CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY

Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

MODULE 2
Cognitive
Development
Lalaine Ann F. Manuel
Faculty, College of Education
Intelligence and Individual Difference
Concept of Intelligence (Binet)
• Binet (Binet & Simon, 1905) defined intelligence in terms
of judgment, practical sense, initiative, and adaptability;

• Wechsler (1958) later defined it as “the aggregate or

global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to
think rationally, and to deal effectively with his/her
environment” (p. 7).
Intelligence and Individual Difference
General Intelligence (Spearman)
• General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to the
existence of a broad mental capacity that influences performance
on cognitive ability measures.

• According to Spearman, this g factor was responsible for overall

performance on mental ability tests. Spearman noted that while
people certainly could and often did excel in certain areas, people
who did well in one area tended also to do well in other areas.
Intelligence and Individual Difference
General Intelligence (Spearman)

• Spearman noted that while people certainly could and often did
excel in certain areas, people who did well in one area tended
also to do well in other areas.

• Those who hold this view believe that intelligence can be

measured and expressed by a single number, such as an IQ
score. The idea is that this underlying general intelligence
influences performance on all cognitive tasks.
Challenges to the Concept of General Intelligence
The notion that intelligence could be measured and summarized by a single
number on an IQ test was controversial during Spearman's time and has
remained so over the decades since. Some psychologists, including L.L.
Thurstone, challenged the concept of a g-factor. Thurstone instead identified
a number of what he referred to as "primary mental abilities”.

Research today points to an underlying mental ability that contributes to

performance on many cognitive tasks. IQ scores, which are designed to
measure this general intelligence, are also thought to influence an
individual's overall success in life. However, while IQ can play a role in
academic and life success, other factors such as childhood experiences,
educational experiences, socioeconomic status, motivation, maturity, and
personality also play a critical role in determining overall success.
Primary Mental Abilities (Thurstone)

“Intelligence, considered as a mental trait, is the capacity to make

impulses focal at their early, unfinished stage of
formation. Intelligence is therefore the capacity for abstraction,
which is an inhibitory process (Thurstone, 1924/1973 p. 159).”

Major Contributions
• Theory of Primary Mental Abilities
• Developed the statistical technique of multiple-factor
analysis
Primary Mental Abilities (Thurstone)
Louis Leon Thurstone
• He made significant contributions in many areas of psychology, including
psychometrics, statistics, and the study of human intelligence.
• He developed methods for scaling psychological measures, assessing
attitudes, and test theory, among many other influential contributions.
• He is best known for the development of new factor analytic techniques to
determine the number and nature of latent constructs within a set of observed
variables.
• The new statistical techniques developed by Thurstone provided the
necessary tools for his most enduring contribution to psychology: The Theory
of Primary Mental Abilities, a model of human intelligence that
challenged Charles Spearman’s then-dominant paradigm of a unitary
conception of intelligence.
Primary Mental Abilities (Thurstone)
Spearman, using an earlier approach to factor analysis, found that scores on all
mental tests (regardless of the domain or how it was tested) tend to load on one
major factor. Spearman suggested that these disparate scores are fueled by a
common metaphorical “pool” of mental energy. He named this pool the general
factor, or g (Spearman, 1904).

Thurstone argued that g was a statistical artifact resulting from the mathematical
procedures used to study it. Using his new approach to factor analysis, Thurstone
found that intelligent behavior does not arise from a general factor, but rather
emerges from seven independent factors that he called primary abilities: word
fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial visualization, number facility,
associative memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed (Thurstone, 1938).
Multiple Intelligence (Gardner)
Linguistic/Verbal Intelligence (Word Smart) – learning visually
and organizing ideas spatially. Seeing concepts in action in order to
understand them. The ability to “see” things in one’s mind in
planning to create a product or solve a problem or the ability to use
and understand words and nuances of meaning.

Logical-mathematical (Number Smart/Logic Smart) – learning

through reasoning and problem writing. Also highly valued in the
traditional classroom, where students were asked to adapt to
logically sequenced delivery of instruction. Simply, the ability to
manipulate numbers and solve logical problems.
Multiple Intelligence (Gardner)
Spatial/Visual Intelligence (Picture Smart) – learning visually
and organizing ideas spatially. Seeing concepts in action in order to
understand them. The ability to see things in one’s mind in planning
to create a product or solve a problem. Also the ability to find one’s
way around in an environment and judge relationships between
objects in space.

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart) – learning through patterns,

rhtyhms and music. This includes not only auditory learning, but
the identification of patterns through all the senses. Ability to
perceive and create patterns of pitch and rhythm.
Multiple Intelligence (Gardner)
Bodily-kinesthetic (Body Smart) – learning through interaction
with one’s environment. This intelligence is not the domain of
“overly active” learners. It promotes understanding through
concrete experience. It is also the ability to move with precision.

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart) – learning through

interaction with others. Not the domain of children who are simply
“talkative” or “overly social”. This intelligence promotes
collaboration and working cooperatively with others. It involves the
ability to understand and communicate with others.
Multiple Intelligence (Gardner)
Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart) – learning through
feelings, values and attitudes. This is a decidedly affective
component of learning through which students place value on what
they learn and take ownership for their learning or the ability to
understand the self.

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart) – learning through

classification, categories and hierarchies. The naturalist
intelligence picks up on subtle differences in meaning. It is not
simply the study of nature it can be used in all areas of study but
the ability to distinguish specimens and their characteristics.
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence(Sternberg)
The componential element or the analytical intelligence
• It determines how efficiently people process information. It
tells people how to solve problems, how to monitor solutions,
and how to evaluate the results.
• It includes what we normally measure on IQ and
achievement tests. Planning, organizing, and remembering
facts and applying them to new situations are all part of
analytic intelligence
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence(Sternberg)
The experiential element is insightful or creative intelligence
• It determines how people approach novel or familiar tasks. It allows
people to compare new information with what they already know and to
come up with new ways of putting facts together – in other words, to
think originality.
• A person with well-developed creative intelligence can see new
connections between things, and can relate to experience in insightful
ways. A graduate student who can come up with good ideas for
experiments, who can see how a theory could be applied to a new totally
different situation, or who can synthesize a great many facts into a new
organization is high in creative intelligence.
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence(Sternberg)
The contextual element or practical intelligence;
• It determines how people deal with their environment. It is the ability to size up
the situation and decide what to do, adapt to it, change it, or get out of it.
• Sometimes also called “street smarts”. People who are skilled in this are
good at seeing how some bit of information may be applied to the real world or
finding some practical solution to a real-life problem such as finding shortcuts
for repetitive tasks or figuring out which of several different-sized boxes of
cereal or laundry soap in the grocery store is the best buy.
• Practical intelligence may also involve being skilled at reading social cues or
social situations, such as knowing not to give your boss bad news when she is
clearly in a bad mood over something else, or knowing how to persuade your
superiors to invest a large amount of money on your favorite sales plan.
Cognitive Information Processing Theory
(Atkinson and Shiffrin)

Information processing is a cognitive theoretical framework that focuses on

how knowledge enters and is stored and retrieved from our memory. It was
one of the most significant cognitive theories in the last century and it has
strong implications on the teaching-learning process.

Relating how the mind and the computer work is a powerful analogy. The
terms used in the information processing theory (IPT) extends his analogy.

IPT describes how the learner receives information (stimuli) from the
environment through the senses and what takes place in between determines
whether the information will continue to pass through the sensory register,
then the short term memory and the long term memory. Certain factors would
also determine whether the information will be retrieved or “remembered”
when the learner needs it.
Primary Stages of IPT
IPT asserts three primary stages in the progression of external information
becoming incorporated in to the internal cognitive structure of choice
(schema, concept, script, frame, mental model, etc.).

• Encoding – Information is sensed, perceived, and attended to.

• Storage – the information is stored for either a brief or extended period of

time, depending upon the processes following encoding.

• Retrieval – The information is brought back at the appropriate time, and

reactivated for use on a current task, the true measure of effective
memory.
Stages in the Information Processing Theory
Stages of IPT
Sensory Register
The first step in the IP model, holds all sensory information for a
very brief time.
• Capacity: Our mind receives a great amount of information
but it is more than what our minds can hold or perceive.

• Duration: The sensory register only holds the information

for an extremely brief – in the order of 1 to 3 seconds.

• There is a difference in duration based on modality:

auditory memory is more persistent than visual.
Role of Attention
• To bring information into consciousness, it is necessary that we give attention
to it. Such that, we can only perceive and remember later those things that
pass through our attention “gate”.

• Getting through this attentional filter is done when the learner is interested in
the material; when there is conscious control over attention, or when
information involves novelty, surprise, salience, and distinctiveness.

• Before information is perceived, it is known as “precategorical” information.

This means that until that point, the learner has not established a
determination of the categorical membership of the information. To this point,
the information is coming in as uninterpreted patterns of stimuli. Once it is
perceived, we can categorize, judge, interpret, and place meaning to the
stimuli. If we fail to perceive, we have no means by which to recognize that the
stimulus was ever encountered.
Short Term Memory (STM or Working Memory)
• Capacity: The STM can only hold 5 to 9 “chunks” of information
sometimes described as 7 + / - 2. It is called working memory because it
is where new information is temporarily placed while it is mentally
processed. STM maintains information for a limited time until the learner
has adequate resources to process the information or until the
information is forgotten.

• Duration: Around 18 seconds or less.

