Presentation on theme: "Middle and Late Childhood"— Presentation transcript:
1Middle and Late Childhood Lecture 6Middle and Late Childhood
2Cognitive Development: Concrete Operations Piaget believed that around the age of 7, children enter the concrete operational
Presentation on theme: "Middle and Late Childhood"— Presentation transcript:
1Middle and Late Childhood Lecture 6Middle and Late Childhood
2Cognitive Development: Concrete Operations Piaget believed that around the age of 7, children enter the concrete operational stage.Concrete operations: new forms of reasoningAn operation is a mental action that is coordinated with other mental actions as part of a system.Concrete: Operations relate directly to tangible objects and thoughts about objects (not to abstract propositions or possible future states of affairs).Concrete operations transform all aspects of psychological functioning, according to Piaget. For example, children become skilled at taking intentions into account (morality).
3TasksA number of problem-solving tasks have been developed in order to diagnose presence or absence of concrete operational thinking.
4Conservation of liquid (continuous quantity): Conservation tasks:Conservation - > understanding that some properties of an object or substance remain the same even when its appearance is altered in some superficial way.Conservation of liquid (continuous quantity):Experimenter: "Are the amounts of liquid in the two glasses the same?"Experimenter pours the contents of one of the glasses into a third glass that is taller and thinner. The liquid rises higher in the new glass.Experimenter: "Does the new glass contain more liquid than the old glass, does it contain the same amount, or does it contain less"
53- and 4-year-old children - > the taller glass has more water. Responses3- and 4-year-old children - > the taller glass has more water.5- to 6 year-old children - > transitional stage.8 year olds children - > acquired the concept of conservation.Although obvious to adults, preoperational children lack conservation.A lack of conservation demonstrates an inability to mentally reverse actions.
6Operations:Identity: "They were equal to start with and nothing was added, so they are the same.”Compensation: "The liquid is higher, but the glass is thinner."Reversibility: "If you pour it back, you'll see that it's the same.”Addition/Subtraction: "You did not add anything. You did not take anything away”These ways of understanding indicate that children have attained a new stage of cognitive development.Piaget: They are now capable of concrete operations.Other tasks: Conservation of mass Conservation of number Conservation of area
7Class inclusion13 red plastic chips (ten round and three square chips) and 6 white plastic chips (three round and three square).Entire collection of plastic chips in disarray - > ascertain child's comprehension.Then the child is asked to lay all the white chips off to the side so that only the red chips remain.Experimenter: "In this arrangement are there now more red chips or more round chips?”Concrete operational answer:"There are more red ones because they are all red"There are more red ones, because the round ones and the square ones together are more than the round ones alone”"There are more red ones, because the square chips are in there too"
8Verbal classification Cats / animalsRoses / flowersVolkswagen / carsBoys or girls / childrenLego blocks / toysPeople from Toronto / people from CanadaInvestigation procedures and instructions: "What do you think? Are there more Volkswagens or are there more cars?"“How do you know that? Can you tell me how you know that?”Concrete operational justification"There are more cars, because they are all cars.""There are more cars, because cars don't come only from Volkswagen, but from companies like Ford too.""There are more cars, because there are lots more cars than just Volkswagen cars."
9Piaget and EducationTake a constructivist approach.Consider the child’s knowledge and level of thinking.Turn the classroom into a setting of exploration and discovery.
10Criticisms of PiagetStages -> Horizontal decalageEstimates of children’s competenceCulture and education
11What Is Intelligence?Intelligence is verbal ability, problem-solving skills, and the ability to adapt to and learn from life’s everyday experiences.Intelligence cannot be directly measured.Normal Distribution
12David Wechsler developed tests to assess students’ intelligence: The Wechsler ScalesDavid Wechsler developed tests to assess students’ intelligence:The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R) for ages 4-6½The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) for ages 6-16.The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).The Wechsler scales provide an overall IQ and yield verbal and performance IQs.
13Gardner’s Eight Frames of Mind Verbal skillsMathematical skillsSpatial skillsBodily-kinesthetic skillsMusical skillsInterpersonal skillsIntrapersonal skillsNaturalist skills
14Conclusions (not shared by all psychologists): 1. Human intelligent life is too multifaceted to be represented by a single number. IQ is an artificial psychological-mathematical abstraction.2. Intelligence can be conceptualized in many different ways.3. IQ is not a constant (Flynn effect).4. Some part of individual differences in performance on IQ tests can be attributed to heritability (as statistically conceptualized).5. Significant differences between the average IQ scores of "African Americans" and "white Americans" cannot be attributed to inherited differences.
157. IQ tests are not culture-fair. Conclusions6. IQ tests measure only a small part of what is significant in mental life.7. IQ tests are not culture-fair.8. IQ tests may help when it c