Cognition and Development Studies Flashcards
Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development-Children form individual mental representations from Discovery-Howe-Method
She put children aged 9 to 12 years in groups of four to study and discuss the movement of objects down a slope. Their understanding of this topic was assessed before and after the discussions
Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development-Children form individual mental representations from Discovery-Howe-Results
The children were found to have increased their knowledge and understanding. However, the children has not come to the same conclusion or picked up the same facts about movement down a slope
Sensorimotor Stage-Piaget-Method
He observed babies looking at objects as they were moved from sight throughout the child’s first year
Sensorimotor Stage-Piaget-Results
Before 8 months of age, the child immediately switched their attention away from the object once it went out of sight. After 8 months of age, they would continue to look at it
Pre Operational Stage-Conservation-Piaget-Methods
He placed two identical rows of counters side by side. In one condition, they were pushed closer together
Pre Operational Stage-Conservation-Piaget-Results
Young children correctly reasoned that each row of counters had the same amount. However, when the rows were closed together, pre operational children usually said that there was less counters
Pre Operational Stage-Conservation-Piaget-Method (Liquid)
He placed containers side by side with contents at the same height. In one condition, he poured one of the contents into a taller, thinner container
Pre Operational Stage-Conservation-Piaget-Results (Liquid)
Children spotted that each container had the same volume. However, young children said that there was more liquid in the smaller thinner container
Pre Operational Stage-Egocentrism-Piaget and Inhelder-Method
Children were shown three model mountains, each with a different feature, a cross, a house or snow. A doll was placed at the side of the model so that it faced the scene from a different angle. The child was then asked to choose from a range of photos, what the doll would see
Pre Operational Stage-Egocentrism-Piaget and Inhelder-Results
Pre operational children often chose the picture that matched the scene from their own point of view
Pre Operational Stage-Class Inclusion-Piaget and Inhelder-Method
They showed 7-8 year olds pictures of 5 dogs and 2 cats and asked them “are there more dogs or animals?”
Pre Operational Stage-Class Inclusion-Piaget and Inhelder-Results
Children tended to say that there were more dogs
Stages of Formal Operations-Piaget-Method
He tested this using Syllogisms. For example: All yellow cats have 2 heads, I have a yellow cat called Charlie, How many heads does Charlie Have
Stages of Formal Operations-Piaget-Results
Young children became distracted by the context and answered that cats do not have two heads
Conservation Study was dubious-McGarrigle and Donaldson-Method
They set up a number of conservation studies similar to Piaget’ s method. In the control condition, they replicated his counters task. In the experimental condition a “naughty teddy” moved the counters
Conservation Study was dubious-McGarrigle and Donaldson-Results
In the control condition, most children answerad incorrectly. In the experimental condition, 62% answered correctly that the amount had not changed
Class Inclusion conclusions was dubious-Siegler and Svetina-Method
They tested 100 5 year olds from Slovenia, who each undertook 3 sessions of 10 class inclusion tasks, receiving an explanation after the session. In one condition, they received feedback that their must be more animals than dogs, as they were 9 animals and 6 dogs. In the other condition, they were told that there was more animals than dogs, as dogs are a subset of animals
Class Inclusion conclusions was dubious-Siegler and Svetina-Results
The scores across the sessions improved more from the subset group
Children’s ability to decentre-Hughes-Method
He tested the ability of children to see a situation from others view point, using a model with two intersecting wall and 3 dolls, a boy and two police officers
Children’s ability to decentre-Hughes-Results
Once they were familiarise with the task, children as young as 3 1/2 were able to position the doll where the police could not see him 90% of the time. 4 year olds could do this 90% of the time when there was two police officers to hide from
Support for the Zone of Proximal Development-Roazzi and Bryant-Method
They gave 4-5 year olds the task of estimating how many sweets were in a box. In one condition, the children worked alone. In the other condition, they worked with an older child
Support for the Zone of Proximal Development-Roazzi and Bryant-Results
Most children working alone failed to give a good estimate. In the help condition, the older children were observed to offer prompts, pointing the young children in the right direction. Most 4-5 year olds receiving help successfully did the task
Support for the idea of Scaffolding-Conner and Cross-Method
45 children were followed up in a longitudinal study were they were observed engaging in problem solving tasks with the help of their mother at 16,26,44 and 54 months
Support for the idea of Scaffolding-Conner and Cross-Results
Distinct changes were observed over time. As the child gained experience, the mothers used less direct interaction and more prompts. They also offered help when it was needed, not constantly
