PSY 221_CHAPTER 5 SLIDES.ppt.pptx

PSY 221 – DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY I Chapter 5 Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood Chapter 5 – OUTLINE:  Three Perspectives on Cognitive Development  Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory  Information Processing  The Social Context of Early Cognitive Development Vygotsky’s Soci...

PSY 221 – DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY I Chapter 5 Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood Chapter 5 – OUTLINE:  Three Perspectives on Cognitive Development  Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory  Information Processing  The Social Context of Early Cognitive Development Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory  Individual Differences in Early Mental Development  Language Development Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory o Piaget believed that children are active beings that directly act on their environments. o How children construct their knowledge of world? o Piaget’s Developmental Theory; Four Stages;  Sensorimotor (0-2 years)  Preoperational  Concrete operational  Formal operational o At each step, the quality of children’s knowledge & understanding changes. Ex: 3 month infant who participates in an experiment in which she is exposed to three identical versions of her mother by means of mirrors.  3- month of infant will interact happily with each of these mothers  5-month of will be confused & agitated (begins to master the principles regarding the way the world operates) Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory The Sensorimotor Stage o Infants & toddlers ‘think’ with their eyes, ears, hands & other sensorimotor skills. o They can not carry out many activities inside their heads until the end of toddlerhood. o Infants construct their understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical-motoric actions. o Newborns have reflexes; 2-years olds can produce complex sensimotor patterns. o Schemes  Psychological structures referring to the organized ways of making sense of experience. They CHANGE WITH AGE. o Actions or mental representations that organize knowledge or experience. Ex: If you give a baby a new book, he will touch it, mouth it, tear it or drop it; each represents a scheme. Ex: A 18-month infant enjoys dropping food from the high chair. She also drops toys, spoons or anyother thing. His or her “dropping scheme” become deliberate and creative. Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory o Change with age;  First, behavioral schemes (physical activities); action-based sensorimotor patterns  Then mental schemes (cognitive schemes). Move to “thinking before acting” pattern—creative and deliberate, purposeful. o A baby’s schemes are structured by simple actions that can be performed on objects (e.g., sucking, grasping) o Older children have schemes that include strategies & plans for solving problems. E.g.; 6 month infant- drops objects in a rigid way; simply letting go of the object. 18 month infant- drops objects in a creative way; threw some onto walls, some others up in the air, release some gently or throws forcefully. o Dropping scheme changes. o Two processes accounts for change of scheme:  Adaptation  Organization Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory  Adaptation  Building schemes through direct interaction with environment. o Involves assimilation & accomodation  Assimilation: Occurs when current (existing) schemes are used to understand the world.  Understanding an experience in terms of current stage of development & thinking. Ex: The word ‘car’ ; baby calls all moving vehicles as cars including motorcyles, bicycles Ex: The word ‘bird’; baby calls a plane as bird; assimilates the plane to her existing scheme of bird. o Accomodation: Occurs when new schemes are created or when the child adjusts (changes) old ones after noticing that current ways of thinking do not capture the environment completely. Ex: Child learns motorcyles & bicycles are not cars; excludes them from the category of car. Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory  Equilibrium & Disequilibrium  When children are not changing much; they use assimilation more than accomodation o Using assimilation creates equilibrium; a steady & comfortable condition. o During rapid cognitive change  children are in disequilibrium or cognitive discomfort. o Child constantly faces with counterexamples to her existing schemes. o Disequilibrium prompts accommodation o There is a constant movement btw. accomodation & assimilation during cognitive development.  Organization  A process that take place internally, apart from direct contact with the environment. o Internal rearranging and linking schemes; organizing schemes & creating a network. o Integrating schemes or beh.s into higher order system. Ex: Throwing & dropping & farness & nearness. