Intellectual Development Flashcards
Describe the 5 key aspects of intellectual development.
- Language development - fastest learning takes place between 2-5 years old.
- Problem solving - skills required to resolve issues.
- Memory - storage and retrieval of information.
- Moral development - attitudes regarding others and their relationship to self, informed by socio-cultural norms.
- Abstract and creative thought - problem solving without being physically present in the scenario.
Explain how intellectual and language skills develop across the life stages.
Childhood - rapid intellectual development.
Adolescence to early adulthood - logical thought and problem solving, more realistic and pragmatic thought.
Middle adulthood - life experience supports ability to problem solve.
Later adulthood - short term memory decline, slower thought process and reaction times.
Piaget - Describe the stages in Piaget’s model of intellectual development.
Sensorimotor (0-2 years) - Use senses to interact with the world, involves testing new things out.
Preoperational (2-7 years) - Language development. Use of symbols to represent sensorimotor discoveries. Egocentric thinking.
Concrete operational (7-11 years) - Able to use simple logic when problem solving. Can problem solve when the problem is physically in front of them.
Formal operational (11-18 years) - Abstract thought is used. Logic used to solve problems that are not physically in front of them.
Define egocentrism.
Inability to see situations from another’s perspective.
Piaget - Explain the development of schemas and the stages involved.
Schema - knowledge of a topic.
Assimilation - information is used to create a schema
Equilibrium - balanced understanding of the world, eg. recognising a car has four wheels and an engine.
Disequilibrium - encounters new information that does not fit with schema, eg. sees a van and thinks it is a car.
Accommodation - incorporation of new information to schema, eg. a van has a large back storage area, four wheels and an engine.
Piaget - What is a test of conservation?
Assesses whether children can use logic.
For example, do they understand that two objects with a different appearance can have the same volume?
This can be demonstrated using different height beakers/containers that contain the same volume of water.
Children normally grasp this concept by the time they reach the concrete operational stage.
State criticisms of Piaget’s model.
Based on a small sample of children.
Stages are not as set and inflexible as stated.
Impact of environment on development is not considered.
Chomsky - Describe the Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
- Innate, genetic ability to learn language.
- Natural ability to understand components of language, such as grammar.
- Children need to be around others using language for the LAD to work successfully.
- Critical period means children need to be exposed to language during their early years.
State criticisms of Chomsky.
Not supported by scientific evidence.
Does not take into account children with learning disabilities.
Social factors have a greater influence than was considered.
What effect does age have on memory? (physiologically)
Size/mass decrease of some brain areas.
Decline in amount of chemical messengers sent around the brain.
Reduction in corrections between neurons.
Decreased blood flow.
What effect does age have on memory? (cognitive ability)
Decline in short term memory. (Long term memory largely unaffected.)
Learning new things becomes harder and takes time.
Difficulty in multi-tasking.
Remembering names and some words is harder.