Midterm 2 Flashcards
Assimilationists
mere quantitative differences between human and animal cognition; find the differences between humans and apes minor and quantitative
Differentialists
qualitative differences between human and animal cognition; find the differences between humans and apes as one of a kind; not minor differences
types of tool-craft and tool-use in primates
termite fishing and nut cracking with rock
How much genetic material do we share with the closest living relatives?
99%
Who are our closest living relatives?
chimpanzees and bonobos
We’re really different despite the 99% overlap in genetics to chimps and bonobos because we have culture and language and they don’t; the way we operate in life is fundamentally different
differentialist viewpoint
We are similar to chimpanzees and bonobos by sharing 99% overlap in genetics and our problem solving capacities, instrumental reasoning, and intellect
assimilationist viewpoint
notion of “insight”
seeing a problem’s solution
two components of insight
intuitive; believed apes knew the solution to a problem without having to undergo trial and error
What other animals outside of primates use tools?
crows
Neo-Caledonian crow
can use tools and form hooks to get food
what children/apes had to do in the peanut task
long narrow tube with a peanut in the bottom; had to know to pour the water into the tube to make the peanut rise to the top; apes outperformed the children (under age 6); children do not use water as a tool until at least age 8
insight is limited by this
the visual field
drawing causal inferences in apes
presented the ape with two opaque cups: in one cup is something to be retrieved (baited) and one cup is empty; shake both cups in front of the ape: one would not make a sound, while the other would; apes would reach for the cup that makes the sound; apes can infer from the sound that there is something in the cup that produces the sound; if the same experiment is presented but only one cup is shaken, the one that does not have anything it in, the ape would still infer to reach for the other cup because they know there is nothing in the cup that was shaken
experiment that showed chimps are not bound to the immediate visual field for problem solving but that they actually have foresight; they can think ahead
opening an apparatus with a specific tool on the first day, tool disappears the second day so they are unable to open the apparatus, on the third day the tool is there again so the ape takes the tool with them so that it will be available the next day no matter what
food caching in Western Scrub Jays
will hide their food for future use; successfully uncover caches 250 days or more after caching food; shows that they have episodic memory because they can remember exactly where they hid it and how
episodic memory
recalling an event/experience
semantic knowledge
recalling something factual (not necessarily remembering the experience but that it happened)
social cognition
cognitive process that have to do with other people and understanding their minds/cognition
sclera of humans vs. that of other primates
human’s scleras are white while those of other primates are not; allows humans to make eye contact and follow eye gaze more easily, encourages cooperation
object choice task
two cups, one with food in it (baited) the other without anything in it; the experimenter points to the baited cup; a human child understands that the experimenter is telling them the food is in that cup through the pointing, whereas apes do not understand what the pointing means; but when the experimenter reaches for the cup instead of pointing to it, the ape will immediately know that is the baited cup (apes are competitive animals)
simple visual perspective taking skills that other animals have
chimpanzees can understand what others can or cannot see; lower-ranking chimps will take food when the higher-ranking chimps are not looking; ability to take others’ perspectives
ape cognition vs. homo cognition
apes: know how to manipulate their environment to favor themselves; competitive in their actions; causal thinking; all that they do is for individual action
humans: know how to communicate with each other, especially to solve problems; more socially informed than the other primates
preschool age
2-6 years
Are the growth rates of the body and brain faster or slower in early childhood over infancy?
slower
Is motor drive stronger or less developed in early childhood over infancy?
