Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Middle Childhood:
Cognitive Development
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?

Don’t try the “Yes, but” defense with a 5-year old. If you did it,
you’re guilty, even if it was an accident.

Memorizing the alphabet requires that children keep 26 chunks
of information in mind at once.
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?
 An IQ is a score on a test.
 Two children can answer exactly the same items on an
intelligence test correctly, yet one can be above average in
intelligence and the other below average.
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?

Highly intelligent children are creative.

Adopted children are more similar in intelligence to their
adopted parents than to their biological parents.
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?
 Bilingual children encounter more academic problems than
children who speak only one language.
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Piaget’s ConcreteOperational Stage
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Meant by the Stage of Concrete Operations?
• Beginnings of adult logic, involves tangible not abstract ideas
• Characterized by
– Reversibility and flexibility
– Less egocentric
– Decentration
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Meant by the Stage of Concrete Operations?
• Demonstrate understanding of conservation
– Object can have several properties or dimensions
– Child can decenter and focus on more than one dimension
• Conservation of mass develops first
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Meant by the Stage of Concrete Operations?
• Demonstrate understanding of transitivity
– If A exceeds B in some property
– B exceeds C,
– then A must also exceed C
• Assess transitivity through seriation tasks
– Requires decentration to focus on more than one dimension
• Demonstrate an understanding of class inclusion
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.2 A Grid for Demonstrating the Development of Seriation
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Lessons in Observation:
Piaget’s Concrete-Operational Stage
• What is conservation?
– Why is the ability to conserve an important milestone in cognitive
development, according to Piaget?
– Describe the conservation tasks and discuss the performance of the
children depicted in the video.
– Are their responses typical of children in the concrete operational
stage? Why or why not?
• Cite specific reasons given by children in the video when they
are asked to explain “why” they thought the amount of liquid or
play dough had changed or not changed.
[insert video: Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
(ConcreteOperationalStage.mov)]
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Lessons in Observation:
Piaget’s Concrete-Operational Stage
• Do these responses illustrate changes in the
reasoning abilities of concrete operational children as
described by Piaget?
– Include the following Piagetian concepts in your discussion:
conservation, decentration, and reversibility
• Do the children in the video use logical or intuitive
approaches to solving problems?
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Lessons in Observation:
Piaget’s Concrete-Operational Stage
• Are children in Piaget’s concrete operational stage
likely to be able to use their reasoning skills on
problems and ideas that they have not experienced
directly? Why or why not?
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Can We Apply Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
to Educational Practices?
• Learning involves active discovery
– Find stimulating materials instead of imposing knowledge
• Instruction geared to student’s level
– Consider the level of cognitive development
• Encourage development of perspective taking
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory
• Piaget tended to underestimate children’s abilities
• Horizontal decalage
– Ability to master different tasks within same stage
• Cognitive development may be more continuous
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Moral Development
The Child as Juror
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
How Does Piaget View the Development of Moral Reasoning?
Two stages of moral development
• Moral Realism – ‘objective morality’
– Emerges at about age 5
– Behavior is correct when to conforms to authority or rules
• Rules are absolutes
– Punishment is inevitable
• Immanent justice or automatic retribution
• Do not excuse accidental behavior
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
How Does Piaget View the Development of Moral Reasoning?
Two stages of moral development
• Autonomous Morality
– Emerges between ages of 9 and 11
– Social rules are arbitrary agreements that can be changed
• Circumstances can require breaking rules
– Consider the intentions of the wrongdoer
– Develops as a result of cooperative peer relationships
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development?
• Preconventional level
– Obedience and punishment
– Instrumental orientation
• Conventional level
– Good-boy/good-girl orientation
– Law-and-order orientation
• Postconventional level
– Contractual, legalistic orientation
– Universal ethical principles orientation
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Information-Processing
Learning, Remembering,
Problem Solving
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is the Difference Between Piaget’s View of Cognitive
Development and the Information Processing Approach?
• Information Processing
– Compares children to functions of a computer
• Key elements
– Selective attention
• Ability to focus attention and screen out distractions
– Capacity for storage and retrieval of information
– Strategies for processing information
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.3 Development of the Ability to Ignore Distractions
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Meant by the Term Memory?
• Storage and retrieval of information
– Sensory Memory
– Short-term or working memory
• Auditory encoding
• Capacity 7 chunks of information achieved by adolescence
– Typical 5- or 6-year old – works on two chunks of information at a time
• Cognitive strategies used to promote memory
• Rote learning
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.4 The Structure of Memory
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
How Much Information Can be Stored in Long-Term Memory?
• No known limit of information
• Moving information to long-term memory
– Rehearsal
– Elaborative strategy
– Semantic encoding
• Organization in long-term memory
• Recall memory is improved by categorization
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Do Children Understand About the Functioning of Their
Cognitive Processes and Their Memory?
• Metacognition
– Knowledge and control of cognitive abilities
• Metamemory
– Children’s awareness of the functioning of their memory
• As children develop they utilize more strategies for memory
