3 DEP3053
Exam Study Questions
Spring 2011
Exam 2: Wed. March 30-bring a #2 pencil
Exam Notes:
*All lecture material is important. Be sure to review text-related material that
corresponds to lectures & text material identified in class (and study guide) but not
covered in lecture.
Exam format: Multiple choice + short answer
The topics and questions listed below reflect all the topics/issues that you are responsible
for.
You should also study those sections of the book that overlap with the notes, but
emphasis will be given to the notes
An asterick* means that this material was not covered in class but you are responsible
for itFor these *text book sections focus on terms in bold and major concepts and
findings.
List of Topics Covered
Chapter 9 Intelligence
What is intelligence?
o No clear consensus
Different theorists have different ideas about which attributes are core
aspects of intelligence
o Piaget defined as adaptive thinking or action.
Is intelligence a single trait or separate skills? How is this examined or tested?
o Both, but some early intelligence researchers believed it was one or the other.
o Measured through factor analysis
Identifies clusters of tests or factors that are highly correlated with one
another and unrelated to other test items
Each factor represents a distinct mental ability
How did the following people describe the structure of intelligence: Binet, Thurstone,
Spearman, Catell, Horn (crystallized vs. fluid intelligence), Carroll
o Binet: High intelligence was a higher mental age (MA) than physical age ; used a
test that measured school performance (questions on information, picture
completion, similarities, picture arrangement, and comprehension)
o Thurstone: Found seven factors called primary mental abilities that make up
Spearmans idea of g.
Spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical reasoning, verbal meaning,
word fluency, memory, inductive reasoning
o Spearman: combines general (g) and specific (s) intelligences; 2 factor
model with g at the top and different subskills linked to g
o Catell + Horn: 2 dimensions of intellect: fluid and crystallized intelligence
Fluid: basic skills associated with thinking
Biological basis
Reasoning, spatial orientation, speed, flexibility
Crystallized: knowledge learned from culture (game show knowledge)
Environmental basis
Verbal knowledge, wisdom, practical problem solving
o Carroll: three-stratum theory of intelligence
Intelligence is a pyramid with g at the top, eight broad intellectual
abilities at the second level, and narrower domains of each secondstratum ability at the third stratum
Hierarchical models show intelligence as both a general mental ability
and a number of specific abilities
*See Sternberg (Triarchic theory) & Gardner(Multiple Intelligences) (pp. 348-351)
o Sternberg: triarchic theory of intelligence emphasizes three aspects of
intelligence: context, experience, and information-processing skills
Context: what is seen as intelligent in one culture may not be so in
another culture; intelligent people can adapt to or shape their
environment to suit themselves better
Experiential: experience with a task helps determine whether the persons
performance qualifies as intelligent behavior
Novel tasks are best for measuring intelligence because they
require thought and conscious information processing
Automatization: developing automatic routines for performing
everyday tasks accurately and efficiently
Componential (Information-Processing): how a person produces
intelligent responses to problems
Some people are faster processers than others
o Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Humans display at least seven distinctive kinds of intelligence that are
each linked to a separate part of the brain (language, spatial, mathematic,
artistic, interpersonal, etc)
Damage to one part of the brain usually only affects one ability
Savant individuals provide evidence that these abilities develop
independently
o Mentally retarded people with one extraordinary talent
How does the structure of intelligence change with age?
o Early childhood = general intelligence
o With age comes development of specific abilities
How is intelligence measured? IQ test
What is the difference between the traditional mental age and deviation IQ score?
o Traditional mental age
Measure of intellectual development that reflects the level of age graded
problems a child is able to solve
If a child passes all items at the 5 year old level but none at the 6
year old level, his MA is 5 years
o Deviation IQ
Reflects how well or poorly a person does compared to others his age
Average IQ = 100 for a given age, standard deviation = 15 pts
Same IQ score at different ages has the same statistical meaning
*what are the characteristics of standard IQ tests
o Traditional IQ assessment
IQ = (mental age/chronological age) x 100
Mental age = average age associated with a given score
Problem: same IQ at different ages not equivalent
5/4 and 15/12 are both IQ of 125
Is intelligence stable over time?
