7. Cognitive Development Flashcards
developmental psychology
the field of study that explores patterns of stability, continuity, growth and change that occur throughout a person’s life
physical development
the growth of the body and its organs
the functioning of physiological systems such as the brain physical signs of ageing, changes in motor abilites
cognitive development
changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem-solving and other mental processes
psychosocial development
changes and continuities in personal and interpersonal aspects such as motives, emotion, personality traits, interpersonal skill, relationships and roles played in the family and society
what are the broad domains of development
physical, cognitive and psychosocial
what are the stages of life?
prenatal period infancy early childhood middle childhood adolescent early adulthood middle adulthood late adulthood
what is piaget’s cognitive theory?
children actively construct new understandings of the world based on their experiences
what are piaget’s stages?
sensorimotor
pre operational
concrete operational
formal operational
sensorimotor stage
0-2 years
coordination of sensory and motor activity; achievement of object permanence
dominant cognitive structures are the behavioural schemes that develop through coordination of sensory information and motor responses
pre operational stage
2-7
use of language and symbolic representations; egocentric view of the world, make-believe play
concrete operational
7-11
solutions of concrete problems through logical operations; objects are organised into hierarchies and classes and subclasses; thinking is not yet abstract
formal operaitional
11-adult
systematic solution of actual and hypothetical problem using abstract symbols
what is assimilation
learning new information
accomodation
changing schemes to incorporate new information or ideas
what are Piaget’s direct concepts of direct learning?
schemes
assimilation
accommodation
adaptation
what are the 6 substages of the sensorimotor stage
reflex primary circular reactions secondary circular reactions coordination of secondary schemes tertiary circular reactions beginning of thought
reflex activity stage
first month
reflexive reaction to internal and external stimulation
primary circular reactions
1-4 months
infant repeat actions relating to their own bodies
secondary circular reactions
4-8 months
repetitive actions involving something in the infant’s external environment
coordination of secondary schemes
secondary actions are co-ordinated in order to achieve simple goals (e.g. pushing / grasping)
tertiary circular reactions
12 -18 moths
experimentation: actions are repeated with variation
beginning of thought
18 months –>
symbolic thought permits mental representation imitation and recall
what is object permanance
developed during sensorimotor period
it is the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are not visibe
what is the a 4-8 month old thinking in regard to object peromanance
out of sight out of mind
12 months in regard to object permanance?
make the A not B error
1 year (object permanence)
A-not-B error overcome, but continued trouble with invisible displacement
18 months (object permanence)
mastered
what is a common focus of a child in the pre-operational stage?
perceptual salience - the most obvious features of an object or situation - means that pre-schoolers can be fooled by appearance
what do pre-operational children have difficulty with?
logic
the rely on perceptions and lack of logical thought means that they have difficulty with conversation.
(the idea that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is altered a superficial way)
what are the cognitive limitations of the pre-operational stage?
centration irreversible thought static thought difficulty with classification egocentrism
centration
focusing on one aspect of the problem or object
irreversible thought
cannot mentally undo an action
static thoguht
focusing on the end state rather that the changes that transformed one state into another
difficulty with classificaiton
using criteria to sort objects on the basis of characteristics such as shape, colour or function
lack of class inclusion, ability to related the whole class (e.g. furry animals) to its subclasses (dogs and cats)
egocentrism and theory of mind
the ability to attribute mental states - beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge - to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one’s own
what are examples of false belief tasks and what are its concepts
sally anne task
smarties task
between the ages of 3 and 4 children acquire the ability to understand that another person can have false beliefs as tested by these tasks
what does a child in the concrete operational stage demonstrate
ability to perform operations - mental actions on concrete situations/objects
decentration, reversibility of thought, transformational thought, seriation, transivity, less egocentrism, classification abilities improve
decentration
cant focus on 2 or more dimensions of a problem at nce
reversibility of thought
can mentally reverse or undo an action
transformative thought
can understand the process of changing from one state to another.
shift from understanding being driven by perceptual salience to logical reasoning
seriation
the ability to arrange items mentally along a quantifiable dimensions such as weight or height
transivity
the understanding of relationships among elements in a series
classification abilities improve
can classify by multiple dimensions and can grasp class inclusion
what are formal operations?
mental actions on ideas
they permit systematic and scientific thinking about problems, hypothetical ideas and abstract concepts
how do formal operations contribute to positive aspects of adolescent development?
provides a sense of identity, complex thinking and appreciation of humour
how does formal operations contribute to not so positive aspects of adolescent behaviour
confusion, adolescent idealism and rebellion against ideas that are not logical
formal operational thought can also lead to adolescent egocentrism
