Child Development L2 Flashcards
What is Cognition?
Cognitive development basically means intellectual growth
What are Cognitive processes?
Cognitive processes are those by which we get to know ourselves and our world
What are some examples of Cognitive processes?
- Memory
- Learning
- Attention
- Perception
- Thought
- Problem Solving
Who was the Father of cognitive development?
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
What did Jean Piaget propose in terms of cognitive development?
- By observing children he proposed a sequence of development that all normal children follow i.e. children around the same age seemed capable and struggled with the same things
- This lead to him defining four ‘stages’ of cognitive development
What are the names of the four stages of cognitive development proposed by Piaget in order?
- Sensorimotor Stage
- Preoperational Stage
- Concrete Operations Stage
- Formal Operations Stage
When is roughly the Sensorimotor Stage?
From birth to 2 years
What is the basic idea of the Sensorimotor Stage?
- Piaget thought children came into the world with blank slates (no knowledge)
- He thought any cognition was closely tied to external stimulation (what others were doing in front of the child)
- “Thinking is doing” (cognition consists entirely of behaviour)
What are the names of the three things children had to do in the sensorimotor stage in order to move onto the preoperational stage?
- Object permanence
- Schema Formation
- Representational Thought
What is object permanence?
The idea that objects do not cease to exist when they
are out of sight
How does the idea of object permanence develop throughout the sensorimotor stage?
-Birth to 3 months: Look at visual stimuli, Turn head towards noise.
-3 months: Follow moving objects with eyes (tracking),
Stares at place where object has disappeared, but will not search for object
- 5 months: Grasp and manipulate objects, Anticipate future position of object
- 8 months: Searches for hidden object, “A not B” effect
- 12 months: Will search in the last place they saw the object (full object permanence)
In regards to object permanence at 8 months the A not B effect is seen (sensorimotor stage) what does this mean?
Children make an error in searching as they search for the object in last place they found it not saw it
What is a schema?
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.
In other words a blueprint of what generally happens
Name the two processes by which we form schemas?
- Assimilation
- Accommodation
What is assimilation?
The process by which new information is modified to fit in with an existing schema
e.g. a rabbit is wrongly classed as a dog as the child only has a picture of a dog and cat in their schema for animals
What is accommodation?
The process by which an existing schema is modified
or changed by new experience
What is representational thought?
Ability to form mental representations of others’
behaviour (conjure up an image in your head)
When in the sensorimotor period does representational thought occur?
Towards the end
Where is mental representation instrumental?
- 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
What is symbolic play?
The use of something to represent something else e.g. a broom to represent a horse
What happens when children start to use words to represent objects?
Explosion of vocab they understand the symbolic nature of language
When does the Preoperational Stage of development occur?
2 to 7 years
What does the Preoperational Stage of development involve?
- Ability to think logically as well as symbolically (use reasoning, although sometimes not well thought out)
- Rapid development of language ability
- Counting (classification and categorization)
In regards to object manipulation what are two things that children in the preoperational stage cannot do?
- Conservation
- They are egocentric
What is conservation?
The understanding that specific properties of objects (height, weight, volume, number) remain the same despite apparent changes or arrangement of those objects.
What is egocentrism?
A child’s belief that others see the world in precisely the same way that he or she does
What experiment shows the egocentrism of children in the preoperational stage
Use a model that depending on the angle you are sitting at you can see different things. A child in this phase cannot recognize that a person sitting on the other side will have a different perspective.
What age is the Concrete Operations Stage?
7 to 12 years
What does the Concrete Operations Stage involve?
- Ability to perform logical analysis
- Ability to empathize with the thoughts/feelings of others
- Understanding of complex cause-effect relations
What age is the formal operations stage?
-12 years upward
What does the formal operations stage involve?
- Abstract Reasoning
- Metacognition
- Dependent on exposure to principles of scientific thinking
What is abstract reasoning?
Thinking about Hypothetical situations e.g. What would happen if?
What is metacognition?
Thinking about thinking (your own thought processes). E.g. Recognizing you might forget some things
when studying for a test
Will all stages of development happen to everyone?
The first three are fixed will happen either way, but formal operations stage is dependent on exposure to a certain environment.
