Development Flashcards
What are the stages of brain development?
- Pre-natal
- Childhood
- Adolescence
- Adulthood
What is the time period of pre-natal?
conception to birth (time spent in the womb)
What is the time period of childhood?
birth to the start of puberty
What is the time period of adolescence?
Transitional period between childhood and adulthood. This includes going through puberty.
What is the time period of adulthood?
Final stage which happens when the individual has reached full maturity.
Nervous System
The network of nerve cells and fibres which transmits nerve impulses between parts of the body.
Neuron
A cell that carries messages within the brain and from the brain to other parts of the body.
Synapse
A tiny gap at which a nerve impulse passes from one neuron to another.
What happens to nerves over the lifespan?
They may begin to pass messages more slowly than in the past.
What happens to synapses over the lifespan?
They weaken or stengthen over time depending depending on how they are used as a part of everyday life
Synaptic pruning
Process of eliminintating synapses
How does the brain develop during pregnancy?
- Develops very quickly
- By the third week, the feotus develops a forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain
- During mid-pregnancy, the brain connects to all parts of the body
- Rapid brain and head growth happens in the eighth month
How does the brain develop during childhood?
- Have a growth spurt when they are very young
- By six years old, their brains are already 90% of the size as when they are an adult
- Frontal lobes undergo a lot of development
- Amount of grey matter peaks at this time
How does the brain develop during adolescence?
- Brain remodelling happens intensively
- Main change is that the grey matter is ‘pruned away’ which starts at the back of the brain and finishes in the pre-frontal cortex
- Because the prefrontal cortex is still being developed, adolescents might rely oin the limbic system to make descisions and solve problems more than adults do
How does the brain develop during adulthood?
- brain’s volume decreases and ventricles expand over time
- Biggest change happens in the temporal lobes
Frontal Lobes
Parts of the brain immediately behind the forehead; concerned with behaviour, learning, personality and voluntary movement.
Prefrontal Cortex
At the front of the frontal lobes, this part of the brain deals with complex behaviours such as planning and descision making.
Limbic System
located near the centre of the brain; controls basic drives and emotions
Termporal Lobes
parts of the brain located by the temples; concerned with vision, hearing and speach comprehension
What did Piaget say about cognitive development?
It is invariant and universal
he also called children ‘little scientists’
What are the stages of Piaget’s cognitive development?
- Sensori-motor stage
- Pre-operational stage
- concrete operational stage
- formal orperational stage
Sensori-motor stage
- 0-2 years
- young infants understand the world through what they sense here and now
- Explore the world physically
Pre-operational stage
- 2-7 years
- Young childeren begin to use symbols and signs as part of their thinking
Concrete operational stage
- 7-11 years
- Children begin to do operations (solve problems mentally)
- tend to rely on concrete objects to do this - so may use blocks for maths etc.
Formal operational stage
- 11+ years
- can solve in a more abstract way, not relying on objects as they did previously
- Thinking is more sophisticated and includes testing predictions, looking at issues from different angles and making inferences
Schema
mental ‘pockets’ of organised information
Assimilation
Happens when someone comes across new information and makes it fit with what they already know by intergrating it into existing schemas.
e.g. a stool is put into the ‘chair’ schema.
Accommodation
happens when someone comes across new information that does not fit easially with existing schemas so that a new schema has to be created in the mind.
e.g. child realises that not all people speak English, so creates a schema for foreign languages and words that come with those languages.
Object permenance
The idea that something still exists, even if it is hidden from sight
Animism
Giving a non-living object “life”/thoghts & feelings
Egocentrism
Assuming that everyone views the world in the way that you do
Reversibility
Understanding how to undo an action
Conservation
The ability to understand that even though something that may have changed it’s shape or form it’s volume or mass remains the same
Decentration
The ability to focus on more than one aspect of a situation
Hypothetical Thinking
The ability to consider things that may happen (or may have happened) without having experienced it first-hand
Examples of major characteristics present or not developed in the sensori-motor stage
- Object permanance
Object permanence has crucial development in this stage.
Examples of major characteristics present or not developed in the pre-operational stage
- Animism
- Reversibility
- Egocentrism
All will be developed by the end of this stage.
Examples of major characteristics present or not developed in the concrete operational stage
- Conservation
- Decentration
All develop in this stage.
Examples of major characteristics present or not developed in the formal operational stage
- hypothetical thinking
Reductionism
Takes the viewpoint that all human behaviour can be explained by simple factors. It’s when complex phenomena are broken down into simple components and only studied as this.
Hollism
A holistic approach says that human behaviour is too complex to be reduced down to simple factors; so we look at the individual as a whole.
Psychological harm
An ethical issue that relates to protecting participants from distress, discomfort and embarassment.
Why is Psychological harm and issue?
if the participants experience it duing an experiment, they can be left with long lasting issues such as discomfort, distress or embarassment.
Deception
An ethical issue that relates to being honest with participants about the purpose and process of research.
Why is Deception an issue?
If they are being lied to, participants may feel betrayed or embarassed.
