Cognitive Development Flashcards
Define assimilation
Expanding your existing theory
Define accommodation
Creating a new scheme
Adaption
Assimilation & accommodation
When a baby is expanding and creating schemes they’re said to be adapting
Define disequilibrium
When we can’t assimilate a situation into an existing Chema were in a state of confusion
Define equilibrium
When we can comprehend anything at any given moment
What are piagets stages of cognitive development
Sensorimotor (0-2)
Pre-operational (2-7)
Concrete operational (7-11)
Formal operational 11+
Define object permanence
The ability to realise that when an object is out of sight, it still exists
What is a significant aspect of the sensorimotor stage?
Object permanence
Define conservation
The ability to understand that amounts do not change even when the physical appearance of something changes
Define egocentricism
Pre-operational children were incapable of seeing other people’s point of view
In what study did Piaget demonstrate egocentrism in children
Using the 3 mountain task. Children were asked to pick out the picture of the view the doll would see the mountains as. Children instead picked a photo church matched their own view
Define class inclusion
It is an advanced classification skill in which we know that classes of objects have subsets.
E.g. dogs, also have pugs labradors etc
What are the significant aspects of pre-operational stage?
Conservation
Egocentrism
Class inclusion
Evaluate piagets research including BOWER, DONALDSON and HUGHES
Bower- baby in the dark. Showed a toy to infants ages between 1-4 months, and just as the infant reached for it, the light was turned off. Even though the baby couldn’t see the toy, they still reached for it. Which undermines piagets theory on object permanence
McGarrigle and Donaldson- naughty teddy. Donaldson thought that children might have been confused by the conservation of number task. Donaldson shows child new 2 rows of counters similar to piagets, but Donaldson got a puppet teddy to change the rows. The child a told “here comes naughty teddy and he spreads out this row of counters. Do you think the number of counters in each row are the same or are they different?” Donaldson found that children aged 5 would correctly say that the number of counters in each row was the same. This suggests that piagets theory holds demand characteristics. And suggests that children can conserve as long as they were not put off in the way they were questioned.
Hughes policeman doll task- Hughes made a model with 2 walls crossing at the middle. He poisoned a toy policeman who could see into the area marked B and D and C. He asked children to place a doll dressed as a burglar on the model where the policemen wouldn’t be able to see it. 90% of children aged 4-5 could put the doll in the correct place (area A). This undermines piagets theory regarding egocentrism
describe earlier research on knowledge of the physical world in relation to Baillargeons research
Piaget thought the infant didnt reach for the object under the blanket because they lacked object permanence , however there are alternative reasons; child could be distracted or loose interest.
baillargeons research demonstrated the theory of object persistence.
describe object persistence
an object remains in existence and doesnt spontaneously alter in structure
describe event categories in relation to Baillargeons research
in the first weeks infants begin to identify event categories, each event corresponds to ways in which objects interact. e.g. occlusion is when one object is infront of another.
in baillargeons study the impossible event captures the infants attention because the nature of the PRS means theyre interested in new events that might develop their understanding of the physical world
describe baillargeons research into cognitive development
she pointed out that alternative research methods have suggested that younger babies may have a better-developed understanding of the physical world than was previously thought, she developed the violation of expectation method to investigate infant understanding of the physical world
what is the physical reasoning system?
humans are born with a PRS. in which we are born hardwired with a basic understanding of the physical world and the ability to learn details easily.
initially we have a primitive awareness of the physical properties of the world and this becomes more sophisticated as we learn from experience
What is the violation of expectation research?
in the first experiment the baby is introduced ti a novel situation, they’re repeatedly shown this stimuli until they indicate they are no longer interested by looking away.
next infants see 2 tests; a possible event an impossible event. in the control condition the child sees a possible event e.g. a small carrot appears and then a small carrot reappears. in the impossible event a small carrot
what are the findings of baillargeons study
- the infants looked for an average of 33.07 seconds at the impossible event as compared to 25.11 seconds in the possible condition
- the researchers interpreted this as meaning that the infants were surprised at the impossible condition
- for them to be surprised it follows that they must have known that the small carrot should have re-appeared which means they’re aware of object persistence
evaluate baillargeons study and 1 S and W including HESPOS and MARLE
S a better test than piagets study of cognitive development because it eliminates confounding variables. simply loosing interest in an object wouldnt explain findings that children look for longer at impossible events. this means that VOE has better validity
W its hard to judge what an infant understands, Baillargeons research shows that infants look longer at an impossible event; there are 2 logical explanations for that 1 we are guessing and can never actually know how a baby might respond to a VOE. they may not actually look for longer. 2 althought infants look for different periods of time this doesnt mean they see them as different. there may be a number of reasons why they see one as more interesting
S hespos and marle suggested that without learning we already have a good understanding of physical properties e.g. we know that keys will drop to the ground if let go of. the PRS being universal supports that is it innate
Describe vygotskys theory of cognitive development
Social interaction, she believed that cognitive development was a social process and is influenced by society and culture.
“ we become ourselves through others”
The child is seen as the apprentice learning from those with experience and knowledge
Describe zone of proximal development
The gap between what a child could do alone and what they could potentially do with help