S4: Emotional and Cognitive Development

Question 1

What is intelligence?

Answer 1

Intelligence can be defined as a person’s cognitive abilities to learn. It is also associated with school performance, IQ, logic, abstract thought, self-awareness, emotional knowledge, memory, planning, creativity, and problem solving. Intelligence remains difficult to define but what is agreed is that it holds two important features:

1. The capacity to learn from experience.
2. The ability to adapt to one’s environment.
   - Intelligence is generally regarded as consisting of a broad underlying category of underlying intelligence ‘g’, and multiple special skills in various domains, such as visuospatial ability and verbal ability.

Question 2

Measurement of intelligence (IQ)

Answer 2

Binet tested children on a range of global tests of intelligence (1916), and these types of tests have enjoyed enormous success, with thousands of validity studies attesting to reliability and predictive value.

Question 3

Describe Binet study of cognitive development and intelligence and its issues

Answer 3

• · Binet developed tests by asking Parisian teachers to list the types of problem that poor learners found difficult – therefore it is not surprising that the items selected by Binet to discriminate between good and poor learners would do just that.
• However the issue is that the tests were developed based on the aspects of learning that poor learners found difficult and good learners found easier therefore it isn’t unsurprising that Binet IQ test discriminated between poor and good learners in that manner. It doesn’t help us measure intelligence in general.

Question 4

Facts about intelligence and IQ

Answer 4

• Infants who are curious about novel stimuli tend to show higher IQ results later. - Assessments of IQ undertaken after the age of 6 show high levels of stability over time.
• Genetic influences on early cognitive measures are weak, but are much stronger for children assessed at a later age
• Family influences have much greater effect on children between 2 and 5 than they do in infancy.
• Population IQ scores correlate with educational attainment and occupations.

Question 5

Describe Jean Piaget ( Swiss psychologist (1896-1980)) model of cognitive development

Answer 5

Piaget held that a child functions as a scientist who solves problems, their development progresses as the child manipulates its environment and actively works to develop more rational, logical and abstract modes of thought (more simply put, learning!).

• Operations are sets of internal cognitive rules that allow a child to make sense of the environment.
• Cognitive development results from the interaction between the individual and their environment, to enable a child to adapt to their environment.
• Adaptation occurs through the process of Equilibration. When a child’s mode of thought is adequate for their environment they are in a process of equilibrium.
• In transitions from one stage to the next disequilibriums occur due to shortcomings in the child’s mode of thought when new challenges that are beyond the child’s cognitive level arise.
• Faced with these challenges the child attempts to restore equilibrium via the processes of ‘assimilation’ and ‘accommodation’.
• Assimilation is the modification of the environment (experiences or objects) to fit existing knowledge structures (strategies or concepts).
• Accommodation is the modification of the knowledge structure to fit the new environmental challenge.
• An important part of Piaget’s model are schemas. Schemas are the internalised representation of some generalised class of actions or situations, allowing the individual to act in a co-ordinated fashion over a wide range of analogous situation.

Question 6

What are Piaget’s 4 stages for cognitive development?

Answer 6

1. Sensorimotor (from birth until 2yrs).
2. Preoperational (2-7).
3. Concrete Operational (7-12).
4. Formal Operational (12+).

Question 7

Describe Sensorimotor (from birth until 2yrs)

Answer 7

• This stage involves the realisation by the child that they separate from environmental objects.
• They recognise that they are an “agent of action” that they are able to do things and so begin to act with intention.
• Vision is needed and other senses such as sound acting as biofeedback from environment from movement.
• Importantly, the develop the idea of object permanence, this is being aware that if an object is hidden it still exists it hasn’t disappeared.

Question 8

Describe Preoperational (2-7)

Answer 8

• Child learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words e.g. that is a pen,
• At this age tend to think egocentrically (that inanimate objects have minds/personalities) and animistic, based on the child’s own world. (Will think everyone/everything is similar to them).
• Child starts to classify things by single features, also achieves conservation of numbers (that 3 things together is the same as 3 things spaced out).

Question 9

Describe Concrete Operational (7-12)

Answer 9

• Can think logically about objects and events.
• Achieves conservation of mass (7) and weight (9).
• Now able to classify objects according to several features and order them in series e.g. size.