o Early developmental tests (in infancy) do not predict higher IQ later in life
Infant attention (habituation rate) does predict higher IQ
o Intelligence is fairly stable across childhood
Correlations across time ~ .50-.80
More stability with age
More stability with shorter intervals
How is it related to academic, occupational, and psychological success?
o Academic
Correlation between IQ scores and current/future grades at school is
about .50
Higher IQ = less likely to drop out of school, more likely to complete
college
o Occupational
Professional and white collar workers score higher than blue collar
workers on IQ tests
Average IQ for an occupation increases as the prestige of the
occupation increases
IQ also predicts job performance (success and productivity)
Correlation is ~ .50
*See Terman study (p. 358-359)
o Psychological
Terman study: 1500 children with IQs of 140 or higher
Learned to walk/talk early, above average general health, more
emotionally and morally mature, more likely to take on leadership
roles
Twice as likely as nongifted peers to feel socially isolated and
depressed
As adults, 88% were working in professional jobs and few had
problems with health, alcoholism, or delinquent behavior
The most well adjusted participants had supportive parents
What role do genes and environment play in individual differences in intelligence?
o Genes
Twin studies
IQ correlation higher for MZ twins than DZ and non-twin siblings
(MZ twins share 100% of genes, DZ only 50%)
Adoption studies
Adoptive childrens IQ are more highly correlated with the IQ of
their biological parents than with their adoptive parents
How are these influences reflected in behavioral genetic studies?
o Heritability: ~50%
In the Skodak & Skeels study? Do adoptive parents influence childrens IQ?
o Shodak & Skeels
Compared adoptive children to birth and adoptive mothers
Birth mom: average IQ = 85
Adoptive mom: average IQ = 120
Child IQ = 110
Results show child IQ closer to adoptive mom IQ but had a higher
correlation with birth mom
Shows genetics play a role (higher correlation) and environment
(IQ closer to adoptive mom, enriched environment)
What role does the home environment (home scale) have on IQ?
o Characteristics of home environment (HOME)
Parental involvement
Age appropriate play materials
Variety of daily stimulation
o Reflects both genetic and environmental influences
Brighter parents more likely to provide stimulating home environment
o Effects stronger in biological families than adopted
Genes and environment play a role
o HOME still has an effect after accounting for moms IQ
Are academic intervention programs successful in influence of IQ (e.g.,head start)
o Head Start
Provided disadvantaged children with equal education that their middle
class peers were getting
Effects on IQ: IQ originally increased but later decreased after a
year or two of grade school
Children who participated in the interventions improved their
academic achievement and were more likely to succeed
What is the Flynn effect?
o Average IQ has increased about 3 points per decade since 1940
Worldwide improvements in education
Improvements in nutrition and healthcare
*see pp.373-376
o Learning to Learn
Provided parents with updates about childrens progress
Emphasized that a partnership between home and school was necessary
Children involved in LTL made better grades in academic subjects and
were less likely to have failed a grade than Head Start
Shows that parental involvement is a key factor in success
o Two generation interventions
Stimulate childrens intellectual development through preschool
education
Assist parents to move out of poverty
*Creativity pp. 377-381
o Creativity: the ability to generate novel ideas and innovative solutions
o Structure of intellect model J.P. Guilford
Creativity represents divergent rather than convergent thinking
Divergent thinking seems to be more heavily influenced by home
environment than genes
o Investment Theory Sternberg and Lubart
Creative people often invest themselves in an idea that is novel and may
be resisted, but with persistence the product can be highly valued
Depends on six resources
Intellectual resources
Knowledge
Cognitive style
Personality
Motivation
A supportive environment
Chapter 10 Language Development
Prelinguistic development, child-directed speech, joint attention, babbling, cooing
o Child directed speech: motherese taking on a different tone, using simpler
words when talking to children
o Babbling: repeated consonant-vowel sounds 6-10 months
o Cooing: long vowel-like sounds 2-4 months
o Gestures: start around 8 months, pointing at 11 months
Semantic development-first words, vocabulary size, overextension, naming spurt, fast
mapping
o First words 10-12 months
o Vocab size
1st 50 words by 18 months
10,000 words by 6 years
20,000 words by 8 years
40,000 words by 10 years
o Overextension: using the same word to refer to many things
Example: referring to many four legged animals as doggies
o Naming spurt: using words as symbols, begins around 18 months
o Fast mapping: starts around 13-15 months
Associate new word with meaning after heading the word only a few
times
How do children determine word meaning?/
o Recognition of familiar words (own name)
o Understanding reference: receptive language
6 months, reference to familiar words (mommy, daddy)
o Expressive language productive vocab
Nouns, names, events, modifiers (cold)
What is the difference between the constraints position and the social pragmatic view?
o Constraint: innate language specific mechanisms
Limit hypotheses about what the word means
Children use constraints to reject a 2 nd label for object with a name
already associated with it
Stop overextending when learn the correct word
o Social pragmatic view: constraints not needed
Social and cognitive cues help identify intended referent
Understand adults intentions
Use social cues: eye gaze, pointing, joint attention
Joint attention associated with vocab development
Autistic children deficits in above cues result in deficits in vocab
development
What are the mutual exclusivity, taxonomic organization, whole object constraints ?
o Mutual exclusivity: object has 1 label associated with it
o Taxonomic constraint: word refers to entire category of objects
o Whole object assumption: new word refers to entire object
How do constraints help solve the problem of reference?
o Problem of reference: determining speakers intended meaning
Use constraints to narrow definition to one object
Grammatical development
What is the pattern of early grammatical development?
o Holophrastic Period (10-12 months)
1 word utterances may represent a more complex idea
Mom may really mean mom pick me up
o Preschool Period (2.5 years to 5 years)
Telegraphic speech (2 years) Stage 1
Simple sentences
Grammatical morphemes (Stage 2)
U shaped learning (3 years) using -ing, -ed, etc.
Overregularization
Stage 3 (still 3 years old)
Negation I dont want to go to bed
Auxillary verbs helping verbs (am going, did say)
Forming questions Wh- questions
Stage 4 (4-5 years)
Coordination use verbs once (Im going to school and to the
party.)
Passives understand and use
Stage 5 (5 years) grammar is good
Embed sentences, use relative clauses
What are overregularizations?
o use Overextending of grammatical morphemes
Reflects bottom of U in U-shaped learning
How do children learn to negate sentences?
o Parental correction, U shaped learning
What are later achievements in language development in middle childhood/adolescence
o Middle childhood
More complex structures, make inferences
o Adolescence
Abstract words
THEORIES OF GRAMMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
What is Universal Grammar (UG) linguistic universal vs. parameters
o Universal grammar
Linguistic universal: all languages share certain properties
Parameters: language features that can be on or off in different languages
Why did Chomsky propose UG is needed?
o Chomsky believed all languages are too complex to be taught entirely by parents
or discovered by trial and error processes by cognitively immature toddlers and
infants
Said UG is the only way we can understand rules of language
What is a LAD?
o Language Acquisition Device
Specific language learning mechanism
General learning (reinforcement/equilibriation) too weak
Language different than cognitive development
According to Chomsky what is the quality of childrens linguistic input like?
o Grammar is innate
Extremely complex
Children hear grammatically incorrect sentences
Explicit corrections of mistakes are rare
When corrected, children ignore
General learning is too weak to learn complex system
What evidence supports nativists claims?
o Linguistic universals: children all over the world reach linguistic milestones at
about the same age, despite cultural differences in the structure of their
languages
Must be guided by some species-specific biological mechanism
o Language is species specific
No other species on earth can spontaneously develop language
Williams syndrome, critical periods, universality.
o Critical period
Human beings are most proficient at learning language before they reach
puberty
o Children who have Williams syndrome
Low IQ, high grammatical abilities
Supports separation of cognition and language
o Universality: see linguistic universals
How do children respond to parental corrections?
o Usually ignore
What is the difference between explicit vs. implicit corrections?
o Explicit: No, thats wrong!
o Implicit: correcting the grammar when mirroring back the childs speech
C: We wented to the beach.
A: Did you go to the beach?