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years) o Building schemes through sensory and motor exploration o Earliest schemes are primarily limited to the reflexes (sucking & rooting) o Through accomodation & assimilation schemes become advanced as infants master their motor capacities. o 6 substages: 1. Reflexive schemes  Simple Newborn Reflexes Birth–1 month 2. Primary circular reactions  Simple motor habits centered around the infant’s own body 1–4 months 3. Secondary circular reactions  Actions aimed at repeating interesting effects in the surrounding world; imitation of familiar behaviors 4–8 months 4. Coordination of secondary circular reactions  e.g., Object permanence 8–12 months 5. Tertiary circular reactions  Novelty, Curiosity, Accurate A-B search 12–18 months 6. Mental representation / Internalization of Schemes 18 months–2 years Substages of the Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)  1. Reflexive Schemes (0-1 o Sensation month):& actions are coordinated through reflexive beh. o Various reflexes are at the center of baby’s physical & cognitive life. o Reflexes determine the intearctions with the world. Ex: The sucking reflex causes the infant to suck at anything placed in his lips. o Accomodation may occur. Ex: If the baby is breastfed but also receives supplemental bottles; may change sucking depending whether he receives nipple of breast or nipple of bottle.  2. First Habits & Primary circular reactions (1-4 month): o They start to gain voluntary control over their actions through P.C.R. by repeating chance behaviors largely motivated by basic needs. o Infant starts to combine / coordinate what were seperate actions into single integrated activities. Ex: Infant may combine grasping an object with sucking on it. o Habits occur; scheme based on a reflex that has become completely seperated from the eliciting stimulus.  2. First Habits & Primary circular reactions (1-4 month): o Primary circular reaction; a repetitive action. o Scheme based on the attempt to produce an event that initially occured by chance. o A sensimotor response that first occured by chance becomes strengthened. Ex: An infant may accidentally make a smacking noise after being fed. She tries to repeat it again & again until she becomes an expert at smacking her lips. o The infant’s own body is the center of attention; not directed outward external events. o Babies also begin to vary their behavior in response to environmental demands  e.g., They open their mouth differently for a nipple than for a spoon. o They start to anticipate events  e.g., When hungry, a 3-month-old would stop crying when his mother enters the room.  3.Secondary circular reactions (4- 8 month): o Secondary circular reactions  Babies try to repeat interesting events in the surrounding environment that are caused by their own actions. o Becomes more object-oriented, moves attention beyond his body. Ex: Baby accidentially drops an object from the table; now she tries to drop everything from the table. o Improved control over their own beh. permits infants to imitate others’ beh.s o Still not flexible & quick enough to participate. o Imıtation mostly occurs for physical gestures, baby imitates actions that she is already able to produce.  4. Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (812 month): o Infants begin to employ intentional, goal directed beh. (i.e., actions that lead to new schemes have no “by chance” or “accidental” quality). o Able to combine different schemes & coordinate them in order to solve basic problems. Ex: Object-hiding task; baby is showed an attractive toy; then the adult hides it behind his hand or under a cover. Baby is able to find the object (coordinate pushing scheme- push the obstacle aside; grasping scheme- grasps the object)  4. Coordination of Secondary circular reactions (812 month): o Object Permenance  Understanding that the objects/people continue to exist even when they can not be seen. o A 7 month baby- does not look under the cover; for him the object no longer exists; he will not search for it. o But this awareness is not yet complete  Engage in A-NOT B search error. - If they reach several times for an object at a first hiding place (A), then see it moved to the second (B), they search it in the first hiding place (A)  5. Tertiary circular reactions , Novelty & Curiosity (1218 month): o Baby begin to understand that deliberate variation of actions bring desirable consequences. o Rather than just repeating enjoyable activities; they seem to carry out miniature experiments to observe consequences. Ex: The infant drops his toy repeatedly; varying the position from which he dropped it; carefully observing to see where it fell. (Makes modifications in the situation to learn about consequences) o More advanced understanding of obejct permenance; now the baby looks for the object in several locations; display accurate A-B search. o Begin to imitate various behaviors. 