stronger; ability to use and control their bodies grows by leaps and bounds
motor drive
the pleasure young children take in using their new motor skills
early childhood sleep
need 12-15 hours
most 2-5 years old receive this amount of sleep
below 9.5 hours; sleep deprivation; especially prominent in low-income families
weaning off breastfeeding
infants are generally fully weaned by 2 years old in industrialized countries; less developed countries will breastfeed children until 4 years old as long as they are still producing milk)
obesity in early childhood
if a child is obese between 2 and 4 years old, they are five times more likely to be obese later
percentage of US households that are food-insecure
14-15%
percentage of US households that are food-insecure with hunger
5-6%
percentage of the adult weight of the brain present in the beginning of early childhood
80%
notable changes in brain during early childhood is due to…
increased length and branching of neurons, myelination, synaptic pruning
Piaget’s stage for early childhood
preoperational stage (2-6 years)
preoperational stage (2-6 years)
children are unable to decenter their thinking or to think through the consequences of their actions; precausal thinking; not logical; inherent egocentrism; thinking is infused with error and confusion; mythical and circular reasoning; centration; confuse cause and effect
three manifestations of the thinking in preoperational stage
animism, mythical thinking; confuse cause and effect; confusion of appearance and reality (thinking reality is appearance)
centration
focus on one dimension or feature to the exclusion of all other dimensions or features
realism error
believing things appear the way they are
phenomenism error
things are the way they look
mental operation
mental process by which information is combined, separated, sorted, and transformed in a logical fashion
the inhibition problem
difficulty with inhibition/inhibitory control; cannot stop themselves from doing things
marshmallow task
sat a child down at a table with a plate with one marshmallow on it; tell the child they can either eat the marshmallow now or wait until the experimenter comes back to have two marshmallows; children who were able to resist the temptation and wait for the second marshmallow did better in school, had a lower rate of divorce, lower use of substances, etc.
experiment with the closed box
child was presented with a closed box and the experimenter tells them they cannot look in the box while they are gone; almost everyone looks but hardly admits to it; when asked if they can predict what’s in the box even through they said they didn’t look it in, they will say what they saw
abstraction makes it easier for children to delay gratification
experiment where the child was presented with two images and was told that if they want the content of one image, to point at the other (less is more); one image with a large amount of candy and another image with one piece of candy; hard for the child to understand to point to the image with one piece of candy to get the large amount of candy; Task became easier with abstraction (using images of things that are not pleasurable like candy i.e. marbles)
scale errors
children treating miniature objects as normal-sized ones; rare
Heider and Simmel
shows participants a video of moving geometric objects and were told to narrate; participants used agency terminology like mental states; understood the objects’ actions like humans
theory of mind
the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them
examples of mental states
desires, intentions, beliefs, hopes, fears
1 year: perception-goal psychology
understand perceptions and goals
between 1-2 years
child understands intentions and desires
4-5 years: belief-desire psychology
beliefs are the mental states that are the most difficult for children to understand; more abstract and private than the other mental states; looser link to action; beliefs are meant to inform you of reality
brokkoli study
18-month-olds were given a cracker and a piece of broccoli to choose between; the child chose the cracker; the experimenter would choose the broccoli over the cracker in front of the child; if the child understood desires, when the experimenter requested food by holding out their hand, the infant would hand the experimenter the broccoli
two major tests for belief understanding
change of location task and change of content task
change of location task
infant watches a play in which a first puppet places something in a box then leaves, then a second puppet comes in and moves the object from the box into another box; when the first puppet comes back, the experimenter asks the infant which box the puppet will look in
two possible responses to the change of location task
1) infant says the puppet will look in the second box where the object actually is; around 3 years old; cannot understand the first puppet holds a false belief
2) infant says the puppet will look in the first box; around 4-5 years old; understands the theory of mind and beliefs
change of content task
present the infant with a conventional and easily recognizable container (like a bag of M&M’s); experimenter asks the infant what they expect to be in the container and they say the obvious answer (M&M’s); infant opens the container and sees that it contains something other than what is expected (crayons instead of M&M’s); experimenter then asks the infant what they thought was in the container before they opened it
two possible responses to the change of content task
1) infant says they thought the container held the crayons; around 3 years old; do not understand that they had a false belief
