1. MRCPsych Cognitive Development Dr Mark Worthington Clinical Psychologist

2. Piaget’s Model Developed through observation. The thinking of children is qualitatively different from thinking in adults. Knowledge and cognitive development depend on the child’s pre-programmed behaviours interacting with the world. Development follows sequential stages.

3. Key Concepts  Egocentrism = Inability to distinguish perspectives  Schemes/Schemas = Patterns of knowledge.  Operations = logical procedures allowing mental manipulation of thoughts/concepts.  Assimilation = Attempts to understand novel situations in terms of existing schemas.  Accommodation = Ability to modify existing schemas in order to understand novel situations.  Adaptation = Assimilation + Accommodation

5. Four Stages of Cognitive Development 1.Sensorimotor (0 - 18/24m) 2.Pre-Operational (18/24m – 7y) 3.Concrete Operational (7 – 11y) 4.Formal Operational (11y +)

6. Sensorimotor Stage (0-18 months).  Through reflexive behaviour stimulus- response/cause-effect relationships are learned.  Self is differentiated from external world  Object permanence is achieved; knowledge that objects continue to exist even if we can no longer see them  No understanding of temporal relationships is evident.

7. Preoperational Stage (18 months – 7 th year).  Symbolic schemas used (e.g. play, drawing).  Egocentricity gradually declines as the ability to understand alternative perspectives develops (decentre).  Perception influences judgement. 3 Mountains Task

8. Concrete Operational Stage (7 th to 11 th year)  Logical thought appears.  Mental or physical actions can be considered in reverse.  Egocentrism disappears.

9. Formal Operational Stage (11 th year onwards).  Reasoning and thought can be purely verbal/logical and self reflective  Reasoning from other perspectives is possible  Abstract concepts are understandable  Systems of belief develop  A complex self identity develops

10. Critical Comments Problems with formal operations – Formal operation is rarely reached by 11 – A good proportion of adults rarely or never think in such away unless constrained to do so by the task Underestimates children’s abilities – too rigid – Most researchers agree that children posses many of the abilities at an early age than Piaget suspected Problems with research methods – Small, unrepresentative sample (own children) Style of thinking is influenced by culture

11. Thought & Communication

12. Preoperational Stage:  Growth in communication skills.  Single words→short sentences→competent but unsophisticated language.  Towards the end: Development of linguistic pragmatics: Rules of appropriate use.  Social skills requiring appreciation of alternative perspectives.  Understanding of indirect questions, sarcasm, hints.  Politeness.

13. Concrete Operational Stage:  Development parallels reduction and disappearance of egocentrism.  Alternative perspective taking becomes fully developed.  Able to say what others know.  Able to persuade rather than simply to use crude requests.  Development of humour

14. Formal Operation Stage  Increased subtlety.  Irony and satire.  Understanding unfamiliar words inferred from their context.  Abstraction and understanding of abstract concepts increases : egocentrism decreases.

15. Consider in Communicating Linguistic ability and communicative skill are closely related to the Piagetian stages As abstraction develops egocentrism declines whilst social skills of communication (pragmatics) develop: – Spoken language becomes complex and directed at achieving goals in a social context. – Abstract concepts become more readily understood. – Written communication develops as the perspective/needs of the reader are appreciated.

16. MRCPsych Language Development Dr Mark Worthington Clinical Psychologist

17. Components of Language  Phonemes: Units of sound used to construct word sounds  Phonology; rules about structure & sequence of speech sounds  Grammar  Morphemes: Word or meaning units, made up of phonemes.  Syntax: rules in which words are arranged into sentences  Semantics: how concepts are expressed through sounds.  Pragmatics: relationships between words and their social uses, rules for appropriate and effective communication Language:  Complex syntactic rules describe language.  Acquisition of language is the acquisition of these rules.

18. Chomsky Universal Language: – A common underlying structure to languages related to genetic factors that enable language acquisition (language acquisition device). Conditioning is insufficient to account for richness and speed of development. Language acquisition proceeds through stages. Rate of acquisition is related to intelligence.

19. First Year Pre-linguistic Stage Phonological – Speech sounds – cooing/babbling (strings of phonemes) – Categorisation of sounds made by others – End of year 1 – phoneme range specific to native language, first words are spoken Semantic – Understanding develops before production – Recognition of familiar words, use of preverbal gestures Pragmatic – Engagement in joint attention and turn-taking activities

20. Second Year Phonological – Recognise correct pronunciation of familiar words – No word order (18m)  rigid word order learned from interactions (24m) Semantic – Vocabulary spurt 18-24m; 13  300 words Grammatical – Telegraphic speech (two word combinations) e.g. ‘big house’ (attributive), ‘Daddy ball’ (agent-object) Pragmatics – Engage in conversational turn-taking and topic maintenance

21. Third Year Phonological – Phonological awareness and pronunciation improve Semantic – Rapid word learning – Difficulty using words correctly – e.g. Overextensions, underextensions Grammatical – Simple 3-word sentences follow adult rules, gradually get refined – Grammatical morphemes added as these emerge – over-generalisation of grammatical rules

22. Fourth Year Phonological – Simple utterances/sentences Semantic – can understand metaphors Grammatical – Generally correct grammar – Begin to use future tense – Understanding still greater than generation

23. Fifth Year  Semantic  Verbal thought is apparent  Grammatical  Several clauses in sentences.  Pragmatics  Social rules apply Resembles adult language Awareness of own ability to use language

24. Communicative Competence  Linguistic skills are a subgroup of communication skills  Many species display communicative competence.  At what point does word use become language?  Non-verbal behaviour is closely related.  Signing as language?

25. Critical Periods  First year crucial for differentiation of phonemes.  Syntactic development over first few years.  Full competence is never achieved following early language deprivation.  Similar evidence in deaf children’s acquisition of sign language.

26. Environmental Influences  Cognitive development necessary but not sufficient for acquisition  Relies on social context, learning relationships between objects/people.  Cognitive development leads.  Language is one communication skill.  Phonetic forms are reduced over time according to native language.  Isolation impairs later acquisition.  Worse if also socially isolated.