6. Mental representation / Internalization of Schemes (18-24 months)  o Ability to create Mental Representations  Internal image of a past event or an object. o Two types of mental representation:  Images; mental pictures of objects, people  Concepts; categories in which similar things are grouped together (E.g., ball for all rounded, movable objects) o Infants can imagine where objects might be that they can’t see  Invisible Displacement Ex: If a ball rolls under a furniture, they can figure out that it is likely to emerge on the other side. o Show Deferred Imitation  The ability to remember & copy the beh.s of models who are not present. Ex: Throwing a tantrum after seeing another child throw one an hour ago Also, Make-Believe Play Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory 1. Criticisms regarding discontinous development; o Critics claim that children’s cognitive development is in continous fashion; quantative changes rather than qualitative changes. ( Rather than showing major leaps of competence at one stage & the beginning of the next stage, improvement comes gradually step by step; skill-by-skill) 2. There are cultural variations in the cognitive development of children. o Piaget’s theory describes children in Western countries than in nonwestern countries. (Infants raised in Africa; reach the various substages of senserimotor period at an earlier age than infants reared in France). 3. Piaget overlooks the importance sensory & perceptual capacities of children. Infants display a wider array of understandings than Piaget believed. o Object permanance, deferred imitation, numerical knowledge develops earlier than Piaget had assumed. Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory o Object Permanence starts long before 4-8 months. Violation -of - Expectation studies;  Habituate babies to two types of events to familiarize them to situation.  Then present an expected event (follows physical laws) & unexpected event (violate physical laws)  Heightened attention to unexpected event (surprise) E.g., Infants are habituated to a short & a tall carrot moving behind the screen.  Shown an expected event; short carrot moved behind the screen & could not be seen in its window; the carrot lower than the edge of the window moved behind the screen & reappeared on the other side.  Shown unexpected event; the carrot taller than the window’s edge moved behind the screen & did not appear in the window; but then emerged on the other side.  Infants around 2-3 months, looked at the unexpected event longer (some understanding of object permanance & physical laws) Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory Violation -of - Expectation studies; Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory o Piaget  Deferred Imitation develops about 18 months. o Lab studies  Deferred imıtation starts earlier than Piaget had assumed (6 weeks of age!). Newer research: ◦ 6 weeks – facial imitation Ex: Infants who watched an unfamiliar adult’s facial expression imitated it when exposed to the same adult next day. ◦ 6–9 months – copy actions with objects Ex: Adult showed 6-9 months infants a novel series of actions with a puppet (taking off the glove, shake the glow to ring the bell inside & replace the glove) The next day; the infants who had seen the novel actions, were more likely to display these actions. ◦ 18 months – imitate intended, but not completed, actions Ex: The mother attempts to pour some raisins into a bag but missed, spills them on the floor. The baby starts putting raisins into the bag; he inferred the goal. Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory Alternative Explanations o Most researchers now believe that infants have some built-in cognitive equipment for making sense of experience. o Core knowledge perspective  Babies are born with a set of innate knowledge systems, or core domains of thought. o But intense disagreement exists over the extent of this initial understanding. oNumerical knowledge may be partly innate. o Infants may be able to: ◦ discriminate quantities up to 3 ◦ do simple arithmetic o Wynn, Bloom, and Chiang’s (2002) Study with 5 month-olds: ◦ Infants saw a screen raised to hide a toy animal, then watched a hand place a second toy behind the screen ◦Screen removed to reveal either one or two toy. ◦Look longer to one toy (unexpected outcome) situation than to two toys situation (expected outcome) ◦ Discriminate the quantities 1 & 2; use it to perform 1+1=2. o Findings contraversial. Inconsistent results. oMay only reveal babies’ preference for novelty; not their understanding of experience. Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory Testing Babies’ Numerical Knowledge Piaget’s Legacy o Follow-up research  Agreement on two issues: o Rather than abrupt and stage-like, many cognitive changes are gradual and continuous. o Rather than developing together, various aspects of infant cognition change unevenly because of the challenges posed by different types of tasks and infants’ varying experience with them. o Piaget’s Contributions: o Inspired a wealth of research on infant cognition. o Still, many researchers do not know how to modify or replace his account of infant cognitive development, and some believe that his general approach continues to make sense and fits most of the evidence. o His observations also have been of great practical