CHILD DEVELOPMENT Flashcards
what are the cognitive processes?
- memory
- learning
- attention
- perception
- thought
- problem solving
who is the father of cognitive development?
jean piaget (1896-1980)
what did jean piaget do?
- observed children
- proposed a sequence of development that all normal children follow
- four ‘stages’ of cognitive development
sensorimotor stage
- birth to 2 years
- cognition closely tied to external stimulation
- “thinking is doing” (cognition consists entirely of behaviour)
object permanence
the idea that objects do not cease to exist when they are out of sight
object permanence at birth- 3 months
look at visual stimuli
turn head towards noise
object permanence at 3 months
follow moving objects with eyes
stares at place where object has disappeared, but will not
search for object
object permanence at 5 months
grasp and manipulate objects
anticipate future position of object
object permanence at 8 months
searches for hidden object
“A not B” effect
object permanence at 12 months
will search in the last place they saw the object
schema formation
a schema is a mental representation or set of rules that defines a particular behaviour category.
it helps us to understand current and future experiences.
assimilation
the process by which new information is modified to fit in with an existing schema
accomodation
the process by which an existing schema is modified or changed by new experience
representational thought
ability to form mental representations of others’ behaviour
- occurs towards the end of the sensorimotor period
what is mental representation instrumental in?
- imitation
- deferred imitation: a child’s ability to imitate the actions he or she has observed others perform in the past
- symbolic play: the use of words to represent objects
pre-operational stage
- 2 to 7 years
- ability to think logically as well as symbolically
- rapid development of language ability
- counting
- object manipulation
conservation
the understanding that specific properties of objects (height, weight, volume, number) remain the same despite apparent changes or
arrangement of those objects.
egocentrism
a child’s belief that others see the world in precisely the same way that he or she does
concrete operations stage
- 7 to 12 years
- ability to perform logical analysis
- ability to empathise with the thoughts/feelings of others
- understanding of complex cause-effect relations
formal operations stage
- 12 years upward
- abstract reasoning
- metacognition
- dependent on exposure to principles of scientific thinking
criticism 1. space and objects: the visual cliff
children appear to be able to perceive depth around the time they can crawl.
even pre-crawling infants may be able to discriminate between the two sides ofthe “cliff”
criticism 1. space and objects: understanding of support
develops gradually by 6 months
criticism 1. space and objects: the effect of occlusion (habituation procedure)
- infants prefer to pay attention to novel things
- over time they become accustomed to stimuli and pay less attention to
them - the moment something “new” happens they pay attention again
piaget criticism 1. number and mathematical reasoning
- piaget said that infants had no concept of number and couldn’t conserve number until they were around 6 years old
- but even 6-months old show some understanding of number
piaget criticism 1. social cognition
- newborn babies would rather look at faces than scrambled faces
- at 3 weeks old, infants will attempt to imitate facial expressions
- 9-month-olds will look in the direction of their mother’s gaze
- intentions