Question 10

Describe Formal Operational (12+)

Answer 10

• Can think logically about abstract preopositions and test hypotheses systematically. Real world application: students struggling during primary to seconday school transition.
• Able to consider the hypothetical, the future and ideology.

Question 11

Describe Comments/Evaluation on Piaget’s model

Answer 11

• Little emphasis on social factors in learning e.g. Teaching and upon the mechanisms responsible for different levels of development.
• Current models acknowledge the role of child as active participant in learning but less emphasis on the development of discrete stages that are followed in unvarying order.

Question 12

List key milestones of social development

Answer 12

• Separation anxiety: 9 months –> 3 years and peaks at 18 months.
• Recognise familiar people: 4-6 months.
• Smiles: 4-6 weeks.
• Temper tantrums: 1-3 years.
• Parallel play + Cooperative play: 2-3y and 3y plus respectively.
• Fear of the dark: 3-5 years.
• Prefers gender specific play, Cooperative and fantasy play: Starts at about 4y.

Question 13

Describe Lorenz

Answer 13

• Innate biological drive other than feeding and procreation to ensure survival.
• Lorenz (1935). ‘Imprinting’ (ducks and waders) ,Ethological theory. Shows that early critical period and irreversible. Possibly mediated by endorphins. Influenced Bowlby (psychoanalyst) and concept of attachment.

Question 14

Describe Bowlby’s attachment theory

Answer 14

• Theory: Children pre-programmed to form attachments with others to help them survive.
• Innate behaviour, species specific ‘social releasers’ eg crying, smiling to ensure proximity and contact with mother.
• Instinctive behaviour activated by situations threatening proximity.
• Determined by care and responsiveness (emotional support) not food.
• A child has an innate need to attach to one main attachment figure (ie monotropy).
  · A child needs continuous care from this figure for the first 2 years.
• Disruption or loss leads to ‘Maternal Deprivation.
• Long term consequences of this include ‘affectionless psychopathy’, depression, decreased intelligence etc
• ‘44 thieves’ experiment.

Question 15

Describe Harlow’ (1960s) the study of love

Answer 15

• Studied baby monkeys taken from their mother.
• Preferred cloth monkey to wire monkey with milk.
• Used cloth mother as a secure base for exploration.
• Influenced adoption and child care practices.
• Up until early 60s, primary attachment figures (primary caregiver) were not understood for children e.g. in hospitals, parents were not allowed to visit children.

Question 16

Describe Rutter (1981)- quality vs loss

Answer 16

• Restrospective interviews from 2000 9-12 y boys and their families. Early maternal separation was correlated with antisocial behaviour.
• Rutter found that if the separation was due to physical illness or death of the mother, the boy was unlikely to turn to crime.
• If the separation was due to the psychological disorder of one or both of the parents or to stress and arguments within the family, then the boys were four times more likely to turn to crime.
• Rutter concluded it was the conflict and stress which came before the separation rather than the separation itself, which was the cause of the antisocial behaviour.

Question 17

What are the individual differences found with attachment?

Answer 17

Attachment is the bond formed by a child to it’s caregiver. Attachment is not an ‘all or nothing’ process. There may be variations, or individual differences between children in the attachments they form. There are different types of attachment: Secure vs. Insecure. Template for future relationships.

Question 18

Characteristics of attachement

Answer 18

• Safe Haven: When the child feel threatened or afraid, he or she can return to the caregiver for comfort and soothing.
• Secure Base: The caregiver provides a secure and dependable base for the child to explore the world.
• Proximity Maintenance: The child strives to stay near the caregiver, thus keeping the child safe.
• Separation Distress: When separated from the caregiver, the child will become upset and distressed.

Question 19

Describe Ainsworth and bell (1970)

Answer 19

· Controlled observation of children’s attachment behaviour using the ‘Strange Situation Classification’ (SSC):
- Mother leaves child in unfamiliar environment.
- Child is approached by stranger.
- Mother returns.
- Looks at separation protest, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour.
Results:
· Three patterns of attachment:
- Secure (70% of sample).
- Insecure – avoidant (15%).
- Insecure – resistant (15%).
- Ainsworth suggested that attachment type was determined by primary carer’s (mother’s) behaviour and how sensitive the carer is to the child’s needs.

Question 20

Describe secure attachment

Answer 20

• Upset when mother left.
• Happy when she returned.
• Avoidant of stranger when alone but friendly when mother present.
• Will use the mother as a safe base to explore their environment.
• Associated with sensitive & responsive primary care.

