ACD Exam 2

Assimilation

• A source of continuity in Piaget’s theory

• The process by which people translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts that they already understand

Accommodation

• A source of continuity in Piaget’s theory

• The process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences

Equilibration

• A source of continuity in Piaget’s theory

• The process by which an individual balances assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding

Sensorimotor

• Piaget’s first stage

• Birth - 2 years

• Intelligence is expressed through sensory and motor abilities

• Initial representations of object permanence is fragile

A-not-B-error

Tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found, rather than in the new location where it was last hidden

Preoperational

• Piaget’s second stage

• 2 - 7 years

• Marked by significant advances in symbolic thinking, but reasoning is limited in other ways

• Symbolic representation, conservation, egocentric

Symbolic representation

Use of one object to stand for another

Conservation concept

Changing the appearance of objects does not necessarily change the properties

Egocentrism

• Perceiving the world solely from one’s own point of view

• Tested using the three mountains task

Concrete operational

• Piaget’s third stage

• 7 - 12 years

• Children begin to reason logically about concrete features of the world

• Limited to concrete situations

• Systematic and hypothetical thinking are difficult

Formal operational

• Piaget’s fourth stage

• Ages 12 and up

• Children begin to think abstractly and to reason hypothetically

• This stage is not universal (not all individuals will reach it)

Model thought processes

• Information processing theory

• David Klahr

• Focus on the structure of cognitive systems and the mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems

• Use task analysis

• Cognitive development occurs continuously (see child as limited-capacity processing system and a problem-solver)

Task analysis

• Research technique for model thought processes

• Identifying goals, relevant information in the environment, and potential processing strategies for a problem

Core knowledge theories

Theorists disagree about how much knowledge is inborn/innate

Nativists

• Believe that infants are born with substantial knowledge

• Spelke’s core-knowledge theory proposed that infants begin life with four core-knowledge systems

• Theory of mind module

Constructivists

• Believe that infants build increasingly advanced understanding by combining rudimentary innate knowledge with subsequent experiences

• Knowledge of objects, people, plants, and animals

Sociocultural theories

• Emphasize that other people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children’s development

• Guided participation, social scaffolding, cultural tools

Vygotsky

• Believed children were social learners

• Learn through other people’s statements, private speech (aloud), and internalized private speech

Intersubjectivity

Mutual understanding shared during communication

Joint attention

Social partners focus on the same external object

Classical conditioning

A form of learning that consists of associating an initially neutral stimulus with a stimulus that always evokes a particular reflexive response

Instrumental conditioning

Learning the relation between one’s own behavior and the consequences that result from it

Positive reinforcement

• Reward that reliably follows a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

• Contingency relation between the behavior and the reward

Relational learning

• The ability to use prior experiences to predict what will occur in the future

Systems of memory

• Long-term

• Short-term

• Sensory

Long term memory

• Hours, days, years, etc.

• Can be explicit or implicit

Explicit (declarative) memory

• Conscious recollection of experiences and facts

• Semantic or episodic memory

Implicit (non-declarative) memory

• Expressed by changes in behavior

• Associative or procedural memory

Episodic memory

Memory of events

Semantic memory

Memory of facts

Associative memory

Memory of classical and operant conditioning

Procedural memory

Memory of motor habits

Constructivist nature of episodic memory

Reconstructive nature of episodic memory

Hippocampus

Specific area of the brain important for both encoding and retrieving episodic memories

Infantile amnesia

• Inability of adults to recall specific events from early childhood (before 3-4 years old

• Likely due to synaptic pruning and perceptual tuning in early years (important for retention of long-term, declarative memory)

Perceptual categorization

• Superordinate → basic → subordinate → individual example

• Infants divide objects into large categories based on how similar they are in appearance

Superordinate

• Most general level of perceptual categorization

• Type of object: inanimate objects, people, living things

Basic

• General level of perceptual categorization

• Type of object: future, vehicles, Europeans, Asians, animals, plants

Subordinate

• Medium level of perceptual categorization

• Type of object: chairs, tables, Spaniards, Finns, cats, dogs

Individual examples

• Specific level of perceptual categorization

• Type of object: La-z-boys, armchairs, Picasso, Cervantes, lions, lynxes

Desires, beliefs, actions

• Three concepts children use to understand human behavior

Theory of mind

• Understanding that others’ beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions, and thoughts may be different from one’s own

• Sally-Anne false-belief task

Theory of mind module

Hypothesized brain mechanism devoted to understanding other human beings

Stage of heteronomous morality

• Piaget’s preoperational stage of moral reasoning

• Social: parental control

• Cognitive: believe rules are “real” things

Stage of autonomous morality

• Piaget’s stage of moral reasoning occurring between ages 11 and 12

• Not blindly obedient to authority

• Rules are a product of social agreement

• Fairness and equality

• Motives and intentions

Preconventional moral reasoning

• Kohlberg’s first stage of moral reasoning

• Self-centered

• A child at this level focuses on getting rewards and avoiding punishment

Conventional moral reasoning

• Kohlberg’s second stage of moral reasoning

• Centered on social relationships

• A child a this level focuses on compliance with social duties and laws

Postconventional moral reasoning

• Kohlberg’s third stage of moral reasoning

• Centered on ideals

• A child at this level focuses on moral principles

Gilligan’s Theory of Moral Development

Argued that there are differences in the way males and females reason morally because of the way they are socialized

Social domain theory

• Growth in moral reasoning occurs through gradual change based on the child’s social interactions with peers and adults as well as through direct socialization from their parents

