PSYC 4220 1st Edition Lecture 13 Outline of Last Lecture I II III IV V VI VII VIII Assessing Infant Perceptual Abilities Infant Vision Infant visual preferences Infant depth perception Infant hearing Infant speech perception Infant taste Infant smell Outline of Current Lecture I Strength s of Piaget s Theory II Weaknesses of Piaget s Theory III Object Permanence IV Language V Language Development Prelinguistic Stage Current Lecture Strengths of Piaget s Theory Father of cognitive development Changed the idea that kids are just mini adults Now realize that they actually think very differently He has stimulated a lot of research based on his theory He emphasized the activeness of children in their own development idea supported by research Kids are active in the world around them Basic outline of cognitive development correct even if some specifics questioned Weaknesses of Piaget s theory He really underestimated children He had a very low opinion of how they think He failed to distinguish between competence and performance Not having an ability to do something or simply failing at a particular task that was designed to measure a particular thing He claimed broad stages exist cognitive development more continuous than that He believed that everyone developed in the same way He thought the only thing that differed was the speed at which we differ He had no regard for social or cultural differences He talked about the child as if the child was in an isolated experimental world No regard for the involvement of others i e parents and other people in the children s lives Object Permanence Piaget was a large proponent of object permanence theory and studying it Below we discuss how HE thought object permanence worked The development of an understanding that objects are permanent Putting a rattle under a blanket does not mean that it evaporates or if your mom goes to work it does not mean that she poofs out of thin air infants under 4 months will not reach for toys that have been covered by a blanket because to them it is no longer in existence once it goes under the blanket at 4 8 months they reach for partially covered toys not completely covered toys so they need to be somewhat visible From 8 12 months will look for object but A not B error looking for object where last seen not new place their searching skills develop slowly over time but not all at once 12 18 months look for object where they see it hidden but don t understand invisible displacement By 18 months look for object where hidden without trouble you could have it in your hand and trick them by hiding it under the blanket instead of in your hand and they will be able to know and deduce that if it isn t in your hand you tricked them and it is actually under the blanket not disappeared completely But if not required to search 3 5 4 5 months some understanding of object permanence i e car goes down track box is lifted off track but baby didn t see that it was lifted so car goes down track without running into box but baby s are surprised because that would mean the car went through the box which is of course not the case they look longer when they are more interested confused Language Communications system of sound letters gestures Babies master these things at different times and slowly over time not all at once The 1st aspect we ll look at is Phonology sound system of language phonemes smallest unit of sound Morphology rules for formation of words from sounds morphemes smallest meaningful units of language Semantics meanings of language figure out an ambiguous word based on the words surrounding it context i e John went to the bank to deposit a check know it is not a river bank because of context of the word check Pragmatics rules specifying appropriate use of language curse around dad but not around grandma Non verbal communication skills using appropriate gestures facial expressions intonation to help convey meaning intonation variation in loudness pitch timing Figures of speech and sarcasm also take time to develop Language Development Prelinguistic Stage Distinguish phonemes of all languages by 1 month lose ability by 10 12 months Brains begin to specialize and hone in on whatever language they have been exposed to after a month Cooing 6 8 weeks repeating vowel like sound aahaaaahaaaaaah they are full have clean diapers and are making eye contact with their parents so they are expressing complete contentment or joy usually when they are cooing Babbling 4 5 months 1 year repeating consonant vowel combination babbabab All the children sound the same at first suggests babbling due to biological maturation not environmental experience A lot of it is practice as the vocal chords are developing and they are practicing mouth movements After 6 months experience begins to play a part Deaf children fall behind begin sounding different but at 1 st 6 months all babies deaf and not sound the same by 12 months babbling matches rhythm intonation of native language 7 months begin to take turns while in conversation 2 twins babbling and taking normal conversation pauses 8 10 months begin using gestures to communicate i e pointing often combined with sound i e ughh while pointing to indicate what they want can come to represent complete action i e like in Meet the Parents