Developmental Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
Explain Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
A
- explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world.
- Piaget was interested in how children think, administering intelligence test to children and being intrigued by the reassign that led to children giving wrong answers.
- He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment.
2
Q
What is a schema
A
- set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations also known as a building blocks of knowledge.
- developed or acquired.
3
Q
What is Assimilation?
A
- where one needs to interpret new experiences using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.
4
Q
What is Accommodation?
A
- Interacting with the world, one constructs and modify ones schemas
5
Q
What is Equilibrium?
A
- occurs when a child’s schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation.
6
Q
What is the first stage of CD?
A
Sensorimotor (birth-2)
- Coordination of sensory and motor input responses
- Development of Object permanence —> understanding that objects continue to exist even when hidden
7
Q
What is the 2nd stage of CD?
A
Pre-operational (2-7)
- development of symbolic though marked by irreversibility, contraption and egocentrism (can only see the world from their own viewpoint)
- Until the age of 6years children cannot understand that another person can hold a different visual perspective from their own
8
Q
What is the 3rd stage of CD?
A
Concrete (7-11)
- mental operations applied to concrete events
- mastery of conversation, hierarchal classification
9
Q
What is the 4th stage of CD?
A
Formal (11+)
- mental operations applied to abstract ideas
- logical systematic and abstract thinking
- developing hypotheses and testing them until a solution is found.
10
Q
List 2 criticism of Piaget’s theorist?
A
Donaldson (1984) - unable to see another persons perspective because of lack of familiarity with the situation rather than lacking the cognitive ability
Michael Siegal (1991) – believes children are unable to conserve in Piaget’s tasks due to adults breaking the conversational rules that children hold i.e. obvious answer / repeat question when an answer has been given
11
Q
strengths of Piaget’s study ?
A
- Correct in sequence of milestones
- His emphasis on children as active beings transformed education and removed the notion as children being empty vessels
- Regarded as one of the 20th Century’s twenty most influential thinkers and scientists
12
Q
What is Kearin’s study ?
A
Judith Kearin’s (1986) wanted to identify the survival skills possessed by desert-living Aborigines as an example of intellectual skill
13
Q
What year was Kohlberg’s study?
A
(1981, 1984)
14
Q
What was kohlberg’s study?
A
- sought to describe the development of moral reasoning.
- Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas, like “Whether a person should steal medicine to save a loved one’s life,” to children and adolescents and found stages of moral development.
15
Q
What was heniz Dilemma?
A
- Dying wife was denied treatment because it was being sold for 10 times the amount
- Husband stole medicine
16
Q
What is the 3 levels of Kohlberg’s theory?
A
- pre conventional
- conventional
- Post conventional
17
Q
What stages come under pre conventional level ?
A
- Obedience and punishment
- Individualism and exchange
18
Q
What stages come under the conventional level ?
A
- interpersonal relationship
- authority and social order
19
Q
what stages come under the post conventional level?
A
- Social contract
- Universal principles
20
Q
What is obedience punishment?
A
- Based on avoiding punishment
- A focus on the consequences of actions father than the intentions
21
Q
What is individualism and exchange?
A
- The “right” behaviours are those that are in the best interest of oneself
22
Q
What is interpersonal relationship?
A
‘good boy, good girl’ attitude, sees individuals as filling social roles
23
Q
What is authority and social order?
A
- Law and order as highest ideals
- social obedience is a must to maintaining functional society
24
Q
What is social contract?
A
- begin to learn others have different values; realisation that the law is contingent on culture.
25
What is universal principles
- Develop internal moral principles; individual begins to obey these above the law
26
What is Kohlberg's critics
- Developmental sequence
- Gender bias (Carol Gilligan 1982)
- Culture bias (Richard Shweder)
27
What is the criticism of Developmental sequence ?
- Many follow up studies from around the world have found Kohlberg's studies to develop sequentially
- However these studies used cross-sectional designs, therefore could not show that the stages reached were invariant
28
What is the gender bias criticism?
- Kohlberg only used male participants, developing a Western, male-oriented view of moral development.
Carol Gilligan (1982) – suggested females reached stage 3 and males 4 this was due to differences in socialisation rather than values
- Males are socialised to be independent and achievement-oriented leading to a morality of justice (stage 4)
= Females are socialised as responsible and nurturing, leading to a morality of care (S3)
29
What is the Culture bias criticism ?
Richard Shweder, case study: Babaji, an orthodox Hindu teacher
- Presented with an Indian version of the Heinz dilemma
- Hindu dharma (moral duty) forbids stealing under any circumstances
Placed at stage 3 or 4 (following rules, doing ones duty)
30
What is Erikson’s stage theory of identity ?
- describes the development of identity across the entire lifespan
- Identity recognised as the enduring personality characteristics of an individual
- A series of continual changes that have to be met by the individual to move successfully to the next phase of life
- Resolution of conflict during our lives can lead to the next stage
- Unsuccessful resolution can lead to children, adolescents and adults becoming ‘stuck’ at a particular stage and not developing normally
- Erikson’s (1959) theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct stages.
31
Strengths of Erikson's Theory
- Strong face validity
| - Ties together important psychosocial development across the lifespan
32
Limitations of Erikson's Theory
- Vague about the causes of development
- No universal mechanism for crises resolution
- Doesn’t explain how one psychosocial crises influences personality at a later stage
- No objective way of assessing whether a person has passed or failed a particular stage
33
What is bandura's social learning theory?
- interested in how people learn social behaviour
- His theory emphasises Observational Learning (modelling or imitation)
- Learning is a function of observing, retaining and replicating behaviour observed in others
- It can take place at any stage however it is most important during childhood
34
What is modelling in Bandura's theory?
- Modelling occurs when one observes the behaviour and consequences of another to influence their own thoughts, actions and feelings.
35
What are the four meditational Processes of Bandura's theory ?
Attention - Noticing the behaviour (perceive the model to be interesting)
Retention - Remembering the behaviour (retain)
Reproduction - Ones ability to perform the behaviour (reproduce)
Motivation / Reinforcement - The will to perform the behaviour, influenced by reinforcement (rewards)
36
What is the bobo doll experiment aim?
a study to investigate if social behaviours (i.e. aggression) can be acquired by observation and imitation.
37
Method of the Bobo doll experiment?
- The subjects were 36 boys and 36 girls from the Stanford University Nursery School and were between 3 and 6.
- The average age of the group was 4years and 4 months.
- The control group consisted of 24 children.
- The first experimental group comprised of 24 children exposed to aggressive behaviour, whilst the second experimental group of 24 was exposed to non-aggressive model behaviour.
- The two groups were then divided based on their sex and then exposed to same-sex and opposite sex models.
38
Results of Bobo doll experiment theory ?
- Children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act in a physically aggressive manner than those who were not exposed to the aggressive model
- Similar results were found with verbal aggression
- Boys exhibited more aggression when exposed to aggressive male models than when exposed to aggressive female models
- Girls had similar results and were overall less aggressive than boys
39
Conclusions of bobo doll experiment?
- The findings support Bandura's (1977) Social Learning Theory. That is, children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation learning through watching the behaviour of another person.
- This study has important implications for the effects of media violence on children.
