PSY210: 3. Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Question 1

Piaget’s Central Concepts

Answer 1

schema: organized way of interacting with environment + experiencing the world
Schemata guide thoughts based on prior experiences creating categories of information, making sense of it
guide actions + thoughts, how to interact with it
perceptual info - organization - action
previous info allows you to engage in action

Question 2

Piaget’s Central Concepts

Answer 2

Schemas can change through adaptation
Adaptation involves building schemas through direct interaction with the environment
Adaptation: Assimilation & Accommodation

Question 3

assimilation

Answer 3

new ideas and experiences are incorporated into existing mental structures and behaviours
schema for dog - include new experiences to schema

Question 4

accomodation

Answer 4

previously developed mental structures and behaviours (schemata) are modified to adapt them to new experiences
change existing schema because of new experiences

Question 5

organization

Answer 5

Schemas also change through a second process
just thinking about contexts
organize schemas of dogs, cats, cows into category of animal
animals - bigger schema created in their head

Question 6

Equilibrium vs. Disequilibrium!

Answer 6

During times of little change, there is more assimilation than accomodation
we want world to make sense - balance betw internal representation of world + external reality
internal structure of reality doesn’t align with outside world = disequilibrium

Question 7

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Answer 7

Piaget proposed four invariant stages of development
Each stage is a grouping of similar qualitative changes in many schemas that occur during the same time period
in terms of what children could not do
accommodating in all stages
ppl underestimate their abilities

Question 8

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 8

Birth to 2 years
Building schemes through sensory and motor exploration!
Reflexes: Circular reactions
Mental representations by seeing, hearing, touching things - building schemas
mental representations don’t exist until end of this stage
circular reactions: repeating behaviours voluntarily

Question 9

Sensorimotor Substages

Answer 9

Primary circular reactions: 1–4 months
Simple motor habits centred around own body
Secondary circular reactions: 4–8 months
Repeat interesting effects in surroundings
Coordination of secondary circular reactions

Question 10

Sensorimotor Substages

Answer 10

8–12 months
Intentional, goal-directed behaviour; object permanence
Tertiary circular reactions: 12–18 months
Explore properties of objects through novel actions
Mental representation: 18 months–2 years
Internal depictions of objects or events; deferred imitation

Question 11

Sensorimotor Substages

Answer 11

reflexive: only through reflexive touch interactions
circular reactions: learn what they can do with their bodies
secondary circular: stage of incessant banging, engaging in repeated behaviour outside themselves
coordination of secondary circular: interacting with world in goal directed way
tertiary: exploring world around them, what are the diff outcomes of my actions
mental representations: internal depictions through language primarily

Question 12

Object Permanence

Answer 12

Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight
Piaget: develops in Substage 4
A-not-B search error
prior to 8-12 months
can’t see it, cant think about it
stepping stone to mental representations
don’t yet understand it moved to B
poor inhibitory control: first response is go to A

Question 13

Mental Representations

Answer 13

Internal, mental depictions of objects, people, events, information!
“ can manipulate with mind!
“ permits deferred imitation + make-believe play
deferred imitation + make-believe play
how accurate was piaget?
object permanence: violation of expectation method
he underestimated children’s abilities
develops at 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 months
big carrot passes through impediment: takes longer to habituate because they understand this object should hit the impediment

Question 14

Deferred Imitation

Answer 14

Piaget: Develops about 18 months
Newer research: 6 weeks – facial imitation!
6–9 months – copy actions with objects
can reproduce again after a period of time
they have some sort of internal representation

Question 15

Evaluation of the 
 Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 15

Develop earlier than Piaget suggested object permanence, deferred imitation
suggest infants are born with core knowledge in several domains of thought.

Question 16

Core Knowledge Perspective

Answer 16

Born with innate, special-purpose knowledge systems core domains of thought allow quick grasp of related information
Support rapid early development
core knowledge capacities enable rapid learning

Question 17

Suggested Domains 
 of Core Knowledge

Answer 17

physical: know gravity exists
linguistic:: born to innately understand language
psychological: innately attuned to pay attention to other humans to make sense of their behaviour
believe they have intentions in their actions
make sense of mental world of other person

Question 18

Infants’ Numerical Knowledge

Answer 18

Infants may be able to: discriminate quantities up to 3, do simple arithmetic
beneficial in past to know which offered more resources
reach for group with more treats
5 month old children stare longer at 1 mouse when they saw an extra mouse added

Question 19

Information-Processing Theory

Answer 19

Theory for studying the mechanisms of change

Question 20

The Store Model

Answer 20

Information is assumed to be held, or stored, in three parts of the system for processing:!
• Sensory register!
• Working/Short-term memory!
• Long-term memory
working: held short time for manipulation

