development Flashcards
brain stem
highly developed at birth
connects brain and spinal cord
autonomic functions
cerebellum
matures late
near top spinal cord
coordinates sensory and motor
thalamus
deep inside brain
receives and sends signals around brain
cortex
thinking and processing
frontal visual auditory and motor areas
smoking in development
smaller brains
infection in development
german measles can lead to hearing loss
voices in development
babies learn to recognise mother voice
interaction between nature and nurture in development
brains form due to nature but env. has a major influence
piagets theory
changes in thinking over time
children think differently from adults
schemas
mental structure contains knowledge
assimilation
adding new info to existing schema
accommodation
receiving new info that changes understanding so new schema
strength of piaget theory
led to large amount of research
studies didn’t fully support piaget but led to new ideas and help adjust aspects of his theory
test ability of his theory allows to test his ideas so we can make certain that theory is correct
strength of piagets theory
his idea that children learn by creating mental representations influenced classroom learning
children now actively engage in activity oriented classrooms
weakness of piagets theory
involved middle class europeans
conducted research studies in switzerland
their families valued education and academic abilities
his theory may not be successfully applicable
conservation
appearance changes but quantity stays same
mcgarrigle and donaldson’s study’s aim
to see if deliberate change in row of counters would help you get children to conserve
mcgarrigle and donald’s method
40+40 nursery and primary students from edinburgh
shown two counters one with 4 red counters and one with 4 white counters
teddy bear pushed counters about making one row smaller
child asked which one had more or less or same
mcgarrigle and donald’s results
41% correct ans if display changed deliberately
68% correct ans if change was accidental
mcgarrigle and donald’s conclusion
piaget underestimated what children can do
but there were still age differences primary school did better
weakness of mcgarrigle and donaldsons study
primary age children all from same school in edinburgh
reason why they did better might be due to education background
school might have drawn in a group of more educated families therefore language abilities were better coping better with task
other factors might have influenced conclusion
decreased validity
weakness of mcgarrigle and donaldson’s study
childrens better performance in the accidental condition may because they didn’t notice change had taken place
more likely to say both rows were same because they were distracted by teddy
suggested by moore and frye that if you take away a counter they would still say it’s the same
means children may have not been conserving but weren’t just looking
strength of mcgarrigle and donaldson’s study
challenges piagets assumptions
way piaget designed his research may have confused the children
more able
important part of scientific process
researcher ideas should be refined
hughes’s aim
create a test that would be more understandable and see if children could cope better with the egocentrism task
hughes’s method
30 children from edinburgh
ages 3.5-5 years
shown a model with two intersecting walls
policeman doll placed on the side of child
puts boy doll in each section and asks if policeman doll can see boy doll
policeman doll then moved and child asked to place boy doll where he couldn’t be seen
if mistake error pointed and restarted
proper test : one place on point x and one on y then child asked to hide boy doll from both
hughes’s results
90% succeeded
complex trials three year olds had more trouble than four year olds (60% to 90%)
hughes’s conclusion
piaget underestimates younger children abilities
still age differences
piaget right about thinking changing as you grow
strength of hughes study
task made more sense than piagets
more similar to daily problem than three mountain task
also made sure children really understood task
researcher has better access to childrens abilities
weakness of hughes
may have unconsciously hinted at answer
very subtle cues eg gazing in a certain direction
lacks validity
strength of hughes
challenge piaget
allows researcher ideas to be improved and refined
