Definitions Of Intelligence: Childhood Studies - Essay Example

Definitions Of Intelligence: Childhood Studies Question One For many decades, the scientific community has debated over the appropriate definition of the term intelligence. Different disciplines have come up with their own definitions of intelligence. Nonetheless, a more general definition of intelligence is the mental ability to gain knowledge and skills, apply them to reason, have an abstract thought and influence the surrounding environment (Flynn, 2009, p. 2). In this case, the term environment does not only mean the physical landscape, such as forests and maintains, but also the surrounding and people an individual interacts with. Therefore, individuals with high intelligence must be able to interact and manipulate their environment to overcome challenges within their surroundings. Just as in the case in its definition, there are also several controversies surrounding the measurement of intelligence. In the late 19th century, fame, academic qualifications and contributions, were the main variables that were used to measure a person’s intelligence. Towards the early 20th century, assessment of intelligence took a more quantitative approach, and incorporated skills such as an individual’s reaction time. However, Theodore Simon and Alfred Binet developed the first successful and widely accepted measurement that assessed academic success. The Binet-Simon test was developed to help educational instructors identify the students with learning challenges, as opposed to poor previous education or behavioral problems. Students’ abilities in problem-solving, reasoning, vocabulary, practical knowledge and memory were the main variables that were used in this measurement. Over the years, other measurement tools have been developed. Some of these intelligence measurement tools include the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Stanford-Binet, Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Murdoch, 2007, p. 37). However, the most common tool that has been used to measure intelligence is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, also known as the intelligence quotient (IQ) (Murdoch, 2007, p. 5). IQ tests play a very significant role in educational provision. Through this measurement, teachers are able to identify gifted students and those with learning disabilities and challenges (Flynn, 1978, p. 187). It should be noted that gifted students are not only those with good academic performances, but also those with abilities and strengths in other talents. Question Two Lev Vygotsky made immense contribution towards child psychology by outlining the relationship between intelligence to socio-cultural environment and the ability of learners to understand their surroundings. Vygotsky theory states that children must pass through five different developmental stages namely, infancy, early childhood, pre-school age, school age and maturity. During these stages, children undergo structural transformation in regards to their social environment and mental life. Newman (1993, p. 295) argues that the social condition will determine the pace at which these transformations will occur. Furthermore, the outcome of every child will be different because they grew up in diverse societies, and therefore experienced dissimilar transformational developments. There are several concepts that can be identified from Vygotsky’s theory. The first concept is social situation of (Newmanm, 1993, p. 198). When people are born, they are completely clueless of their surroundings. It is therefore the responsibility of the relatives to define the social reality, which the children will identify and lock themselves in. However, as they get older, they realize new needs that are currently not being met by the environment that has been set for them. Development is actualized if the children strive to satisfy the new need and change their environment. However, this transformation cannot be actualized without the assistance of adults, who have to interact with the children during this stage. The second concept in Vygotsky’s theory is central neoformation. Neoformation refers to psychological function. This stage involves the creation of a new mode that revolves around social interaction. This transformation would involve the replacement of unstable and old relationships with new social situation (Newman, 1993, p. 194). The third concept is the lines of development. During the development stage between clueless newborns to young adults, children have to pass through several age levels. Each of these levels constitutes a gestalt. Every time a child advances to the next gestalt, he or she crosses the central line of development (Newman, 1993, p. 197). During these developments, children continue to redefine their central neoformation by constructing new psychological functions, transforming their relationships, stimulating or suppressing some and turning ends into means and means into ends. Newman (1993, p. 197) further states that there are peripheral lines of development, during which psychological functions designed in previous age groups are reinforced and strengthened. The fifth concept is the crisis-period and self-reflection. As children advance into puberty, they development more sophisticated relation-to-self, which includes self-determination and self-consciousness. The final concept is the zone of proximal development and ‘leading activity’. In this stage, the psychological functions have been classified into two groups. Vygotsky’s theory states that there are psychological functions that can be individually mastered by children, and