Chapter 1
Life-span human development bestaat uit systematische veranderingen en continuiteiten in een
individu, plaatsvindend tussen conceptie en dood. Ontwikkelingsveranderingen houden in; groei,
ouder worden, baten en verliezen en gewone veranderingen in fysieke, cognitieve, en psychosociale
domeinen. Ze zijn het resultaat van zowel nature als nurture.
Concepts of lifespan and distinctive periods have changed over time and differ between cultures.
Three goals to the science of life span development.: description, expanation and optimalizatiojn of
development. Started with baby biographies by darwin and the like, and with g stanley hall’s
questionnaires. Life span devlopmnet is now viewed as a lifelong, multidirectional process that
involves gain and loss, is characterized by considerable plasticity, is shaped by its historical/cultural
context, has many causes and is bets viewed from a multi-disciplinary perspective./
Scientific method: observations, using theories to generate hypotheses, testing these by collecting
new observations and using the data so obtained to evaluatie the worth of theories.
Data collection techniques: self-report measures en behavioural observations.
Correlational method is widely used, though it cannot guarantee cause and effect.
Rely alot on cross sectional and longitudinal studies to describe development.
Chapter 2
Theory is a set of ideas [proposed to describe and explain certain phenomena: it provides a
perspectivethat helps organize a wide range of facts and is vaulable to the extet that it is internally
consistent, flasifiable, and supported by data.
Theories concerning LSHD adrees issues coincerning human nature, nature/nurture,
activity/passivity, continuity/discontinuity, and universality/context specificity in development.
Freud: humans are driven by inborn instincts which are lartgely unconscious., Id- instintual; rules
infant-, rational ego – emerges during infancy-, superego –conscience; takes form in the preschool
years. 5 stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Each characterized by conflict that create the
need for ego dfence mechanism and have lasting effects on personality.
Erikson’s neo-freudian version of psycho-analytic theory: devlopment is lifelong process involving
eight psychosocial stages. Beginning with trust vs. Mistrust. In infancy and concluding with
integrity vs. Despair in old age. Compared to freud, erikson emphasized biological urges and social
influence more; emp[hasized id less and ego more; held a more positive, optimistric view of human
nature and theorized about the entire lifespan. Learning theorists hold that we can change gradually
through learning experience and that we can develop. In many different directions.
Behaviourist Watsonadvocated attention on overt behaviour and environmental influences. Skinner
operant conditioning
Albert bandura’s social learning theory differs from behavioural learning theories in emphasizing
cognitive processes , observational learning and a reciprocla determinism of person and
environment.
Jean Piagets cognitive developmental theory stresses universal, invariant stages in which children
actively construct increasingly complex understandings by interactinhg with their environment; the
stages are senso-motor, preoperational, concrete-operational and formal-operational.
The emerging contextual/systems perspective –illustrated by Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspective
(with its emphasis on how culture shapes the devlopment of thought as children collaborate with
more experienced problem-solvers) and Bronfenfenners bioecological theory (with it’s micro, meso
exo and macrosystems.)- emphasizes that a changing person and a chaning environment interact as
part of a larger system.
Theories of human development would also guide practice, not just theory. (teen pregnancy)
No single theory provides adequate account of human development, but each contributes to our
understanding.
Chapter 3
Ethologists, evolutionary psychologists and psychobiologists beleive that the normal development
must be understood as the product of both species-wide genes and exposure to normal experience.
Each human has an individual heredity when sperm and ovum, each having retained 23
chromosomes at meiosis, unite to form a single-cell zygote that contains 46 chromosomes (23 from
each parent with some 30.000 genes that are rapidly ebing mapped by the human genome project.
The result is that each child of the same parents (other than identical twins) is genetically unique.
The child’s sex is determined by the sex (X and Y) chromosomes. Genetic males have an X and Y
chromosome, whereas genetic females have two X chromosomes, meaning that the father
determines the child’s sex.
The genetic basis for devlopment is not completely understood, but we do know that genes provide
an instructional ‘code’ that influences how cells are formed and how they function and that
regulatory genes turn these genes on and off throughout the life span. Environmental influence how
one’s own genotype. Is translated into phenotype.
There are three main mechanisms of inheritance single gene-pair inheritance, sex-linked
inheritance, and polygenic inheritance. Most important human traits are influenced by polygenic
inheritance. Some children are also affected by noninherited changes in gene structure( mutations);
others, because of errors in meiosis, have chromosome abnormalities (Down) or sex-chgromosome
abnormalities (turner and Klinefelter)
Genetic coditions such as Tay-Sachs disease and Huntington disease can have a profound influence
on development. Genetic counseling can help people calculate the risk that their unborn children
may run. Application of gene therapy with humans have not yet been succesful and, along with the
prospect of cloning, raise serious ethical issues.
Behavioural genetics is the study of genetic and environmental contributions to individual
differences in psychological traits and behaviours. Human behaviour geneticists, by conducting
twin, adoption and other family studies, describe resemblances between pairs of people using
concordance rates and correlation coefficients. They then estimate the heritabililty of traits, as well
as the contributions of shared and nonshared environmnetal influences.
Genes, shared and nonshared influences.