value. o Teachers and caregivers  How to create developmentally appropriate environments for infants and toddlers. Information Processing Theory o Agree with Piaget; children active constructors of environments. o Not provides a single unified theory; different aspects of thinking (memory, problem solving & categorization) oAims to identfiy the way ind.s take in, use & store info. o Assumes a continous approach; quantitavie changes in cognitive development. o Cognitive growth- increased sophistication, speed & capacity in information processing. o Computer = human mind ( Cognitive growth comes from the use of more efficient, software programs that lead increased speed & sophistication) o Focus on the type of mental programs. oUse of flowcharts to describe human cognitive system. Information Processing Theory  Structure of the Information Processing System: o We hold information in three parts of the mental system for processing: sensory register, working/short term memory, and long term memory. o As information flows through each, we can use mental strategies to operate on transform it, increasing the chances that we will retain information, use it efficiently, and think flexibly, adapting the information to changing circumstances.  First, information enters the Sensory Register, where sights and sounds are represented directly and stored briefly. Short Term (Working Memory); is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.  the ability to remember and process information at the same time  capacity is 7 ± 2 items  typically from 10 to 15 seconds, or sometimes up to a minute. Long Term Memory; our permanent knowledge base; for storage of information over a long period of time.  Info from STM should be transferred to LTM  can store a seemingly unlimited amount of information almost indefinitely.  We don’t “forget” anything at all, it just becomes increasingly difficult to access or retrieve certain items from LTM memory o InformationProcessn ig Theprocessbywhcihniofrmaoitnsiencodeds,toreda,ndree trived.  Retrieval; recovery from the memory (bringing info. into awareness & using it) o Computer Analogy; only when three processes are operating info can be processed. Information Processing Theory o Attention: o Very young babies  difficulty disengaging their attention from interesting stimuli o By 4-months  Infants’ attention becomes more flexible-probably due to development of structures in the cerebral cortex controlling eye movements o 1st year  attend to novel and eye-catching events o With the transition to toddlerhood  attention to novelty declines but sustained attention improves. Information Processing Theory  Memory Capacities in Infancy oInfants can distinguish new stimuli from old (habituation & recovery) oInfants memory capacities increase as they get older. Ex: Rovee & Collier (1987) Infants were trained about moving an elaborate mobile hanging over the crib by kicking their legs. 2 months- forgot their training just after 2 days. 3-6 months; when prompted to to recall the assoc. btw. movement of mobile & kicking off; they remembered & recovered their knowledge even after three weeks passed. 6-months- remembered as long as 17 weeks. Recognition  noticing when a stimulus is identical or similar to one previously experienced. Recall  involves remembering something not present. At the end of the 1st year  Infants are able to recall. Information Processing Theory Categorization oOperant conditioning and Habituation/recovery studies oBy 6 months  categorize on the basis of two correlated features (e.g., shape and color of an alphabet letter) o6 to 12 months olds  organize their physical worlds as well as they categorize their emotional and social worlds oEarliest categories are perceptual  legs for animals, wheels for vehicles oAfter 6th month  more categories are conceptual  based on common functions or behaviors o14 month olds  understand that certain actions are appropriate for some categories of items and not for others (dog toy, rabbit toy and motorcycle study) oAt the end of the 2nd year  Inanimate and animate distinction expands oToddlers’ expanding vocabulary also fosters categorization  Information Processing Theory Infantile amnesia; lack of memory for experiences occuring to 3 years of age. oSeveral explanations;  no verbal means for storing info. in the long-term memory.  no clear self-image  underdeveloped hippocampus. oNeurological basis of memory; oTwo seperate systems involved in long-term memory;  Explicit memory; conscious & can be recalled intentionally  Involves hippocampus (Ex; when you try to recall a name or phone number.)  Implicit memory; memories of which we are not consicously aware but affect perf. & beh. (Ex: Motor skills, habits, riding a bike) oInvolves brain-stem & cerebellum. oExplicit memory does not emerge until the second half of the first year The Social Context of Early Cognitive Development: Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory o Children live in rich social & cultural contexts that affect their cognitive capacities. o Complex mental activities arise from social interactions with the more mature, wise members of society. o Chidren master activities & think in ways that have meanings in their culture. o Zone of Proximal (Potential) Development:  Refers to a range of tasks that the child can not yet handle alone, but do with the help of more skilled partners.  