cognitive development in adolescence 2 Flashcards
what is the common test used to measure children (6-16) intelligence?
Wechsler’s Intelligence Scale for children (WISC-V)
how many subscales are in the WISC-V verbal scale?
6
how many subscales are in the WISC-V performance scale?
97
what can the different subscales tell us about teens intelligence?
how their intellectual abilities develop with age
what are the 3 important characteristics of adolescent intellectual development?
greater abilities than children, differences in the speed different abilities develop, stability of development
why doesn’t a particular adolescent IQ change much with age?
because IQ scores are based on age norms, so IQ only indicates how smart a person is in comparison with their own age group (so remains relatively stable in development)
IQ is ____ unstable early in in development
more
what is the flynn effect?
gains in IQ points over decades since 1932, seen in other countries with IQ gains varying from 5-25
why can’t genetic factors explain the flynn effect and what is the effect thought to be due to?
genetic factors can’t explain this change over a small time scale > effect due to environmental factors
what are the environmental factors thought to underlie the flynn effect?
enhanced nutrition, better health, quality and access of education, reduced family size, increasing complexity of society, use of complex tech
the store of info, skills, strategies acquired through education and prior experience = _______ intelligence
crystallised
a person’s ability to reason and think abstractly = ________ intelligence
fluid
do typical IQ differentiate between crystallised and fluid intelligence?
no (therefore at first glance IQ seems stable during and after adolescence)
what has been found when fluid and crystallised intelligence have been tested separately?
fluid intelligence has been found to decline in adolescence, crystallised intelligence increases rapidly in late adolescence
why does fluid intelligence decline over development?
younger people are better than older at solving abstract problems
mental processes we use to draw conclusions on the basis of info known to us =
reasoning
what are the 2 types of reasoning that are the reverse of each other?
deductive and inductive reasoning
involves drawing specific conclusions from general premises =
deductive reasoning
involves drawing a general conclusion from specific premises =
inductive reasoning
what is a syllogism?
made up of 2 statements called premises and a conclusion that is derived from these premises
the premises or conclusions in a syllogism can each have a ________ quantifier or a _______ quantifier
universal, particular
is it easier to reason about universal or particular premises?
universal
the word ‘all’ is often used e.g. all birds can fly. what type of premise is this?
a universal premise
the word ‘some’ is used e.g. some birds can fly. what type of premise is this?
a particular premise
premises can also have an _______ or _______ form
affirmative, negative
for people of all ages, deductive reasoning is helped by _______ content
concrete (abstract premises and conclusions make it harder)
what is the reason that preschoolers show some evidence of deductive reasoning?
when material is very familiar to them
the reliance on content over logical forms becomes ____ as children progress into adolescence
less
in Galotti’s study, was deductive or inductive problems easier for 7-9 year olds?
deductive > answered quicker with more confidence
resolving a problem by comparing it to a similar problem that has been previously solved =
analogical reasoning
what is the developmental progression of analogical reasoning?
from very concrete understanding of familiar content to more flexible, abstract understanding
requires abstraction of relationship between 2 elements with similar relationship =
analogical reasoning
give some simple examples of analogies
Woman: man :: girl: boy,
Hand: palm :: foot: sole
by what age are simple analogies understood?
9-10 years (after this age analogical reasoning undergoes rapid development)
what are the 3 stages of analogical reasoning between 9-18 years?
9-10 > simple analogies can be solved, 12 > concrete relations of elements that aren’t obvious can be solved, 13-14 > abstract relationship can be solved
give an example of a complex abstract analogy
task: completion :: problem: solution
what type of intelligence do 2nd order analogies require?
crystallised intelligence
2nd order analogies are not solved reliably until __/__ years old
16/17
what is Piaget’s final stage of cognitive development and what is its developmental time frame?
formal operational stage, starts at 12 and lasts into adulthood
what do adolescents develop when they enter the formal operational stage?
ability to think in an abstract manner, manipulate ideas in head without any dependence on concrete manipulation
(mathematical calculations, think creatively, abstract reasoning, imagine outcomes of particular actions)
reasoning with the ability to think about things which the child hasn’t actually experienced and draw conclusions from its thinking = what type of reasoning>
inferential
what stage is a child in if they find it difficult to think mentally and derive the answer in their heads without drawing it out or talking it through?
concrete operational stage
what stage is a child if they can reason the answer in their heads and use formal operational thinking?
formal operational stage
according to Piaget, what are the 3 ways that adolescents are different from concrete operational children?
think abstractly, treat reality as one of many possibilities, apprentice scientists
the thought of a child in Piaget’s concrete operations stage which includes concrete content rather than abstract symbols =
INTRApropositional thinking
the individual is able to relate to one or more parts of a proposition to another part to arrive at the solution to the problem =
INTERpropositional thinking
adolescents come up with theories, generate hypotheses based on theories and systematically devise tests to confirm or refute them =
hypothetico-deductive reasoning
what have some studies found that show criticisms towards Piaget’s formal operation reasoning?
some studies failed to replicate findings, show that Piaget overestimated teen ability
Piaget suggests that the formal operational stage is the final stage and adolescents reach this highest level of logical system. why is this flawed?
studies show that development of this ability continues into adulthood and many adults never reach this level of thinking
what evidence has been found that goes against Piaget’s belief that education plays very little role in the development of formal operational thought?
with both limited and extended training, children and adolescents can use this form of thinking who didn’t show formal operational thinking in the pre-test
what do information processing theorists believe post Piagetian approaches?
adolescent thinking is a process of obtaining info from environment > storing it in STM and LTM > using various rules and strategies to manipulate info (process info like a computer with goal to derive new info and guide actions)
what did Sielgler use when looking at the information processing approach?
balance scale, task analysis methods of how different rules are used to solve the balance scale task
what did results from Sieglers’ study lead him to conclude?
that kids/teens may not think using general purpose formal operations but rather their thinking is RULE BASED and these rules are DOMAIN SPECIFIC
specific rules are applicable to specific _____ in a specific ______
tasks, domain
what are 3 common flaws in kids/teens use of theories?
fail to separate theory and evidence, tend to select evidence consistent with theory instead of changing it or abandoning it when faced with counter evidence, must have a plausible alternative theory in order to accept counterevidence
Keating (1980) summarised 5 characteristics associated with the development of adolescent thinking. what are they?
emphasis on world of possibilities, ability to carry out systematic hypothesis testing and scientific reasoning emerges, think about the future by planning ahead, capable of introspecting and metacognition, context explained to include social, moral, political, personal issues
how does adolescent thinking differ from adults?
riskier more exploratory behaviours and decision making