Question 21

Describe insecure resistant

Answer 21

• Intensely distressed when mother left.
• Apparent fear of stranger.
• Clinginess mixed with rejection on return.
• Fear of exploration (insecure behaviour).
• Associated with inconsistent primary care..
• Sometimes the child’s needs and met and sometime they are ignored.

Question 22

Describe Nature vs Nurture : a gene environment interaction with attachment

Answer 22

· Grazyna Kochanska et al discovered that infants with one or two short alleles on the serotonin transporter gene(5-HTTLPR) established secure attachments to their mothers when their care was sensitively responsive, but developed insecure attachments when it was not. Those with only long alleles on the same gene were highly likely to establish secure attachments even when they experienced care that was insensitively unresponsive;

Question 23

Describe temperament

Answer 23

Temperament is essentially the style of how we do things/behave (the how). It is biological in basis, we are born with it and is stable across situations and time.
Temperament (the how) is distinct from the motivation (the why) or the actual action (the what).

Thus the temperament plus experiences will form the personality. Also social context can intensify or minimise expression of temperamental features.

Question 24

List language development milestones

Answer 24

• Babbles 4-6months.
• Know about 10 word, 18months.
• Say their first word, 10- 12months.
• Can be understood by someone outside family, 3y.
• Speak in sentences?2 word sentences at 2y, uses pronouns at 3y.
• Speaks fluently and uses grammar. At 5y - school entry.
• Language development is not just speech – signs, gestures, writing etc.
• Set of rules used to communicate ideas, thoughts , emotions.
• Babbling contains sounds of all languages.
• By six months of age, most children recognize the basic sounds of their native language. But if they don’t hear the sounds, they lose the ability to use that sound (when we are older we struggle to pronounce other words in other languages).
• Speech develops with increasing motor control of jaw, lips and tongue.
• Deaf children will stop babbling and sign at a similar age to hearing children speak (if in signing environment).

Question 25

Theories of language development

Answer 25

• Behaviourists: rewarded for imitating.
• Chomsky: innate ability to learn language needing only exposure to language.
• Piaget : reflection of thought. Language did not contribute to thought.
• Vygotsky : language and thought interacted; a child’s egocentric speech is a precursor to a child thinking in words.
• Intentionality : interactions generated by the child promote language learning.

Question 26

What is moral development?

Answer 26

Moral development involves what is fair, equality and justice. Different societies have different ideas of what is moral, therefore moral development will vary across cultures.
- moral (fairness, equality, justice).
- societal (conventions, group functioning, traditions).
- psychological (personal, individual prerogative).
- Morals are very culturally determined.

Question 27

Describe moral development in early work by piaget

Answer 27

• Very young children have their own idiosyncratic rules.
• Preschool children tend to attribute blame according to the amount of damage done not intent.
• Older children are able to take intention and motivation into account.
• Last stage is ideological considering wider social issues and create rules to deal with novel situations.

Question 28

Describe Laurence Kohlberg: American psychologist

Answer 28

· Kohlberg argued that moral development stems from a selfish desire to avoid punishment (personal), it then moves on to a concern for group functioning (societal) and finally is driven by concern for the consistent application of universal ethical principles (moral).

Question 29

What are the 6 stages Kohlberg developed for moral development?

Answer 29

~Level 1: Preconventional morality (in children).
1. Punishment and obedience (small children, you do things you don’t want to get punished).
2. Reward and what is ‘fair’ (do things as want to be rewarded, preoccupied with what is fair e.g. “Rejji is doing this so I want to do it to”).
~Level 2: Conventional morality (generally accepted in population).
1. Being good for approval (“this is the right thing to do”).
2. Upholding laws and societal rules (“I am a part of society, therefore I must do it”, not much thinking behind it, just accepting).
~Level 3: Post-conventional morality (values are internal).
1. Values are relative, impartiality (“in this situation I may do this or this, not being biased).
2. Ethical principles trump laws where these differ (thinking about the ethics of the situation, rather than the outcome e.g. arrested).
- Level 1 primary school level, level 2 generally found in society. Level 3 cannot be considered a part of the normal or expected course of development; instead it represents a philosophical ideal. One can only really understand morality one stage above your own/reasoning. Views of morality are very culturally determined e.g. western European / American ideals of democracy and individual judgement.

