Paper3 : Cognition And Development Flashcards
Piaget theory of cognitive development
Maturation causes changes in the way children think. Result of active discovery and experience
Schemas
Units of knowledge. Based on our experience
Motivation to learn
When our existing schema does not allow us to make sense of something new. Leads to disequilibrium.
Equilibration
Restoring balance between experience and schema by exploring
Assimilation
Adding new information to existing schema
Accommodation
Radically change schema or add new ones
Lifespan learning
Happens throughout life as our experiences present new knowledge
Stages of intellectual development
4 stages each with different level of cognitive reasoning
Sensorimotor stage
0-2 years
Basic coordination and language
Object permenace develops at 8 months
Understanding that objects still exist when they are out of sight
Preoperational stage
2-7 years
Ego centrism
Lack of class inclusion
Struggle with conservation
Egocentrism
See world from one’s own perspective
3 mountains task by Piaget
Children asked to pick a picture to show what the doll can see. Struggles to pick photo that is what the doll can see
Class inclusion
Idea that classifications have subsets.
Picture of 5 dogs and 2 cats and asked if they are more dogs than animals. Children under 8 said dogs
Conservation
Mathematical understanding that quantity remains constant even when appearance of object changes
Pouring water between beakers
Stage of concrete operations
7-11 years
Can conserve, less egocentric, better at class inclusion, struggle with abstract thinking
Formal operations stage
11 years +
Abstract reasoning develops, can understand syllogisms
Vygotsky
Cognitive abilities are acquired in social interactions. Reflect local adults. Cultural differences
Zone of proximal development
Gap between current and potential abilities. What they can do with expert helper, more knowledgable other
Scaffolding
All help given by expert to guide children through some of proximal development. Progressive leading to independent
Wood et al
Recruitment - engaging learners interest
Reduction in degrees of freedom - focusing learner and getting them started
Direction maintenance - motivating learner
Progressive strategies
More help at the start
Baillargeon
Suggested babies had better understanding of the word, lack of ability was from poor motor skills or distractions
Violation of expectation research
Babies attention to unexpected and expected events are compared and timed
Showed 24 5-6 months old babies a short and tall rabbit passing behind a window
Babies looked longer in the unexpected window (tall rabbit didn’t appear in window )
Infant physical reasoning
Babies are born with physical reasoning system including object permanence
Selmans level of perspective taking
Understanding what someone else is feeling or thinking. Believed social perspective taking develops separately from other cognitive development
Stage 0
Socially egocentric (3-6 years)
Child cannot distinguish between own emotions and others
Stage1
Social information role taking 6 - 8 years
Can distinguish between their own view point and that of others but not at same time
Stage2
Self reflective role taking 8-10 years
A child can explain the position of another person and appreciate their perspective, but can still only appreciate one view at a time.
Stage 3
Mutual role taking 10- 12 years
can consider own point of view and that of others at the same time
Stage 4
Social and conventional system role taking 12 + years
A child recognises that understanding others’ viewpoints is not enough to allow people to reach agreement. Social conventions are needed to keep order. E.g. personal decisions are made with reference to social conventions, such as humanely treating animals
Selma’s research
Cross sectional study
60 4,5,6, year olds on perspective taking abilities and found significant positive correlations between age and perspective taking
Theory of mind
Ability to mind read. Develops around 3-4 years old. Autistic children may find social interaction difficult due to ToM deficit
Intentional reasoning research
Meltzoffe demonstrated that 8 months old understand intention, basic ToM. Beads in a jar
False belief tasks
Wimmer and perner
From 4 years maxi chocolate study
Sally Anne task
False belief task where sally looks in wrong place for marble because she doesn’t know Anne moved it
Baron cohen et al found ToM rare in ASD children
Eyes task
Older ASD children and adults perform well on false belief tasks, used eyes task to show adults also had ToM deficits
Mirror neuron system
Mirror neurons are cells that respond to the motor activity of others. First observed in monkeys. Help us understand intentions. Helps us take others perspectives. Key to evolution.
ASD may have broken mirror
