Chapter 8 Flashcards
Problem solving
the ability to solve problems
-According to Piaget, problem-solving does not arise until children can engage in goal-directed behavior
-Latter half of the 1st year of life
-Willats (1990)- tested developmental progression of problem-solving in infants
-6-month-olds were not intentional in pulling blanket towards themselves to reach toy
-8-month-olds were much more capable of solving the “reach for the toy” problem
-Infants become sophisticated in solving problems
Development of Problem-solving
while infants between the ages of 6 and 8 months can begin to show problem-solving skills, they are not able to resolve more complex problems
-Bullock and Lutkenhous (1988) demonstrated that 7-month old infants could not replicate the building of a house made of blocks with their own blocks
-2 year olds could maintain the goal in mind and replicate the house of blocks
3 key points for problem solving
- spacing effect
- retrieval practice
- interleaving
Ceci 1996
video game context vs. laboratory context
-problem solving in 10 year olds varied by the context in which the problems were framed
-shapes vs. butterflies
-children performed better when the problem was framed for them in a familiar context
Reasoning
-High level thinking ability
-requires one to “think outside the box” to arrive at the solution
-the information that is given is sometimes not enough to solve-problems therefore, reasoning is necessary
Analogical Reasoning
-Involves using what you already know to understand something you don’t know or the unknown
Relational mapping
A:B::C:D
Dog:Puppy:: Cat: Kitten
How important is Analogical Reasoning?
-General IQ (intelligence) is in part, predicted by analogical reasoning
-Cognitive processes that underlie analogical reasoning
-Working memory, cognitive control (the ability to regulate attention), inhibition, and visual attention
Language Development
-special form of communication
-multilayered: less complex to more complex, Phonemes —> Sentences
-Systematic and conventional use of sounds, signs, or written symbols for intention of communication
Function of Language:
Instrumental
using language to express needs (more milk)
Regulatory
using language to tell others what to do (get me juice)
Interactional
using language to make contact with others and form relationships (“I love you, Mommy”)
Personal
using language to express feelings, opinions, and individual identity (“I’m a good boy”)
Heuristic
using language to gain knowledge about the environment (“what’s that?”)
Imaginative
using language to tell stories and jokes and to create an imaginary environment
Representational
using language to convey facts and information
Language structure:
Phonology
sounds of language
Morphology
structure of words
Syntax
knowledge of sentence structure, grammatical rules
Semantics
meaning of the language
Pragmatics
using language in social setting
Morphological Development
-Understanding the structure of words
-Example: adding -ed to the words to make them past tense
-Morpheme: smallest unit of meaning
-Over-regularization: children learn a verbal rule for regular words and generalize to irregular words like “dranked” or “ranned”
Importance of helping with meaning of language
- Vocabulary, number of books in the household, and SES
Theories of Language Development
Behavioral theories:
statistical learning: children become experts at predicting language, use prior knowledge to understand novel language, and behavioral theories fall under environmental theories
Nativist theories
propose that children have an innate ability to acquire language
Language is too difficult to teach in term of its rules
They believe that language is biological
Social-Interactionist theories
Language is an outcome of bother the environment and genetics
Children can be taught language by their environment but their language is also shaped by their innate abilities
Critical period for acquiring language is from 3 to 7
Advantages of Bilinguals
-task switching, updating
-process sounds better in music and phonemes
Disadvantage:
interference of languages
