pubertal adolescent whose “sensitive period” for language learning is over? • Johnson & Newport: it is tougher for a post-pubertal • researches —> immigrants who began to learn english between 3&7 yo were as proficient in english as native speakers // immigrants who arrived after puberty (15yo) performed poorly - CONS: • today most ppl agree with this, BUT many developments have serious reservations about the nativist approach… • fact: human infants can make important phonetic distinction in the 1st days and weeks of life no longer seem to be such compelling support for the existence of a unique LAD. Why? other species youngsters show similar powers of auditory discrimination • nativists focus only on biological mechanisms; so they overlooked the many ways in which a child’s language environment promotes language learning Page of 16 23 • Interactionist approaches - language development is the result of the combination of genetically determined predispositions + environmental circumstances that help teach language - it’s also determined by the language to which children are exposed & the reinforcement they receive for their use of language - they believe that both learning theorists & nativists are partially correct - supports: • psycholinguists have discovered that parents and older children have distinctive ways of talking to infants and toddlers —> communication strategies promote language - Lessons from Joint Activities • before infants use words, their caregivers teach them how to take turns in conversations… • example: reading a child a storybook with pictures and asking the child “what is this?” or “what does the kitty say?” —> children learn that conversing involves taking turns, things have names, how to ask and answer - Lessons from child-directed speech (motherese) • cross-cultural research - universal tendency of parents & older siblings to dress infants/toddles with short-simple sentences (aka child-directed speech or motherese) • these speeches are spoken slowly in a high-pitched voice, repeated, emphasise key words —> infants pay more attention to the high-pitched and varied pitch matterns of motherese than “flatter” speech adults use - Lessons from Negative Evidence • adults do not reliably attempt to reinforce correct grammar, but the do provide the child with negative evidence • a child says “doggie do”, the adult responds with an expansion: “yes, the dog is going away” • a child says “doggie eat”, the adult responds with recast: “yes, the doggie is hungry” - Importance of Conversation • would young children learn language just as well by merely listening to others converse? NOT • mere exposure to speech is NOT enough —> children MUST be ACTIVELY INVOLVED in language usage • example: a Portuguese child watching only german tv doesn’t mean they will learn german words or language • hearing children of deaf parents show a normal pattern of language development (as long as they spend 5–10 hours a week in the company of a hearing/speaking adult who converse with them) LESSON 9: Intelligence - What is intelligence? • today: no clear consensus about what it is —> why? different theorists with different ideas about which attributes are core aspects of intelligence (psychometric view, modern information-processing, Gardner’s theory on multiple intelligences) • Piaget —> adaptive thinking or action - Psychometric Views of Intelligence Page of 17 23 - even though talents (maths, athletics) are important, they are not the same kind of metals tic activities as those most ppl view as the core of intelligence - How is Intelligence Measured? • Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale - original version —> age-graded tasks designed to measure the average intellectual performance of children 3—13 —> verbal, reasoning, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning, STM - modern version —> intelligence quotient (IQ) = MA x 100 
 CA • IQ = 100 —> average, a child’s MA is exactly equal to his chronological age • IQ > 100 —> child’s performance is comparable to that o ppl older than he is • IQ < 100 —> a child’s intellectual performance matches that of younger children - revised version: its test norms are based on representative samples of ppl (6yo—adult) from many social-class & ethnic backgrounds • modern tests —> NO use of mental age for calculations —> instead: deviation IQ scores… • Wechsler Scales - WISC-IV —> for children 6—16yo - WPPSI-III —> children 3—8 yo - critic to Stanford-Binet —> it’s overload with items that require verbal skills, it is biased towards verbal intelligence - includes —> verbal subtests + performance subtests - scores —> verbal IQ + performance IQ + full-scale IQ … based on a combination of the verbal and performance measures • Distribution of IQ scores… - all modern IQ tests have a common trait —> they’re normally distributed around an IQ of 100 - scores go from 85—115 generally - Newer Approaches to Intelligence Testing • Kaufman assessment battery for children (K-ABC) - based on modern information-processing theory - primarily nonverbal in content - measures mostly —> fluid intelligence [Cattell & Horn] • K-ABC-II —> ability to integrate different kinds of stimuli simultaneously + use of step-bu-step thinking - Assessing Infant Intelligence • none of the standard intelligence test can be used with children < 2 2/2 yo… • infant tests —> Bayley Scales of Infant Development - for 2—30months - parts: motor scale (motor capabilities), mental scale (adaptive behaviours), infant behavioural record (rating of the behaviour on dimensions) • MoS & MeS —> gives a DQ (developmental quotient) • Do DQs predict late IQs? - DQ tests generally FAIL to predict a child’s later IQ or scholastic achievements —> why? perhaps because infant tests (measure sensory, motor, language, social) & IQ tests (like WISC or Stanford- Binet: abstract abilities: verbal reasoning, concept formation, problem-solving) tap very different kinds of abilities - BUT… from 4yo there’s a meaningful relationship between early and later IQs - Stability of IQ in Childhood & Adolescence • the scores that children obtain at 8yo are still clearly related to those they obtain 10 years later