Scaffolding is effective in education-Verhaeghe and Van Keer-Method
7 year olds were tutored by 10 year olds, in addition to their whole class teaching. They were compared to a control group of just the whole class teaching
Scaffolding is effective in education-Verhaeghe and Van Keer-Results
The children who were tutored progressed further in reading than the control group
Violation of Expectation Research-Baillargeon and Graber -Method
24 infants aged 5-6 months were shown a tall and a short rabbit pass behind a screen with a window. In the possible condition, the tall rabbit can be seen passing as the window but the short rabbit cannot. In the impossible condition, neither rabbit was seen at the window
Violation of Expectation Research-Baillargeon and Graber -Results
The infants looked for an average of 33.07 seconds at the impossible event, and 25.11 seconds at the possible event
Perspective Taking Research-Selman-Method
30 boys and 30 girls, 20 aged 4, 20 aged 5 and 20 aged 6 took part. All were individually given a task. This involved asking them how each person felt in various scenarios. One scenario featured a child called Holly who promised her father she will no longer climb trees, but then comes across her friend whose kitten is stuck up a tree. The children were then asked to explain how each person would feel if Holly did or did not climb the tree
Perspective Taking Research-Selman-Results
Selman found out that level or role taking correlated with age. This lead to the development of the Stages of Development for perspective taking
Mixed evidence for the importance of perspective taking-Buijzen and Valkenburg-Method
They observed child parent interaction in toyshops and supermarkets
Mixed evidence for the importance of perspective taking-Buijzen and Valkenburg-Results
They found a negative correlation between age, perspective taking and coercive behaviour (forcing parents to buy things). Suggests that perspective taking is important in developing prosocial behaviour
Mixed evidence for the importance of perspective taking-Gasser and Keller-Results
They found out that bullies displayed no difficulties in perspective taking
Application in understanding atypical development-Marton-Method
50 8-12 year old children with ADHD were compared with a control group on their performance of perspective taking tasks
Application in understanding atypical development-Marton-Results
Those with ADHD did worse on understanding the scenarios, identifying the feels of each person involved and evaluating the consequences of each action
Intentional Reasoning in Toddlers-Meltzoff-Method
Children of 18 months observed adults place beads into a jar. In the experimental condition, the adults appeared to struggle with this and dropped the beads. In the control condition, the adults placed the beads successfully into the jar
Intentional Reasoning in Toddlers-Meltzoff-Results
In both conditions, the children successfully placed the beads into the jar. Shows that the children were imitating what the adults intended to do
False Belief Tasks-Wimmer and Perner-Method
They told 3-4 year olds a story in which Maxi left his chocolate in a blue cupboard in the kitchen and then went to play outside. Maxi’s mother then used the chocolate in her cooking and placed the remaining chocolate in the green cupboard. Children were asked where Maxi would look for his chocolate when he comes back
False Belief Tasks-Wimmer and Perner-Results
Most 3 year olds incorrectly said that he would look into the green cupboard . However, most 4 year olds correctly identified the blue cupboard
Sally- Anne Task- Baron-Cohen-Method
20 high functioning children diagnosed with ASD and a control group of 14 children with downs syndrome and 27 without a diagnosis were individually administered the Sally Anne test. In this test, children were told a story about two dolls, Sally and Anne. Sally places a marble in her basket, but when Sally is not looking, Anne moves the marble into her box. The task is to work out where Sally would look for her marble
Sally- Anne Task- Baron-Cohen-Results
85% of children in the control group correctly identified where Sally would find her marble. Only 20% of the ASD group could do this
Testing Older Children and Adults-Baron-Cohen-Results
He found out that adults with Asperger syndrome and those with high functioning ASD struggled with the Eyes Test
Evidence for the role of Mirror Neurons-Haker-Method
A fMRI was used to assess brain activity in participants while they were stimulated to yawn by showing them film of others yawning
Evidence for the role of Mirror Neurons-Haker-Results
When they yawned in response, participants showed considerable activity in Brodmann’s area, a area in the right frontal lobe, believed to be rich in mirror neurons
Evidence for the role of Mirror Neurons-Mouras-Method
Male participants either watched a fishing documentary, Mr Bean or heterosexual pornography. Brain activity was measured by a fMRI and arousal by a pressure sensitive penis ring
Evidence for the role of Mirror Neurons-Mouras-Results
Pars Opercularis activity was seen immediately before sexual arousal, consistent with the idea that mirror neurons produced the perspective taking that make pornography arousing
Mixed evidence for abnormal mirror function in ASD-Hadjikhani-Method
She reviewed evidence for the link between ASD and a deficit in mirror neuron function
Mixed evidence for abnormal mirror function in ASD-Hadjikhani-Results
She found some support using brain scans, which have shown a smaller average thickness for the pars Opercularis in those with ASD
