Cognition and Development

Question 1

What is Social Cognition?

Answer 1

Cognitive processes we use when in social situations
E.g. We decide how to act in certain situations

Question 2

What is Perspective-taking?

Answer 2

Cognitive ability to understand a social situation from a different perspective
E.g. Joining the end of a line because you see others in a line

Question 3

Who researched perspective-taking?

Answer 3

Selman

Question 4

How did Selman research perspective-taking?

Answer 4

30 boys, 30 girls
20 4yr-olds, 20 5yr-old, 20 6yr-olds
Social cognition was measured by presenting children with scenarios in which they had to decide how different people may feel
E.g. a child is told not to climb a tree by their parent but comes across their friend’s kitten up a tree, the child is asked how each person in the scenario would feel if she does or doesn’t climb the tree

Question 5

What did Selman find in his research into perspective-taking?

Answer 5

Found that social cognition changes with age and identified key stages of development:
Egocentric, social informational, self reflective, mutual, social and conventional system

Question 6

What age range is the Egocentric stage of development?

Answer 6

3-6

Question 7

What age range is the social informational stage of development?

Answer 7

6-8

Question 8

What age range is the self reflective stage of development?

Answer 8

8-10

Question 9

What age range is the mutual stage of development?

Answer 9

10-12

Question 10

What age range is the social and conventional system?

Answer 10

12+

Question 11

What is the Egocentric stage of development?

Answer 11

(3-6 years old) Children cannot distinguish between their own emotions and those of others, can identify the emotional state of others but do not know what caused it

Question 12

What is the Social Informational stage of development?

Answer 12

(6-8 years old) A child can tell the difference between their own POV and other peoples, can only focus on one perspective at a time

Question 13

What is the Self Reflective stage of development?

Answer 13

(8-10 years old) children can put themselves in another persons POV and fully understand it, can’t do it with multiple POVs at the same time

Question 14

What is the Mutual stage of development?

Answer 14

(10-12 years old) Children are able to look at a situation from their own and another POV at the same time

Question 15

What is the Social and Conventional system stage of development?

Answer 15

Young people understand that being able to see other viewpoints in not enough for people to agree with one another, social conventions are needed to keep order

Question 16

What is violation of expectation?

Answer 16

A method used to investigate infant knowledge of the world in which children will show surprise if they encounter a situation they are not familiar with which shows they do not have an intact knowledge of the world

Question 17

What are Piaget’s stages of intellectual development?

Answer 17

Sensorimotor stage, per-operational stage, Concrete operations and formal operations

Question 18

What is the sensorimotor stage of intellectual development?

Answer 18

(0-2 years old) Recognises the existence of the self as a being that can act intentionally, object permanence develops

Question 19

What is the pre-operational stage of intellectual development?

Answer 19

(2-7 years old) Language develops, children are ecocentric and understands class inclusion

Question 20

What is the concrete operations stage of intellectual development?

Answer 20

(7-11 years old) Children develop the ability to think logically, only applied to physical objects

Question 21

What is the formal operations stage of intellectual development?

Answer 21

(11+ years old) Abstract and hypothetical thinking develop

Question 22

What is object permanence?

Answer 22

Ability to realise that an object still exists when it passes out of the visual field

Question 23

What is conservation?

Answer 23

The ability to realise that quantity remains the same even when the appearance of an object or group of object changes

Question 24

What is egocentrism?

Answer 24

A child’s tendency to only be able to see the world from their own POV

Question 25

What is class inclusion?

Answer 25

A child recognises that classes have subsets and are themselves subsets of larger classes
E.g. There are different breeds of dogs but dogs are mammals

Question 26

What is Cognitive Development?

Answer 26

The development of mental processes through stages, especially in childhood

Question 27

What is Schema?

Answer 27

A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing which are developed from experience

Question 28

What is equilibration?

Answer 28

Takes place when we have encountered new information and built it into our understanding of a topic through assimilation or accommodation

Question 29

What is assimilation?

Answer 29

A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information or a more advanced understanding of an object, person or idea.
Adding to a schema

Question 30

What is accommodation?

Answer 30

A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information that changes our understanding of a topic.
A new schema is formed

Question 31

What is Semiotics?

Answer 31

The signs and symbols developed within a particular culture

Question 32

What is Scaffolding in terms of Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 32

The process of helping a learner cross the ZDP and advance as much as they can within their stage of development

Question 33

What is the ZPD?

Answer 33

(Zone of proximal development) The gap between a child’s current level of functioning and what they can potentially do with the right help

Question 34

What is Autism?

Answer 34

This is a broad term for a wide range of features. Typically they face challenges with social interaction and repetitive behaviours