Performance on measures of intellignce is a heriditable trait. Infant mental development is strongly
influenced by pecies-wide maturational plan, but over the course of childhood and adolescence,
individual differences in mental ability more stronlgy reflect both individual genetic makeup and
environmental influences.
Aspects of temperament , such as emotionality, are also genetica;l;y inflienced. Members of the
same family often develop very different personalities owing nonshared aspects of their
experiences, whereas shared environmental influences are minimal.
Many psychological disoreders and problems, including schizophrenia, have a genetic basis, but
environmental factors have a good deal of influence on whether or not a genetic predisposition to
develop a problem is realized.
Overall, physical and physiological characteristics are more strongly influenced by individual
genetics endowments than are intellectual abilities and, in turn, personality traits. Some traits like
creativity and social attitudes are more influenced by environment.
Moreover, passive, evocative, and active gene/environment correlations suggest that we experience
and seek out environments that match and further reinforce our genetic dispositions.
Living in the same home does not make children more similar in personality!
ON MAJOR DIMENSIONS OF PERSONALITY, SHARED ENVIRONMENT MAY BE ONLY
5% DETERMINISTIC, WHILE GENES ARE 40%. Remaining 55 percent of variability in adult
personalities is due to nonshared environmnetal factors.
Behavior geneticist have discovered that family environment often [plays a more important role in
creating differences among family members than creating similarities (when it comes to personality
traits.) Nonshared characteristics interacting with genes seem to be most important. This is probably
reciprocal determinism
Concordance rate for schizofrenia is 48 % in identical twins. For fraternal 17%.
Some environmental factors are imprtant too: people do not inherit a mental illness, they inherit a
predisposition to develop one. Triggers might be prenatal exposure to disease. Conclusion: it is
often wrong to conclude that bad behaviour is the result of bad parenting!
Passive gene-environment correlations (shy parent genotype, little stimulating environment
shyness)
Evocative gene-environment correlations (smily genotype evoke smiles from others)
Active gene-environment correlations (child genotype influences kind of environmnet he actively
seeks)
Genes influence sibling similarity in:
Objective and percieved aspects of parenting style.
Time spent watching television
Number of stressful life events experienced
Responses to surveys asking them how their experiences differ.
Chapter 4
The environment of human development includes all events or conditions outside the person that
affect or are affected by the person’s development, including both the physical and the social
environment.
Environmental influences on development begin at conception as the zygote begins its passage
through three stages of prenatal development: the germinal period ( zon 8 tot 14 dagen; van zygote
naar blastula), the period of the embryo(from implantation to 8 weeks; organogenese.. amnion &
chorion sex differentiation at 7/8 week) and the period of the fetus (ninth week to birth; first
trimester digestion, urinating and swallowing; 3rd month, bones and muscles , clear sexual organs;
during second trimester (4th to 6th month) more refined activities like thumbsucking; at week 24 25
(hafway 5th month= age of viability); lat trimester myelin and neural development; fast brain
development.) there is good deal of continuity between prenatal and postnatal behaviour)
The prenatal physical environment is most suportive when a mother is between 16 and 35, is not
stressed and is well nourished. A variety of teratogens, such as disease and drugs, can significantly
affect development. Five principles help us understand the effects of teratogens: Effects are worst
when organ systems are growing most rapidly; not all embryos or fetuses are equally affected by the
same teratogen; harmful effects depend on the genetic makeup of both the mother and her unborn
child aswell as teh quality of the prenatal environment; effects are more serious with gretater
exposure to teratogens; and the effect of teratogens often depend on the quality of the postnatal
environent.
The perinatal environment is also important. Childbirth os a three step process consisting of labour,
delivery and afterbirth.. Despite recent concerns about overuse, cesareans are still common.
Perinatal risks to the baby include anoxia and the effects of medication given to the mother.
Most new parents are anxious during labor and delivery but find the experience a positive one.
Support for new mothers varies across cultures.
Part of the post natal environment is the cultural context. Survival, economic, and self-actualization
goals of parenting are universal, but parents in cultures with high infant mortality must concentrate
on infant survival and therefore keep their infants with them around the clock. Some babies are
temperamentally more suitable for their cultural niche and respond better to socialization efforts.
Some problems creweated at prenatal and perinatal stages are long lasting, but many babies
outgrow it. Especially those in a stimulating and su pportive postnatal environment and with
personal traits like sociability and intelligence.
Ways of getting human lives off to a good strart today include prenatal care, Lamaze classes,
alterbative birth centers, neonatal intensive care units and training for parents with high-risk infants.
Goals parents have for a child: survival goals; economic goals; self – actualization goals.
Chapter 5
The brain emerges from the neural plate within weeks after conception. The plasticity of the infant
barin allows it to select certain neural connections over others in response to normal early
experiences, as well as to benefit from enriching stimulation.
Gene on y chromosome of man triggers development of testes. Testes produce testosteron and
androgens. Female ovaries produce estrogen and progesteron.
Endocrine system; pituitary gland (controlled by hypothalamus)secretes hormones for endocrine
glands (particularly growth hormone); these secrete specialized hormones (also for grwoth) thyroid
glands also important in growth and development.
Proliferation (250.000 neurons p/minute.); migration; organization (synaptogenese & brain growth
spurt; 2 mnths bb till 2 years ab); plasticity
Neural plate, neural tube. Spina bafida, anencephaly and encephalocele (what can go wrong) .
