Key people and their theories Flashcards
Who is Piaget and what is his theory
Piaget is a psychologist who created the stages of cognitive development. He believed that there are four stages of intellectual development.
What is Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development
Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
During this stage, children develop object permanence when they are around 8 months old. Activities to promote this is playing peek-a-boo.
What is Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development
Preoperational (2-7 years)
During this stage, children develop egocentrism and do not understand how to conserve. Activities to promote this is parallel play, play dress up, play with toys that change shape.
What is Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development
Concrete operational (7-11)
During this stage, children develop the ability to conserve and are less egocentric. They have better understanding of logic and problem solving if they can see the problem. Activities to promote this is having 10 blocks in a line and 10 blocks stacked up. The child would say the blocks stacked up is bigger because its taller.
What is Piaget’s fourth stage of cognitive development
During this stage, children develop abstract thinking which means they can solve problems in their head without seeing a concrete image. Activities to promote this is mental maths and poetry.
Evaluation of Piaget- strengths and weaknesses?
Strengths-Piaget’s work has influenced early education i.e. the existence of “discovery play”. Increased our knowledge of children’s cognitive development and influenced teaching methods.
Weaknesses-Bruner disagrees with Piaget and believes that with adult support, children can be helped to progress to higher level thinking skills. Depends on the amount of encouragement they have received to think logically.
Who is Chomsky and what is his theory
Believed that the ability to develop language is genetically programmed into individuals. All individuals have the ability to become fluent in their first language by the age of five or six.
What is the language acquisition device
Enables children to recognise and develop the language they experience. He believed that language should be learnt in a critical period of childhood to adolescence.
Evaluation of Chomsky-strengths and weaknesses?
Strengths-Children go through the same stages of language acquisition at similar times regardless of language spoken.
Weaknesses-Bruner argues that social interaction, in the early stages of development is critical and has more influence of children than Chomsky suggests.
What is Bowlby’s theory of attachment
Believes that children are biologically pre-programmed to form attachments in a critical period of 2.5 years.
What is Rutters theory of attachment
Rutter contradicts Bowlby and says privation is more damaging. Suggested that attachments is learned behaviour, which is influenced by environmental and cultural factors. If privation happens, attachment cannot be replaced.
What is Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachments
Likely to form attachments to caregivers who respond effectively to their signals. They developed 4 stages of attachment: Pre-attachment, indiscriminate attachment, discriminate attachment and multiple attachment.
What is Ainsworth types of attachments
Parenting is the most important factor affecting children’s development. Children with good attachments are likely to have more confidence, higher level of self-esteem. She discovered three attachment types: Secure attachment, Insecure attachment and Insecure resistant.