Adult picks a task that the child can master but challenging enough that the child cannot do it alone.  Adult guides & supports; child joins the interaction & picks up the mental strategies.  As the child’s competence increases, adults step back; permits the child to take responsibility. o For Vygotsky, many aspects of cognitive development is socially mediated Individual Differences in Early Mental Development and Intelligence oNot all infants are alike; some full of energy & life; some are less interested & drawn. oDifferent infants show different variations in their beh. But understanding what types of behavior reflect intelligence is complex. oDevelopmental Scales; to examine the nature of differences in intelligence during infancy. oArnold Gessell (1946)  The first developmental scale; distinguish btw. normally developing children from atypically developing children. oHundreds of babies examined, compared their performance at different ages & identified the most occuring beh.s at the particular age. o Individual Differences in Intelligence o Arnold Gesell (1946); Gesell’s test is still used by pediatricians normal & abnormal functioning in infants o 4 categories of beh. • motor adaptive • Language personal-social o Developmental Quatients (DQs) rather than IQ calculated. o Bayley Scales of Infant Development: o Developed by Nancy Bayley (1969) to assess infant beh. & predict later development. o Suitable for children 1 month-3,5 years. o Most recent edition Bayley III; o 5 Categories; • Cognitive Language • Motor Social-Emotional (caregiver) • Adaptive (caregiver) Individual Differences in Intelligence Individual Differences in Intelligence o Most infant tests (including the earlier versions of Bayley III) predict later intelligence poorly. o Substantial differences btw IQs at toddlerhood & adolescence. o Scores may not reflect infants’ true abilities: (easly distracted, fatiqued or bored). o Bayley III- Cognitive & Language Scales; better at predicting pre-school mental performance. o Infant tests- better at making long-term predictions for extremely low-scoring babies. o Habituation & Recovery; can be used as an alternative to infant tests. o Research shows; speed of habituation & recovery to visual stimuli  predictors of IQ from early childhood to adulthood. Especially effective early indexes of intelligence bec. they both measure memory, quickness & flexibility of thinking (reflect intelligence) Early Environment & Mental Development o Intelligence; heredity & environment o Studies examining the rel.s btw. environmental factors & toddler mental scores. o Home Environment: particularly effective on mental ability. o HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment).  Checklist for gathering info. about the quality of children’s home lives (Observation & parental interview)- First 3 years  Subscales; - emotional & verbal responsiveness of the parent - parental acceptance of the child - organization of the physical environment - appropriate play materials - parental involvement with the child  Each subscale is pos.ly rel. to mental test performance (regardless of SES & ethnicity)  First subscale; especially important in predicting intelligence & academic achievement through language development. Language Development o Improvements in perception & cognition leads to language development. o Around 6 months- babies start to comprehend meanings of some words o 12 months  utter first word o 1,5-2 years  able to combine two words o 6 years  vocabulary of 10.000 words o Three theories of Language Development;  The Behaviorist Perspective  The Nativist Perspective  The Interactionist Perspective Language Development  Behavorist Perspective (Skinner, 1957): Language learned through operant conditioning; 1) reinforcement 2) imitation. o Baby makes sounds- parents reinforce by smiling, nodding & hugs. Ex: Child babbles like a book-a-dook-a nook; Parent shows the book & says the book. o Imitation; play role in rapidly acquiring complex utterances (such as whole phrases & sentences) o Imitation combined with reinforcement; Parent: ‘Say, I want a cookie’ Child: ‘Wanna Cookie’ Parent- gives cookie o Limitation: Reinforcement & imitation may contribute to early language deve. but viewed as supporting rather than fully explaining it. (Young children create novel utterances that are not reinforced or copied) Language Development  Nativist Perspective (Noam Chomsky, 1957): Rules of language are too complex to be directly taught or to be discovered. o Language Acquisition Device (LAD): innate system that plays role in uderstanding universal grammer/set of rules common to all languages. o Enables children to understand & speak in a rule-oriented fashion. o LAD; theoretical construct not an actual part of the brain. o Some support; ability to master a language system unique to humans. (even after excessive training chimpanzees master only few word combinations) o Childhood; sensitive period for language acquisition. oDeaf adults who acquired American Sign Language (ASL)-did not acquire spoken language. oThose who learned ASL in adulthood never became as proficient as those who learned in childhood. Language Development Challanges:  There is no single system of grammer that undelies all languages.  