Cognition and Development

Question 1

What is cognitive development?

Answer 1

A general term describing the development of all mental processes, in particular thinking, reasoning and our understanding of the world. Cognitive development continues throughout the lifespan

Question 2

Describe Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (4)
Asserted
Stages
Motivation
Language

Answer 2

• Piaget asserted that children do not just know less than adults, they actually think differently
• The way children think changes through a series of stages
• Motivation plays an important role in learning and drives how learning takes place
• Language is a byproduct of cognitive development

Question 3

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development - what are schema? (3)

Answer 3

• Packages of information developed through experience. They act as a ‘mental framework’ for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system
• Infants are born with a few schema but construct new ones right from the start, including the ‘me-schema’ in which all the child’s knowledge about themselves is stored
• Cognitive development involves the construction of increasingly detailed schema for people, objects, physical actions and also for more abstract ideas like justice or morality

Question 4

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development - describe motivation to learn (2)

Answer 4

• When a child cannot make sense of their world because existing schema are insufficient, they feel a sense of disequilibrium which is uncomfortable
• To escape this, and adapt to the new situation, the child explores and learns more. The result is a state of equilibration

Question 5

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development - what is equilibration?

Answer 5

A pleasant state of balance and occurs when experiences in the world match the state of our current schema

Question 6

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development - what are the two processes we use to adapt to achieve equilibration?

Answer 6

• Assimilation
• Accommodation

Question 7

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development - describe assimilation
Takes place

Answer 7

Takes place when the new experience does not radically change our understanding of the schema so we can incorporate the new experience into our existing schema

Question 8

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development - describe accomodation (2)

Answer 8

• An experience that is very different from our current schema cannot be assimilated
• Accomodation involves the creation of whole new schema or major changes to existing ones

Question 9

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - what are the stages of intellectual development? (4)

Answer 9

• Piaget identified four stages of intellectual development - sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operations, formal operations
• Each stage is characterised by a different level of reasoning ability
• Children only go on to the next stage once they have mastered the current one
• The exact ages vary from child to child, but all children develop through the same sequence of stages

Question 10

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe the sensorimotor stage (5)

Answer 10

• 0-2 years
• A baby’s focus is on physical sensations and basic co-ordination between what they see and body movement
• Babies also develop object permanence - the understanding that objects still exist when they are out of sight
• Before 8 months, babies immediately switch their attention away from an object once it is out of sight
• After 8 months babies continue to look for it. This suggests that babies then understand that objects continue to exist when removed from view

Question 11

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe the pre-operational stage (2)

Answer 11

• 2-7 years
• By the age of 2 a toddler is mobile and can use language but still lacks adult reasoning ability. This means that they display some characteristic errors in reasoning - conservation, egocentrism, class inclusion

Question 12

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe conservation (2)

Answer 12

• The ability to realise that quantity remains the same even when the appearance of an object or group of objects changes
• Has been tested by pouring water from wider glass into tall, thin one and asking children if the two glasses held the same amount of liquid. Pre-operational said no as they were not able to understand that quantity remains constant even when the appearance of objects changes

Question 13

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe egocentrism (2)

Answer 13

• The child’s tendency to only be able to see the world from their own point of view
• This applies to both physical objects and arguments in which a child can only appreciate their own perspective

Question 14

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe class inclusion (2)

Answer 14

• An advanced classification skill in which we recognise that classes of objects have subsets and are themselves subsets of larger classes
• Pre-operational children usually struggle to place things in more than one class

Question 15

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe the concrete operations stage (3)

Answer 15

• 7-11 years
• Children have mastered conservation and are improving on egocentrism and class inclusion
• However they are only able to reason or operate on physical objects in their presence

Question 16

Piaget’s stages of intellectual development - describe the formal operations stage (3)

Answer 16

• 11+ years
• Abstract reasoning develops - being able to think beyond the here and now
• Children can now focus on the form of an argument and not be distracted by its content

Question 17

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - key points (5)
intellectual abilities
Qualitatively
Cognitive development
Learning from
Intermental/intramental

Answer 17

• Children’s intellectual abilities develop in a particular sequence
• Each stage is qualitatively different with a child capable of a particular logic at particular ages
• Cognitive development is a social process and therefore language plays a crucial role
• Learning from more experienced others ‘experts’ or more knowledgeable others - MKO’s
• Knowledge is at first intermental, between the more and less expert individual, then intramental, within the mind of the less expert individual

Question 18

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - describe why there are cultural differences in cognitive abilities

Answer 18

Reasoning abilities are acquired via contact with those around us and as a result there will be cultural differences in cognitive development because we all grow up and learn about the world surrounded by cultural values and beliefs

Question 19

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - describe the zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Answer 19

He identified a gap between a child’s current level of development and what they can potentially understand after interaction with more expert others

Question 20

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - describe scaffolding

Answer 20

The process of helping a learner cross the ZPD and advance as much as they can, given their stage of development. Typically the level of help given in scaffolding declines as a learner crosses the ZPD

Question 21

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - what progressive strategies that can be used to scaffold learning did Wood et al. (1976) identify? (5)

Answer 21

1) Demonstration (e.g. mother draws an object with crayons)
2) Preparation for child (e.g. mother helps child hold crayon)
3) Indication of materials (e.g. mother points to crayons)
4) Specific verbal instructions (e.g. mother says ‘How about using the green crayon?’)
5) General prompts (e.g. mother says, ‘Now draw something else’)

Question 22

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - what did Vygotsky and Piaget agree on? (2)

Answer 22

• Children are curious, problem-solving beings who play an active part in their own development
• Children develop reasoning skills sequentially

Question 23

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development - difference between Vygotsky and Piaget (3)

Answer 23

• Vygotsky saw cognitive development as a social process of learning from more experienced others - ‘experts’. Emphasised the role of social interaction with other people
• Children can acquire some concepts through their own unaided play, but they acquire mechanisms of thinking and learning as a result of social interactions with adults
• Language aids development, external speech leads to inner speech, leads to internalised thought

Question 24

Baillargeon’s explanation of infant abilities - what was Baillargeon (2004) interested in?