What are the major assumptions of interactionist approaches to grammar?
o Interactionist Perspective
Gradual discovery attention to cues and social context
Pragmatic cues
Linguistic context (grammatical form of verb and syntactic
bootstrapping)
What is the supporting evidence?
o Grammar and cognitive development correlate
o Parents provide implicit corrections of error
o Critical period less is more account
Less cognitive skills make it easier to learn language
Critical periods
How do the following examples support the idea of a sensitive period/critical period-Genie, deaf children, 2nd language learners (Johnson & Newport)?
o Genie: supports critical period because she made cognitive advances but not
grammar advances, but conclusions are not clear
o Deaf children: ASL exposure before age 6 better
o 2nd language learners: exposure prior to age 8 better grammar performance
What types of conclusions can be made from Genie?
o Conclusions not clear
Brain damage at birth?
Unknown language exposure prior
Treatment not ideal
Isolation was extreme
*Bilingualism (see pages p. 421-422)
o Children exposed to both languages before age 3 were better able to become
proficient in both
o Cognitive advantages
Score higher than monolingual peers on IQ tests, Piagetian conservation
problems, and general language proficiency
Outperform monolinguals on measures of metalinguistic awareness
Recognize correspondence between letters and words
Detect grammatical errors in speech and written prose
o Bilinguals are advantaged because they learn early on that linguistic
representations are arbitrary
o Two way bilingual education: programs in which LEP children are taught half
the day in English and the other half in their native language
Chapter 11 Emotional Development
*What emotions child display experience?(pp. 430-440)
o Birth: interest, distress, disgust, contentment
2-7 months: anger, sadness, joy, surprise, fear
Observed through facial expressions
*What are self-conscious emotions?
o Complex emotions that emerge around 2 years
Embarrassment, shame, guilt, envy, pride
o Called self-conscious because each one involves damage to or enhancement of
our sense of self
*What is emotional self-regulation across childhood?
o Strategies for managing emotions or adjusting emotional arousal to an
appropriate level of intensity
Occurs around 6 months, increases by first year
*What are emotional display rules?
o A societys defined rules specifying which emotions should or shouldnt be
expressed under which circumstances
*Temperament (see book pp-440-444)
o A persons characteristic modes of responding emotionally and behaviorally to
environmental events, including attributes such as activity level, irritability,
fearfulness, and sociability
*What are the different types of temperament proposed by Thomas & Chess?
o Fearful distress: wariness, distress, and withdrawal in new situations
o Irritable distress: fussiness, crying, and showing distress when desires are
frustrated
o Positive affect: frequency of smiling, laughing, willingness to approach others
and to cooperate with them
o Activity level: amount of gross motor activity
o Attention span/persistence: length of time child orients to and focuses on objects
or events of interest
o Rhythmicity: regularity/predictability of bodily functions
*How stable is temperament
o Several components of temperament are moderately stable throughout childhood
and even into early adult years
What are genetic and environmental influences on temperament?
o Hereditary influences: many important components of temperament are
genetically influenced (identical twins more similar than fraternal by the middle
of the first year)
o Environmental: shared environment influences positive aspects of temperament,
NSE influences negative aspects
What is the relation between temperament and behavior?
Attachment
What was Bowlbys ethological explanation of the formation of attachment?
What are the stages of attachment formation and the behavioral indications?
How did Ainsworth study of individual differences in the quality of parent-child
attachment?
What were the 4 different styles of attachment and their characteristics
(secure;avoidant,resistant;disorganized)?
What role do parental style (sensitive vs. insensitive) and temperament play in causing
these differences?
Are differences in attachment related to other child outcome measures?
What are the effects of maternal deprivation on childrens development?
Are there differences between poor quality and high quality orphanages?
Is there a critical period for the formation of attachment?
*Working Moms, pp. 468-472.
Chapter 12 (and part of Chapter 6)
Chapter 6: Puberty
How is puberty measured, and what challenges are faced in measuring puberty?