Lack of Informed Consent
an ethical issue that relates to participants agreeing to take part in research, knowing what that research is about.
Why is having a lack of informed consent and issue?
Participants have a right to know what is happening, because otherwise they may not know what they are signing up for.
Debriefing
A way of adressing the ethical issues of causing harm and lack of informed consent by including an explanation of the study at the end of the research.
Right to withdraw
Participants should know they can opt out of or stop a study at any point.
Confidentiality
An ethical issue that relates to making sure that participants are not identifiable through the use of names or other types of data
Hypothesis for Piaget’s study
More children in the concrete operational stage will be able to conserve from the ages of 7-11 compared to 2-7
Alternate Hypothesis
IV: age of children
DV: ability to conserve number
What type of expermiment was Piaget’s study?
Natural Experiment
IV is naturally occuring
(The way participants are allocated to conditions in an experiment)
What experimental design did Piaget use?
Independent measures
How many participants were used in Piaget’s study there?
The number is unknown as Piaget did not report it.
Criticisms of Piaget’s study
- having methological problems - the children were asked the same question twice, so they may feel that they need to give a different answer, which messes up the results
- study was culturally biased - being made up of only Swiss school children. The ability to conserve may have been affected by education and/or upbringing
- has been criticised for being ‘artificial’ - the adults moved the counters in front of the children so they may think that something has changed
Growth Mindset
Where people think they can develop their intelligence over time
Fixed Mindset
Where people think their intelligence is innate and cannot be changed
What does Dweck conclude about growth mindsets?
They can be taught
(So people can switch from fixed to growth.)
What does Dweck tell us about praise for effort?
(rather than achievement)
It promotes equality, and will improve academic performance
Criticisms
- Theory was challenged by a large scale study - the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) (2015) founded research into growth mindsets in schools in the UK. Children in 30 schools were given an intervention that taught them about growth mindsets. The results showed that there was no significicant difference in English and Maths compared to the control group.
- One of the problems with the theory is that it places faliure very hard on the student. If they fail to achieve, it is because they didn’t try hard enough. This doesn’t take other factors into consideration, such as personal factors like bullying, which may be affecting their ability to learn.
Learning Styles
The theory that students have different ways of learning and they would learn better if taught in the style that best suits them
What are the 3 learning styles
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinesthetic
Visual learning
Learning from what you see
(e.g. images)
Auditory learning
Learning from what you hear
(e.g. podcasts)
Kinesthetic learning
Learning from being creative
(e.g. creating a mindmap)
What is Willingham’s belief about learning styles?
He believes that they are a myth and they are preferances
What does Willingham say really helps children learn?
he recommends to teachers that what they teach creates links to other information that children already know
(e.g. using the solar system to depict an atom model)
Criticisms of Willingham’s theory
- Certain learning might be supported by being drilled - for example, learning times tables by rote (chanting them). If children can access and recall their times tables this way, it will help them with mental arithmetic at school and in the future. While it might not suit everyone, many students would benefit from this
- Although Willingham’s theory favours nature, he ignores the fact that some kinaesthetic learners because this is how they were taught at school when they were very young - therefore, having been conditioned to learn in that way, children may do better continuing to learn kinaesthetically as they grow older
Hypothesis for Blackwell et al
study 1
There will be a relationship between 7th grade students’ theroies of intelligence (fixed or growth) and their achievement grades on a standardised mathematics test
Alternative Hypothesis
co-variables:
* 7th grade students’ theories of intelligence
* achievement grades on a mathematics test
Sample for Blackwell et al
study 1
372 students from four 7th grade classes at a public school in New York City
198 females; 175 males
Where the students were from:
205 - African American
101 - South Asian
56 - Hispanic
11 - East Asiana
What did the motivational questionnaire assess?
BLACKWELL ET AL (study 1)
- Theory of intelligence
- Learning goals
- Effort beliefs
- Helpless responses to faliure
Results - Blackwell et al
study 1
There was no significan correlation between theory of intelligence (mindset) and the maths test scores when measured at the start
However, when retested, participants with a growth mindset showed greater improvement in the maths test than those who were fixed
Hypothesis for Blackwell et al
study 2
Students who are taught to think intelligence is flexible will display more positive motivation in the classroom and achieve higher grades than those who are taught that intelligence is not flexible.
Alternative Hypothesis
IV: whether they were in the intervention group or not (basically whether they were being taught about growth mindsets or not)
DV: motivation score & achievement on a maths test
(The way participants are allocated to conditions in an experiment)
Experimental design for Blackwell et al
study 2
Independent measures
Sample for Blackwell et al
study 2
99 voluntary participants
49 female; 50 male
Results - Blackwell et al
study 2
- People in the intervention group showed a significant change in their mindset
- 27% if students in the intervention group had a more positive mindset
- Participants in the intervention group gained higher grades on the maths test
Criticisms - Blackwell et al
studies 1&2
- Study is culturally biased - not representative of children from other states/countries
- Reductionist - only focuses on the students’ mindset