there are those which they will have to request for assistance from adults. This is another development stage that the society will have to help the children pass through. Question Three Unlike many other skills and knowledge acquired, children are not taught their mother or native language. This can be witnessed by the fact that children begin to mumbling a few words even before they can speak fluently. Furthermore, studies have shown that children are able to understand the meaning of so many words from their mother language even before they are able to utter a word. Three major theories have been developed to explain how children end up mastering their mother language without being taught by their relatives. The theories also explain that language development is influenced by both nature and nurture. The first one is the nativist perspective theory. This theory was developed by Noam Chomsky, and states that human beings are biologically programmed to gain skills and knowledge (Randall, 2007, p. 3). The naivist perspective theory proposes that all humans have mental language acquisition device (LAD), which everybody is born with. According o Shaffer (2002, p. 55), this LAD contains all knowledge of grammatical rules that are universal to all languages. It is the LAD that allows children to comprehend the rules of any language that they frequently listen to. Furthermore, the nativist theory states that LAD also allows children to transform sentences, understand the word structure of written literature and gain a deeper understanding of words with symbolic meanings. The second theory is the learning perspective. Developed by Skinner, this theory states that children learn and imitate what they hear or see. Furthermore, it states that children respond positively to reinforcements and punishments, which are aimed at teaching them (Shaffer, Wood and Willoughby, 2002, p. 56). According to Shaffer (2002, p. 56), adults can reinforce speech in their children by mumbling sounds that are close to actual words. The final theory that explains language acquisition is the interactionist theory. Introduced by Lev Vygotsky, the interactionist theory merges both social and biological variables that nurture the development of native languages (Wells and Nicholls, 1985, p. 13). This theory states that children begin to speak in the mother language due to their desire to communicate with other people. The ability of children into comprehend the meaning of words is made possible by the powerful human brain, that matures and acquires new environments, including understanding of vocabularies. This cognitive and linguistic development is enhanced by collaborative learning instructed by adults. Question Four Children undergo several developmental changes. Despite that fact that they are able to overcome many new challenges independently, there are instances whereby they will be forced to seek assistance from other adults in the society, particularly their parents. The attachment theory, which was developed by John Bowlby and later expounded on by Mary Ainsworth, can be used to explain the significance of relationships to a child’s psychological development (Bretherton, 1992, p. 764). Attachment is the emotional bond that exists between two or more people. It represents the mental connectedness between people. The attachment theory argues that adults should seek to create strong bonds with children when there are still young because it would make tremendous impact on their lives. The attachment theory has four major characteristics namely proximity maintenance, safe heaven, separation and source of base (Fonagy, 2004, p. 56). Proximity maintenance refers to the desire of individuals to be near the people they are attached to. In regards to safe heaven, the parties involved, particularly the younger person, will always turn to the caregiver they are attached when faced with a crisis, threat or fear. This means that children with attachment are less likely to experience threats and fear that those without. Secure base refers to the guidance and assistance offered by the caregivers, which creates a protective environment that can be explored by children. As a result, children will be willing to explore their environments because they are convinced that their caregivers will respond to their needs. The final attribute of attachment, separation distress, revolves around the anxiety that is witnessed by children in the event that the caregivers are absent. These four characteristics of attachment are very important in the child’s psychological development. In the pre-attachment psychological stage, children will barely show any signs of attachment to the caregiver (Howe, 2005, p. 7). The infant would attract the caregiver’s attention by fussing or crying. Therefore, the caregiver is encouraged to remain close so that the baby responds positively to treatment. Indiscriminate attachment follows the pre-attachment stage (Howe, 2005, p. 7). When infants are approximately seven month old, they begin to express preferences to a specific caregiver. During this stage, the infants also begin to differentiate between unfamiliar and familiar people. They tend to develop more trust towards the people they know, particularly to their primary caregivers. In most cases, the caregivers are the parents or housemaids. At eleven months of age, infants enter the discriminate attachment stage (Howe, 2005, p. 10). Infants become keener on the people around them. It is at this stage the manifestation of separation anxiety begins. The children develop a very strong attachment to their primary caregiver and display nervousness around