Cognitive Development Flashcards
What is Development?
Development refers to the growth and change during an individuals lifespan and covers both physical and psychological changes
What is physical development?
The changes in the body and it various systems that are overt and observable. eg getting taller
What is Cognitive development?
The changes in thought processes such as thinking, learning, memory, decision making. eg. learning your times tables
What is social development?
The changes in skill in interacting and communicating with work colleagues.
What is emotional development?
The ability to control, express and recognize emotions eg. recognizing and understanding your own emotions
What is nature vs nurture ?
The various factors influencing development of our psychological characteristics.
What is nature (hereditary)
Hereditary involves the transmission of characteristics from biological parents to their offspring via genes at the time of conception
What is nurture? (environment)
The term environment (nurture) is used to refer to all the experiences, objects and
events to which we are exposed throughout our entire lifetime.
What is interactionist approach.?
Both heredity and environment are important factors in development – this is known
as the interactionist approach.
What is genetic predisposition?
an increased likelihood of developing a
disease/condition due to genetic factors
What is Monozygotic (identical twins)?
Monozygotic (or identical) twins are formed when a single
fertilised egg splits into two in the first couple of days after
conception. These twins share 100% of their genes
What is Dizygotic (fraternal) twins?
Dizygotic (or fraternal) twins develop when the female produces two separate ova (eggs) which are independently fertilised by two
different sperm cells. They can be the same or opposite sex and are not genetically identical. They share 50% of their genes and their
genetic similarities are comparable to other brothers and sisters.
What is insecure avoidant attachment?
Show no interest when separated from mother , play happily with stranger, ignores mother after seperation
What is secure attachment
Show distress when separated from mother, avoidant of stranger unless accompanied by a mother . Happy to see mother after separation.
What is insecure resistant attachment
Show intense distress when separated from mother, significant fear of stranger, approach mother but reject contact after separation
What is attachment
Attachment involves the formation of long-lasting emotional bonds between
two individuals.
What is healthy attachment?
This ‘healthy attachment’ equips the
individuals with the ability to form strong
relationships due to a developed sense of trust
and self-esteem as an adult.
What is emotional development?
Emotional development involves the continuous, life-long development of skills
which allow individuals to control, express and recognise emotions in an appropriate way
What does secure development lead to?
healthy emotional development
What does insecure attachment lead to?
unhealthy emotional development
what is genetics?
our genetics impact how we form attachments with others, and the
forms of these attachments. Most caregivers will want to respond to their child’s
needs and limit their distress.
What is temperament?
can be easy or difficult, making it more or less likely to develop
strong attachments
When does attachment form?
Infancy is a critical period for infants to form an attachment to their caregivers for
optimal development
What factors effect attachment?
genetics, temperament and early life experiences
What is privation?
Privation is if a child never forms an attachment with a caregiver
How can we observe cognitive development?
Cannot be directly observed
We can observe the behaviour of babies to make assumptions about their
cognitive development
What is schemata?
Piaget proposed that during cognitive development the brain builds ‘schemata’
which are like frameworks that organize past and future experiences.
These are like building blocks of knowledge which become more complicated as a child grows.
What is assimilation?
Assimilation refers to fitting new information or experiences into an existing idea
This occurs when a child makes sense of new information in terms of their existing knowledge and understanding of the world.
What is accomodation?
Accommodation refers to altering existing ideas, and forming new ideas, as a result of learning new information or having new experiences. It is the process of changing
existing mental ideas to fit new information.
Accommodation involves restructuring existing mental ideas so that new information
can be incorporated.
What are the 4 stages of cognitive development?
sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, formal operational.
What happens in sensorimotor
(0-2), Babies explore the world
Very uncoordinated
Start to develop mobility
Realise that they can grasp
desired objects
Learn to crawl, walk and
begin to talk
What are the key accomplishments of sensorimotor?
object permanence and goal directed behaviour
Explain the key accomplishments of sensorimotor
Object permanence- The understanding that even if things cannot be seen, heard or touched, they still exist. (pickaboo)
Goal Directed behaviour- The ability to perform a series of steps with a particular goal in mind (eg. walking to fathers bag for toy)
What happens in pre- operational
(2-7), Babies become children
Significant language is acquired
The use animism - eg: teddy in pain
They apply centration – eg: tokens
Children in the early parts of this stage are egocentric – they can only see things from their own point of view.
Literally!
What are the key accomplishments of pre operational?
Symbolic thinking, Transformation, reversibiity
explain the accomplishments of pre operational
Symbolic thinking- The ability to use symbols to represent objects that are not physically present. EG: a paper towel
roll becomes a sword!
Transformation- The understanding that things can change physical state. EG: Ice can become water
Reversibility- The ability to follow a line of reasoning
back to its starting point. (mr potato head)
What happens in concrete operational?
(7-12) Child is capable of logical thought
Can understand future
consequences
Mental arithmetic
What are the key accomplishments of concrete operational?
classification, conservation
Explain the accomplishments of concrete operational
Conservation - Understanding that properties of an object will
remain the same, even if its appearance changes
Conservation of Volume – knowing that if you pour
water from a shorter glass into a taller glass, the
volume of liquid remains the same
Conservation of Mass – knowing that mass stays
the same even if the object’s appearance changes
Conservation of Number – knowing that the
number of group of objects doesn’t change even if
the physical appearance changes
Conservation of Length – knowing that the length
of objects is fixed even if the position is changed
Classification- The ability to organise objects or events into
categories based on common features that
What happens is formal operation?
(12+), Complex thinking processes
Sophisticated ideas, reasoning
and logic
What are the key accomplishments of F.O
Abstract thinking, idealistic thinking
Explain the key accomplishments of F.O
Abstract thinking- A way of thinking that doesn’t rely on the ability to see, touch or hear something.(eg. concept of time)
Idealistic thinking- Comparing yourself or others to perfect standards, and striving to be the best version of yourself.
(wants to be a lawyer, understands its complex to acheive this)
What are the critisms?
Kids seem to progress faster
than what he suggested
Repeated
experiments showed
pre-operational kids
could do concrete
tasks when really
focused
Mistakes made by
young kids may
have been due to
lack of language
ability
He used his own
kids. They were
white & from a
wealthy family