Critical period for brain development is late prenatal and early infancy.myelination.
Age 2; weight brain = 75%. By 5 it’s 90%
Lateralization early after conception so possibly genetic basis: people develop preference for one
side. Left = sequential processing for language and analytic reasoning. Right = simultanious
processing of spatial information and and visuo-motor information.
Brain appears to be structured very early so that the two hemispheres of the cortex will be capable
of specialized functioning.
Growth spurts of the brain seem to correspond with major cognitive breakthroughs of Piaget.
By 16 brain has full weight. ,myelination continues during adolescence. Which may explain
growing attention span with age. Myeination may even continue into adulthood.
During childhood neural transmission speeds up, and lateralization of various barinfuntions, though
present at birth, become more evident in behaviour. During adolescende the prefrontal cortex
continues to develop, permitting sustained attention and strategic planning.
The aging brain exhibits both degeneration and plasticity. Neurons atrophy and die, levels of
neurotransmitters decrease , and blood flow to the barin decreases. But the aging brain forms new
synapses to compensate for neural loss and reorganizes itself in respons to learning experiences.
Neuron loss with aging is greatest in the area of the brain that control sensory and motor activities.
Neuron loss, declines levels of neurotransmitters, senile plaques (hardening of areas surraounding
neurons.)
Newborns have a wide range of reflexes (survival reflexes like breathing, eye blinking, sucking and
primitive reflexes like babinski reflex, grasping reflex) , working senses, a capacity to learn and
organized sleeping a waking states. ; they are competent but also limited creatures.
The existence of relexes tells us that we come hardwired to respond to stimulation in adaptive ways.
Their disappearance tells us that the nervous system is developing normally and their abscence tells
is that something is wrong with the nervous system)
,
Young children more rem sleep (50% for newborns till 6 mnth)
Reflexes, behavioural states, sensing and l;earning
Infants grow according to the cephalocaudal (head-to tail), proximodistal (outwards), and
orthogenetic (global and undifferentiated to differentiated and integrated) principles. Bones harden
and muscles strengthen.
Catch-up growth after malnutrition
As The motor areas of the brain’s cortex mature, motor milestones are achieved in predictable
Cephalocaudal and proximodistal order, and differentiated responses are integrated into meaningful
sequences of movement. Maturation is a factor in early motor development, but but normal
opportunities to interact with the environment and learn motor begaviours are also necessary,
according to the dynamic systems approach.
During childhood, the body steadily grows, and bothn large muscle and small muscle control and
reaction time improve. Children learn to coordinate their movements within a changing
environment.
See table 5.5. p. 118!
Motor development: groos motor skills toward fine motor skills : orthogenic principle: global
Crawling 7 mnths; walking from about 1 yr. Grasping (not reflex) at about 6 mnth. Pincing at 12
mnths. Crayon at 16 mnth.
Rythmic stereotypies before developing a skill.
Dynamic systems approach: development takes place over time through a self-organizing process
in which children use sensory feedback they receive when they try things out to modify their motor
behaviour in adaptive ways. (infants do theor best; interaction with environment; nature+nurture)
important contribution of this approach in integration of action with thought.
Girls reach menarche at 12 and a half, boys reach their first ejaculation (semenarchy) a bit later.
Rates of maturation vary widely, in part because of genetic makeup and in part because of nutrition
and health status.
Growth spurt peak just under 12 and 13.4 for height for girls and boys respectively.12.5 and 13.9
for weight. Girsl stop at 16, boys at 18-20
Puberty one year earlier on average for afr-am. Girls
Most adolescent girls and boys react to maturation process with mixed feelings, worry about theor
physical appearance and cap[abilities, and experience heightened conflict with parentsin early
adolescence. Early maturation tends to give boys an advantage overt their peers, but appears to be a
disadvantage for girls. Most differences fade over time.
Physiacl capabilities of boys improve but those of many girls level off or even decline during
adolescence, perhaps because of gender stereotypes.]
Genes partly determine rate of adelescents development. Set in motion by genes and executed by
hormones. But also environmental factors!!secular trend: in 1840 ag for menarche was 16.5; region
of sausdi arabia now 15.1. PART OF NEW GUINEA EVEN 18: why? Better nutritoin, advances in
medical care. But also family and marital stress.
Most sytems of the body reach a peak of functioning between childhood and early adulthood and
decline gradually thereafter; decreases in reserve capacity are especially noticeable. However,
individual differences in physiological functioning beome greater with age. Older adults lose bone
density, which may lead to fractures or osteoporosis. Good bone health starts in childhood with
adequate calcium and is maintained with regular physical activity.
During the reproductive years of adulthood, some women experience moodswings during the
menstrual cycle, but few women are incapacitated by premenstual syndrome. Men’s hormone levels
also fluctuate, though not in monthly cycles.
Women reach menopause and lose their reproductive capacity at about 50; most experience hot
flashes and vaginal dryness, but few experience severe psychological symptoms. The reproductive
systems of men age more gradually and less completely durting the male climacteric.
As people age, they experience a slowing of their nervous systems, reaction times, and motor
behaviour; their capacity for vigorous activity is also reduced.
Osteoporosis; loss of minerals in bones makes them brittle and fragile. Risk factors: fa,mily history
and smoking.
Osteoarthritis (cartilage deterioration in joints)
Deterioration : steadily in men; rapid in women after 55. individual diffrences grow larger with age.
Aging, disease, disuse and abuse of the body all affect performance in later life. Perfectly healthy
older people function much like younger people except for their slower reactions, but the
development of chronic diseases is a fact of aging for most people. Without disease there seems to
be no difference between old and young on most measures of performance.
Physical activity is important throughout the life span qnd is positively correlated with both
physical and mental health. Many children and adults are overweight, not only because of genetic
factors, but because they do not engage in enough physical activity.
Reserve capacity of organs
Psychological implications: agism. Elders work hard not be ‘ old’. Majority of elders still feel
content regardless.
There is a suggestion that pms is due (for some) to expectation rather than hormones.
There are alot of learned stereotypes about what women should experience.
Menopause between 42 and 58; gradual process of 5-10 years. Levels of estrogen and other female
hormones decline so that the hormone mix is less feminine. Age of menopause has not changed
with secular trend.
Why do old people slow down in walking? Balance, reduced strength and cardiovascular
functionaing. The central change that comes about as we age is a slowing down of the nervous
system! Also ; people get out of shape.
Chapter 6
Sensation is the detection of sensory stimulation; perception is the interpretation of what is sensed.
Is knowledge of the world innate or is it acquired through the senses?
Methods of studying infant perception include habituation (learning to be bored), evoked potentials
(electrodes for brain activity), preferential looking (presenting two or more stimuli), and operant
conditioning techniques (head turning at sound).
From birth, vision works pretty well. 2 months: brightness and colors, are attracted to contours ,
moderate complexity and movement. From 2/3 months they more clearly perceive whole pattens
such as faces and seem to understand a good deal about objects and their properties, possibly
because they already have intuitive theories about the physical world; things are not just blobs
anymore. At this point their color vision is also fully mature. Spatial development also developes
rapidly, and by about 7 months infants do not only perceive drop-offs, but also fear them.
Visual acquity : disks with stripes
Young infants world is blurred bacause of limitations of visual accomodation (changing of lens
shape)
Babies are attracted to dark-light transitions or contour; to patterned stimuli, concentric circles and
faces; structures of moderate complexity. They prefer to look at anything they can see well.
Young infants can recognize their mothers voices and distinguish speech sounds that adults cannot
discriminate.
As infants gain experience with different objects, their attention is drawn to different objects, not
only because they have certain physical properties, but because forms are recognized as familiar.
Depth perception and the priciple of size constancy in very young infants (tested with habituation
with cubes). Also visual cliff experiment/ they repeated similar experimnet with non crawling
babies (younger than 7 months) and mointored heart rate: as young as 2 months see drop off, but
only by 7 months we fear them.
Principle of common motion as cue to determine where object begins and ends at 4 months. Also
use “ good form” (like good continuation)
4 months seem to know something about the laws of gra
theories
distinguishing phomemes at 3 months (consonant sounds like ba and pa)
using operant conditioning techniques with sucking speeds and voice recorder tapes they found that
babies indeed discriminated their mothers voise (at 3 days). Prefer female voices. Even by 4 months
no preference of fathers voice over strangesr voice. Children can distinguish between voices so why
prefence for mothers and none for fathers? Experimnet with story telling while in womb (sucking
more or less as measure). Hearing is more developed at birth than vision is.
The senses of taste and smell are well developed at birth (even before). Newborns avoid unpleasant
tastes and enjoy sweet tastes, and they soon recognize their mothers by odor alone. Newborns are
also sensitive to touch, temperature and pain.
The senses are interrelated at bith, but as they develop, performance on cross-modal perception
improves (oral to visual at 3 mnths, other forms 4 – 7 months.; hey learn to coordiniate information
from one sense with information gained from another.
Impressions from the different senses are fused at birth liek William james believed, but they are
not the “ blooming, buzzing confusion” he described)
During childhood we learn to sustain attention for longer periods of time, to direct it more
selectively and to plan and carry out more systematic perceptual searches.
During adolescence, the ability to sustain and control attention improves still more and sensation
and perception are at their peaks.
The fact that perceptual development happens fast may be evidence for the nature side of the
debate. What about nurture?: cataract and deafness in babies, note scales of different cultures (hear
off notes in all scales) drawing of human bodies in cultures without drawing culture.
Much of perceptual development in child is actually development of attention. Three things change:
attention span becomes longer, become more selective in what they attend to and are better able to
plan and carry out systematic strategies for using their senses to achieve goals.
With age sensory thresholds raise. Some perceptual abilities also decline (like processing or
interpreting)
During adulthood, sensory and perceptual capacities decline in most individuals, though many
changes are minor and can be compensated for. Changes is the lens, cornea, and retina of the eye
contribute to decreased vision as we get older.
Hearing difficulty associated with aging most commonly involves loss of sensitivity to high
frequency sounds. Even elderly people without significant hearing loss may experience difficulty
understanding novel and complex speech spoken rapidly under poor listening conditions.
Many older people have difficulty recognizing or enjoying foods, largely because of declines in the
sense of smell; touch, temperature, and pain sensitivity also decreases slightly, but intense pain
stimuli still hurt.
