W prezentowanym opracowaniu podejmuję problem początków życia psychicznego w rozwoju dziecka. Uwagę koncentruję na wynikach badań nad wczesnymi kompetencjami poznawczymi. Badania te dowodzą, że dziecko wie więcej i potrafi więcej, niż nam się to wydaje w codziennej obserwacji jego zachowania. Z drugiej jednak strony, stwierdzam, że jest jeszcze za wcześnie, aby w sposób odpowiedzialny podsumować dotychczasowe na ten temat badania. Wskazuję luki i niejasności w sferze teorii i metodologii badań nad wczesnym rozwojem dziecka. Proponując pewne rozwiązania, stawiam równocześnie pytania, które wymagają odpowiedzi w przyszłych na ten temat badaniach.
EN
The paper presented takes a closer look at the origins of the infant psyche. We center our attention on the investigation results of infant cognitive capacities. Experiments conducted in this field prove that infant children have at their disposal a far wider range of comprehensive knowledge and abilities than results from lay observation of their ordinary behavior. At the present stage of knowledge, however, it seems to early and downright irresponsible to sum up the results of previously conducted research conclusively. The theory on early infant development seems inchoate and ambiguous, the same may be said of the methodology of research. I am putting forward certain solutions to this issue and raise some questions to be considered in due course of future research conducted on this topic.
In the paper a state of art in contemporary psychology of human development is presented. Considerations are concentrated on two issues: the nature and mechanisms of developmental changes. Regarding the nature, we show a shift in research from a study on stable and universal changes to not regular and unique changes. Regarding the developmental mechanism, we try to describe a shift from research concentrated on reactivity to research on own activity of individual in relation with environments. The main thesis of the paper is statement, that psychology of development belongs to the sciences of life, and according to it, should to search for specific rules of change in human functioning and development. The holistic-interactive, functional and relative approaches are indicated as a most effective in this kind of studies.
The aim of this study was to verify the hypothesis saying that older people on average achieve a lower level of performance than younger at solving syllogisms which contain stereotypical knowledge about aging, and to decide whether the nature of the changes taking place during the test (under the influence of exercise) corresponds to a greater extent to the assumptions of the disuse hypothesis (greater gradient of improvement in elderly subjects), or to the assumptions about age-related decline of developmental plasticity (gradient greater of improvement in the young). Generalizing the empirical findings, we can say that, compared with younger people a slowdown in the syllogistic reasoning does not characterize cognitive functioning of people in late adulthood. They can solve syllogisms just as quickly as younger subjects. However, they respond more slowly when the tasks are subject to stereotypical content and less accurately when the conclusions of syllogisms are false. The analysis of differences and patterns of changes in the speed and correctness of responses during the test of syllogistic reasoning in the age groups leads to ambiguous statements about the expected influence of the age of life in the improvement of performance of tasks under the influence of measurement repetition (practice). We came to the conclusion that in the search for a model of study, which separates from each other the effects of age (macro-developmental changes) and repetition of measurements during the test (micro-developmental changes) probably more useful is a flowchart of tasks’ exposure and comparison of the changes/differences related to age and measurement time. Thus, such studies require an increase of the number of measurements/tasks during the test.
The purpose of the study was to examine whether older adults show an emotional interference effect in a Stroop task, and whether their RTs differ with regard to age, gender and tendencies of mood regulation (to improvement and/or deterioration). The sample consisted of 60 participants at the age from 65 to 85. Emotional version of Stroop task and the Mood Regulation Scales were used. The results showed no significant differences in RTs to emotional and neutral words. Unexpectedly, a speeding effect was observed with the age of women. It appeared also that the effect of mood regulation tendencies was not significant for RTs. The last two effects are not consistent with the literature on cognitive and emotional aging.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.