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PS1006: Lifespan Psychology > Childhood > Flashcards

Childhood Flashcards

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1
Q

What is cognition?

A

Cognition is an umbrella term for all sorts of mental activities.

Cognition includes thoughts and thinking.

Cognitive development is how our thinking changes with age (through development).

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2
Q

Theoretical approaches to cognitive development:

A

Nativist theories:

  • Nature
  • Maturational unfolding of innate knowledge and abilities. For something to be innate, it doesnt have to be present at birth but can be in our genetics.

Empiricist theories:

  • Nurture
  • All knowledge and abilities are learned.

*Both approaches see development as passive!

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3
Q

Key ideas in Piaget’s theory…

Constructivism:

A
  • Piaget was primarily interested in how knowledge develops..
  • He rejected the nurture side of the argument and also rejected empiricism.
  • Proposed a ‘third way’ .. (constructivism).
  • Argued innate endowments and experiences are necessary but not sufficient as a child must also actively engage with the world to construct their knowledge.
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4
Q

Key ideas in Piaget’s theory…

Importance of Adaptation:

A
  • Cognitive development/learning is a form of adaptation to the environment.
  • Adaptation is the main driving force of cognitive change.
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5
Q

Key ideas in Piaget’s theory…

Schemas:

A

-Schemas are the basic components of intelligence.

-Two main types..
.. Sensorimotor (interact with the environment)
.. Representational (be able to think).

Schemas are constructed through adaptation and organisation.

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6
Q

Key ideas in Piaget’s theory…

Two mechanisms of adaption:

A

Assimilation: using exsiting schemas to interpret new experiences.

Accomodation: modifying existing schemas or creating new ones to fit reality.

*When children go through rapid development they go through accomdation rather than assimilation.

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7
Q

Key ideas in Piaget’s theory…

Equilibration:

A

According to Piaget we are motivated to reach cognitive equilibrium. This is a comfortable, temporary state. When in equilibrium, assimilation is all we need to learn.

When faced with disequilibrium, we use accomodation to return to equilibrium.

  • Equilibration: changing balance from disequilibrium to equilibrium.
  • Equilibration improves schemas.
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8
Q

Key ideas in Piaget’s theory…

Organisation:

A
  • Combining, rearranging and integrating current schemas into coherant systems of knowledge.
  • Children can make more complex and coherant schemas by combining other simple schemas.
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9
Q

Key points of stages of development (Piaget):

A
  • Four stages, each characterised by a qualitatively different mode of thinking.
  • Development involves quantitative changes.
  • Development occurs in a series of steps rather than a gradual slope.
  • Shifts between stages = major points of equilibration.
  • Stages occur in a fixed sequence and are never skipped or missed out. You have to progress each stage in the same order.
  • All stages are ‘domain general’. Piaget believed that these stages can be used to explain all types of development.
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10
Q

Overview of Piaget’s stages:

A
  • All stages represent qualitative shifts.
    1. Sensorimotor: infant understands the world through senses and actions.
    2. Pre-operational: child understands the world through symbols.
    3. Concrete operational: child understands the world through logical thinking. Thinking becomes more organised.
    4. Formal operational: adolescent/adult understands the world through abstract thinking and scientific reasoning.
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11
Q

Stage 1:

Sensorimotor (0-2 years)

A
  • Infants learn through their senses and (motoric) actions.
  • Only aware of what is immediately infront of them.
  • Not capable of thinking. Small babies don’t have knowledge.
  • Learn through experimenting with actions e.g. shaking and throwing things, putting things in their mouth.
  • Babies are born with relfex sensorimotor schemas. Automatic, involuntary movements (biologically determined). These provide the foundation for more advanced sensorimotor schemas.
  • Babies learn through trial and error and repetitive behaviour.
  • Behaviour becomes voluntary.
  • Towards the end of the sensorimotor stage, babies develop capacity for mental representation. This development leap means that babies can now create representational schemas. This allows babies to perform ‘mental actions’.
  • Babies now become thinkers rather than doers.
  • Object permanence: young infants don’t appreciate this. The idea that objects continue to exist even if you cant currently perceive them. Object permanence relies on mental representation. Infants under 8-9 months do not search for objects hidden in full view, suggesting they lack object permanence.
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12
Q

Stage 2:

Pre-operational (2-7 years)

A
  • Schemas are fully representational.
  • Improvements in symbolic thinking e.g. language, drawing pictures and engage in frequent pretend play.

Limitations of pre-operational cognition:
… Thinking is illogical, schemas are poorly organised.
… Children cannot co-ordinate multiple actions (operations) resulting in;

  1. Egocentrism: inability to take the point of view of another person e.g. the three mountains task.
  2. Centration: the tendency to only focus on one aspect and exclude others.
  3. Irreversibility: the inability to mentally retrace steps.
  4. Animism: giving life like actions to objects.

** 2 and 3 = conservation -> (The idea that certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same even if their outward appearance changes. Centration and irreversibility mean children are unable to conserve).

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13
Q

Stage 3:

Concrete operational (7-11 years)

A
  • Children start to think logically and thinking is much more flexible and organised.
  • Children can now use ‘operations’.
  • Thinking is still concrete. Children can only reason about tangible objects and cannot think abstractly.
  • Using concrete operations, children can combine, order and transform objects in their minds.
  • Concrete operations allow children to make transitive inferences. If a > b and b > c, then a > c. Children can only reason about actual (concrete) pictures or objects.
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14
Q

Stage 4:

Formal operational (11+ years)

A
  • Abstract, hypothetical and scientific thinking.
  • Concrete operations operate on reality.
  • Formal operations operate on operations.
  • Adolescents can now have multiple theories/hypothesis of the same thing.
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15
Q

+ve’s of Piaget’s theory..

A

+ Complex and compressive theory.

+ Emphasis on active role of child development was revolutionary.

+ Introduced countless new concepts and research methods.

+ Considerable continuity between Piaget’s ideas and modern cognitive psychology.

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16
Q

-ve’s of Piaget’s theory..

A
  • Many of Piaget’s methods were overly complex.
  • Although he got what develops right most of the time, he got when it develops wrong in many cases.
  • Underestimated the role of cultural and social influences and formal education on cognition.
17
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Social constructivism:

A
  • Knowledge is constructed through social interaction (experiences with others).
  • Child viewed as an apprentice rather than a scientist (Child goes about discovering new things - Piaget’s theory).
18
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Elementary and higher cognitive functions:

A

… Lower elementary cognitive functions:

  • not unique to humans
  • innate
  • involuntary and unconscious
  • e.g. involuntary memory, attention.

… Higher cognitive functions: **

  • unique to humans
  • socially constructed (not innate)
  • voluntary and conscious
  • e.g. voluntary memory, attention.

** Higher cogitive functions = focus of theory.

19
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Social origins of higher cognitive functions:

A

Cognitive development occurs as a function of child’s interations with partners who are more knowledgeable than themselves.

Elementary congitive functions -> social interaction -> higher cognitive functions.

20
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Distributed cognition:

A

The mind “extends beyond the skin” (Wertsch, 1991).

Child gradually takes control over processes that were originally shared with others.

Seen as an action.

Vygotsky believed thinking can be distributed between more than one person.

21
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Internalisation:

A

“Any function in the child’s cultural development appears twice, or on two planes. First it appears on the social plane and then on the psychological plane (Vygotsky) –> two phases of learning.

Internalisation = reformulation of social functions into psychological functions.

Interpersonal intrapersonal.

22
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Cultural tools for thought:

A
  • Just as physical tools extend phsyical abilities, ‘psychological tools’ extend mental abilties (tools for the mind).
  • Adults pass on culturally specific phsyical and psychological tools to help children deal with tasks and problems e.g. signs, symbols, language. -> They are culturally constructed mechanisms.
  • Cultural tools are culturally transmitted.
  • We need to be taught how to use both physical and psychological tools.
  • Cognitive development involves acquiring a ‘cultural tool kit’ - numourous tools associated to your culture.
  • Underpins higher forms of cognition.
  • Different cultures have their own unique cultural tools, for example in our culture we use centimetres, inches etc but the Oksapmin use body parts as units of measurement.
  • Cognitive skills will vary considerably between cultures.
23
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Mediation of thought:

A

Psychological tools act as ‘mediators’ of thought (shape/organise how we think).

Social interactions are mediated by psychological tools. When these tools are internalised, they start to mediate cognition.