• In order to successfully negotiate their social worlds, children must understand principles in three different domains of social knowledge

• Differences occur in moral judgements from diverse environments

Moral domain

• Domain of social knowledge

• Welfare, rights, justice

• Authority independent, universal context

Social conventional domain

• Domain of social knowledge

• Social etiquette, social rules

• Authority dependent, context specific

Personal domain

• Domain of social knowledge

• Personal choices

• Personal jurisdiction

Social brain hypothesis

A hypothesized explanation for the fact that primates have unusually large brains for body size compared to all other vertebrates because of the need to manage complex social systems

Deep social mind

Uniquely human capacity to “read” (infer) the mental states of others, while also enabling others to read one’s own mental states at the same time

Hyper cooperation, egalitarianism, mindreading, cumulative culture, and language

Sociocognitive adaptations that supported the evolution of deep social mind

Cultural learning

• The process by which individuals acquire behaviors, knowledge, or skills through observation, imitation, or teaching from others, rather than via direct genetic inheritance or individual trial-and-error

• Allows behaviors to spread within a group and across generations

Instrumental aggression

Motivated by desire to obtain a concrete goal

Relational aggression

Behavior aimed at hurting or injuring others

Language

• The primary human symbol system

• Generative

Phonemes

• The smallest units of meaningful sound

• Exp: /b/

• 44 in English

Morphemes

• The smallest units of meaning in language

• Alone or in combination, constitute words

• Exp: “dog” → 1 _____, “dogs” → 2 ______

• Can be a root word, prefix, or suffix

Syntax

Rules specifying how words from different categories (parts of speech) can be combined

Pragmatics

• Knowledge about how language is used in to social context

• Exp: Can you open a window?

Dialects

Distinct form of a language that are geographically or culturally rooted

Code switching

The practice of changing how you speak, act, or present yourself to fit different social environments or audiences

A human brain and environmental stimulus

What is required for language?

Language as species-specific

Only humans acquire language

Language as species-universal

Language is achieved by typically developing children across the world

Infant-directed speech

• A distinctive mode of speech that adults adopt when talking to babies/young children

• Preferred by infants in virtually all cultures

Sensitive period for language development

• Early years until around age five

• Evidence: Genie, adult-language learners, deaf community learners

Categorical perception

• Aspect of speech perception

• The perception of speech sounds as belonging to discrete categories

• Infants aged 10-12 months become better at discriminating phonemes of their native language and worse at discriminating phonemes of non-native languages

• Experience-dependent plasticity during a sensitive period

Word segmentation

• Aspect of speech perception

• Process of discovering where words begin and end in fluent speech

• Begins during the second half of the first year

Distributional properties

• Aspect of speech perception

• In any language, certain sounds are more likely to appear together than others

Overregularization

Speech errors in which children treat irregular forms of words as if they were regular

Private speech

Speech directed to the self

Collective monologues

Conversation between children involving series of non-sequiturs

Narratives

Descriptions of past events that have the basic structure of a story

Neuronal recycling hypothesis

• Reading recycles existing cerebral structure that serves functionally similar purpose

• Exp: fusiform gyrus → visual word form area (VWFA) specialized for recognizing written words

Conceptualizing intelligence

• View 1: Single trait

• View 2: Few basic abilities

• View 3: Numerous cognitive processes

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• General intelligence

• Single traits view

• We all possess a certain amount of general intelligence, which influences our ability to think and learn

Fluid and crystallized intelligence

Types of intelligence from view two (few basic abilities)

Fluid intelligence

Ability to think on the spot to solve problems

Crystalized intelligence

Factual knowledge of the world

Three-stratum theory of intelligence

• General intelligence → broad categories of intelligence → specific cognitive abilities

• John B Carroll

Intelligence quotient

• Quantitative measure of a children’s intelligence, relative to that of other children at the same age

• Consistency from ages five onward, however scores are rarely identical

• Predictor of academic, economic, and occupational success

Self-discipline and practical intelligence

Other predictors of success (not IQ)

Self-discipline

• Ability to self-regulate

• More predictive of changes in school grades between 5th and 9th grade than IQ

Practical intelligence

• Skills useful in everyday life but not measured by traditional intelligence tests

• Exp: Accurately reading other’s intentions and working as a team

• Predicts occupational success beyond the influence of IQ

Genetics

Effects on intelligence are moderate in early childhood and become large by adolescence/adulthood

Genetics, family, school, societal, poverty

Influences on the development of intelligence

School influences on intelligence

• Extra year in school increases IQ scores by 1-5 points

• Gains throughout the school

• Jump in abilities between grades

Flynn effect

• Evidence for societal influences on intelligence

• Consistent rise in average IQ scores over the past 80 years in many countries

Disrupted sleep

• Impacts attention, behavior, learning

• Increased risk of accidents, injuries, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and mental health problems

Stage 1 of sleep

• Transition from wake → sleep

• Drop in core body temp, reduced muscle tension

Stage 2 of sleep

• Sleep spindles and k-complexes

• Sleep spindles are a hallmark of NREM sleep

• Linked to memory consolidation (hippocampus → cortex)

Stages 3 and 4 of sleep

• Slow-wave sleep (SWS)

• Deepest stage of sleep

• Heart rate and respiration slow dramatically, high-amplitude delta waves

• Declines with age, often absent in the elderly

Stage 5 of sleep

• REM or paradoxical sleep

• EEG resembles wakefulness

• Muscle paralysis

Homeostatic, circadian, ultradian

Three processes that underlie the regulation of sleep