Children don’t acquire language as quickly as Chomsky had assumed. (they gradually generalize grammatical forms & make errors along way).  More experimentation & learning- involved in learning Left Hemisphere- involved in language (brain prepared to process language) Yet, language areas develop as children acquire language. (If left hemisphere is injured in early years-other regions can take over) Language Development  Interactionist Perspective: Interactions between inner capacities & environmental influences. o Grammatical component of languge may depend more on specific brain structures than the other components of language. o When 2-year-olds and adults listened both grammatically correct vs. grammatically incorrect sentences  they showed different patterns of ERP brain-waves. Social-Interactionist View: oChildren learn in specific contexts. (Ex: Father & toddler-jointly focus a book. Father: -Look, a bird! Child understands the father intends to name stg & knows to look at that direction.) o With joint attention children are able to use their social skills to acquire language o SES- influences child’s vocaulary development. o Children of professional parents had much larger vocabulary than the children of the welfare parents. o Maternal talk  great impact on children’s language skills. o What we have found in Turkey!  Getting Ready to Talk  First speech sounds: Cooing: Around 2 months- begin to make wovel like noises (ooooaaaa). Usually express pleasure during interaction with the care-giver.  Babbling: Around 6 months- repeat consonant-vowel combinations (ba baaaa, naaa naaa) o Babies (even deaf) start babbling about the same age.  o To develop further babies should hear human speech. (a deaf infant if not exposed to sign language will stop babbling.) o Deaf infants exposed to sign language babble with their hands; produce hand motions in rythmic patterns. Getting Ready to Talk Becoming a Communicator: Infants are prepared for some aspects of conversational beh. Ex: Initiate conversation- through eye contact terminate conversation- by looking away. o 3-4 months  Infants gaze in the same direction adults looking (more accurate around 10-11 months)  Joint attention: The child attends to the same object or event as the caregiver (contributes greatly to language deve.)  Give-and-take: Between 4-6 months. oInteractions include give-take (peekaboo game) By 12 months  Child can actively participate the game (practice turn-taking in conversation).  Preverbal gestures: At the end of 12 months  Babies use preverbal gestures to influence others beh.  Soon, they use them to expand their verbal message  The earlier this word-gesture combinations  the faster their vocabulary growth Starting to Talk  First words:  By 6-months  Infants begin to understand word meanings (e.g., who is Mommy and who is Daddy )  Around 1 year- babies start to utter their first words. o Usually refer to important people (mama-dada), objects that move (car, ball), animals (doggie, kitty), familiar actions (byebye). o 18 month- 50 words, 2 years old- 200 words. Two Types of Errors Infants Make:  Underextension: When they learn first words, they apply it too narrowly. Ex: Bear- only to refer her teddy bear she carries constantly. Boy- to describe a 5-year old neighbor but not apply the word to 9 year-old male, or male infant.  Overextension: Apply a word to a wider collection of objects and events than appropriate. Ex: Car- used for trucks, buses, trains Dada- not only to father, but also other men, strangers or boys. Reflect their sensitivity to categories. Happens also because they have difficulty recalling or have not acquired a suitable word. Illustrate the distinction between language production and language comprehension  Starting to Talk The Two-Word Utterance Phrase: They add 1 to 3 words per week. Btw. 18 months-24 months  word production increases very radiply. • Spurt in Vocabulary- A transition from a slower to faster learning phase of language  Once toddlers produce about 200 to 250 words, they start to combine 2 words. Ex: Mommy shoe, go car, cookie more. Telegraphic Speech Two word utterences. Like a telegram, focuses on high content words, omits smaller, less important ones. Individual and Cultural Differences: Girls  Earlier than boys Temperament  Shy kids, negative kids  later Influence of parents Low SES  Later Referential Style (Vocabulary consisting of words that refer to objects) and Expressive Style (e.g., Thank you, I want it) The child’s personality, parents’ communication style, culture Infant-Directed Spech (IDS)