24
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Language as a tool for thought:

A

The ability to think verbally is a developmental milestone.

At first, thought and language are independent (social speech only).

At 3 years, thought and language start to converge (private speech/egocentric speech) -> self directed speech (becomes internalised to move onto the next stage. However, it is not totally replaced and is still used to help guide behaviour.
(thought = non verbal, language = used to communicate).

At 6-7 years, children start thinking in speech (inner speech).

Social speech -> private speech -> inner speech
*don’t replace but supplement each other.

25
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

The zone of proximal development:

A

The distance between the actual developmental level (1) a determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development (3) as determined through problem solving with adult guidance or in collaboration with more able peers.
*The zone of proximal development is between the other two levels (1&3).

E.g. learning to swim is within the zone of proximal development.

… Cognitive development is maximised by working within ZPD, children won’t learn if…

  • You don’t encourage them to go beyond what they can already to themselves (1)
  • You ask them to do something that’s beyond their capabilities even with the help of an adult (3).
26
Q

Key ideas in Vygotsky’s theory..

Scaffolding:

A

Scaffolding allows a child to perform a task that is within the zone of ZPD.

Scaffolding can be gradually withdrawn as the child learns.

E.g. Child baking a cake with help from parents means its in the zone of proximal development. After this support, it becomes the childs level of actual development.

27
Q

Summary of Vygotsky’s main ideas:

A
  • Individual cognitive functioning originates in social and cultural processes (main point of theory).
  • Thinking is orginally distributed between people, and is actively internalised.
  • Cultural (psychological tools) mediate thought.
  • Language is the most important psychological (cultural) tool.
  • Learning is optimised if tasks are targeted within the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Development can be promoted through scaffolding.
28
Q

+ve’s of Vygotsky’s theory:

A

+ Helps explain cultural variations

+ Implications for education (best way to learn through ZPD)

29
Q

-ve’s of Vygotsky’s theory:

A
  • Says little about biological influence
  • Doesnt fully explain how processes are internalised
  • Minimises contributions of the individual
  • Vygotsky died prematurely, so theory left incomplete (more of a set of principles than a complete theory).
30
Q

What is theory of mind (ToM)?

A

Understanding of our own and others’ minds.

“A framework for predicting and explaining what people think and do.”

ToM = the ability to impute mental states to self and to others. (Mental states include;

  • perceptions
  • beliefs
  • desires
  • intentions
  • knowledge
  • pretence
  • emotions
  • feelings
31
Q

Why do we need theory of mind?

A

It helps us:

.. predict and explain behaviour
.. to be pro-social
.. to manipulate people
.. with communication

32
Q

Testing theory of mind

A

It is often possible to predict someone’s behaviour, by merely assuming they will act in accordance with reality.

However, this only works if they have a TRUE BELIEF about reality but fails if they have a FALSE BELIEF about reality.

Appreciating false beliefs shows a child can distinguish mind from reality, ie. they realise mental states are mere representations of the world, and these representations are subject to error.

33
Q

Why can mental states be wrong?

A

A sophisticated ToM requires an appreciation that some mental states are representational.

Mental states can accurately represent OR mis-represent the world.

The best way to test this appreciation is to present kids with situations where somebody’s mental state conflicts with reality (Dennett, 1978).

34
Q

Is there a conceptual shift in ToM at age 4?

A

Beliefs = reality (3 year olds) -> conceptual shift -> beliefs = internal representations of reality (4 year olds).

However, others argue that children under 4 years already understand the representational nature of mental states.

35
Q

ToM: A shift in competence or performance?

A

Success on false belief tasks reflects both:

  • competence: conceptual understanding (ToM)
  • performance: non-focal cognitive skills

Conceptual shift theory: young children fail FB tasks because they lack competence.

Early competence theory: young children fail FB tasks because of performance limitations.

36
Q

The atypical development of theory of mind:

Autism spectrum disorder

A

ASD is a developmental disorder involving social-communication impairmnents.

Children with ASD generally perform poorly on FB tasks.

Behavioural impairmnts in social-communication may be explained by underlying cognitive impairments in ToM.

Specific ToM impairments in ASD have been taken as evidence for a dedicated theory of mind mechanism (ToMM).

PS1006: Lifespan Psychology (3 decks)

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