developing through the lifespan

Question 1

what was Piaget’s approach to cognitive development?

Answer 1

a child’s mind develops through stages. children understand the world with schemes/schema (mental categories). “little scientists.” children make constant mental adaptations to new observations and experiences

Question 2

what are assimilation and accommodation?

Answer 2

assimilation- fitting new information into present system of knowledge and beliefs (schema) (ex: a child learning there is more than one breed of dog)
accommodation- as a result of new information, change existing schema (ex: a child learning there is more types of animals than just dogs)

Question 3

what are Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development?

Answer 3

spcf- some pigs can fly

sensorimotor- looking, sucking, touching. develop object permanence.
preoperational- egocentric and animistic thinking. cannot grasp concept of conservation. are not logical but act on their intuition. start learning to express using words and images.
concrete operational- can understand conservation. can understand reversibility. can understand transitivity. they begin to understand more concrete logical things like mathematics.
formal operational- abstract and systematic reasoning. thinking about future possibilities.

Question 4

what is object permanence?

Answer 4

the understanding that things continue to exist when they are out of sight (ex: you put a cookie behind your back. it’s still there.)

Question 5

what is egocentrism?

Answer 5

child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view besides their own (ex: what should we get grandma for her birthday? TOYS)

Question 6

what is conservation?

Answer 6

understanding that physical properties do not change when appearance changes (ex: if you pour milk into two different shaped containers it doesn’t change the amount of milk)

Question 7

what is Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development?

Answer 7

cognitive development results from guidance. “little apprentices”

Question 8

what is the zone of proximal development?

Answer 8

level at which a child can almost perform a task independently

Question 9

what is scaffolding?

Answer 9

teacher adjusts amount of support to child’s level of development

Question 10

what is theory of mind?

Answer 10

understanding and ability to infer of how other people think. think band-aid box study

Question 11

what is Erik Erikson’s stage theory of social development? what is the basic challenge in each of the 8 stages (e.g., trust vs. mistrust)?

Answer 11

1. trust vs mistrust (who can i trust?)
2. autonomy vs shame and doubt (how can i do what i want without feeling bad about myself?)
3. initiative vs guilt (what can i do without causing trouble?)
4. industry vs inferiority (what activities am i good at? how do i compare with others?)
5. identity vs confusion (out of all of the social roles which ones fit me and how can i develop a role that it is uniquely my own?)
6. intimacy vs isolation (whom can i trust with intimacy and love?)
7. generativity vs stagnation (how can i continue to grow as a person?)
8. integrity vs despair (how can i feel content with my life so i can face death calmly?)

Question 12

what were the results of Harlow’s studies of infant attachment?

Answer 12

studied using monkeys. found intimacy and soft contact was important.

Question 13

how did Mary Ainsworth study attachment? what are secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure-anxious/ambivalent attachment styles?

Answer 13

she studied using “strange situation” - she observed how infants and toddlers responded when their mothers left them alone with a stranger.
secure- content with guardian
insecure-anxious/ambivalent- insecure and anxious about their relationship with their guardian
insecure-avoidant- indifferent to their guardian or prefers strangers

Question 14

what are Baumrind’s 4 parenting styles (e.g., authoritarian)?

Answer 14

dimensions- warmth (responsiveness) and control (demanding)
styles- authoritarian (very restrictive, lots of rules, demanding, controlling), permissive (very few rules or restrictions), uninvolved (least effect, most detrimental, neglectful), authoritative (not overly demanding or hostile. child-centered)

Question 15

what are Kohlberg’s 3 stages of moral development?

Answer 15

theory: moral development proceeds in a linear, step-wise fashion
1. preconventional morality (avoiding punishment)
2. conventional morality (for rewards/reactions of others)
3. postconvential morality (for ethicality)

Question 16

what is delay of gratification? what was Mischel’s (1961) “marshmallow test?”

Answer 16

ability to forego smaller, immediate rewards for greater rewards later.
marshmallow test- choice of 1 marshmallow now vs 2 marshmallows in a few minutes