Question 30

Describe Erik Erikson.

in Psychosocial theory of development

Answer 30

• Working within a psychoanalytic tradition, but focussed attention on the social concerns of each stage of life rather than sexual evolution.
• Each stage of life has a dominant theme or task, which can have a positive or negative outcome. Tension builds up as a ‘psychological crisis’, which must be resolved. Crisis resolution represents achievement of a developmental task that allows the next stage of growth.
• Based on stages in early life, each stage has its own dilemmas, if you don’t move on you’ll get stuck in the stage.

Question 31

What is family life cycle?

Answer 31

The emotional and intellectual stages you pass through from childhood to your retirement years as a member of a family.

Question 32

· Why is it important to understand the family life cycle?

Answer 32

• Mastering the skills and milestones of each stage allows you to successfully move from one stage of development to the next. If skills are not mastered, you may move on to the next phase of the cycle, but you are more likely to have difficulty with relationships and future transitions.
• Family life cycle theory suggests that successful transitioning may also help in preventing disease and emotional or stress-related disorders.

Question 33

Describe the independence stage in the family life cycle

Answer 33

Tasks:
- Emotional, social, physical and (hopefully) financial separation.
- Development of unique qualities and characteristics that define your individual identity.
Skills:intimacy:
- Intimacy is the ability to develop and maintain close relationships that can endure hard times and other challenges.
- Commitment.
- Commonality or similarity.
- Compatibility.
- Dependence on another person who is not in your family.
- Ability to return emotion in a relationship.

Question 34

Describe the coupling stage in the family life cycle

Answer 34

• Commitment to a new family and a new way of life.
• Combining beliefs and behaviors in a synergistic way and letting go of unrealistic ideas or expectations.
• Synergy is the ability to take two different points of view and creating a third better option. It differs from a compromise in that it is not giving up something.
• Common areas of adjustment include: Finances, Lifestyle, Recreational activities or hobbies, Relationships with in-laws, Sexuality or sexual compatibility, Friendships and
  Putting another person’s needs before your own.

Question 35

Describe the Parenting; babies through adolescents

in the family life cycle

Answer 35

• Balance three roles as an individual, a spouse, and a parent.
• Most challenging
  ~Parenting young children:
• Working together to provide a safe, loving, and organized environment.
• Becoming a decision maker for the family whilst continuing to develop as an individual.
• Young children decrease the amount of time spent alone or with a partner (risk of divorce and extramarital affairs).
• Requires existing communication, compromise, commitment and problem solving skills.
• Relationships with extended family to include parenting and grandparenting roles.
  ~Parenting adolescents:
• Most adolescents experiment with different thoughts, beliefs, and styles, which can cause family conflict.
• Needs already established strength and flexibility through effective communication, problem solving, mutual caring, support, and trust.
• Strong individual identity not to feel threatened.
• Setting boundaries (letting them make mistakes?)
  ~Specific goals:
• Shifting parent-child relationships to permit the adolescent to move in and out of the family system.
• Shifting focus back to midlife marital and career issues.
• Beginning a shift toward concern for older generations.

Question 36

Describe the Empty nest: launching adult children

in the family life cycle

Answer 36

• Refocusing on marriage without children.
• Developing adult relationships with grown children.
• Realigning relationships to include in-laws and grandchildren when your children have begun their own families.
• Emerging own health concerns.

Question 37

Describe the Retirement or senior stage of life in the family life cycle

Answer 37

Specific goals:

• Maintaining your own interests and function, along with those of your partner, as your body ages.
• Exploring new family and social roles.
• Providing support for the older generation without overfunctioning for them.
• Providing emotional support for adult children and extended family members.
• Dealing with the loss of a spouse, peers, your own health and preparing for your own death (Lots of loss: people, independence, senses, memory, houses and Limited autonomy).
• Reviewing your life.

Question 38

Describe the Parenting influences

in the family life cycle

Answer 38

• Attachment theory – first close relationship as a template for subsequent relationships (secure, insecure (ambivalent, anxious).
• 3 parenting styles: Authoritative, Authoritarian, permissive.
• Involves nurturance, communication, control, maturity demands.
• Dysfunctional families – communication problems, enmeshment/ overprotection, poor attachment, low warmth/ harsh discipline.