• To reduce the loss of information in 18 seconds, you need to do

maintenance rehearsal. It is using repetition to keep the information
active in STM, like when you repeat a phone number just given over and
over.
 Long Term Memory (LTM)
• The LTM is the final or permanent storing house for memory information. It
holds the stored information until needed again.

• Capacity: LTM has unlimited capacity.

• Duration: Duration in the LTM is indefinite.

• Executive Control Processes

The executive control processes involve the executive processor or what
is referred to as metacognitive skills. These processes guide the flow of
information through the system, help the learner
 Language Development
• Language is a form of communication-whether spoken, written, or signed-
that is based on a system of symbols. Language consists of the words used
by a community (vocabulary) and the rules for varying and combining them
(grammar and syntax).

• All human languages have some common characteristics (Clark, 2017;

Hoff. 2015). These include infinite generativity and organizational rules.

• Infinite generativity is the ability to produce an endless number of

meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules.
 Language Development
• Language is a form of communication-whether spoken, written, or signed-
that is based on a system of symbols. Language consists of the words used
by a community (vocabulary) and the rules for varying and combining them
(grammar and syntax).

• All human languages have some common characteristics (Clark, 2017;

Hoff. 2015). These include infinite generativity and organizational rules.

• Infinite generativity is the ability to produce an endless number of

meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules.
• When we say “rules”, we mean that language is orderly and that rules
describe the way language works (Berko Gleason & Ratner, 2009).
Language Development
Languages involve five systems of rules:
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics
Language Development
Phonology
• Every language is made up of
basic sounds.

• Phonology is the sound system of

a language, including the sounds
used and how they may be
combined (Del Campo & other,
2015).

• A phoneme is the basic unit of

sound in a language; it the
smallest unit of sound that
affects meaning.
 Language Development
Morphology
• It refers to the units of meaning involved in word formation.

• A morpheme is a minimal unit of meaning; it is a word or a part of a

word that cannot be broken into smaller meaningful parts.
Language Development
Syntax
• It involves the ways words are combined to form acceptable phrases
and sentences (Los, 2015).
Language Development
Pragmatics
• It is a final set of language rules involve pragmatics, the
appropriate use of language in different context (Clark, 2014).
• Pragmatics covers a lot of territory.

• When you take turns speaking in a discussion, you are

demonstrating knowledge of pragmatics.

• You also apply the pragmatics of English when you use polite
language in appropriate situations (for example, when talking to a
teacher) or tell stories that are interesting.
How does Language Develops?
Infancy
• Language acquisition advances past number of milestones in infancy
(Cartmill & Goldin-Meadow, 2016).

• Because the main focus of this text is on children and adolescents rather
than infants, we will only describe several of the many language
milestones in infancy.

• Babbling occurs in the middle of the first year and infants usually utter
their first word at about 10 to 13 months. By 18 to 24 months, infants
usually have begun to string two words together.

• In this two-world stage, they quickly grasp the importance of language in

communication, creating phrases such as “Book ther”,” “My cangy,”
“Mama walk,” and “Give Papa.”
How does Language Develops?
Early Childhood

• As children leave the two-words stage, they move rather quickly into
three-four-, four-, and five-word combinations.

• The transition from simple sentences expressing a single proposition

to complex sentences begins between 2 and 3 years of age and
continues into the elementary school years (Bloom, 1998).
How does Language Develops?
Middle and Late Childhood
• During middle and late childhood, changes occur in the way mental
vocabulary is organized.
• When asked to say the first word that comes to mind when they hear a
word, preschool children typically provide a word that often follows the
word in a sentence.
• For example, when asked to respond to dog the young child may say
“barks”, or to the word eat respond with “lunch”.
• At about 7 years of age, children begin to respond with a word hat is the
same part of speech as the stimulus word.
• For example, a child may now respond to the word dog with “cat” or
“horse”. To eat, they now might say “drink”. This is evidence that children
now have begun to categorize their vocabulary by parts of speech.
How does Language Develops?
Middle and Late Childhood
• During the elementary school years, children’s improvement in logical
reasoning and analytical skills helps them understand such constructions
as the appropriate use of comparatives (shorter, deeper) and subjectives
(“If you were president…..” ).

• During the elementary school years, children become increasingly able to

understand and use complex grammar, such as the following sentence.
The boy who kissed his mother wore a hat. They also learn to use
language in a more connected way, producing connected discourse.

• They become able to relate sentences to one another to produce

descriptions, definitions, and narratives that make sense. Children must be
able to do these things orally before they can be expected to deal with
them in written assignments.
How does Language Develops?

Adolescence
• Language development during adolescence includes increasingly
sophisticated use of word (Berko Gleason, 2009).

• As they develop abstract thinking, adolescents become much better than

children at analyzing the function a word performs in a sentence.

• Adolescents also develop more subtle abilities with words.

• They make strides in understanding the metaphor, which is an implied

comparison between, unlike things.
CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija