A2 Intellectual development across the life stages

Question 1

What is intellectual development?

Answer 1

It is about how individuals organise their minds, ideas and thoughts to make sense of the world they live in.

Question 2

what is Physical development ?

Answer 2

learning through the senses by touching, tasting, listening and playing.

Question 3

what is Cognitive development?

Answer 3

the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.

Question 4

what are the 5 Aspects of intellectual development?

Answer 4

language, problem solving, memory, morals and abstract/creativity

Question 5

who outlined the 4 stages of child development?

Answer 5

jean piaget

Question 6

what were piaget’s assumptions about nature?

Answer 6

maturation of brain and body; motor skills; crawl walk, the ability to perceive, learn and act

Question 7

what were piaget’s assumptions about nurture?

Answer 7

adaptation, Children respond to the demands of the environment in ways that meet their own goals. They NEED to learn to survive.

Question 8

what is the first stage in child development?

Answer 8

sensorimotor stage 0-2yrs

Question 9

what happens in the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 9

The infant only knows the world via its immediate senses; sight, taste, touch, sound and the (motor) actions it performs.

The infant lacks internal mental schemata and is unable to distinguish between itself and its environment (profound egocentrism)

The infant lacks object permanence – fails to see or act on ‘hidden’ objects

Question 10

what is the second stage in child development?

Answer 10

Pre-operational stage

2 to 7 years-old

Question 11

what happens in the pre-operational stage?

Answer 11

Throughout this stage the child’s continues to add to or create new schemas

The child is still dominated by the sensory information it receives and is thus very influenced by the appearance of things; sight

They fail to be able to carry out logical operations and show centration (only focus on one aspect of an object at a time)

Question 12

what is Lack of Conservation?

Answer 12

the inability to realise that some things remain constant or unchanged despite changes in visible appearance
(water test)

Question 13

what is the third stage of child development?

Answer 13

Concrete
operational
stage
7 to 11 years-old

Question 14

what happens in the concrete operational stage?

Answer 14

The child is able to carry out mental operations such as the liquid conserve experiment and de-centre, meaning they generally can see another person’s point of view. 
The child can complete class inclusion tasks and the three mountains task successfully (overcoming egocentrism)
However these operations cannot be carried out in the child’s head – like mental arithmetic, the physical (concrete) presence of the objects being manipulated is needed, for example, counting using beads.

Question 15

what is fourth stage in child development?

Answer 15

Formal
operational
stage
(Adolescence)

Question 16

what happens in the formal operation stage?

Answer 16

Ideas can be manipulated in the head and reasoning deductions can be carried out on verbal statements, without the aid of visual/concrete examples.

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

Can think about abstract concepts, such as the pendulum study eg. swinging pendulum with different size plasticine balls.

Consequences considered and
things are planned in advance.

Question 17

what are some critiques of piaget’s theory?

Answer 17

• The stage model potrays children’s thinking as being more consistent than it is
• Infants and young children are more cognitively competent than Piaget recognised
• Piaget’s theory is vague about the cognitive processes that give rise to children’s thinking and about the mechanisms that produce cognitive growth.

Question 18

what is Language Acquisition ?

Answer 18

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition sets us apart from other mammals, because non-humans do not communicate by using language.

Question 19

what is the Language Acquisition Device?

Answer 19

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical module of the human mind posited to account for children’s innate predisposition for language acquisition

Question 20

who proposed the LAD and why?

Answer 20

Noam Chomsky in the 1960s, the LAD concept is an instinctive mental capacity which enables an infant to acquire and produce language

Question 21

did chomsky believe we were ‘pre-wired’ to learn language?

Answer 21

The essence of his theories of language acquisition state that human beings are pre-wired to learn language and in fact are born with the basic rules for language intact.
Many of the unique details of any specific language structure are heavily influenced by the environment, but according to Chomsky, the human brain is ready made to quickly acquire language at specific stages in the developmental process.

Question 22

what were three new ideas about language?

Answer 22

the theory of universal grammar, the idea that language is innate and the notion that language acquisition occurs during critical development stages

Question 23

what was activities were suggested to encourage language development in infants?

Answer 23

watching and listening to others, blowing bubbles, counting up each stair, nursing rhymes

Question 24

what was activities were suggested to encourage language development in young children?

Answer 24

listening in groups, playing with toys, stories, word games

Question 25

what are some points that support chomsky's theory?

Answer 25

All children around the world go through very similar stages. Medical research also suggests there are specific areas in the brain to control language. However, these ideas do not suggest that language will be learned whatever happens, children still need some input and interaction

Question 26

how does genie's case study relate to language development?

Answer 26

Genie's case presented researchers with a unique opportunity. If given an enriched learning environment, could she overcome her deprived childhood and learn language even though she had missed the critical period? If she could, it would suggest that the critical period hypothesis of language development was wrong. If she could not, it would indicate that Lenneberg's theory was correct and add concern to Chomsky’s theory.

Question 27

what is the hippocampus? (in relation to memory loss)

Answer 27

a region of the brain involved in the formation and retrieval of memories, often deteriorates with age. The brain is capable of producing new brain cells at any age, but much less with age. But just as it is with muscle strength, you have to use it or lose it.

Question 28

how do hormones effect brain repair?

Answer 28

Changes in hormones and proteins that protect and repair brain cells and stimulate neural growth also decline with age. Lifestyle, health habits, and daily activities have a huge impact on the health of your brain. Whatever your age, there are many ways you can improve your cognitive skills prevent memory loss, and protect your grey matter

Question 29

what effect does Vascular health and blood flow have on memory?

Answer 29

Older people often experience decreased blood flow to the brain, which can impair memory and lead to changes in cognitive skills. The primary difference between age-related memory loss and dementia is that the former isn’t disabling. The memory lapses have little impact on your daily performance and ability to do what you want to do, they’re normal.