The Stages of Life Article 11

       We live our life at the moment. But have we ever wandered, how do we develop from a little baby, to an adolescent, to an adult? There are stages to our life that we will all go through and that will someday end. Also do we think differently in all of these stages or is it always the same mentality? Our lives pass in front of us in the blink of an eye. So the best is to enjoy every single one of these next stages.

       We start our life in our infant days. Then we move on to our sweet and dearly remembered childhood years. Specifically during these stages of life we experience maturation. This is the automatic and sequential process of development. For example, the older we grow we experience maturation in height and weight. We also have reflexes as motor skills. A reflex is an involuntary reaction. Babies for example have the Babinski reflex which makes their feet fan out when their soles are touched. Other than physical development, children go through social development. Here they learn to relate to other people. For example, a toddler is able to play by himself even when there are other children around. But as he grows, he develops social skills and starts playing with other kids. In addition to social development there is also cognitive development. Piaget’s theory if cognitive development was inspired by the wrong answers given by children. He theorized that children’s thinking developed in stages. The first is the Sensorimotor stage, in which infants learn to coordinate sensation and perception with motor activity. The second is the Preoperational stage here children start learning symbols and language. Then they enter the concrete-operational thinking. Here they start showing signs of adult thinking, yet they are only logical about specific objects. At this stage they cannot understand abstract concepts. Then in the last stage, which they hit in about puberty, they can finally think abstractly. This stage is called the formal-operational stage. Other than Piaget there is also Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development. The first level is the preconventional level in which what they believe is “good” is what helps them avoid punishment. Next is the conventional moral reasoning level, here moral values are made by acts of conformity or what the society deems as good. Then there is postconventional reasoning in which the moral judgments of a person are reflected by their own personal values.

       Adolescence can be the most joyful or the most miserable days of our lives. Here we experience sudden growth spurts and reach the point where we develop sexually or hit puberty. Not only are there biological changes but also changes in the home and psychological changes as well. The teens have more adult-like responsibilities but are still dependent and are not fully responsible. Parents are usually afraid that peer influences may lead their child into delinquency or drug abuse but in reality peer influence usually leads to more positive aspects like good grades. In this time of their lives, teens reach an identity crisis in which he or she examines his or her values. To add to the list of changes adolescents face there are also many challenges like eating disorders, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and sexuality.

       Finally we reach adulthood, but do all of our troubles vanish from here? No, there are still challenges that individuals have to face in their young, middle or late adulthood. First in young adulthood there are many things that one needs to adjust to. There are more responsibilities. One has to learn to live with someone else, maybe to marriage and even parenthood. Then we have middle adulthood. This is where the famous midlife crisis kicks in. this is a period of reassessment that someone reaches in their early 40s. This is a time where one becomes an “expert” at what they do and it is considered a period of creativity. Finally one reaches late adulthood. Here, like in young adulthood, one has to adjust to many things. One is the fact that one is aging and another is accepting the fact that one is going to die. When one is at this stage they are more prone to disorders like Alzheimer’s which a condition of slow deterioration of mental processes is.  

Young and old adult.

       Our lives pass our eyes at an incredible speed. One day we are a young teenager and the next and old man. And then someday we realize that we are not immortal and that someday we will die. And finally that day comes.

Article 10

What is Intelligence?

       We all plan and hope for a successful future. Most of us think that getting there requires time, effort, responsibility, and intelligence. But, have we ever stopped ourselves and thought, “what is intelligence?” Is intelligence really the kid in class that gets straight As or is it something else? Does achievement have anything to do with intelligence? Is there a specific factor that determines if someone is intelligent or not? All these questions have circled around the minds of experts in the past century but even today there is no real concrete and specific definition of intelligence because of all the different theories and opinions.

       There are many theories to what influences intelligence and what intelligence is made up of. Many psychologists agree that there is more than one type of intelligence. Psychologist Charles Spearman labeled two types of intelligence, g for general intelligence and s for specific intelligence. This is known as the two factor theory. Other psychologists like Howard Gardner suggests that there are multiple intelligences. These are a list of talents or abilities which are referred as intelligences because they are very different from each other. Gardner proposes that each intelligence is independent from the other unlike other psychologists who believed that the combination of certain abilities is what made up intelligence. Gardner’s theory is called the theory of multiple intelligences.