Question 21

The Store Model

Answer 21

sensory input - sensory register - attention - WM - LTM - response generator - response output
WM - response generator - response output
Central executive: controls what to pay attention to

Question 22

Information-Processing Improvements

Answer 22

attention: Efficiency, ability to shift focus improves
Less attraction to novelty, better sustained attention after first year
memory: Retention intervals lengthen
Recall appears by first year; excellent in second year
categorization: Impressive perceptual categorization in first year
Conceptual categorization in second year

Question 23

Information-Processing Improvements

Answer 23

recognition: familiar
categorization: schemas - subtypes
perceptual + conceptual
memory improvements: mobile task/train task
memory retention increases with age

Question 24

Development of Categorization

Answer 24

Perceptual/Conceptual
Based on common function/behaviour
Based on similar overall appearance
or prominent part
Later add event categories
perceptual: creation of categories based on visual aspects develops first
conceptual: action information, what you can do with it
older than 2, they understand functions of events (nap time)

Question 25

Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky

Answer 25

socially formed mind
social interaction with others is how ppl learn
Social contexts !
#other people contribute to cognitive development!

Question 26

Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky

Answer 26

Zone of proximal development: tasks child cannot do alone but can learn with help of more skilled partners
social contexts teach skills
learn with someone who does know how to do it
skills just beyond their grasp
after first 2 years: learn primarily through language

Question 27

Three Theories of Language Development

Answer 27

behaviourist: Learned through
operant conditioning (reinforcement)
imitation
nativist: Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
biologically prepares infants to learn rules of language
interactionist: inner capacities and environment work together

Question 28

Three Theories of 
 Language Development

Answer 28

social context is important
learn terms through correction + imitation
nativist: parts of brain attuned to language, not other sounds
deaf children: develop their own sign language, following basic grammatical rules
interactionist: takes reinforcement to develop language

Question 29

Getting Ready to Talk

Answer 29

cooing + babbling!
Becoming a communicator!
" joint attention!
" give-and-take!
" preverbal gestures

Question 30

Getting Ready to Talk

Answer 30

cooing: vowel noises + babbling: consonant + vowel
practicing: teaching them that they have meaning
reciprocal interaction: back + forth communication
joint attention: look at something, infants follow gaze
language happens in sequence - give + take (peek-a-boo/patty cake)
preverbal gestures: reach for what they want

Question 31

Starting to Talk

Answer 31

Two-word utterances: telegraphic speech
underextension: too narrowly apply - only to one of 2 things
overextension: word + misapplies word to a schema
they know around 200 words
telegraphic: short utterances that contain meaning
grammatical structure is correct - 1 1/2

Question 32

Psychosocial Stages During Infancy and Toddlerhood

Answer 32

First year: Basic trust vs mistrust
Responsiveness
Second year: Autonomy vs shame/ doubt
Suitable guidance, Reasonable choices

Question 33

Psychosocial Stages During Infancy and Toddlerhood

Answer 33

interactions shape who we are
how we resolve conflicts determines who we are
first year: whether world is responsive, do they trust the world
does the parent respond in quickly + appropriately?: trust is formed early on
second year: having control vs shame/doubt over own body control
self action vs. feeling bad/doubt in abilities
do they berate child: shame over exercise, need suitable guidance
give them reasonable choices, how much do they punish us

Question 34

First Appearance
 of Basic Emotions

Answer 34

Happiness
Smile: from birth 
Social smile: 6–10 weeks
Laugh: 3–4 months
Anger/Sadness
General distress: from birth
Anger: 4–6 months
Increase in frequency until 2
Fear
First fears: 2nd half of first year
Stranger anxiety: 8–12 months

Question 35

First Appearance
 of Basic Emotions

Answer 35

first experience emotions - 4 basic emotions
smile when they are happy from birth, 6-10 weeks: at other familiar ppl
laugh: need some frontal lobe development, ridiculous actions
laugh at unexpected events meaning they have expectations

Question 36

First Appearance
 of Basic Emotions

Answer 36

quick response requires maturation of the brain
general distress to discomfort
sadness: removal of parents
anger expresses itself in form of frustration: serves a purpose
declines after age of 2
need to be able to identify source of frustration
wary of strangers, avoid interaction

Question 37

Understanding 
 Emotions of Others

Answer 37

Emotional contagion
Recognize other’s facial expressions: 4–5 months
Social referencing: 8–10 months
emotions expressed are contagious among individuals
simply expressing emotion, elicits emotion in other ppl

Question 38

Social Referencing

Answer 38

Relying on others’ emotional reactions to appraise situation

! caregivers can use social referencing to teach children how to react

Question 39

Self-Conscious Emotions

Answer 39

Shame, Embarrassment, Guilt, Envy, Pride
Emerge middle of second year (1.5)
Children become aware of self as separate + unique
Require adult instruction about when to feel emotions
learned emotions - taught to experience in response to specific behaviour
without sense of self, we can’t feel these things