Chapter 7
Piaget:
Genetic epistemology.
Clinical method (questions)
Jean Piaget, through his clinical method, formulateed four stages of cognitive devlopment, in which
children construct increasingly complex schemes (cognitive structures - patterns of action or
thought that we construct to interpret our experience) through an interaction of maturation and
experience. Children adapt to the world through the processes of organization and adaptation
(assimilating new experience to existing understandings (horse = ‘doggie’) and accomodating
existing understandings to new experience (modifying understanding of four legged animals) When
old schemes are sufficienly challenged we reach cognitive disequillibrium and which stimulates
cognitive growth ; accomodation
Constructivism: children actively contruct their own reality, are not passive.
According to paiget, infants progress through six substages of sensorimotor stage (See table 7.1
page 169) by perceiving and acting on the world; they progress from using their reflexes to adapt to
the environment to using symbolic or representational thought to solve problems in their heads.
Their symbolic capacity permits full mastery of object permanence (that objects continue to exist
when they are no longer detectable to the senses; up to 4-8mnths it’s “out of sight, out of mind “ ).
8-12 mnths(substage 4); A, not B, error (hidingplace); substage 5 ( 1yr) child overcomes a not b, but
still problems with invisible displacements. By 18 months problems are mentally represented so at
this point, object permanence is fully mastered. Crowning achievement of the sensori motot stage is
symbolic capacity (the ability to use images, words or gestures to represent or stand for objects and
experiences.) (using symbol of opening mouth as way of thninking about opening up a gap)
In piagets preoperational stage (2-7) children make many use of their symbolic capacity but are
limited by their dependence on appearance, lack of logical mental operations, and egocentrism.
They fail to grasp the concept of conservation because they engage in centration, irreversible
thinking and static thought, though recent research suggests that preschool children’s capacities are
greater than Piaget supposed.
School age children enter the stage of concrete operations (7-11) and begin to master conservation
tasks through decentration, reversibility and transformational thought. They can think about
relations and, grasping seriation and and transitivity, and they understand the concept of class
inclusion.
Symbolic capacity runs wild: words to refer to things, people, events not physically present; can
refer to past and future. Pretend and fantasy play flourish: imaginary friends.
They are still influenced by their immediate perceptions and can be fooled by appearances.
Conservation (that properties are the same even though appearance is altered in some superficial
way) How so easily fooled by perception? : centration (attention on single aspect of problem);
irreversibility; no transformational thought (their world is static: no changes from one state to
another)
Egocentrism
Difficulty with classification (no solid criteria, no systematic grouping) no concept of class
inclusion (logical understanding that parts are included within the whole; beaded necklace)
Many developmentalists believe piaget seriously underestimated childs abilities,; he devised too
difficult tasks(heavy verbal / memory skills; children could classify. Piaget overestimated
-cat cards. Piaget was right to conclude that they are more perception bound and
egocentric than older children.
Concrete operational stage (7-11)
Becomes able to perform mental actions on objects, such as adding and subtracting
Are capable of seriation (mentally qualifying items along quantifyable dimensions) and transitivity
(necessary relations among elements in a series; logical consequences). They master decentration,
reversibility and transformational thought. Master class inclusions. Mode of thought is applied to
objects, situations, and events that are real or readily imaginable. Thus the term concrete operation.
Formal operational stage (from 11-12) formal operation are on intangible ideas; more hypothetical,
abstract and involves more systematic, scientific approach. If then relations with contrary to fact
statements ( if a then p; if you drink milk, you die)
Problem solving: concrete = trial and error; formal = thinking about the problem and deciding
strategy; hypothetical deductive reasoning (from general ideas to specific implication)
Decontextualizing: separating prior knowledge from demands of the task at hand.
Formal thought helps gain sense of identity, think complex, and understand other people.
BUT, self-conscious questioning, rebellion, flaunting with own new capabilities and ‘flawless’
logic: imaginary audience and personal fable.
Contrary to what piaget and elkin thought, researchers have been unable to link onset of formal
operations to rise of adolescent egocentrism.
Postformal thought? Relativistic thinking (no one truth; more than one logical outcome to a given
problem. As opposed to absolutist thinking)
Sequence piaget developed seems correct. Rate of it fluctuated between cultures, eras, individuals.
Critics of piaget:
Iunderestimating young minds
Failing to distinguish between competence and performance.
Claiming that broad stages of development exist (while likely very domain specific)
Failing to adequately explain development.
Giving limited attention to social influences on cognitive development.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective: cognitive growth occurs in a sociocultural context and
evolves out of the child’s social interaction.
Zone of proximal development (between what it already mastered and can possibly master at a
certain age) There is no fixed state and no test can adequately reflect the range of a person’s
knowledge. Many cultures: guided participation.
Tools of thought: language, writing, numbers, problem solving and memory techniques. Type of
tool used to perform a task influences performance on a task. Private speech (later internalizes,
though still somewhat present even in adults)
Gifted children self-talf earlier and make the transition to internalization earlier, which indicates a
preschool child’s self-talk is indeed a sign of cognitive maturaty, rather than a sign of egocentrism.
In sum; Vygotsky:
Childs mind develops a) in response to cultural influences, b) in collaborative interaction with
skilled partners or guided participation within the zone of proximal development, c) as they
incorporate what skilled partners say to them into what they say to themselves.
