Lecture 5 - Learning From and About the Social World

Question 1

How can infants track statistical probabilities and why is this skill useful?

Answer 1

Allows to track patterns in the environment (a form of observational learning).
When habituated to pairs in a sequence, they will stare longer at the test group that violates their expectations.

Question 2

Implications of statistical learning

Answer 2

Infants are actively interpreting the world around them.
Statistical learning is innate and domain general (as opposed to domain specific like it nativist View)

Question 3

Scaffolding

Answer 3

Caregivers assist, explain or complete tasks that the child cannot yet complete independently.

Question 4

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Answer 4

Scaffolding geared towards this.
Represents the difference between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with scaffolding.

Question 5

Private Speech

Answer 5

Before age 3, adults verbal instruct children on how to regulate emotion.
At age 3, use private Speech to regulate their behaviour, especially for difficult tasks.
At age 7 this private Speech becomes internal thought.

Question 6

Measuring the Home environment (HOME)

Answer 6

During a home visit, interviewers evaluate
1) Emotional Support
2) Cognitive Stimulation

Question 7

What are higher HOME scores correlated with?

Answer 7

Higher IQ, Math and Reading Comprehension and Language Abilities.

Question 8

What was an important factor in outcomes of children placed in daycares?

Answer 8

Language Stimulation
Moreover, high quality daycares had high quality outcomes and vice versa

Question 9

Low SES and HOME

Answer 9

Low SES leads to poorer home environment and thus lower cognitive abilities before starting school

Question 10

Explain the Effectiveness of Daycare Programs Targeted Towards Low SES children

Answer 10

Better cognitive skills, but these effects don’t last once starting school. However, other effects such as increased chance of finishing high school and reduced criminality persist.

Question 11

What are the 3 components of the mind?

Answer 11

Knowledge, Desires & Intentions

Question 12

Explain the Hand Reaching Experiment and how it Pertains to Intention understanding

Answer 12

At 6 Months, children begin to understand intention.
Habituated to hand reaching for doll then either reaches for doll or for ball. longer stare time at ball since it violated what they expected. Moreover, the effect was not dependent on position but was strictly attributable to humans since reaching with a claw did not have an effect.

Question 13

Accidents VS Intentional

Answer 13

At 9 months= Infants can distinguish between when a ball was dropped accidentally or on purpose.

Question 14

importance of understanding Intentions

Answer 14

Getting a look into the mind of others + Enables Joint Attention + Enables Imitation

Question 15

Joint Attention

Answer 15

Shared attention on the same object + awareness that they are both looking.
After 9-12 months, difficulty with this could be an indication of Austim.

Question 16

Why is Joint Attention Important?

Answer 16

Learning requires the teacher and student to be focusing on the same thing.

Question 17

Imitation

Answer 17

Voluntarily Matching Someone’s else Actions

Question 18

Explain the Debate as to why Imitation might be innate

Answer 18

Nativists argue that tongue showing is a sign that imitation is innate.
However, newborns only match this behaviour, not others + tongue showing is a common behaviour for showing interest as a newborn.

Question 19

Why is Imitation important for Learning?

Answer 19

Fundamental aspect of observational learning, how children learn most things early on. Actively interpreting actions in order to selectively imitate engages the child.

Question 20

What did the turning on the light with hands VS head experiment demonstrate?

Answer 20

That children did not just imitate the action, but that they could imitate the goal of the action.

Question 21

Theory of Mind

Answer 21

Ability to attribute mental states to yourself and others, and acknowledge that our mental states differ from others.
Consist of Knowledge, Intentions and Desires.

Question 22

How can we understand Desires?

Answer 22

Around Age 1.
Experiment with two cats (one we show interest in) and violation of Expectation Paradigm.

Question 23

What is an innate process that demonstrates that we can distinguish ourselves from others?

Answer 23

Rooting Reflex, only touch our cheek when someone else brushes against it, not when we do it to ourselves though.

Question 24

Rouge Test

Answer 24

Emergence of Sense of Self (18-24 months). We can recognise ourselves in a mirror.

Question 25

What is the Difference between Desire prediction of 2 year olds and younger kids?

Answer 25

Younger than 2, we will assign our own desires onto others and assume they desire the same things we do.

Question 26

Around what Age can we infer Knowledge and what Experiment Demonstrated this?

Answer 26

Age 3, learning new words experiments from reliable/non-reliable adults + adults who can repair/name toys.

Question 27

How is our understanding of other’s belief limited?

Answer 27

False Belief Problem: The fact that up until age 5, children can’t understand that other people will behave consistent with their knowledge/beliefs even if the child knows the knowledge/beliefs are false. (Smarties Task)

Question 28

Social Cognition Development Timeline

Answer 28

6 Months= Intentions
9-12 Months= Imitation and Joint Attention
1 year= Desires
1.5-2 Years= Explicit Sense of Self
2 Years= Greater understand of Desires
3 Years= Sensitive to other’s knowledge and beliefs lead to actions
5 years= Theory of Mind Developed + Pass False Belief Test

Question 29

Are individual differences in social cognition stable over time?

Answer 29

Yes

Question 30

What is the Theory of Mind Module and how is it relevant to Developing our Theory of Mind?

Answer 30

Innate mechanism that matures over first 5 years, devoted to understanding others as seen through inherent interest in faces and culturally universal development of our mind.

Question 31

What is the Link between the Theory of Mind and Children with Autism?

Answer 31

The TPJ (associated with theory of mind activity) is unusually sized and less active, resulting in difficulty of theory of mind tasks into adolescence.

Question 32

How is the executive functioning of the mind linked to theory of mind?

Answer 32

Executive functioning consists of cognitive processes (planning, focus and multitasking) and its improvement is correlated to improvements in theory of mind.

Question 33

What are the Contributions of Social Interaction to the Development of Theory of Mind?

Answer 33

Crucial for development as seen through Mental State Talk (when caregivers use words that reference the mental state such as think, know, want).

Question 34

What are 3 Ways that Caregivers can foster the development of Social Cognition?

Answer 34

Mental State Talk
Encouraging Joint Attention
Providing Opportunities to Interact with different people

Question 35

What are 3 ways that theory of Mind Develops?

Answer 35

Brain Maturation
Improved Executive Functioning
Interactions With Others

Question 36

What are the 4 main ways that children Learn?

Answer 36

Statistical Learning
Trial and Error
Taught by Others
Observation and Imitation