Question 40

Emotional Self-Regulation

Answer 40

Adjusting own state of emotional intensity Requires effortful control
Grows over first year, with brain development
Caregivers contribute to child’s self-regulation style
not socially appropriate, negative emotions are a bad thing
has to be able to think on emotional state to exhibit effortful control
difficulty regulating emotions: do this be removing themselves from situation

Question 41

Temperament

Answer 41

Reactivity: Speed and intensity of emotional arousal!
attention
motor activity!
Self-regulation: Strategies modifying reactivity

Question 42

Temperament

Answer 42

how well they control attention

strategies in controlling emotions

Question 43

Structure of Temperament

Answer 43

Easy – 40%, Difficult – 10%, Slow-to-warm-up – 15%, Unclassified – 35%
easy: established daily routines, positive, adapt easily
difficult: irregular daily routines, slow to accept new experiences
slow to warm up: motor activity lower, mild emotional reaction, negative in mood, slowly adjust to new experiences
unclassified: mixture

Question 44

Attachment

Answer 44

first relationships formed
parents care about bond with infant child
behaviourist: drive-reduction model
all children have drive to satiate hunger - cry until fed
satiation paired with parents
Harlow’s study of Rhys’ monkeys: fed with wire monkey
multiple conditions: monkeys survived had soft cloth monkey
monkey feeds + then cuddle with soft cloth monkey

Question 45

Bowlby’s Ethological Theory of Attachment

Answer 45

emotional tie to the caregiver evolved because it promotes survival!
Infant-parent relationships begin as a set of innate signals that call the adult to the babies side. Over time, a true affectional bond develops.
attachment develops out of innate signals

Question 46

Bowlby’s Ethological Theory of Attachment: Four Phases of Attachment

Answer 46

1.The pre-attachment phase (birth to 6 weeks)!
2. The attachment-in-the-making phase (6 weeks to 6 - 8 months)!
3.The phase of clear-cut attachment (6 - months to 18 months - 2 years)!
4.Formation of reciprocal relationship (18 months - 2 years and on)
inbuilt reflexes causes parent to find them adorable

Question 47

Bowlby’s Ethological Theory of Attachment: Four Phases of Attachment

Answer 47

2. smile more at familiar adults
3. clear-cut attachment: exhibit bond through separation anxiety
4. attachment becomes more progressed: understand parents have to leave
   barter for more time with parents

Question 48

Security of Attachment

Answer 48

Secure attachment - infants who use parent as a secure base from which to explore and, when separated, are easily comforted by the parent when he/she returns.
quality of attachment
mary ainsworth

Question 49

Security of Attachment

Answer 49

The strange situation technique, used to study attachment, capitalizes on separation anxiety
study strength of attachment
what happens when parent is with child, is there seperation anxiety
are they comforted by parent?

Question 50

Types of Attachment

Answer 50

Secure – 60%
Avoidant – 15%
Resistant – 10%
Disorganized/disoriented – 15%
avoidant: independent, indifferent, no separation anxiety
resistant: cling to parent when in the room, lot of separation anxiety
get mad at parent when they come back
disorganized: independent + don’t care when mother returns - flat affect

Question 51

Types of Attachment

Answer 51

predict interaction with other ppl later on in life
predictive of subsequent attachments
creates internal working model: develop schema of relationships
unlikely to change from secure to disorganized
secure attachment with one parent - can serve as model - enough

Question 52

Cultural Variations in
 Attachment Security

Answer 52

across cultures: secure attachment is most prevalent
focus on independence in germany
in japan + israeli: more collective - emphasize closeness

Question 53

Factors That Affect 
Attachment Security

Answer 53

Opportunity for attachment
Quality of caregiving!
sensitive caregiving
interactional synchrony!
Infant characteristics! 
Family circumstances!
" parents’ internal working models

Question 54

Factors That Affect 
Attachment Security

Answer 54

frequency of interaction - more frequent = more secure
nature of interaction important: synchrony, responsive to needs
alignment betw your + their state
easy children are more likely to have secure attachment
how they were raised is how they raise their kids

Question 55

Self-Development

Answer 55

Self- awareness: From birth - Aided by intermodal perception
Self- recognition: emerges in 2nd year
understanding we are unique, separate from environment
infants have base understanding because they don’t turn to the touch of their own cheek
recognition: knowing your exist, who you are - personality, beliefs, values
recognize physical self - mirror paradigm

Question 56

Self Recognition: Mirror

Task

Answer 56

at about 18 months - notices link between mirror image and self
after self recognition they can expand to recognition in photos, videos, changes in personality
issue: mirrors are confusing, odd concept experiences
flashlight: looking behind mirror instead of behind them