(The multiple intelligences)

       Everyone wishes to know just how intelligent we are. Over the years intelligence measuring tests have been developed. One of them is the outdated Stanford-Binet Scale in which explored different age levels. It was expected that intelligence increased with age and that older children would have to answer questions of higher difficulty. Another intelligence test that is still used this day is the Welchsler Scales and it differs greatly from the Stanford-Binet Scale. It measures both verbal and nonverbal abilities and its scores are not based on age.

       In my opinion everyone is intelligent in one way or another. There are multiple intelligences and everyone’s talents or abilities fit into at least one category. People don’t have to be geniuses to be intelligent.  To me intelligence cannot be measured completely, the most accurate tests are the ones who measure which type of intelligence we have.

       There have been debates whether nature or nurture influence intelligence. To me they are both dependent on each other. It has been shown that direct family members have similar IQs but also that adopted children have similar IQs from their adoptive parents. In my opinion, if an “intelligent” gene is passed down to a child but the child grows up in an environment where it cannot learn then that gene won’t work. If a child doesn’t have an “intelligent” gene but grows up in a healthy environment where it can learn, then the child will still be “intelligent”.

      We all see intelligence as a virtue. But have we ever stopped and thought what intelligence really is? Is the scientist more intelligent than the artist? The answer is that probably both of them are more intelligent than the other. They are more intelligent than the other in certain areas. Intelligence doesn’t really have a concrete definition and maybe knowing all the answers is not really intelligence.

Thinking, Problem Solving and Language. Article #9

        Throughout our lives we communicate to the outside world in many different ways. The world is also communicating to us in various ways. Since we are young we are taught the meaning of symbols, language and how to solve problems. As we develop, as we gain experience we acquire more knowledge. Sometimes we are gaining experience and solving problems by doing the simplest of things.

       The skill that we all perform throughout our existence is thinking. The mental activity we call thinking is the understanding, processing and communicating of information. We have the capacity to think thanks to symbols and prototypes. A symbol is something that stands for something else. Our world is literally composed of symbols. The most obvious examples of symbols are the symbols in our numerical system or our alphabetical system. We know that the symbol “A” stands for the sound “aaah” or that the symbol “3” stands for a specific quantity. Another example can be any object like a pencil. The object is not really a pencil. It is something we use to write. We gave it the name pencil and “pencil” is only a set of sounds coming out of our mouth. We will always refer to it as a pencil but the object itself is not a pencil. We think of concepts or ideas all the time and when we imagine a concept or idea a certain picture comes to mind. This is what is called a prototype or an example of a concept that best exemplifies it. Think about a shoe, when you think about it what kind of shoe do you see? Is it a boot, a heel or a sneaker? Whatever it is that is your prototype or example of a shoe.

(The mental activity of thinking.)

       Daily life is composed of problems. There are always problems anywhere you go. This is why problem solving skills are very important to succeed in almost anything. Through experience people learn that different problems are solved in different ways. A way to solve a problem is by using an algorithm which is a specific procedure that, when done properly, will always come up with the solution. A simple example of an algorithm is a mathematical formula like. If used correctly, this formula will always lead to the correct answer. Algorithms though can be really long and tedious. Heuristics on the other hand are quicker than an algorithm but unfortunately will not always lead to the right solution. Some problem solving methods like trial and error are not only algorithms but come instinctively. When we are given a bunch of keys to open a door but we don’t know which key it is, we try key by key and if one doesn’t fit we just try another one. This is an example of trial and error. A heuristic problem solving method is means-end analysis. Here we know certain things we do will have a certain result. Working backwards is like means-end analysis. Here the problem is broken into the difference is that now the person is looking at the final goal first. One of the best ways of solving a problem is following the ABCDs of problem solving. A is to assess, B is to brainstorm approaches, C is to choose and approach, D is to do it and E is to evaluate the results.

       All our lives we are taught to communicate with others. Communication is made possible by language. Language is defined by communication of ideas through symbols that are arranged according to the rules of grammar. There are three stages in which we develop language. The first is crying, cooing and babbling. We do this when we are infants as they are basic human abilities. They are not considered an official language because it lacks the use of symbols. However these are effective ways of verbal expression. After babbling, children start learning actual words. Most children learn their first set of words slowly. Then comes development of grammar. Children just starting to understand language only use the words essential to communicate. As their language develops they start using sentences containing two or more words. When this happens they start imitating their parents on grammatical rules. For example, adding an “s” to make a word plural or an “ed” to make it past tense.

       Communication is crucial for human existence. We are surrounded by symbols that have been created and modified for several years so that communication would be easier. We wouldn’t have been able to create the magic that is language without thinking and problem solving. The modern society that we live in is the product of these three factors.