Adolescents often show the first signs of formal operations at 11 or 12 and later master the
hypothetical-deductive reasoning skills required to solve scientific problems. Cognitive changes
result in other developmental advances and may also contribute to confusion, rebellion, idealism,
and adolescent egocentrism.
Adults are most likely to display formal operational skills in their areas of expertise. Some adults,
especially well-educated ones, may advance to postformal modes of thought such as relativistic
thinking. Although young aging adults often perform less well than adults on piagetian tasks,
factors other than biological aging may explain this.
Piaget has made huge contributions to the field of human development but has been criticized for
underestimating the capacities of infants and young children, not considering factors besides
competence that influence performance, failing to demonstrate that his stages have coherence,
offering vague explanations of development and underestimating the role of language and social
interaction in cognitive development.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural persepctive emphasizes cultural and social influences on cognitive
development more than piaget’s theory does. Through guided participation in culturally important
activities, children learn problem solving techniques from knowledgeable partners sensitive to their
zone of proximal development.
Language is the most important tool that adults use to pass culturally valued thinking and problem
solving to their children. Language shapes their thought and moves from social speech to private
speech and later inner speech.
Chapter 8
The information processing approach uses a computer-analogy to illustrate how the mind processes
information. The human ‘ computer’ takes in information into a sensory register, short term and
working memory, and long term memory during encoding; stores it; retrieves it; and uses it to solve
problems. This approach emerged as a reaction to the inadequacies of the behaviorist approach and
the rise of computer technology.
Sensory register – short term/working memory – long-term memory
Encoding-strage-retrieval
Recall vs. Recognition. In between is cues recall (with hints)
Many forms of amnesia detroy explicit, but leave implicit in tact, which means that they are two
distinct components of long term memory.
Problem solving : getting information and rules (directly or from long term memory) and
performing operations on them in working memory.
Knowing what you are doing and making decisions :Executive control (runs all processes)
Infants are capable of remembering from the start. They show recognition memory at birth, simple
recall in the presence of cues at 2 or 3 months and, recall in the abscence of cues toward the end of
the first year, and deliberate, conscious attempts to retrieve memory at age 2.
Techniques: habituation, imitation and operant conditioning (mobile with ribbon to leg)
Learning and memory continue to impprive during childhood: a) basic information-processing
capacity increases as the barin matures and fundamental processes are speeded and automatized to
free working-memory space; b) memory strageties such as rehearsal, organization and elaboration
improve; c) metamemory improves; and d) general knowledge base grows, improving the
processing of new information in areas of expertise.
Piaget : centration because lacking cognitive structures. Inf proc app: because of not enough
working memory capacity to keep several pieces of information in the mind at once and coordinate
them.
Rehearsal (10% of 5 year olds; 85 % of 10 year olds) organization (chunking of numbers, form
categories;from about 9-10 years of age)
Younger children rely more on external cues for both encoding and retrieving information.
Metamemory is part of metacognition (knowledge of the own mind and whole range of cognitive
processes)
Children realise by age 2 that for remembering something, you have to work at it. 3 year old know
the difference between thinking and perceivind and 6 year olds know that actiosn are driven by
beliefs. It seems that children must know why a strategie is useful in order to appreciate it, be
motivated to use it and benefit from it. The link between memory and metamemory are strong
enough to suggest the merits of teaching children more about how memory works and how they can
make it work more effectively for them.
Knowledge base : the more one knows the more one can know.
Much of what we remember is autobiographical. Even though infants and toddlers show evidence
of memory, older children and adults often experience childhood amnesia, or lack of memory for
events that happened during infancy and early childhood. Possible explanations for this include lack
of working memory space, lack of language, lack of sense of self, and the storing of events as
verbatim rather than gist accounts in early life.
Scripts (used by age 3)of daily routines facilitate retrieval of memory and provide guidelines for
how to behave in similar settings. Information presented inconsistent with a script is often adapted
to it. Therefore, memory is not replication, but reconstruction. Eyewitness memory is influenced by
scripts as well as by method of questioning. Childrens general memory is good, but specifics
already can get fuzzy. They are highly sensitive to suggestion.
According to Siegler (rule assessment approach), even young children use systematic rules to solve
problems, but their problems solving skills improve as they replace faulty rules with ones that
incorporate all the relevant aspects of the problem. Multiple strategies are used at any age, so that
development proceeds through a natural selection process and resembles overlapping waves more
than a set of stair steps leading from one way of thinking to the next.
Adolescents master advanced learning strategies such as elaboration, note taking, and underlining;
use their strategies more deliberately and selectively; and use their increased metacognitive abilities
to guide learning and remembering. Although children use some of these techniques to an extent,
they do this unconsciously and non selectively.
As adults gain expertise in a domain, they develop large and organized knowledge bases as well as
highly effective, specialized and automatized ways of retrieving and using their knowledge.
Benefits of expertise are domain specific. In effect , experts simply needn’t think as much in their
area of expertise; they are on autopilot.
Many older adults, though not all, perform less well than young adults on learning and memory
tasks that require speed, the learning of unfamiliar or meaningless material, the unexercised
abilities, recall rather than recognition memory and implicit rather than explicit memory.
