Developmental psychology Flashcards
Why do we give birth to helpless babies?
Give 3 hypotheses
- Brains are underdeveloped. Need a 18-21 month gestation period.
- Pelvis hypothesis
- Metabolism hypothesis
- Intelligence
Give 3 hypotheses for stages of development
- Cognitive development in childhood (Piaget). (Make sense of world, understand other’s intentions)
- Moral development in childhood (Kohlberg)
- Psychosocial development across lifespan (Erikson)
Childhood in History
Roman parents could kill unwanted children
Until 1500 kids from 6 yo would be treated like adults
Need for nurturing and schooling emphasized in the 17th/18th centuries in Western world
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive development in Childhood
Children are NOT mini adults
Children must learn to think abstractly
What’s Assimilation?
Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing mental structures (Cat = doggie??)
What’s accommodation?
Changing mental structures in response to new experiences (Cat vs dog)
Cognitive development stages in childhood (According to Piaget)
- Sensorimotor stage
- Preoperational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Formal operational stage
Sensorimotor stage
0-2 years. Differentiation of self from objects. Recognition in mirror. Object permanence at 18 months
Preoperational stage
2-7. Use of symbols/symbolic play. Lack of conservation (idea that amount remains the same despite change in its appearance) Egocentric (theory of mind- you see it how i see it)
What’s the false belief task?
Children below 4 don’t pass this (typically). Recognition that others can have different beliefs from us
Concrete operational stage
7-11. Inductive reasoning, generalizations from observations, but not deductive reasoning (all birds have feathers. Robins are birds. All robins have feathers)
Conservation task (of quantity and number)
Things that look less must be less (water in differently shaped glass)
Formal operational stage
11+ Abstract reasoning, hypothetical thinking, scientific problem solving.
Critique of Piaget’s theory
Based on observing his own 3 children. Underestimated children’s abilities. (Vygotsky’s socio-cultural approach). Stages are too strict, some children are different.
Moral development in childhood
Lawrence Kohlberg. Studies why rather than behaviour. 3 main levels of moral reasoning (Pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional)