A2. Intellectual Development

Question 1

What are the five important aspects associated with intellectual development?

Answer 1

1. Language development, which is essential for organising thoughts and to share and
   express ideas. It is also important for clarification.
2. Problem solving is an important skill that is required both to work things out and to
   make predictions about what might happen.
3. Memory is required for storing, recalling and retrieving information.
4. Moral development allows for reasoning and making choices, and informs the
   individual how to act in particular situations and how to act towards self and
   others.
5. Abstract thoughts and creative thinking are essential for thinking and discussing situations and events that cannot be observed.

Question 2

Describe the stages of intellectual development across the lifespan

Answer 2

Infancy and early childhood - Stages of rapid intellectual development.
Adolescence to early adulthood - Development of logical thought, problem solving and memory recall skills.
Middle adulthood - Can think through problems and make sound judgements using life experiences.
Later adulthood - Changes in the brain can cause short-term memory decline and slower thought processes and reaction times.

Question 3

What does cognitive and intellectual development refer to?

Answer 3

Intellectual and cognitive development refers to how individuals organise their ideas and make sense of the world in which they live in.

Question 4

Describe the stages of language development

Answer 4

• Around 3 months Infants begin to make babbling noises as they learn to control the muscles associated with speech.
• Around 12 months Infants begin to imitate sounds made by carers such as ’da da’. This develops into using single words.
• Around 2 years Infants begin to make two-word sentences, such as ’cat goed’ (meaning the cat has gone away). The infant begins to build their vocabulary
  (knowledge of words).
• Around 3 years Children begin to make simple sentences, such as ’I want drink’. This develops into the ability to ask questions, ’when we go?’ Knowledge of words (vocabulary) grows very rapidly.
• Around 4 years Children begin to use clear sentences that can be understood by strangers. Children can be expected to make some mistakes with grammar, ’we met lots of peoples at the shops today’.
• 5 years Children can speak using full adult grammar. Although vocabulary will continue to grow and formal grammar will continue to improve, most children can be expected to use language effectively by the age of five.

Question 5

What are schemas?

Answer 5

When children go through a series of stages of intellectual development

Question 6

Name and define the schema stages in order

Answer 6

Assimilation: the child constructs an understanding or concept (schema)
Equilibrium: the child’s experience fits with their schema.
Disequilibrium: A new experience disturbs the child’s schema.
Accommodation: the child’s understanding changes to take account of the new experience.

Question 7

Give an example of a schema

Answer 7

• The child has developed a schema about sand.
• The child’s experience in the nursery sandpit fits with their schema
• Water is added to the sand, the sand feels different. This upsets the child
• The child changes the schema to accommodate their new experience. They develop a new schema

Question 8

What is cognitive development?

Answer 8

a child’s ability to learn and solve problems

Question 9

What theorist talked about cognitive development?

Answer 9

Jean Piaget

Question 10

List Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Answer 10

Sensorimotor: Birth – 2 years
Preoperational – 2-7 years
Concrete Operational – 7-11 years
Formal Operational – 11-18 years

Question 11

Describe the sensorimotor stage

Answer 11

Learn schemas by using all of their senses; touch, smell, taste, sight.

Beginning of this stage NO object permanence.

End of this stage a child develops object permanence.

This means that they understand that objects still exist even when they move out of sight.

Question 12

Describe the preoperational stage

Answer 12

A child is egocentric and cannot see the world from other people’s perspectives.

A child can engage in imaginative, symbolic play and manipulate and use objects in play. For example, a doll may be a mummy.

They lack conservation - just because something appears to have changed but it is still the same.

Question 13

Describe the concrete operational stage

Answer 13

Can carry out mental operations
Can conserve
Decentre- see other peoples point of view

However these operations cannot be carried out in the child’s head – like mental arithmetic, the physical (concrete) presence of the objects is needed, for example, counting using beads.

Therefore the child would be able to conserve if they see the physical transformation of the objects / liquid.

Question 14

Describe what happens in the formal operational stage

Answer 14

Abstract thinking- think about things that are not present.

Do not need the help of visual/concrete props.

They can think about hypothetical (forethought imagining) problems such as planned bus journey.

Consequences considered and things are planned in advance.

Question 15

What are the criticisms of Piaget?

Answer 15

Theory was only ‘tested’ on a small number of children.
Stages may not always link with ages

Underestimate or overestimate children’s cognitive abilities. Eg; watching children play at 5 could show children are less egocentric than Piaget suggests.

Adult support can help children to be pushed to higher level thinking

Can take longer than 11 years to become skilled at abstract thinking.

Does not take into account child’s environment and education.

Question 16

What is abstract logical thinking?

Answer 16

the ability to solve problems using imagination without having to be involved practically. This is an advanced form of thinking that does not always need a practical context in order to take place.

Question 17

What is egocentric thinking?

Answer 17

not being able to see a situation from another person’s point of view. Piaget thought that a young child assumed that other people see, hear and feel exactly the same as the child does.

Question 18

What is concrete logical thinking?

Answer 18

the ability to solve problems providing an individual can see or physically handle the issues involved.

Question 19

Describe Piaget’s theory

Answer 19

Piaget’s theory provides an explanation of how a child’s logic and reasoning develop over time.

Explained that a child constructed a mental model of the world using schemas.

He disagreed that intelligence is fixed- cognitive development occurs due to biology and environment.

Question 20

What did Chomsky believe?

Answer 20

Chomsky believed that people are genetically programmed to develop a language, whether it be spoken language or sign.

He believed that all children will have the ability to understand and use language (regardless of all other abilities) by the age of around 5/6.

Stated that we are all born with a hypothetical language acquisition device (LAD).

The LAD is a hypothetical tool hardwired into the brain that helps children rapidly learn and understand language

Question 21

What did Chomsky discover about children learning to speak?

Answer 21

When children are learning to speak, they don’t make the errors you would expect.

For instance, children seem to understand that all sentences should have the structure ‘subject-verb-object’, even before they are able to speak in full sentences.

They do not learn this from adults as we do not speak like this.

Children cannot learn by just copying their guardians, because adult language is highly irregular and sometimes not correct.

Therefore there must be another way to learn language = LAD.

Question 22

Summarise Chomsky’s belief

Answer 22

Based on Chomsky’s theory all children are born with a ‘language acquisition device LAD’.

This enables children to recognise and develop the languages they experience.

Children have a optimal learning age between 3-10 years.

Children understand grammatical errors without being taught.

Children do not need a trigger to learn a language, they simply need to be around people who are speaking.

Even if a child is corrected they will still speak in the same way they spoke before they had been corrected.

Question 23

What is inborn faculty?

Answer 23

The ability of the brain to make sense of language, and to sort it into a system of patterns.

Question 24

List evidence to support Chomsky

Answer 24

It would take too long to learn a language solely from imitation.
Adults make grammatical errors- therefore children could not possibly learn just from listening.
Children learning to speak hardly make grammatical errors such as getting their subject, verb, object in the wrong order.
It is suggested that children make up words as they learn e.g mamma ball rather than ‘mum’- which could show it wasn’t learnt passively.

Question 25

Give some criticisms of Chomsky

Answer 25

Lack of scientific evidence
Rate of language development is affected by the degree of interactions with others.
Chomsky puts emphasis on grammar development rather than meaning.
Social constructivists such as Bruner state that social interaction at the early stages of language acquisition are vital and have more influence than Chomsky indicated.
Chomsky did not look at children with arrested or delayed language development and factor these into the research study. E.g. children with learning disabilities, hearing or speech impediments (children born with Down’s syndrome often have delayed development)

Question 26

Describe intellectual development in early adulthood

Answer 26

Individuals apply the knowledge skills and experience they have gained during their life.
They can think logically and find realistic answers.
They are likely to be in job roles which require them to think through problems and make decisions-complex situations.
New brain cells continue to develop even though in middle adulthood there may be a decline in the speed of processing.

Question 27

Describe intellectual development in later adulthood

Answer 27

Memory loss is considered a natural part of the aging process… HOWEVER:

The brain can build new structures and new things can be learnt at any age.
Activities can be done to ‘exercise’ the brain and keep it healthy.
The process of learning and recall might take longer