Older adults retain their knowledge base well and have only limited deficiencies in metamemory,
though their performance can be hurt by negative beliefs about memory and aging. Late-life
decreases in processing speed and working memory capacity may limit the use of m,emory
strategies and hurt performance. According to the contextual perspective, factors such as cohort
diffrences, low motivation, and the irrelevance of many laboratory tasks to everyday life also
contribute to age differences in learning and memory.
On average, older adults also perform less well than younger adults on laboratory problem solving
tasks (here tehy make less use of constraint seeking questions), but everyday problem-solving skills
are likely to improve from early adulthood to middle adulthood and to be maintained fairly well in
old age.
Large support for a contextual view of cognition: the gap between age groups can be wide or non
existent, depending on what a problem solving task demands and whether it allows the problem
solver to use his or her expertise.
The information-processing approach can be applied to improve education. Memory skills training
can benefit both young children and elderly adults. However, since transfer to new situations does
not always occur, altering instruction to better match the capacities of the learner is also
appropriate.
Chapter 9
Structure of intellect model contents x operations x products = 120 mental abilities.
The psychometric or testing approach to cognition defines intelligence as a set of traits that allow
dsome people to think and solve problems more effectively than others. It can be viewed as a
hierarchy consisting of general factor g, broad abilities such as fluid and crystallized intelligence,
and many specific abilities. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, with it’s focus on eight
distinct forms of intelligence, offers an alternative view.
Gardner: at least 8 intellectual abilities: linguistic intelligence, logica;-mathematical intelligence,
musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence,
intrapersonal intelligence, naturalist intellignce.
Gardner points to savant syndrome, which seems to eliminate the concept of g. Garder argues that
distinct intelligences are neurologically distinct as well.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence, with its (sociocultural) contextual, experiential, and
information processing components , offers another.
Intelligence tests such as the stanford binet (original calculation for iq was iq= mental
age/chronolical age x 100) and wechsler scales ( verbal iq and performace iq)compare an
individual’s performance on a variety of cognitive tasks with the average performance of age-mates.
Scores on these tests in a large populationform a normal or bell shaped distribution, with an average
of 100. some testers are experimenting with dynamic assessment methods that determine how well
individuals learn new material with guidance. Other new test include the kaufman assessment
battery for children (which focuses on how children solve problems instead of what problems),
dynamic assessment; which focuses on potential rather than what has been learned, and the
cognitive assessment system (based on the planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive
(PASS) theory od intelligence), which all take atheoretical approach to test construction.
The concept of mental age is no longer used in the stanford binet. Instead, people are compared
with average scores within their respective age group (test norms).
The Bayles Scale of Infant development (for children under 3 yrs) has three parts: 1) a motor scale,
2) a mental scale, and 3) an infant behavioural record. The first two result in a DQ (developmental
quotient).
Correlations between DQ and later IQ are very low! This is probably because they measure totally
different skills.
However some good p[redictors of later iq for infants are: speed of habituation, preference for
novelty and fast reaction times
In infancy, mental growth continues, and iq’s at one age (starting at age 4) predict iq’a at another
age quite well (a little better with increasing age). However, many individuals show wide variation
in their iq’s over time! This is due to developmental trajectory. Those who gain iq points often have
favorable home environments, whereas disadvantaged children often show a cummulative deficit.
In adolescence, further mental growth occurs; iq’s continue to be relatively stable over time and is
the best predictor of school achievement and years of education obtained.
Iq is related to - predicts - the status or prestige of an adult’s occupation, as well as to his or her
succes within that occupation. Both cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies tend to show an
age related decrease in iq. Schaie’s sequential study (28 age years long longitudinal and different
cohorts) suggests that a) date of birth (cohort) influences test performance, b) no major declines in
mental ability occur until the late 60s or 70s, c) some abilities (especially fluid ones) decline more
than others, and d) not all people’s abilities decline. Decline is most likely in those of poor health
and unstimulating lifestyles (low social status; few activities; dissatisfied with their life).
Decline in intellect due to disease and the drugs to fight them has been labelled the terminal drop.
The moral remains (for sexual functioning, muscular strength, and intellectual functioning) USE IT
OR LOSE IT!
Wisdom, or exceptional insight into teh human condition, is no more common, but also no less
common, in later adulthood than early adulthood and depends less on age than on life experience.
Wisdom is:
 -rich factual knowledge on life
 -rich procedural knowledge
 -a life-span contextual perspective
 -relativism of values and life priorities
 -recognition and management of uncertainty
Individual differences in iq at a given age are linked to genetic factors and intellectually stimulating
qualities of the home environment. The low average scores of some minority groups on iq tests may
be explained better by culture bias in testing, low motivation (including anxiety caused by negative
group stereotypes), and low socioeconomis status than genetic differences. Minority children
perfrom much better when they grow up in intellectually stimulating homes.
Most important home factors best predict high iq’s? : parental involvement and opportunities for
stimulation. Others also found that it is rather responsiveness (a smile for a smile) then general
stimulation that is so beneficial.
At age 2, genes (parents iq) are the only predictor of iq
At age 4 genes and home environment equally important
Mentally retarded individuals show varied levels of functioning, depending on theor iq’s and the
causes. Mildly retardated individuals appear to meet the demands of adult life better than the
demands of school. Children identified as gifted on the basis of high iq scores have been found to
be above average in virtually all ways.
