Cognitive Development

Question 1

Jean Piaget

Answer 1

Swiss psychologist influential in the field of cognitive development. Paige based hypotheses on observations of his own children.

Question 2

Schema

Answer 2

A mental idea of what something is and how to act on it. According to Piaget, schemata are the basic building blocks of intelligent behaviour.

Question 3

Action Schemata

Answer 3

Inborn survival reflexes, like sucking and grasping. This enables infants to interact with the world from birth. Our schemata becomes more sophisticated as we mature and our environment expands.

Question 4

Assimilation

Answer 4

When new information is fit into existing schemata.

Question 5

Accommodation

Answer 5

When schemata are altered to let in new information.

Question 6

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 Years)

Answer 6

Characterised by infants learning about their surroundings through their senses and motor interactions with their environment.

Question 7

Sensorimotor Stage - Key Achievements

Answer 7

• sensory and motor coordination
• increased goal-directed behaviour
• acquire object permanence

Question 8

Pre-Operational Stage (2-7 Years)

Answer 8

Characterised by egocentrism, animism and centration.

Question 9

Egocentrism

Answer 9

The tendency to perceive the world solely from ones own point of view.

Question 10

Animism

Answer 10

The belief that everything that exists has some kind of conscious.

Question 11

Centration

Answer 11

The inability to focus on more than one feature of an object at a time. Pre-operational children are unable to grasp conservation of mass/volume/number because of centration.

Question 12

Pre-Operational Stage - Key Achievements

Answer 12

• symbolic thinking
• transformation
• reversibility

Question 13

Transformation

Answer 13

The understanding that something can change from one stage into another.

Question 14

Reversibility

Answer 14

The ability to mentally follow a sequence of events back to its starting point.

Question 15

Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 Years)

Answer 15

Characterised by children being able to perform mental operations, which involve being able to accurately imagine the consequence of an action without it actually needing to happen.

Question 16

Concrete Operational Stage - Key Achievements

Answer 16

• conservation
• decentering
• classification

Question 17

Conservation

Answer 17

Knowing that these properties remain the same despite changes in the appearance of an object.

Question 18

Decentering

Answer 18

The ability to consider more than one characteristic of an object or problem.

Question 19

Classification

Answer 19

The ability to organise objects or events into categories based on common features that set them apart.

Question 20

Formal Operational Stage (12+ Years)

Answer 20

Characterised by abstract thinking - the ability to conduct mental operations on concepts that are not experienced through the senses.

Question 21

Formal Operational Stage - Key Achievements

Answer 21

• deductive reasoning
• systematic problem solving
• idealistic thinking

Question 22

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 22

Ability to draw conclusions from two pieces of information that are believed to be true.

Question 23

Systematic Problem Solving

Answer 23

Ability to test solutions to problems in an orderly way.