Cognitive development: early childhood Flashcards
What is perceptual salience?
the most obvious features of an object or a situation - means that pre-schoolers can be fooled by appearance
What is centration (pre-operational)?
focusing on one aspect of a problem or object
What is irreversible thought (pre-operational)?
cannot mentally undo an action
What is static thought (pre-operational)?
focusing on the end state rather than the changes that transform one state into another
What is the cognitve limitation of classification?
- difficulty using criteria to sort objects on the basis of characteristics
- lack class inclusion, the ability to relate the whole class (furry animals) to its subclasses (dogs, cats)
What is the cognitve limitation of egocentrism?
- Difficulty in understanding the mental state of others
- 3 mountains task and sally anne (egg moved to box) task
How did Saracho & Spodek (1998) define play?
- intrinsically motivated
- process orientated
- creative
- having implicit rules
- spontaneous and self-initiated
- free from major emotional distress
What ages are called the play years?
2-5years
What changes occur in play between infancy and age 5?
more social and imaginative
What is Parten’s (1932) unoccupied category of play?
the child wanders about, watching whatever is momentary interest, but does not become involved in any activity
What is Parten’s (1932) solitary category of play?
the child plays alone with different toys and other objects and with no direct or indirect awareness of or involvement with other children
What is Parten’s (1932) onlooker category of play?
the child watches others play without actually entering into the activities; is clearly involved with what is happening and usually is within speaking distance of participants
What is Parten’s (1932) parallel category of play?
children play next to one another, do much the same thing but they interact little
What is Parten’s (1932) associative category of play?
children engage in a common activity and talk about it with each other but do not assign tasks or roles to particular individuals and are not very clear about their goals
What is Parten’s (1932) cooperative category of play?
children consciously form into groups to make something, attain a goal, or dramatise a situation; one or two members direct and organise the activity, with children assuming different roles
What is the psychoanalytic theory of play?
- opportunity to gain mastery over anxieties
- repetition compulsion
- catharsis
What is the social learning theory of play?
- roles learned through direct, vicarious or self-reinforcement
What is the ethological theory of play?
- similar to animal behaviour
- physical activity play
What is the cognitive theory of play?
- symbolic play extends possibilities
- social and cognitive development
What is moral affect?
positive and negative emotions related to matters of right and wrong
What is moral reasoning?
the thinking process involved in deciding whether an act is right or wrong
What sequence does moral reasoning progress thrugh?
an invariant sequence - a fixed and universal order of stages, each of which represents a consistent way of thinking about moral issues
What is the premoral period of Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning development?
- during pre-school years
- children show little awareness or understanding of rules and cannot be considered moral beings
What is the heteronomous mortaliity period of Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning development?
- age 6-10
- take rules seriously, believing that they are handed down by significant figures and are unaltered
KEY:
- they judge rule violations as wrong based on the extent of damage done (not caring about intention)
What is the autonomous morality period of Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning development?
- age 10-11
- appreciate that rules are agreements between individuals can be changed with consensus
- pay more attention to whether the person’s intentions were good or bad (not damage/consequences)
What is stage 1 of Kohlberg’s preconventional level of moral reasoning development?
Heteronomous morality; ethics of punishment and obedience - reward - punishment orientation, we obey authorities to avoid punishment
What is stage 2 of Kohlberg’s preconventional level of moral reasoning development?
Instrumental purpose; ethics of exchange - reciprocity - we conform to rules to get rewards and to satisfy personal needs
What is stage 3 of Kohlberg’s conventional level of moral reasoning development?
Interpersonal normative morality; ethics of peer opinion - what pleases, helps or is approved by others
What is stage 4 of Kohlberg’s conventional level of moral reasoning development?
Social system orientation; ethics of law and order - hat conforms to rules of legitimate authorities and what is good for society as a whole
What is stage 5 of Kohlberg’s postconventional level of moral reasoning development?
Social contract orientation; ethics of social contract - good depends on consensus, might get people in this stage challenging these laws that may be unjust
What is stage 6 of Kohlberg’s postconventional level of moral reasoning development?
Ethics of self-chosen universal principles - we determine what is right and wrong based on our individual principles and moralistic principles that are universal
What is moral behaviour? (social learning theorists)
what we actually do when faced with temptation or with an opportunity to behave prosocially
- learned through obsrvational learning and reinforcement/punishment principles
Who emphasised that moral cognition is linked to moral action through self-regulatory mechanisms?
Bandura
What is moral disengagement?
how well we ignore the regulatory mechanisms
What is moral self-relevance?
the extent to which a moral approach is part of a person’s self-concept
What is explicit memory?
intentional recollection of previous experiences (conscious)
What is implicit memory?
is apparent when retention is exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering (unconscious)
What is perceptual priming for implicit memory?
If we have seen the image previously we’ve been primed and we will be more likely to identify the uncompleted images as an elephant
What four major hypotheses are thought to underpin the increase in capacity of elicit memory from infancy to adulthood?
- changes in basic capacities
- changes in memory strategies
- increased knowledge about memory
- increased knowledge about the world
What was the STM capacity (Demster, 1981)?
- 2yrs: 2 items
- 5yrs: 4 items
- 7yrs: 5 items
- 9yrs: 6 items
What are the three memory strategies?
- rehearsal
- organisation
- elaboration
What is metamemory?
what changes in our understanding of memory
Is it true or false that the knowledge base of the thing influences memory performance regardless of age?
True
What are the four conclusions about development of explicit memory?
- older children are faster information processors, use more effective memory strategies, know more about memory, know more in general with larger knowledge base