Cognition And Developmeng Flashcards
What is a schema
A mental package of information which helps us make sense of the world
What is equilibration
When we can comprehend everything around us in a preferred mental state
What is assimilation
When children deal with new situations by using existing schemas to understand new experiences
What is accommodation
When children create entirely new schemas or make huge changes to existing ones
What is disequilibrium
A state of confusion where new information does not fit pre existing knowledge
What motivates us to adapt our schemas
When we reach a state of disequilibrium where we feel confused as new info does not fit into our pre existing knowledge
What is the basic premise of piaget’s theory of adaption
When a child changes it’s internal cognition when faced with the external world through assimilation and accommodation
What is an example of assimilation
Seeing a new breed of dog but still knowing it’s a dog
What is one example of accommodation
A child seeing a plane and not being able to use the schema of a bird
What is a strength of Paige’s theory of adaption
Important practical applications in education
Discovery learning been around since 1960
Counting with toys
Used everyday for success
What is a weakness of piagets theory of adaption
It ignores the influence of other people in development
Based off individual learning
Ignores ideas from vygotsky
Ignores importance of social interaction
What is thinking like in the sensori motor stage
Main focus is senses and moving to allow us to develop. Small amount of schemas and no awareness of past or future. If the child can not see something they can not think about it.
What is object permanence
The understanding that an object continues to exist even when you can’t see it, this develops around 8 months
How old is a child in the sensori motor stage
0-2
What is Piaget’s 3 blanket study
Children played with a toy, then Piaget hid it under one of 3 blankets to see if the children searched for it or not.
If they did they had object permanence
One problem with piagets blanket study (not opposing evidence)
The child may have been bored of the top so just not searched for it
What is the opposing evidence to piagets 3 blanket study
Bower and Wishart
1-4 months old played with toys, lights were turned off and infrared cameras recorded children looking for toy for up to 90 seconds meaning they understood the toy was there
What did Piaget underestimate in the sensori motor stage
The age object permanence develops meaning his sensori motor stage may be wrong
What is thinking like in the pre-operational stage
Lack of knowledge
Understand they are alive but think all objects are too
What age are children in the pre operational stage
2-7
What are the two periods called in the pre operational stage
Pre conceptual period
Initiative period
What are the children like in the pre conceptual period of the pre operational period
Still egocentric, believes objects have feelings and do not understand subgroups
What are children like in the initiative period of the pre operational stage
They have the ability to decenter but thinking is confined to what things look like (4-7)
What does egocentrism mean
Being unable to see things from another point of view
What age does Piaget suggest egocentrism declines
Around 7
What is piagets 3 mountain study
Pre operational stage
Three, 3D mountains which are slightly different
Child given 10 photos of mountains and asked what doll can see
Allowed to walk around
4 year olds = always wrong (egocentric)
6 year olds = sometimes right sometimes wrong
7/8 year olds = always right
What is one problem with piagets 3 mountain study in the pre operational stage
Criticised for being methodological as children where unfamiliar with subject matter ( mountains )
Children wonder why adult wants to know what doll can see
Evidence may be flawed
What does conservation mean ( pre operational stage)
Conservation is understanding that redistributing material doesn’t affect its quality ( mass and volume )
What did Piaget do in his conservation study pre operational stage
Children given two cups of water
Watched as one was poured into longer thinner tube
Asked what has more water in it
Children under 7 said long thin glass
Children over 7 said same amount
Gives us confidence children at end of pre operational stage can conserve
Who did the study of the naughty teddy in the pre operational stage
MacGarrigle and Donaldson
What was the procedure of the naughty teddy study in the pre operational study
Children where shown identical likes of coins, one was more spread out
16% of 6 year olds said they was the same length
A naughty teddy comes along and kicks the coins
Children asked which line had more coins
60% of 6 year olds said both lines had the same
Children can conserve earlier than Piaget said doubts the accuracy of the pre operational stage
What are piagets stages of development in order
Sensori motor stage, pre operational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage
What is thinking like for children in the concrete operational stage
Children understand class inclusion
How old are children in the concrete operational stage
7-11
What is class inclusion? (Concrete operational)
The ability to understand that something may be in more than one category such as an overall group and a sub group
A fruit can also be a berry
Explain piagets bead study ( pre operational )
Children where shown 20 beads 18 where brown
Children asked q’s such as ‘are there more brown beads or more wooden beads’
Children in pre operational stage could not answer correctly but children in concrete stage could
Who did the sleeping cow study in the concrete operational stage
McGarrigle and Donaldson
What was the sleeping cow study?
A study on 6 year olds
4 cows where lying on their side (sleeping)
Asked q’s such as are there more black cows or more cows (25% got it right)
Piaget may have been biased
Piaget underestimated children and used to confusing methodology
What major development takes place in the formal operational stage
Children learn to think systematically and logically
Children can think hypothetically and can apply abstract terms
Operational thinking has greater flexibility
Individuals can try more than one way to problem solve
How did Piaget investigate the formal stage
Gave participants 4 beakers which where labelled 1-4 with colourless liquid
Given another beaker ‘G’ with a yellow liquid with mix of chemicals 1 and 3
Told to experiment to make g
Those in concrete stage unsuccessful
Formal operational solved it logically
One problem with piagets view of formal operational stage
It’s culturally biased
Value placed on logical scientific thinking
Reflects piagets middle class European background
Other cultures different things classed as abstract
How does baillargeon challenge Piaget and vygotsky
Focus on nature
Infants born with the ability to perceive and understand certain things
Why is baillargeon referred to as a nativist theory
Baillargeon focussed on the ability’s children are born with and how these sophisticate over time
Natavist = innate
Children born with genetic capacity of knowledge related to objects in physical world
What is PRS (baillargeon)
Physical reasoning system
What does the PRS allow us to do
Learn about the physical world easily
E.g object permanence
Explain the rabbit violation of expectation study
24 infants (5-6 months old) shown a fall or short rabbit passing
Possible condition = tall rabbit passes short rabbit doesn’t
Impossible = neither rabbit seen passings
Infants look longer at impossible situation (33.07s) compared to possible (25.11s)
Infants surprised as expected to see rabbit
5-6 month olds had object permanence
In Baillargeon violation of expectation rabbit study how long did the infants look at each event for
33.07 seconds - impossible
25.11 seconds - possible
Explain the findings of Baillargeon violation of expectation study
Children had some innate understanding of the world as they expected to see fall rabbit
Had object permanence younger then Piaget stated
Support Baillargeon that object permanence is innate
What is a problem of Baillargeon violation of expectation study
Relies on inferences
Can’t be sure what the child understood
What is a weakness of Baillargeon theory
Claims children learn object permanence innate
Children she studied on where 5-6 months not new born
Weakens trust in Baillargeon
Children may have developed object permanence after birth
One similarity between Piaget and vygotsky
Childrens cognitive structures mature and develop over time
Two differences between Piaget and vygotsky
Vygotsky believes language is more Privital than Piaget suggested
Language shapes thoughts
Vygotsky greater emphasis on social factors
Why is vygotsky theory referred to as social interactionist theory
We learn and develop from those around us as interaction helps cognition
Children start with ability’s that become more sophisticated through help of adults (scaffolding)
What is vygotsky’s zone of proximal development
The gap between current abilities and potential abilities
What a child can do by themselves and with assistance
Child can only take next steps in cog development if someone supports them
Give an example of vygotskys zone of proximal development
A child can first sit in water by themselves being held by an adult then they can sit by themselves
What does vygotsky mean by scaffolding
How we guide children
The process of others providing prompts and support to move a child through the stages of proximal development
By changing levels of involvement
What are the 6 stages of scaffolding
1) Prepare the task
2) Demonstrate
3) Motivate by talking children through the task
4) encourage them to stay on task
5) encourage them to do more alone
6) encourage them to complete task independently
What might you find in a classroom designed by vygotsky
Children encouraged to play with each other
Tasks such as ‘building’ where children are guided then left to play
What is mirror neurone theory a biological theory of social cognition
Suggests our ability to understand intentions and emotional experiences is linked to brain activity at cellular level
Where are mirror neurones found in the brain
Brodman area of the inferior frontal cortex
How do mirror neurones enable us to develop social cognition
Allow us to make a link between what others are experiencing and how we would feel in the same situation
Brain cells are activated when we observe actions carried out by another person.
This cell activation is the same as if we had carried out the action ourselves
How are mirror neurones different to other neurones
They fire both when we observe an individual perform an act and when we perform an act
Who discovered mirror neurones
Rizolatti
How where mirror neurones discovered
By chance
Rizolatti
Monkeys had electrodes on different parts of their brain and researches where interested in actions and corresponding brain action
Student ate an ice cream and monkey’s brain copied
Further investigation found neural activity in monkeys brain was same as if monkey was eating ice cream itself
How can mirror neurone theory criticise theory of mind and Selman’s theory of cognition
Mirror neurones may be responsible for ToM therefore development is biological and not cognitive
How can mirror neurones explain autism
Broken mirror theory
When mirror neurones do not fire in response to other acts, we may not be able to understand emotions
Faulty thinking = autism
What is a strength of mirror neurone theory
Fits with evolutionary theory and can help explain evolution of humans as a social animal
Mirror neurones enable us to understand intention emotion and perspective - fundemental requirements for living in social groups
Useful to explain why humans are unique and why some people have ASD from faulty neurones
Important practical applications - used in health system
What is a weakness of mirror neurone theory
Research is based on inferences
Evidence from mirror neurone activity comes from brain scanning such as fMRI which often has poor temporal resolution
Only accurate measuring is to insert electrodes which is not ethically possible in humans
Direct research is not possible