2) infant says they thought the container held the obvious objects; around 4-5 years old; understand theory of mind and that they had a false belief
relevance of the theory of mind
orientation in social world; enables effective learning; relation between social competence and theory of mind; condition of mental health (autism, schizophrenia)
theory-theory
infants are like scientists in the crib; infants observe people and come up with theories as to why people do the things they do; will experiment with people to see how they react to certain situations; attribute them to desires and other mental states
simulation theory
infant will use themself as a model to simulate situations and come to a conclusion as to what others would feel in the situation
gradual development from implicit to explicit
1 year: perceptual sensitivity to belief-involving scenarios
GAP
4-5 years: correct judgement about beliefs; predict other’s actions/ascribe their beliefs; consider one’s own prior belief; something happens before 4-5 years to make a child develop a theory of mind
the Smurf study
infant (5 months) watches a screen with a video of a smurf; the smurf interacts with the infant as if they are both watching the same scenario; infant and smurf watches as a ball rolls behind a barrier; smurf leaves and the infant watches as the ball rolls away completely; smurf comes back and the barrier is removed to show there is no ball there anymore; infant is not surprised, but the smurf is; infant looks longer when the smurf returns to the scene and seems shocked which shows an implicit and basic understanding that the smurf has a false belief about where the ball is
theory of mind and siblings
having a sibling helps an infant develop a theory of mind
cookie monster scenario
infant watches a play with cookie monster; cookie monster places 10 cookies in a box on the stage saying he’s excited to eat them later then leaves; another character comes on stage and takes some of the cookies; cookie monster comes back and does not yet see that some of the cookies are gone because the box is closed; infant’s expression reveals that they are experiencing tension because they understand the cookie monster holds a false belief and will soon find out there are fewer cookies than he thought; expressions of confusion (brow furrowing), closing mouth that was previously open; infants do not show expressions of tension when they know the cookie monster knows there are less cookies now; shows that infants understand the difference between true and false beliefs at 4-5 years old
socialization
process by which children acquire standards, values, and knowledge of their society
personality formation
process by which children develop their own unique patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving in a wide variety of circumstances
Erik Erikson - “terrible twos”
phase in which autonomy develops; if the child leaves this stage continuing to assert themselves, they maintain that initiative
Erikson: initiative vs. guilt phase (3-5 years)
dawning of a free will; continue to declare autonomy in ways that begin to conform to the social roles and moral standards of society; start identifying with others and learn to cooperate with others; help and cooperation
How did human children do in comparison to chimpanzees when it came to cooperation in the double tube game?
better
double tube game
experiment in which a child/ape and the experimenter joint play with a double tube; child/ape rolls the ball down the tube and the experimenter catches the ball with a jar; when the experimenter stops putting the jar up to the end of the tube, the child stops and gestures and demands the experimenter continue cooperation; ape will try to play the game by themself and fill both roles instead of recruiting another ape that is available to play
if chimpanzees choose to cooperate…
they only do so in problem solving (do not joint play)
Clark & Clark doll test
presented two dolls of different skin tones (black or white) to various African American and white children; results: white bias, 2/3’s of African American children preferred the white doll and ascribed more positive attributes to it; indicates the child understands society prefers white people
Does the doll test show that these children of color deny ethnic belonging to a minority or deny a part of their self?
no relationship to self-esteem has been found
ethnic-related messages that are sent to a child
cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of racial mistrust, egalitarianism
cultural socialization
emphasizes ethnic heritage and pride
preparation for bias
stresses ethnic discrimination and prejudice; prepare kids to face biases and inform them of what to do
promotion of racial mistrust
encourages child to mistrust the majority ethnicity
egalitarianism
emphasizes the equality of members of all ethnicities
which ethnic-related message is considered the best practice
cultural socialization
I-self
a person’s sense of self as persisting over time; waking up knowing that you are the same person as you were yesterday or a year ago; this continuity is essential to autobiographical memory
me-self
a person’s sense of personal characteristics such as appearance and abilities that can be objectively known
young children describe themselves…
in overly positive ways; by listing activities and favorite things instead of naming general traits or characteristics; action and behavior oriented in self-perception
age at which autobiographical memory kicks in
3-4 years
How may parents contribute to the building of autobiographical memory?