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
A Closer Look
Children’s Eyewitness Testimony
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Intellectual Development,
Creativity, and Achievement
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Intelligence?
• Achievement
– What a child has learned
– Specific content area
• Intelligence
– Child’s underlying learning ability
– Cognitive basis for academic achievement
• Cognitive basis for academic achievement
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Theories of Intelligence
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Are “Factor Theories” of Intelligence?
• Behaviors we consider intelligent have a common factor
– Spearman g or “general intelligence”
• Broad reasoning and problem solving
– s or “specific capacities”
• Individual abilities
– Thurstone – 9 specific factors or primary mental abilities
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.5 Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.6 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
A Closer Look
Emotional Intelligence
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Measurement of Intellectual Development
•
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (SBIS)
– Assumes intelligence increases with age
– Older child must answer more items to obtain comparable score to
younger child (mental age)
– IQ = mental age divided by chronological age x 100
– 2-year-olds to adults
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Measurement of Intellectual Development
•
Wechsler Scales
– Groups questions into subtests that measure different intellectual
tasks
•
Compares performance on one type of task with another
– Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI)
– Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC)
– Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS)
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.7 Performance Items on a Intelligence Test
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
The Testing Controversy
•
IQ test scores
– Should not be sole criteria for placement
– Accurately measure skills necessary in today’s high tech work
•
Culture-bias versus culture-free
– Bias for African American and lower social class
– Cattell’s Culture-Fair Intelligence Test
•
Culture-free tests have not been successful
– Disadvantaged children consistently score lower
– Do not predict academic success
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.9 Sample Items from Catell’s Culture-Fair Intelligence Test
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
How Does Intelligence Develop?
•
Advances in middle childhood
– Symbolize experiences and manipulate symbols
– Vocabulary development
– Increase logical and complex thought
•
Two major spurts
– Entry to school
– Approaching puberty
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.10 Five Patterns of Change in IQ Scores for Children in the Fels
Longitudinal Study
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Are the Socioeconomic and Ethnic
Differences in Intelligence?
•
Increased predictive power but consistent individual differences
– Lower class US children score lower than more affluent
– Most ethnic minority groups score lower than European American
– Asian Americans outscore European Americans
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Developing in a World
of Diversity
Socioeconomic and Ethnic
Differences in IQ
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Differences in Intelligence
•
Mental Retardation
– Significant limitations
•
•
Intellectual functioning (IQ scores of 70 to 75), and
Adaptive behavior
– Causes of mental retardation
•
•
•
Biological
Cultural-familial retardation
Giftedness
– Outstanding abilities and high performance
•
•
In specific academic area
Leadership, arts, or bodily talents
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is Creativity?
•
Ability to do things novel and useful (Sternberg)
– Solve problems without expected solutions
•
Creative children
– Take chances,
– Refuse to accept limitations,
– Appreciate art and music
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Is the Relationship Between Creativity and Intelligence?
•
Moderate relationship between intelligence scores and creativity
– Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory includes creative intelligence
– Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences include creative areas
•
Explanation for lack of relationship
– Intelligence testing requires convergent thinking
– Creative thinking requires divergent thinking
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Are the Roles of Nature and Nurture on the
Development of Intelligence?
•
Genetic Influences
– Measured through kinship and adoption studies
– More closely related – more similar IQ scores
– Heritability – about 45 to 60%
•
Environmental Influences
– Same studies consider
•
•
•
Situational factors that effect IQ testing
Exploring ability to rebound from early deprivation
Effects of positive early environments
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Figure 12.11 Findings of Studies of the Relationship Between IQ Scores and Heredity
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Language Development
and Literacy
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
How Does Language Develop in Middle Childhood?
•
Vocabulary and Grammar
– Vocabulary expands
– Recognize words with multiple meanings
– Articulation and complex grammar improves
•
•
•
•
Tag questions
Correct use and comprehension of passive sentences
Use connectives
Direct object – indirect object constructions
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Cognitive Skills Are Used in Reading?
•
Reading demands perceptual, cognitive and linguistic processes
– Integrate visual and auditory information
– Able to make basic visual discriminations
•
Reading to preschool children – prepares them for reading
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
Methods of Teaching Reading
•
Word-recognition method
– Associate visual stimuli with sound of spoken word
– Acquired by rote learning
•
Phonetic method
– Associate letters with sounds they indicate – sound out words
•
Most children utilize both methods
– Word-recognition for basic sight vocabulary
– Phonetic method for decoding new words
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
The Diversity of Children’s
Linguistic Experience in the
United States
Ebonics and Bilingualism
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What is Ebonics?
•
Black English
– Spoken by segments of African-American community
•
Consistent grammatical rules allow for complex thought
– Differs primarily in use of verbs
– Accepts use of double negatives
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. Rathus
Chapter 12
What Does the Research Reveal About the Advantages and
Disadvantages of Bilingualism?
•
Bilingual children have more cognitive flexibility
– Aware of different cultures – broadens perspectives
•
Learning a second language increases expertise in first
language