Might be argued theory is not scientific as other theories, less credible as less reliable weakens confidence
How many levels are there in selmans levels of perceptive taking
5 including 0
What age are you if you are in the egocentric/ undifferentiated level of selmans level of perspective taking
3-6
Explain the child’s perspective taking at level 1 - social informational (Selman)
Children realise others think differently to them, but due to receiving different information
Can only focus on one perspective
Age 6-8
Explain the child’s perspective taking at level 2 - self reflective (Selman)
Children recognise perspective differs
Can put themselves in ‘someone else’s shoes’
Can not consider other feelings at the same time as their own
Age 8-10
Name selmans levels of perspective taking
0 - egocentric / undifferentiated
1 - social informational
2 - self reflective
3 - mutual / third party
4 - societal conventional
Explain the child’s perspective taking at level 4 - mutual (Selman)
Child can simultaneously consider their own and others perspectives
Can anticipate how others will react to opposing views
Age 10-12
Explain the child’s perspective taking at level 4 - societal conventional (Selman)
Perspectives are compared to general society
Children realise social conventions just be adhered to, to keep order
Age 12-15+
What is a strength of selmans level of perspective taking
Practical applications
Suggests children are socially unsuccessful when unable to take perspective of others
Therapies have been developed to help children with social and emotional problems to develop their ability to perspective take
Pair therapy involves placing children in pairs and putting them in play situations which provides oppurtunites for their perspective taking to develop
Leads to development of social skills
Provided us with understanding of autism and ADHD
Strength been useful in understanding atypical development and providing assistance to the children
Explain a limitation of selmans theory of perspective taking
Research is culturally biased
Selmans research was based on American children, can not generalise to all children
Finnish children prefer to discuss solution to conflict, Italian children don’t do this as much
Whilst it may appear children can not take perspective, it doesn’t actually mean they can’t. Children can chose whether to take perspective depending on cultural norms.
Not a full universal explanation
What is meant by theory of mind?
Theory of mind is the personal understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling
When does theory of mind start?
When egocentrism is removed around 4 years old
What does theory of mind allow us to do?
Have some idea of what people may be thinking
See things from other points of view
How does theory of mind explain social cognition
It suggests young children have a cognitive representative of others
Who conducted the sally Anne study
Wimmer and perner
Explain the sally Anne study
Dolls conducted a scenario
Based on false beliefs
Sally puts a marble in a basket and turns away
Anne puts the marble in a box
Children asked where sally will look for the marble
What are the findings of the sally Anne study
2-3 year olds said sally would look in the box as they could not understand sally would be unaware the marble has been moved
Have not developed ToM
4 year olds successfully complete the task saying sally will look in the basket
What is a weakness of the sally Anne studies
Methodological issues
Children may have thought the task was silly as dolls can’t think
A certain level of language is also required to understand
Children may appear to not have ToM but may not have the language ability
Limit internal validity of results
Incorrect conclusions about ToM in children
What is a strength of ToM as an explanation of social cognition
Findings in research seem to be reliable
Other studies have similar results
Perner et al showers children a smarties tube and asked the children what they thought was in the tube ‘smarties’
The tube was opened and children saw it actually had pencils in it
Children then asked
(When I first showed you the tube what did you think was in it) ‘smarties’
Then asked what the next child would think was in the tube
(Only children over 3 answered correct)
Gives us confidence research findings are consistent and ToM is correct with its statements
Reliable explanation
What is a weakness of ToM as an explanation of social cognition
Lacks internal validity
May not be measuring correct thing
It may actually be measuring perspective taking not recognition that other peoples knowledge differs from our own
Psychologists may be inaccurately investigation area of social cognition
Weakness as limits confidence in theory’s accuracy
How does theory of mind explain autism
Autistic children have difficulty taking the point of view of others
Lack theory of mind ‘mind blindness’
They can not understand other peoples emotions and intentions - lead to a tendency to take literal interpretations
Lacking ToM may make it hard for autistic children to engage in pretend play
Define autism (theory of mind)
A profound problem in understanding and coping with the social environment where people find it confusing and unpredictable
What is a strength of using theory of mind to explain autism
There is evidence to support the argument that autism is related to ToM
Barry Cohen used a quasi experiment employing the sally anne paradigm to asses theory of mind in autistic children
3 groups, Down syndrome, autism, neither conditions
85% in group 2 answered correct
86% Down syndrome correct
20% autism answered correct
Children with autism do not have a fully developed ToM. Could explain symptoms of the disorder
Difficulty with communication
Gives us confidence autism is linked to ToM
What is a weakness of ToM explaining ASD
Does not explain all symptoms
Explains some well (struggling with social situations)
Does not explain full range of symptoms such as repetitive behaviour
Offers no explanations for these symptoms or the instances exceptional ability is demonstrated by autistic children
Not a full explanation.
In what stage did class inclusion occur
Concrete operational stage
One criticism of piagets pre operational stage
Evidence is flawed
Beakers + mountains
Unfamiliar concepts, they might not even understand what they can see
Asked same question twice so think they must’ve said something wrong
When does Baillargeon say theory of mind develops
4
