Lecture 3 - Child development - Cognition and intelligence

Question 1

Jean Piaget:

Answer 1

children as enquiring scientists
learning through action
how children think, rather than what they may know

Question 2

Jean Piaget:

Answer 2

stage theory

Question 3

Piaget’s stages

Answer 3

Sensorimotor birth-2 years
Pre-operational 2-7 years
Concrete operational 7-11 years
Formal operational 11 years +

Question 4

Sensorimotor

Answer 4

birth-2 years
6 sub-stages
knowing the physical environment by seeing and touching – ‘thinking only by doing’

Question 5

Developing memory systems

Answer 5

2-3 months 
baseline leg kicks
attaches string
test later – no string
2 months – 1 day
3 months – 1 week
6 months – 2+ weeks

Question 6

Examples of abilities at 8 months

Answer 6

obeys simple requests
points to objects and follows the pointing gesture of an adult
hold cup to doll’s mouth
demonstrates affection by hugging and kissing
shoes toes when these are named by mother
shakes head or says “no” in refusal

Question 7

schemas

Answer 7

theories about how the physical and social world operate

Question 8

assimilation

Answer 8

understanding a new object

Question 9

accommodation

Answer 9

modifying a schema

Question 10

Pre-operational thought

Answer 10

Centration
thinking about one idea at a time to the exclusion of others
problems with conservation

egocentrism
self-centred world view
difficulty taking another’s perspective

Question 11

3 mountain problem

Answer 11

able to describe other
view from age 6-7
rigidity of pre-
operational thought

Question 12

operation

Answer 12

mental consideration of information in a logical manner

Question 13

conservation

Answer 13

understanding that amount is unrelated to appearance

Question 14

Conservation of mass

Answer 14

both have about the same amount of clay

Question 15

Conservation of volume

Answer 15

an example of a concrete operation
associated with personal experience (not abstract)
operational thought is reversible
e.g. imagine water being poured back into tall thin glass

Question 16

concrete operational

Answer 16

thinking in relation to things that are real or imaginable (direct sensory access)

Question 17

formal operational

Answer 17

reasoning in purely symbolic terms
consider alternatives and plan ahead
systematic testing of hypotheses

Question 18

The intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 18

Originally:
IQ = mental age x 100
chronological age

Now:
Calculated from Tables of standardised age scores

Question 19

From intelligence to IQ testing

Answer 19

assessment against a ‘fixed’ quality
product of genetic inheritance
social/racial genetic differences

Question 20

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

Answer 20

Tests grouped into domains of cognitive functioning:

verbal comprehension
performance organisation
working memory
processing speed

Question 21

Uses of IQ tests

Answer 21

identifying educational needs
assessment following neurological trauma
predicting school performance and job success

Question 22

limitations of IQ tests

Answer 22

is IQ stable?
influenced by environment & culture
does not measure underlying competence or ‘world skills’

Question 23

Multiple intelligences - howard garnder

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Localisation of cognitive function

Answer 24

Cerebral lateralisation:
language abilities
split brain patients
asymmetry of function

Question 25

Left hemisphere:

Answer 25

complex language functions
complex logical activities
mathematical computations

Question 26

Right hemisphere:

Answer 26

simple language functions
spatial and pattern abilities
emotional recognition