Cognitive DevelopmentChildren ages 2 to 6

Intelligence

Global capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and cope resourcefully

Wechsler’s view Capacity for acquiring knowledge and

functioning rationally and effectively

Multiple Intelligence (MI) Verbal-linguistic Logical-mathematical Visual (mental image) – spatial (move objects in

mind) Musical Bodily – kinesthetic Interpersonal (deal w/ others) Intrapersonal (know self) Naturalist (know nature)

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Intelligence & Nature/Nurture Intelligence quotient (IQ) – measure of intelligence 90-110 average Study of identical twins showed similar IQ Study of fraternal twins shows for deviation One theory says its because of inherited

intelligence Environmentalist say it’s because they were

raised in a similar environment Contemporary Scientist say its both

45% hereditary 35% environmental 20 gene-environment interaction

Piaget’s Theory of Preoperational Thought

Preoperational period (ages 2-7 years) Represents external world through

symbols (things that stand for something else)

Conservation Centration States and Transformation Reversibility of though Egocentrism

The Childs Theory of Mind Probes children's developing conceptions of

major components of mental activity Understand mind & children recognizing others

can see things differently 3 yr. old believes everyone thinks like them 5 yr. old starts to understand others think

differently 2 spheres of conceptual knowledge

Causality – cause and effect (under age 7 or 8 fail to grasp)

Number concepts – verbal knowledge no connection between ability to count (preschool “more” or “less)

Language Acquisition

Move from receptive language (comprehending) to expressive language (producing)

Start to understand rules that govern language

Age 3, start to show syntax (way words ordered) by using questions “what when who which”

Problems

Developmental Phonological Disorder Difficulty in learning to use easily understood

speech by age 4 (runs in family) Stuttering

Frequent disruptions in speech Can be genetic, more in boys

Bilingual Language Development English Language Learner (ELL)

Late Talkers Quite baby, premature, health problems, twins,

males

Information Processing & Memory

Memory – retention of what has been experienced w/out memory, incapable of thinking &

reasoning Early memory

Usually fades as we grow older – childhood amnesia

Usually in color & visual image Information processing

Memory includes recall, recognition & relearning

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Recall – remember something that we learned

Recognition – perceive something we have previously encountered

Relearning – learn material familiar to us

In children, recognition superior to recall Help children remember by talking about

it

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Short-term memory Retained for brief period, usually not more than 30

seconds Long-term memory

Retained for extended period 5 systems of human memory

Procedural memory – motor, behavior & cognitive Working memory – allowing one to retain info over a short

term Perceptual representation – identifying words & objects Semantic memory – acquiring & retaining factual info Episodic memory – remembering events seen or

experienced

Memory strategies

Rehearsal process of repeating information to

ourselves (start about age 3) Categorization

Sorting information into meaningful categories

(starts about age 2) Recall by rhyming (sun-fun), syntactical

(men-work), clustering (hand-leg), serial ordering (2 words next to each other)

Moral Development

Piaget’s Theory Evolution of Moral reasoning▪ 3 characteristics (not met for ages 2-7 years_▪ 1. generalizable to all situations▪ 2. last beyond the situations & conditions that endanger them▪ 3. linked to feeling of autonomy

Reciprocity – child to value another person in away that allows him or her to remember the value of the interaction

Kohlberg’s Theory Preschool children tend to be superficial in moral judgment

because they have difficulty keeping several pieces information simultaneously in mind

Obedient to authority from threat or punishment Egocentric & unable to consider perspective of others