Development Psych #3 Flashcards
What is cognition? What is cognitive development?
Mental processes that we use to acquire, store, or use knowledge
The study of how children require the ability to think, learn, communicate, and remember
What were some of the beliefs that Piaget had about kids?
Children actively construct knowledge through interaction with their environment
They learn actively through exploring and engaging w/ the world around them
Inherently curious and seek stimulation
According to Piaget, what are the four stages of cognitive development? What is occurring in each stage?
Sensorimotor (0-2 years) - Infant explores the world through direct sensory and motor contact. Object permanence and separation anxiety.
Preoperational (2-6 stages)- Child uses symbols (words and images) to represent objects but does not reason logically. The child also has the ability to pretend. Child is egocentric
Concrete operational (6-12)- Child can think logically about concrete objects and thus can add and subtract. Child understand conversation.
Formal operational (12-adult) - Can reason abstractly and think hypothetically
What is object permanence? According to Piaget, when does this capacity develop?
8-12 months; an object continues to exist even when it is not in view
What is the A-not-B task (or error)?
Experimenter places object in A location and lets baby search for it and find it
Then they place in the B location; babies before 8 months go back to location A
According to Rene Baillargeon, what do babies understand about objects by about 3.5 months?
Infants will look longer at impossible events vs. possible events (block behind the track vs. block on the track with train going down track)
What are conservation tasks? How do younger vs. older kids perform on conservation tasks?
Number or amount stays the same despite changes in appearance
Younger children seem to fail tasks with concrete objects and older kids do well
What is centration?
Centered on one dimension - core features of second date of development / preoperational
What is the Wynn task?
Infants below 6 months of age looked for a longer time at the seemingly impossible event, suggesting that they were surprised at see one doll rather than two
What is egocentrism?
Tendency to center on oneself or one’s own point of view
How do preschoolers do on the 3-mountain problem?
When asked what another individual can see, they choose the picture of the mountain that matches their own perspective
What is the theory of mind?
The understanding that others can knowledge, beliefs, desires, intentions or perspectives that differ from one’s own
What is a false belief task? How do older kids (~9 years old) do compared to younger kids (~3 years old)?
Ask children what is in the box - they tend to say candy
They open the box and it is full of pencils
After opening: What is really in the box? And what did you originally think was in the box? Can they remember / reason about what they originally thought? What will another child think is in the box?
What are the different reasons for false belief failures at younger ages?
Egocentrism, task demands too great, weak inhibitory control, language development
