Lecture 5 Flashcards
what is one of the growing pains of research?
science carries strengths of constantly updating the work but one of the growing pains is the replication crisis
what are the limitations of science as a way of knowing?
Limitations:
* Cannot answer all questions
- Assumption that science is the
only or best way of knowing - Embedded within particular
historical and cultural contexts - Biases of scientists can exclude, distort, other
science can’t answer all questions. It can’t answer questions over what is good vs evil. That isn’t testable through hypothesis testing. Scientists often also have an assumption that science is the only way or best way of knowing and this means sometimes we exclude of disregard other ways of knowing. Some cultures have a lot of accumulated knowledge about things that could be very useful to us.
science is also always embedded within a particular historical and cultural context. The research we are conducting is embedded in our culture and our own history.
What does the myth of normative development paper point out about dev psych research?
Developmental psychology has
often been conducted by/on/in a
context of Western, White,
comparatively wealthy individuals
this is then assumed to be the “norm” that
other development is compared to…
we’re getting to the idea that science comes from a particular contexts. The myth of normative development talks more about culture and context that leads to othering of non-western, non-white samplings. Indigenous populations are often excluded from developmental research.
AND the vast majority of our research has been done on neurotypical kids.
Figure out what graph on slide 5 is saying
Explain the graph about word development and the word gap on slide 6
they started to realize there was a bias in their sample. most of the family in the higher socioeconomic families were almost all white. The families in the lower SES were usually black or other. These researchers had an idea of what counts as a word from a particular historical cultural contexts. BUT there are different dialects of english across different groups. The contexts of the researcher shaped this finding.
there is a 30 million word gap.
what is the relevance of Positionality in dev psych?
one idea we have started to see gain popularity is considering the scientists positionality. The idea is that all of us carry positions in our society. We also as learners, scholars, and researchers carry this into areas of our work. If a white person does research on another white person you have a position as an insider. BUT if you are going to a different cultural group, you are taking the positon of an outsider in that culture.
- Our positions in society, and in
relation to our work → our contexts,
our identities, our access - These positions impact how we
perceive the world - Reflecting on our positions can help
us acknowledge how who and where
we are influences our relationship
with our learning & content material
is development often intertwined with positionality? Why or why not?
yes!
- Development is often intertwined with
positionality!
positionality is particularly relevant to studying developmental realities because your development is so intertwwined with this.
- Your development helps shape you into who you are
- Your positionality shapes how you see dev
What is cognitive development?
- The development of
thought processes and
mental activity - Memory, attention,
language, reasoning,
social cognition, problem
solving and more!
(we’re thinking of thought processes, memory activites, etc. We will spend some time doing a bit of a deep dive into 2 particular topics. We will spend a week talking about language development and another week talking abotu social cognition. BUT before we go into these topics we want to spend a couple days situating the field around this.)
Who is Jean Piaget? What was his theoretical backing? What years was he alive? what was his main opinion?
- 1896-1980
- Constructivist → children construct their
own understanding of the world - Child as “scientist”
Piaget thinks about development as a constructivist approach. He rejected both sides of the nature nurture debate. He didn’t hink about kids as a passive sponge. He said children themselves construct their ideas about the world. He thought children played an active role in learning about the world and changing their development. He talked about the child as a scientist. He think kids develop knowledge through hypothesis testing.
what does constructivist mean in dev psych?
children construct their
own understanding of the world
What does Piaget’s theory say about schemas? Example?
- Understanding organized by
schemas
(kids develop different schemas for different animals. When they encounter a new dog they have never seen they can use this schema to understand that situation.)
(piaget says we use schemas to organize our understanding and we change our understanding by changing these schemas)
Change through:
* Assimilation: new information
viewed through existing schemas
- Accommodation: schemas are
adapted according to new
experiences
maybe i have an idea of what a dog is, I see a new dog for the first time ans even thoguh it might look different I can assimilate that into my schema of a dog even though it is new info. We can do accomodation so we can adapt our schemas according to the new info. Ex: you might develop an idea of what a button is. It helps that when she gets to see new buttons she can know how to use them. BUT, last year someone got a bracelet made with beads. SHe thought these beads were buttons. She assimilated the beads into her existing button schema. Hopefully through enough instances of people telling her it is a bead or her learning the different functions she might accomodate, adapt her idea of what a button is to make them more sepcific.
What is assimilation?
new information
viewed through existing schemas
what is accommodation?
schemas are
adapted according to new
experiences
What are the stages of Piaget’s theory in order? What are the ages associated with this theory? (4 stages)
Sensorimotor stage (0-2)
Pre-operational Stage (2-7)
Concrete Operations Stage (7-12)
Formal Operations Stage (12+)
What kind of theory is Piaget’s theory? How does he think children move from one theory to another?
paiget’s theory is a stage theory. It emphasizes discontinuous development. Is says that the way children approach the world is qualitatively different. He says the main way kids move from one stage to the other is by having to do a lot of that accomodation.
What is the sensorimotor stage of development according to Piaget? What are the accomplishments in this stage? What are the gaps of this stage?
the first stage is the infant stage. Just ot give you an idea of where Piaget says it begins is the sensory motor stage.
Learn about the world through touching, sucking, looking, reaching, etc.
Accomplishments:
- Adapting to the
environment (throughotu this stage they learn how to adapt their ideas.) - Object permanence → 6-
10 months
at this stage they have a lot of motor based schemas. Piaget talks about the growth children make in these stages. They leanr how to adapt, they learn how to accomodate.
Gaps:
- Representing the world mentally. one of the gaps of this stage is being able to represent things visually. This is development towards an ability to represent and think about the world mentally. Its not until they finish the stage that they are better able to accomplish it.
What is object permanence? When do you develop it? What stage is this in?
object permanence is the understanding that an object continues to exist even when they can’t see it.
6-10 months
sensorimotor stage
What are the accomplishments of the pre-operational stage
Symbolic representations:
* Play
* Language
* Drawing
they are now able to do symbolic representation. This idea of being able to represent in her head, even though this is a banana I can symbolize it as a phone.
