PSY2105 Midterm 2 (Chapters 7-9) uOttawa

Memory Strategies (ROCE)

• Rehearsal (repeat info)
  
  

• Organisation (group by categories)
  
  

• Elaboration (add extra meaning or imagery)
  

• Chunking (group items together)
  

Metacognition

• knowing about your own thinking; improves with age.

Metamemory

 informal understanding of how memory works.

Knowledge helps memory

but can also distort it (e.g., scripts for daily routines).

Infantile amnesia:

can’t remember early life events.

Eyewitness memory:

Preschoolers are easily influenced by suggestion

Encoding

transforming info into mental representation; young kids often fail here.

Heuristics

 mental shortcuts, fast but sometimes inaccurate.

Analytical problem solving:

logical, effortful.

Scientific thinking issues

kids confound variables and jump to conclusions

Phonics (reading skill)

sounding-out letter patterns

Whole language approach (reading skills)

doesn’t fully work to understand reading

Comprehension (reading)

Comprehension improves with vocab, memory, and background knowledge.

Writing skills

• Improves with topic knowledge, organization, and mechanics.
  

• Teaching strategies for planning, drafting, revising helps.

Counting principles (math) 

one-to-one, stable-order, cardinality.

Cultural differences

Canadian students outperform U.S. ones

Media for kids

Educational TV like Sesame Street helps; violent or unfiltered content can harm development

Psychometric approach

focuses on measuring mental abilities

Fluid intelligence

problem solving and reasoning

Crystallized intelligence

knowledge and skills gained from culture and experience

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences - how many?

nine 

Lingustic (gardner)

Word-smart

Logical/mathematical

Math/number smart

Spatial

picture smart

Bodily-kinesthetic

Body-smart

Musical

musically smart

Interpersonal

Person-smart

Intrapersonal

self-smart

Naturalistic

Nature-outside smart

Existential

life-smart

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory:

analytic, creative, practical

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

recognizing, understanding, and regulating ur emotions. greater emotional intelligence means greater relationships, work success, self-esteem. 

Binet & Simon (1905):

Created IQ test to define “bright” and “dull” students

Stanford-Binet / Wechsler Tests:

Modern IQ tests: avg IQ = 100, SD = 15.

IQ distribution shape? 

Bell-curve

Dynamic testing

measuring how much help a child needs to learn something new (vs just static ability)

Twin/adoption studies:

Predictable but environment and life experiences differ.

Flynn effect

global rise in IQ scores due to improved education, nutrition, etc.

Enriched environments growing up improves IQ score?

True

Stereotype threats

awareness of sterotypes can lower performance pressure in students/individuals being tested

IQ of “gifted children”?

IQ ≥ 130 + creativity + motivation.

Dyslexia

trouble with word recognition/spelling.

Intellectual Disability IQ?

Defined by:

• IQ < 70

• Problems adapting

• Onset before age 18

Impaired reading comprehension:

can read words but not understand.

Dyscalculia

difficulty with math operations or concepts.difficulty with math operations or concepts.

Phonology

sounding-out system of a language

Morphology

smallest unit of meaning

ex: cat , cat (s) plural

Semantics

meaning of words

Syntax

grammar and how words combine into sentences

Pragmatics 

social use of the language

Phonemes

Babies hear (speech sounds) from all languages at birth, but lose that ability by ~1 year.

Infant-directed speech

(high pitch, sing-songy) helps them learn patterns and meanings.

How do infants detect meanings between words?

Facial expressions, stresses, statistics, and familiar words

Infant babbling

Around 6 months

Infants first words

Around 12 months

Fast mapping:

learning new words after minimal exposure (during the “naming explosion”).

Underextension

Too narrow (only calls their dog “dog”, not by dog’s name)

Overextension

Too broad (calling every animal by their dogs name)

Telegraphic speech:

2-word phrases (“want milk”) around age 2.

Broca’s area

(left frontal cortex) = combining words into meaningful sentences.