at 18yo • McCall et al. —> more than 1/2 of these individuals displayed large fluctuations in IQ over time, and the average range of variation in the IQ scores of the test-takes whose scores fluctuated was >20 points • IQ is more stable for some children than for others (these findings challenge the notion that IQ is a reflection of one’s absolute potential) • IQ score is merely an estimate of the person’s intellectual performance at one particular point in time • who are the “gainers” and who are the “losers”? - gainers: come from homes in which parents are interested in their intellectual accomplishments Page of 20 23 - losers: children who live in poverty • “cumulative-deficit” hypothesis —> impoverished environments dampen intellectual growth, and these inhibiting effects accumulate over time • support for this hypothesis —> comes from a study on romanian children adopted into middle- class english homes —> scores of children who were adopted in the first 6months of life were comparable to those of english children adopted within their first 6 months / children adopted later showed lingering cognitive deficits at 6yo LESSON 10: Adult Development - Does cognitive development slow down during early adulthood? • Piaget —> by the time 15 years were finished, thinking stabilises — current evidence —> this is wrong! - Life Events & Cognitive Development • ups & downs of life events may lead young adults to think about the world in novel, more complex, sophisticated and often less rigid ways • Labouvie-Vief: —> the nature of thinking changes quantitatively during early adulthood • adults exhibit “post-formal thought” (thinking that goes beyond Piaget’s formal operations) —> acknowledges that the world sometimes lacks purely right and wrong solutions • experiment —> presenting an X situation… - adolescences relied heavily on the logic inherent in formal operations - young adults were less prone to use strict logic in determining a character’s likely course of action — > they exhibited post-formal thinking*** - Relativistic & Non-absolutist Nature of Knowledge • Knowledge is characterised by 2 features… - a) by the acceptance of incompatible systems of knowledge - b) by the recognition of the subjective and arbitrary nature of knowledge • Relativistic conception of knowledge: - develops during adolescence—young adulthood - is the outcome of the growing expansion of social space which confronts subjects with… • different POVs + different values • assumption of roles • choice of one direction among many possible ones - post-formal thought also includes… • “dialectical thinking” —> accepts that issues aren’t always clear-cut & answers to questions aren’t always absolutely right or wrong (negotiation*) • takes into account real-world considerations when solving problems • thinkers understand that jus as there can be multiple causes of a situation + multiple solutions - What do college students learn? • Perry —> students grow intellectually & morally during college (dualistic thinking, realise that issues can have multiple perspectives —multiple thinking—) - students enter a “relativistic stage” • classic study: 3 dilemmas and 2 of them had emotional component - 1st finding —> there’s developmental trends in reasoning level (middle-aged adults are best able to integrate emotion into thinking) Page of 21 23 - 2nd finding —> adolescents & young adults were equivalent on the fictions war dilemma, BUT young adult students were more readily integrated emotion + thought (visit and pregnancy dilemma) - Intellectual Decline • intelligence peaks at age 18, stays fairly steady until the mid-20s and then begins a gradual decline - this is based on extensive research (cross-sectional studies) —> but it may have cohort effects - the older the ppl, the less adequate education they had - so the lower IQ scores of the older group could hardly be attributed only to difference in intelligence between young and older individuals… • so to solve some issues on the previous studies… - longitudinal studies began —> adults tended to show fairly stable intelligence test scores until they reached their mid-20s - in 5 abilities, modest gains occurred into the 50s and 60s, followed by gradual declines - BUT “fluid intelligence” & “crystallised intelligence” follow 2 very different paths… • FI declines throughout adulthood • CI improves throughout adulthood —> it indicates that ppl continue adding knowledge everyday* - ppl’s organisation of intellectual abilities doesn’t change over time [Schaie] —> it means that the tests can be used across different ages • he also identified several variables that appear to reduce the risk of cognitive decline in old age - absence of CVD - living in favorable environmental conditions - remaining cognitively active through reading & lifelong learning - flexible personality style in middle age - being married to a person with high cognitive status - being satisfied with one’s life achievements in middle age - So what are the conclusions? • 1) intellectual development during adulthood is a gradual levelling of gains, followed by a period of relative stability, finally a time of gradual decline in most abilities • 2) these trends vary from one cohort to another • 3) individual patterns of change vary considerably from person to person - Memory During Middle & Late Adulthood • sensory memory and STM show virtually no weakening during middle adulthood • LTM declines with age for some ppl - apparently, in time, ppl register + store info less efficiently - age makes ppl less efficient in retrieving info that is stored in memory • [Willis et al.] on the long term, real-world benefits of cognitive training in older adults - cognitive benefits were evident 5 years after the original training sessions - compared to a control group that received no training… • individuals who received reasoning training performed 40% better on reasoning tasks • individuals who received memory training performed 75% better on memory tasks • individuals who received speed raining performed 30% better on speed tasks - this is evidence that mental exercise works much the same as physical exercise for older adults Page of 22 23