TREC1014: Week 3

Cognitive Development
P6-32
Agenda
 Part A: Defining Cognition and Information Processing
 Cognitive Domains
 Types of Intelligence
 Information Processing Model
 Part B: Intelligence Assessments
 Intelligence Testing
 IQ Testing
 Practical Implications
 Part C: Stages of Cognitive Development
 Piaget’s Four Stages of Intellectual Development
Learning Objectives
 1. Define cognition and intelligence.
 2. Explain the Information Processing Model and
identify the role of each step.
 3.Describe the difference between Fluid and
Crystalized intelligence.
 4. Explain how IQ testing can be used/misused.
 5. Categorize an individual into one of the Four
Stages of Cognitive Development.
Cognitive Development
Part A: Cognition and Information
Processing Model
 Cognitive
Domain
 Most commonly referred to as one’s
intelligence or ability to problem
solve
 Ability to think, reason, and
conceptualize
 The cognitive domain encompasses all
constructs related to information
processing.
 Intelligence, reasoning, perception,
creativity, problem solving, memory,
attention, meditation, imagery
What are your intellectual strengths and
weaknesses?
  “An individual is intelligent in proportions as they are
able to carry out abstract thinking” – Louis Terman
(1916)
 One dimensional view of intelligence
 Believed that intelligence was static throughout one’s
lifetime

Defining  “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the

individuals to act purposefully, to think rationally, and
to deal effectively with their environment” – David
Intelligence Wechsler (1958)
 More multidimensional and applicable to day-to-day life
 Designed one of the more popular IQ testing for children
and adults
 Measured verbal skills based on perceptions of culture,
and performance skills based on problem solving and
following instructions
 Defining
Intelligence
 “Intelligence is a hypothetical
construct that refers to an
individual’s ability to perceive,
understand, and adapt to his or
her environment.” – MacNeil,
R.D & Mobily, K.E. (2002).
Therapeutic Recreation: The
Nature of Disabilities
 Receiving information,
processing information, and
adapting to the information
 Hypothetical (no empirical
evidence)
 Mutidimensional
 Inherited and Learned
Information Processing Model
 Individuals manipulate information, monitor it and strategize about it
 Individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing
information
 Allows them to acquire increasingly more complex knowledge and skills
Categories of
Intelligence
 Most theorists will agree
that intelligence is a range
of specific abilities, rather
than one general ability
 Categorized into two types:
 Fluid Intelligence and
Crystallized intelligence
Fluid and Crystalized Intelligence

Fluid intelligence is the set of abilities

involved in seeing and processing abstract Intelligence that we are born with
relationships and patterns (Cattell, 1963)

Crystalized intelligence is the set of abilities

involved in using general information and
Acquired through education and experience
gained knowledge to make judgements or
solve problems (Cattell, 1963)
 Cognitive Development
Part B: Intelligence Assessment and IQ
Testing
 Intelligence
Assessments
 The cognitive domain is difficult
to assess
 Is it possible to fully assess
intelligence?
 Do intelligence tests even work?
 If you’ve ever completed an
intelligence test, do you think
this is a valid measurement of
your intellectual abilities?
 Does it even matter if we score
low/high on intelligence testing
for real life practicality?
  IQ (Intelligent Quotient) testing is a common practice
to attempt to assess intelligence or cognitive abilities
 Assess both verbal and performance intelligence:

Intelligence  Verbal: defining words, explaining common symbols,

interpreting proverbs, completing comprehension tasks,
Assessments explaining similarities between concepts and words

 Performance: ability to manipulate unfamiliar objects,

spatial relationships, abstract reasoning, solving puzzles,
matching pictures/symbols/numbers, using a
predetermined pattern to arrange pictures
IQ Testing
 Most common tests:
 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
 For children over 2 years old
4 categories; verbal, abstract and visual thinking,
quantitative reasoning, short term memory
 Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WPPSI/WISCIII for
Children)
 Contain verbal and performance testing
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
 Contains 6 verbal testing scales
 Contains 5 performance testing scales
 IQ Testing

 History of IQ Testing and improper

use of scores
 Real life applications?
 Several cultural biases that will
produce “poor results”
 Designed to ultimately diagnose
students who require assistance
with learning
 Educational systems can direct
more resources to students who
score poorly
Cognitive Development
Part C: Stages of Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s Cognitive Development Model
 Thought of cognitive development as something
that evolves over time
 Demonstrated that we observe the world around
us, organize our experiences, and adapt our
thinking to include this new information
 Assimilation: incorporate new information into existing
information
 Accommodation: adjusting to new information
Assimilation and
Accommodation
 Examples:
 You’ve seen a hammer being used before, so you know to
use one to drive a nail into a board.
 You swing too hard and bend the nail, you know to adjust
the pressure and speed on the next swing.

 A toddler has seen a clown before. The toddler sees a

man who is bald on the top of his head and has long
frizzy hair and calls him a “clown”.
 Once the toddler has been told that the man isn’t
wearing a costume or make-up, the toddler adjusts their
thought was constitutes a clown and creates a new
category of ‘balding men’.
Piaget’s Cognitive Development Model
 Composed of four stages:
 Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years old)
 Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years old)
 Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years old)
 Formal Operational Stage (11+ years old)
Piaget’s Cognitive
Development Model:
Sensorimotor Stage
 Birth to 2 years old
 Cognition is learned through
trial and error
 Infants and young toddlers
organize and understand
information from the five
senses
 Learn object permanence
(around 6 months)
 Begin to develop mental
representation
(remember/imagine
experiences)
 Piaget’s Cognitive
Development Model:
Preoperational Stage
 2 to 7 years old
 Use symbolic thinking,
language, and pretend to
understand the world
 Thinking is very egocentric
 Understand the world only
from one perspective
 Imagination flourishes
 Begin to decenter and
understand from others’ point
of view
Piaget’s Cognitive
Development Model:
Concrete Operational
Stage
 7 to 11 years old
 Child understands and
applies logical principles
 Able to interpret specific
experiences or perceptions
 Learn to understand the
basic ideas of conservation,
numbers, classification and
other concrete ideas
 Piaget’s Cognitive
Development Model:
Formal Operations Stage

 11 years and up
 Able to think about abstractions
and hypothetical concepts
 Able to move in thought from real
to possible
 Ethics, politics, social and moral
issues become interesting
 Able to take a broader and more
theoretical approach
 Set long term goals, reason,
demonstrate sensitivity to others