use an elaborative talking style; asking questions to get the child talking about what happened
super-ego
the conscience; develops around 5 years; observes the ego, gives order, and punishes
moral sense
internalized moral standards of our parents, especially the same-sex parent
cognitive-developmental view
effect is everything, intention is nothing; if Zack breaks 4 toys on accident and Fritz damages his sister’s favorite doll on purpose to hurt her feelings, young children will say Zack is “naughtier” because he broke more toys than Fritz; heteronomous morality vs. autonomous morality
heteronomous morality
morality defined in terms of externally imposed controls and objective consequences; a parent catching you doing something bad and punishing you; “being bad” is “getting caught”
autonomous morality
one’s moral judgements are freely chosen, intentions are taken into account when actions are morally evaluated; your internalized moral laws; making your own moral judgements; judging you behaviors against your own rules
social domain view
different kinds of “right” and “wrong”; social conventions vs. moral rules; 3- to 4-year-olds can distinguish between social conventions and moral rules
social conventions
vary between cultural groups, are ways to coordinate behavior among individuals; violations not necessarily “terrible”
moral rules
more general, based on principles of justice and welfare of others, found in all societies
prosocial behavior
voluntary actions intended to benefit others when it involves some “costs” (time, effort, risk, etc.)
Martin Hoffman’s development of empathy
three steps: global empathy, egocentric empathy, decentered
global empathy
emotional contagion; if you put a baby in a room of crying babies, that baby will begin to cry; resonating with what’s around you; infancy
egocentric empathy
comfort others, but in an inappropriate or egocentric fashion; child resorts to solving problems for others in the way that their problems would be solved; child can only understand what is comforting to them; early childhood
decentered
empathy as role-taking and perspective-taking skills increase; focus on others’ particular situations and needs; ages 6+
Nancy Eisenberg
empathy can turn into sympathy or personal distress; sympathy is good, personal distress is bad; sympathy is other-oriented and correlated with altruistic acts
Bertrand Russell’s two types of knowledge
knowledge by acquaintance, knowledge by description
knowledge by acquaintance
acquired through direct experience or sensory perception
knowledge by description
acquired through language, communication, or reasoning rather than direct experience
main difference between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description
direct experience
children rely on…
benevolent sharers of knowledge
ostensive communication
a signal to a child that a person has an intention to teach something to them and that what they learns has general importance and relevance; eye gaze, brow raises, body movements, facial expressions, generic language, infant-directed speech
three ways of reproducing behavior
mimikry, emulation, imitation
mimikry
copying of behavior
emulation
copying an outcome/result
imitation
reproduction of means and ends
most important way of reproducing behavior for cultural transmission
imitation; pass on long-lived skills, customs, techniques, etc. from one generation to the next
apes can distinguish between being “unwilling” vs. “unable” to help
experimenter holds out an apple to the ape and when the ape reaches for it, the experimenter takes it away –> ape becomes frustrated and throws a fit –> understands the experimenter is unwilling to give them the apple;
experimenter holds out an apple but their hand is shaking so the apple keeps falling out of their hand –> ape is more patient –> understands the experimenter is unable to hand them the apple
apes collaborate only under certain conditions
when they know they need a partner to achieve a goal (and will choose the most effective partner possible); will not collaborate in games without motivation
chimpanzees cannot achieve this
joint intentionality; unique to human cognition
sex
biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male and female; defined by body
gender
socially influenced characteristics by which people define themselves as male, female, or nonbinary; defined by mind
gender roles
societal expectations of men/women; changes because societal expectations change
gender identity
individual sense of being male or female; personal
social learning theory
assumes we acquire our identity in childhood by observing and imitating other gender-linked behaviors; rewarded and punished for acting in certain ways; people tend to treat children in certain ways based on what they perceive to be their gender
experiment with opaque box condition and clear box condition
apes and children watch as an experimenter interacts with an opaque box, going through certain steps to retrieve a treat; both imitate in opaque box condition; apes and children watch as an experimenter interacts with a clear box, going through certain steps to retrieve a treat, but it is clear that those steps are unnecessary to actually retrieving the treat; apes emulate in clear box condition while children imitate; shows that apes only want the treat whereas children followed the adults completely because they look to them as trusted teachers; apes do not necessarily learn from each other
natural pedagogy
a kind of social learning in which knowledge or skill transfer between individuals is accomplished by communication