Creativity- the ability to produce novel and socially valued works – is a distinct mental ability that
demands divergent (a variety of ideas or solutions where there is no one correct answer) rather than
convergent (converging on the one best answer to a problem; what iq measures) thinking; it is
largely independent of iq, increases with age during childhood and is fostered in homes where
independence is valued.
In children creativity is tested through ideational fluency (the sheer number of different (including
novel-) ideas that a person can generate.
Although iq and creativity hardly correlate, a minimum of iq is necessary for creativity.
Contributing factors: talent; motivation, environment.
Neither iq tests or creativity tests are very good at predicting whether a child will show exceptional
talent in a specific field.
Eminent creators are typically more productive during their 30s and 40s than before or after but
continue to produce great works in later life. Performance on creativity tests declines in later life,
but creative capacities clearly survive into old age.
The reason for optimum performance in mid life may be that we still have the enthusiasm of youth
and are gaining the experience of old age.
Another explanation from Simonton is that ideation (generating ideas) needs elaboration (
expanding on and integrating and executing ideas into works). Elaboration takes some time after a
career is launched.
Chapter 10
To acquire language, children must master phonology (sounds), semantics (meaning), morphology
(word structure), and syntax (sentence structure) as well as learn how to use language appropriately
(pragmatics) and to understand nonverbal communication.
Infants begin to discriminate speech sounds and progress from crying, cooing and babbling to oneword holophrases (at 1) and then to telegraphic peech (at 18 mnths), guided by a functional
grammar that allows them to name things, make requests, and achieve other communication goals.
Language abilities improve dramatically in the preschool years, as illustrated by overregularizations
and transformation rules. School age children and adolescents refine their language skills and
become less egocentric communicators. Knowledge of semantics continues to expand during
adulthood, and language abilities hold up well with old age, despite some difficulties with speech
sound perception, the tip of the tongue phenomenon, and the processing of complex syntax.
Theories of language development include learnming theories, nativist theories, and interactionist
theories that emphasize both the child’s biologically based capacities and experience conversing
with adults who use child directed speech and strategies such as expansion taht simplify teh
language learning task. A critical or at least sensitive period for language acquisition appears to
exist early in childhood.
Mastery motivation, the forerunner of achievement motivation , is an urge for mastery evident in
infancy and is nurtured by sensory stimulation, a responsive environment, and a secure attachment.
Early education can help prepare disadfvantaged children for formal schooling, but an over
emphasis on academics at the expense of other activities may actually hinder young children’s
development.
During childhood, some children develop higher levels of achievement motivation than others. As
children come to understand the concept of ability, their expectancies of success often decrease and
they become more prone to learned helplessness after failure. High academic achievers tend to have
mastery-oriented rather than helpless attributions styles, and they set learning rather than
performance goals in the classroom. Attempts to combat learned helplessness by emphasizing
learning goals and retraining attributions to emphasize the need for greater effort have been
succesful. Parents can help by being authoritative and encouraging independent mastery and
achievement. Schools may be able to help by focusing less on competition, encouraging more
family involvement, and fostering enthusiasm for learning.
In order to read, children must master the alphabetic principle and develop phonological awareness
so that they can grasp letter-sound correspondence rules. Emergent literacy activities such as
listening to storybooks facilitate later reading. Compared to unskilled reader, skilled readers have
better understanding of teh alphabetic principle and greater phonological awareness; they read more
of the words in a passage and rely less on context to identify words. Dyslexia refers to serious
trouble with reading and often involves problems with phonological awareness. Successful reading
instruction requires an emphasis on phonics as well as comprehension.
A school’s effectiveness is not influenced much by financial support, class size, or use of ability
grouping. Instead, elementary and secondary school children perform best when a) they are
intellctually capable and motivated; b) their teachers create a learning environment that is
comfortable, task-oriented, motivating and involves parents; and c) there is, as aptitude-treatment
interaction research suggests, a good fit between childrens characteristics and the kind of
instructions they receive.
Neither racial integration nor mainstreaming or inclusion for students with developmental
disabilities has been very effective overall in increasing students’ achievement and social
acceptance, but these outcomes can be enhanced through cooperative learning methods.
Cognitive devlopment, more negative teacher feedback, peer pressures, puberty, and poor personenvironment fit may all contribute to declines in achievement motivation as children become
adolescents and make the transition to middle school or junior high school. However, adolescents
are likely to retain their achievement motivation if they attend schools that provide a good fit to
their developmental need for autonomy.
Middle school and high school include a greater focus on science and math education. U.S. students
score at about the international average but below a number of other countries in math and sciences.
Cross cultural studies suggest that the succes of asian schools is rooted in more class time spent on
academics, more homework, more parent involvement, more peer support and a strong belief that
hard worl pays off.
Adults of different ages are quite similar in their levels of achievement motivation, although women
who turn their attention to child rearing may lose some of their career-oriented achievement
mootivation.
Some adults, despite years of education, have not acquired the skills of functional literacy. Others
experience literacy problems when acquiring a second language. Literacy programs have had
minimal succes in improving literacy rates. A growing number of adults seek continued educational
opportunities for both personal and work-related reasons.
Chapter 11
Chapter 12