Answer 24

The development of cognitive abilities in infancy

Question 25

Baillargeon’s explanation of infant abilities - what is the difference between what Piaget thought and what Baillargeon thought? (2)

Answer 25

* Piaget suggested that babies don’t reach for a hidden object because they lack an understanding of object permanence * Baillargeon suggested babies have a better understanding of the physical world than Piaget proposed. Their behaviour might be better explained by poor motor skills or being easily distracted

Question 26

Baillargeon’s explanation of infant abilities - what is violation of expectation (VOE) research?

Answer 26

Conducted to see whether young infants actually have object permanence, but are unable to search for them because they do not have the necessary motor abilities. The VOE technique is based on the idea that infants will show surprise when witnessing an impossible event

Question 27

Baillargeon’s explanation of infant abilities - the VOE technique compares what?

Answer 27

Babies’ reactions to an expected and an unexpected event and thus was able to make inferences about the infant’s cognitive abilities

Question 28

Baillargeon’s explanation of infant abilities - Baillargeon proposed that we are born with a physical reasoning system (PRS) what is this?

Answer 28

Refers to our understanding of how the physical world works e.g. object persistence - an object remains in existence and does not spontaneously alter in structure

Question 29

Social cognition: Selman’s levels of perspective-taking - what did Selman think?

Answer 29

He disagreed with Piaget’s domain-general approach to development and proposed that social perspective-taking develops separately from other aspects of cognitive development and also happens in stages which is a domain-specific approach

Question 30

Social cognition: Selman’s levels of perspective-taking - what is social perspective-taking?

Answer 30

Understanding what someone else is feeling or thinking

Question 31

Social cognition: Selman’s levels of perspective-taking - describe socially egocentric (3)

Answer 31

* Stage 0 * 3-6 years * A child cannot distinguish between their own emotions and those of others nor explain the emotional state of others (from stage 1 onwards children progressively see another person’s perspective)

Question 32

Social cognition: Selman’s levels of perspective-taking - describe social-information role-taking (3)

Answer 32

* Stage 1 * 6-8 years * A child can now distinguish between their own POV and that of others, but can only focus on one perspective at a time

Question 33

Social cognition: Selman’s levels of perspective-taking - describe self-reflective role-taking (3)

Answer 33

* Stage 2 * 8-10 years * A child can explain the position of another person and appreciate their perspective but can still only consider one point of view at a time

Question 34

Social cognition: Selman's levels of perspective-taking - describe mutual role-taking (3)

Answer 34

* Stage 3 * 10-12 years * A child is now able to consider their own POV and that of another at the same time

Question 35

Social cognition: Selman's levels of perspective-taking - describe social and conventional system role-taking (3)

Answer 35

* Stage 4 * 12+ years * A child recognises that understanding others' viewpoints is not enough to allow people to reach an agreement. Social conventions are needed to keep order

Question 36

Social cognition: Selman's levels of perspective-taking - describe the 3 aspects to social development that Selman identified

Answer 36

* Interpersonal understanding - understanding viewpoints of others * Interpersonal negotiation strategies - we need to develop skills to respond to other people, not just understand what they think (managing conflict, asserting our position) * Awareness of personal meaning of relationships - reflect on social behaviour in the context of life history and the full range of relationships

Question 37

Social cognition: theory of mind - what is theory of mind (ToM)?

Answer 37

Our personal understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling

Question 38

Social cognition: the mirror neuron system - what are mirror neurons (2)

Answer 38

* Neurons which fire both in response to personal action and in response to action on the part of others * They may be involved in social cognition, allowing us to interpret intention and emotion in others

Question 39

Social cognition: the mirror neuron system - when were mirror neurons first discovered? (2)

Answer 39

* During studies of monkeys’ motor cortex by Rizzolatti et al (2002) * Found that the same neurons in a monkey’s motor cortex became activated when it saw the researcher reach for food and when the monkey itself reached for food

Question 40

Social cognition: the mirror neuron system - experiencing the intentions of others (2)

Answer 40

* Mirror neurons respond not just to observed actions but to intentions behind behaviour * We need to understand the intentions of others in order to interact socially. Research on mirror neurons suggests we actually stimulate the action of others in our own brains and thus experience their intentions through our mirror neurons

Question 41

Social cognition: the mirror neuron system - perspective-taking and ToM (3)

Answer 41

Mirror neurons give us a neural mechanism for experiencing, and hence understanding other people's perspectives and emotional states. This underlies perspective-taking and ToM

Question 42

Social cognition: the mirror neuron system - human social evolution (2)

Answer 42

* Mirror neurons have shaped human evolution, in particular how we have evolved as a social species * Mirror neurons enable us to understand intention, emotion and perspective. These are fundamental requirements for living in large groups with complex social roles and rules, both of which characterise human culture

Question 43

Social cognition: the mirror neuron system - understanding of autism (ASD) (2)

Answer 43

* ‘Broken mirror’ theory - ASD develops due to neurological deficits, including dysfunction in the mirror neuron system. Such dysfunction prevents a child imitating and understanding social behaviour in others * In infancy, children with ASD mimic adult behaviour less than others. This may demonstrate innate problems with the mirror neuron system