Child development - Cognition and Intelligence

Question 1

What is cognition?

Answer 1

the mental processes by which knowledge is acquired, elaborated,
stored, retrieved and used to solve problems

Question 2

What theory did Jean Piaget propose?

Answer 2

He viewed children as enquiring scientists and proposed the stage theory:
Its about how children think, rather than what they know.
1. Sensorimotor: birth–2 years
2. Preoperational - 2–7 years
3. Concrete operational - 7-11 years
4. Formal operational - 11 years +

Question 3

What is the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 3

Knowing the physical environment by seeing and touching - ‘thinking only by doing’

Question 4

When do children begin to succeed in tests for object permanence?

Answer 4

Around 8 months

Question 5

What did Rovee-Collier study In 1980?

Answer 5

When memory and leg kicks develop

Question 6

Give 6 examples of abilities at 8 months

Answer 6

1. Obeys simple requests
2. Points to objects and follows pointing gesture of adult
3. Hold cup to doll’s mouth
4. Demonstrates affection by hugging and kissing
5. Shoes toes when these are named by mother
6. Shakes head or says “no” in refusal

Question 7

Define 3 terms: schema, assimilation, accommodation

Answer 7

Schema - theories about how the physical and social world operate
Assimilation - understanding a new object
Accommodation - modifying a schema

Question 8

What does pre-operational thought involve?

Answer 8

1. Centration - thinking about one idea at a time to the exclusion of others
   Egocentrism - self centred world view/ difficulty taking another perspective

Question 9

What is the 3 mountain problem test?

Answer 9

Tests the rigidity of preoperational thought.

Children tend to be successful in describing other views from the age of 6-7.

Question 10

Define 2 terms: operation and conservation

Answer 10

Operation - mental consideration of information in a logical manner
Conservation - understanding that amount is unrelated to appearance e.g conservation of mass and volume

Question 11

How did we originally calculate IQ and how do we calculate it now?

Answer 11

IQ = mental age/ chronical age x 100

Now its calculated from tables of standardised age scores

Question 12

What is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale?

Answer 12

Gives overall full scale IQ, and:

• verbal comprehension index (VCI)
• perceptual reasoning index (PRI)
• working memory index (WMI)
• processing speed index (PSI)

Question 13

What are the uses and limitations of IQ tests?

Answer 13

Uses: identify educational needs, assessment following neurological trauma, learning disability cognitive impairment and predicting school performance and job success
Limitations: is IQ stable? , doesn’t measure underlying competence or ‘world skills’

Question 14

What is emotional intelligence?

Answer 14

accurate perception and expression of emotions, ability to access and generate emotions, understanding of emotions and emotional meaning, good emotional regulation.

Question 15

Explain what is in the left hemisphere and right hemisphere of the brain

Answer 15

left:
-complex language functions
-complex logical activities
-mathematical computations
right:
-simple language functions
-spatial and pattern abilities
-emotional recognition