Developmental Psych Chapter 5 Notes Cognitive Development and Theories of Language Development o Kids constructivists o Before Piaget kids were viewed as passive learned through observation were the passengers in a car o Piaget s theory kids are the drivers of a car o Kids are actively involved in their own development Piaget Adaptation o Involves Assimilation Accommodation o Behavioral schemes child s first stage of cognition reflexes blueprint o Assimilation trying to use different reflexes than the original blueprint scheme blueprint o Accommodation changes made to the reflex scheme adding to the scheme o Children learn using a combination of Assimilation and Accommodation Stages Invariant Developmental Sequence o Fixed sequences across each developmental step we know more and more o Later steps have capacities that early stages did not have Stage 1 Sensori Motor Stage Sub stage 1 Birth to 1 Month o First 2 years of child s life o 6 Sub stages grasping sucking assimilation beginning to use these reflexes regularly accommodation coordinates looking to listening infant takes and object and puts in in their mouth Primary Circular Response infant examines parts of its body Coordination of Senes infant Sub stage 2 1 to 4 Months behavioral schemes reflexes Sub stage 3 4 to 8 Months Secondary Circular Responses Sub stage 4 8 to 12 Months Means End Behavior engaging constructively engage the outside world infant engages the outside world by babbling shaking a raddle for attention test how the outside world responds to stimulus in an action to produce another effect infant engages in real experiments EX infant will drop a ball from crib to see how the environment responds activity record it in their mind ad repeat it at a later time EX an infant will know where to look for an object that was hidden Tertiary Circular Responses Mental Image infants see an Sub stage 6 18 24 Months Sub stage 5 12 18 Months at an earlier point Infant now has object permanence and deferred imitation capabilities Challenges to Piaget s Stages o Is activity needed o Piaget says yes but what about kids with disabilities Specifically Thalidomide babies pills taken by mother for morning sickness o Physically disabled babies proven to still have normal cognitive development o Object Permanence and Deferred Imitation seen as early as 5 9 months as opposed to Piaget s suggested 18 24 months Language Development o Flexible and Productive o Inventive o From a limited of sounds we create an infinite of messages flexible productive o Words and stressed syllables words are spoken differently all the time in different tones etc inventive o At 5 years old a child has the same grammatical structure as an adult What We Need to Know to Use Language sounds we use 45 what are the sounds and which sounds do o Phonology we use TOGETHER to produce meaningful words analyzing word meanings messages correct order of nouns verbs adjectives etc o Semantics o Grammar Syntax how to combine different words to produce meaningful Theories of Language Development Behaviorist vs Nativist Pragmatics o Kids understanding how to use language effectively to communicate o Take into account who they are speaking to and the circumstances Skinner o Behaviorist o Kids learn via Operate Conditioning o Learn sounds by omitting sounds o Reinforced for their correct usage of words ex saying mommy correctly o Kids learn by expressing themselves and getting feedback uttering sounds Communication Pressure Hypothesis o Initial utterance less likely to receive reinforcement by mother o Overtime child feels pressure to communicate more specifically and clearly more likely to be reinforced Imitation Hypothesis o Part of kids language learning is picking up sounds around them ex accent o Kids have to pick up and imitate stimulation sounds around them Chomsky o Nativist o Kids are biologically programmed to learn pick up language sounds regularities in grammar etc o Born with a LAD Language Acquisition Device o LAD computer device in our heads help us to process correct sounds and grammar acquiring vocabulary and recognizing grammar regularities is a biological device o We are BORN with these abilities Critical Period Hypothesis o Most optimal time for kids to learn language before the time of puberty o If we don t learn language at this time it is theorized that we may never be able to learn it