Adolescent growth spurt
Physical development
Tanner stages: early 1970s
Chart that shows growth of pubic hair
Scored from 1-5: 1=not yet started puberty, 5=fully developed
Girls: menarche
Boys: nocturnal emissions, early morning urine sample (test for semen) or
organometer (measures testicle size)
What affect does reaching puberty before/after ones peers have?
o
o
o
Boys
o
Early: more confident, sociable, responsible
Late: more anxious, attention-seeking, lower aspirations, worse on
standardized tests
Girls
Early: less popular, more anxiety, more risk-taking behaviors
Late: No significant differences
o Oregon Adolescent Depression Project
High school (age 16.6)
Girls who hit puberty earlier are more likely to be depressed,
attempt suicide than those who develop on-time or later
How is this different for boys and girls?
How have attitudes on sexual behaviors changed over time?
see also Puberty and Adolescent health (pp. 217-236)
Self-Concept
How is self-concept measured through self- recognition in infancy?
o 5 month olds can recognize themselves in mirrors and on videotapes
Prefer to look at other people because they are novel
o 9 month olds recognize themselves on tape and treat the adult as a playmate
o 18-24 month olds recognize themselves in mirrors
Reach for their noses when a red spot is put on the nose
Same age for this recognition cross-culturally
o 2-3 year olds only have concept of present self
Recognize current representations of self but are unaware that past selfrepresentations or self-relevant events have implications for the present
o 4-5 year olds develop a sense of extended self
Able to integrate past, present, and unknown future self-representations
into a notion of self that endures over time
How do self-conceptions change from childhood through adolescence?
Self-descriptions gradually evolve from listing of external attributes to
sketches of enduring inner qualities
Traits, values, beliefs, ideologies
Adolescents are aware that they are not the same person in all situations
How are false self-behaviors different from inconsistencies in self-portrayals?
False self-behaviors: acting in ways that do not reflect ones true self
Feel less confident that they know who really are
Inconsistent self-portrayals: not being the same person in different situations or
around different people
Ex: depressed at home but happy with friends, confident with friends but
nervous on a date
What is the relationship between self-concept and self-esteem?
Self-concept: ones perceptions of ones unique attributes or traits
Self-esteem: ones evaluation of ones worth as a person based on an assessment
of the qualities that make up the self-concept
How stable is self-esteem though the lifespan?
Changes over time
Erikson: self-esteem decreases in adolescence
Rebounds from young adulthood to age 65
Declines again among the elderly
What effects to parents, peers, and culture have on the development of self-esteem?
Parents
Sensitivity of parenting
High self-esteem = warm and supportive parents
Peers
Compare ourselves to our peers in all domains
More common in Western cultures where competition and
individual accomplishments are valued
Relationships with close friends also influence self-esteem
Culture
Western societies: higher self-esteem due to value placed on individual
accomplishments and self-promotion
Asian societies: value teamwork and interdependency, sacrifice selfworth to contribute to the welfare of the group
How is identity different from self-concept and self-esteem?
Identity: a sense of who one is, where one is going in life, and how one fits into
society
Understand Marcias 4 identity statuses (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium,
achievement)
Diffusion: not yet thought about or resolved identity issues, have not yet charted
future life directions
Foreclosure: made a commitment without really deciding what suits them best
Moratorium: identity crisis; asking questions about life commitments and
seeking answers
Achievement: make personal commitments to particular goals, beliefs, and
values
How does racial minority status affect identity development?
Young adolescents often are in the foreclosure or diffusion stage when
identifying with their native culture, but eventually develop into an achievement
stage
Achievement: higher self-esteem, better academic adjustment, better
relations with parents, more favorable assessment of peers of other
ethnicities
Minority youth struggle with identity questions when they encounter conflicts
between the values of their subculture and those of the majority culture.
What are the characteristics of successful ego identity and problems (foreclosure, diffusion,
moratorium)
*Differences between mastery-oriented vs. learned helplessness in achievement related
attributions (pp. 500-504)
o Mastery oriented: attribute successes to high ability but tend to externalize the
blame for failures or attribute them to unstable causes that they can easily
overcome
Persist in the face of failure
o Learned helplessness: tendency to give up or stop trying after failing because
these failures have been attributed to a lack of ability that one can do little about
SKIP 500-519