unfamiliar people. The final stage is multiple attachments (Howe, 2005, p. 11). At this stage, cognitive skills of children have developed and allow them to recognize many people. Even though they will still display anxiety around complete strangers, the children will develop strong bonds with secondary caregivers, which in most cases are other family members. Question Five Emotions are nurtured and not natured. This means that individuals are not born with emotional feelings. Conversely, they are constructed by an individual’s environment. In the case of children, the people surrounding them will define the emotional attributes that will be learnt by the infant. There are two three major theories that that can be used to support this statement. The first theory is attachment. This theory states that the caregivers play a huge role in nurturing attributes, such as trust and socialization. Infants who receive good care from their family members tend to be more willing to trust and socialize with other people once they have reached the multiple attachment stage. Conversely, those infant who grew up in institutions such as orphanages, did not get the opportunity to create strong bond with caregivers (Sroufe, 1996, p. 96). As a result, they tend to have trust and socializing problems. Vygotsky is the second theory that can be used to explain how emotional developments are defined by learnt experiences. As children grow older and pass through the different developmental stages, they cross several central lines of development. This means that they alter their psychological functions by eliminating or constructing new ones. Some of these developments will require assistance from adults. In the event that they are not provided with the required assistance, these children might not progress to the next developmental stage, which also include emotional advancement. As a result, they will construct their own emotional developments because their environment did not give them an opportunity to learn from the society. Question Six Between childhood and maturity, an individual has to undergo significant emotional and physical growth. Without proper counseling, teenagers might experience psychological trauma due to an identity crisis. This upheaval and confusion arises when a teenager refuses to advance from childhood or embrace adulthood. This crisis has been recognized and addressed in the fifth phase of Erikson’s stages of development. In identity vs. confusion, Erikson (1968, p. 15) addresses the challenges experienced by adolescents as they transform from children into adults. Adolescents experience transformation in regards to their physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social identities. Some of these transformations include growth of pubic hair, low self-esteem, and sense of independency. An individual is considered to have lived to the standards and expectations of the society if they complete this phase successfully. To achieve this, the adolescents need the support from the general society. Firstly, these adolescent will require the support from their families. Since the teenagers have lived with their kin for many years, they will feel a sense of belonging to the family. Parents should utilize this bond to guide their children through the adolescence process. Quality interactions and relationships can be used to help adolescents develop their identity (Para, 2008, p. 3). For instance, they can tell stories of their own experience, so that their children can relate to them. Most importantly, the parents should let their adolescent children make their own decision. This is because autocratic parents might lose the trust of their children. Secondly, peer support can also be used to help adolescents develop their identity. Para (2008, p. 4) argue that quality friendships will nurture self-disclosure, loyalty, intimacy and trust. This approach to social identity is even more effective than familial support because the adolescents will be willing to consult with somebody of their age bracket. Bibliography Bretherton, I., 1992. The Origin of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, Departmental Psychology, 28, p. 459-755 Erikson, E. H.,1968. Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton. Flynn, J. R., 2009. ‘What is intelligence? Beyond the Flynn effect’. Cambridge University Press. Flynn, J. R., 1987. Massive OQ Gains in 14 Nations: What IQ Really Measure, Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), p. 171-191. Fonagy, P., 2004. Attachment theory and psychoanalysis. London: Karnac. Howe, D., 2005. Child abuse and neglect: Attachment, development, and intervention. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Murdoch, S., 2007. ‘IQ: a smart history of a failed idea’. London: Duckworth. Newman, F., 1993. Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist. New York: Taylor & Francis Para, E. A., 2008. The Role of Social Support in Identity Formation: A Literature Review, Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1(1), p. 1-9 Randall, M., 2007. Memory, psychology and second language learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Shaffer, D. R., 2002. Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson. Shaffer, D. R., Willoughby, T. and Wood, E., 2002. Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. Scarborough, Ont.: Thomson Nelson. Sroufe, L. A., 1996. Emotional development: The organization of emotional life in the early years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wells, C. G. and Nicholls, J., 1985. Language and learning: An interactional perspective. London: Falmer Press. Read More