Developmental Psychology Chapter 7: Cognitive Development

Language Development Phonemes _____________ Smallest unit of sound in a language 44 in the English language More than the alphabet Why? _____________ Smallest unit of meaning in a language Single words like “help” “boat” Or prefixes and suffixes

Theories of Language Development Biological Theory Predisposition to learn language at a certain age Language Acquisition Device Mechanism that allows children to listen to speech and to imitate sound and sound patterns Phonemes at 6 months Words after the 1st year Sentences by age 2 Without exposure to language it cannot be learned Flaws? Does not explain origins of language just mechanisms

Theories of Language Development Learning Theory Language is learned just as other behavior is learned. Imitation Conditioning Association Reinforcement Flaws?? Spontaneous creations

Theories of Language Development Cognitive Theory Language develops out of mental images A direct result of cognitive development Coincides with Piaget’s stages of cognitive development Language accelerates during the preoperational stage as symbolic representation increases Flaws? Assumes cognitive understandings prior to language development

Theories of Language Development _____________ Theory Emphasizes interaction of both biological maturation and the role of the environment in language development Consistent with contemporary view of language +

Sequence of Language Development Prelinguistic Period Crying at birth Cooing(video) at 2 months Babbling(video) at 6 months Spoken Words- Video Appears at about 10 months Typically only a few words are known By 18 months between 3 to 50 words Two word utterances begin 18 to 24 months Sentences(Video) appear at about 2 to 4 years

When Your Child Uses Bad Language Video –Warning Language is Offensive How does a parent deal with this type of language? 1) parents need to avoid using inappropriate language 2) parents should avoid reinforcing the language with extra attention and shock 3) allow use of descriptive words like penis, vagina, anus, urinate 4) parents need to express their disapproval of this type of language. Parents need to explain the meaning and express why they are disapproving What would you do to curb this behavior?

Bilingualism and Bicultural Competency How many people speak another language? What are some of the languages you speak? Russian Farsi Spanish Tagalog Those are my guesses!! When did you learn these languages? Do you think in another language? Class Activity

Piagetian Perspective _____________ Swiss Philosopher (1896-1980) Great contributions to child education Known as the father of child psychology 4 stages of cognitive development Video

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Typical Age Range Description of Stage Developmental Phenomena Birth to nearly 2 years Sensorimotor Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing) Object permanence Stranger anxiety Imitation About 2 to 6 years About 7 to 11 years About 12 through adulthood Preoperational Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning Pretend play Egocentrism Language development Concrete operational Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations Conservation Mathematical transformations Classification Formal operational Abstract reasoning Abstract logic Potential for moral reasoning

Piagetian Perspective Sensorimotor Stage The task is learning to coordinate sensorimotor sequences to solve simple problems.

Sensorimotor Stage Stage 1: reflexes 0-1 month Proficiency at sucking, grasping Lack ability to deliberately grasp or suck Stage 2: primary circular reactions 1-4 months Repetition of pleasurable behavior which occurs by chance (involves own body) Stage 3: secondary circular reactions 4 – 8 months Repetition of pleasurable behavior which occurs by chance, but involves deliberate manipulation of object in environment Stage 4: purposeful coordination of secondary schemes 8-12months Combinations of actions (leaning and grasping) (looking, crawling, grasping) Stage 5: tertiary circular reactions 12 – 18 months Exploration using new or novel actions Formation of trial and error discovery Stage 6: mental solutions 18 – 24 months Thinking about problems to develop solutions Internalization of trial and error Accompanied by language formation

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development _____________Video the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Pre Operational Stage The child begins to deal with the world symbolically. Mental images of the world Symbolism Symbolic play Video Pretend Play Video Stars Wars Revealed

Concrete Operational Stage Children show a greater capacity for logical reasoning Increase use of hierarchies and classifications

Concrete Operational Stage 4 concrete operations 1) Combinativity Combining two or more classes into one larger more comprehensive class Eg. All men and all woman equals all adults 2)_____________ Every operation has an operation that reverses it Eg. All adults except woman equals all men 3)Associativity Reaching goals in various ways (3+6)+5 =14 and (6+5)+3=14 4)Nullibility When an operation is combined with its opposite it results in no change Give 3 and take away 3 gives you nothing

Preoperational vs Concrete Operational Child _______________- Video the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

L.S. Vygotsky Social contributions to cognitive development. ____________________ ____________________ Language as the primary tool of cognitive development 1896-1934 Video 1 Video 2 Video 3

Intelligence Alfred Binet (1857-1911) David Wechsler Raymond Catell One of the first to approach the measurement of intelligence Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Mental Age- Chronological Age David Wechsler Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) Raymond Catell ______________ Intelligence Knowledge, skills, vocabulary, general information Thinking, reasoning, perceiving relationships, problem solving