PSYCH: Emotional & Cognitive Development

Question 1

Define cognitive development and its components

Answer 1

how a child’s thinking changes with age or experience
it is a process of acquiring more complex ways of thinking

1. maturation - as the brain naturally grows and develops as the child gets older so that it can mature before it can handle certain tasks
2. equilibrium - Piaget says that the brain develops by learning - essential for cognitive development
   when the child has new experiences, information + ideas, the brain ‘equilibrates’ this information

Question 2

Describe Piaget’s model (excluding stages)

Answer 2

Piaget’s model for cognitive development:
- cognitive development is a result of the interaction between a child and their environment
- this enables a child to adapt to their environment through equilibration

concepts that describe how children move through the stages:
- operations: sets of internal cognitive rules that enable the child to make sense of the things (for logical thinking)
- adaptation: children adjust to a change in their environment by thinking differently - when a child’s mode of thought is right for their environment, they are in equilibrium
- disequilibrium: new challenges beyond child’s current cognitive level arise
- assimilation: first try to modify the environment to fit their existing knowledge structures
- accommodation: if that doesn’t work they adapt existing knowledge structures or form new ones in response to environment

these processes are fundamental to cognitive development

Question 3

Describe the stages of Piaget’s model

Answer 3

• sensorimotor (baby/toddler) - child differentiates self from object, sees self as able to do actions, develops object permenance
• pre-operational (pre-school) - egocentric, cannot see from others’ perspectives, objects classified by a single feature
• concrete operational (primary) - think logically, classify objects by several features, know they are the only ones experiencing their state of mind
• formal operational (secondary) - use philosophical ideas, think abstractly + hypotheticals

Question 4

Describe lorenz’s work: imprinting theory of attachment

Answer 4

Imprinting theory of attachment

• we have a biological, innate affinity to form attachments to a single subject
• during the critical learning period
• this is irreversible and lifelong

Question 5

Describe Bowlby’s work: attachment theory

Answer 5

Attachment theory

• innate, pre-programmed need to form attachments with others to help babies survive
• this is determined by care and responsiveness (not food)
• disruptions to this can leads to maternal deprivation
• which long term leads to: depression, decreased intelligence etc

Question 6

Descibe Harlow’s work: Hard mother vs soft mother

Answer 6

Hard mother vs soft mother

• monkeys separated from mother
• given choice between cloth mother or a wire mother + milk
• soft mother WITHOUT MILK chosen
• when released back into wild, showed impaired behavioural and social skills

therefore, intimate care + social contact at young age is important for social development

Question 7

Describe Ainsworth and Bell’s work: Strange situation classification

Answer 7

Strange situation classification

• experiment: mother leaves child in unfamiliar environment, child approached by stranger, then mother returns
• separation protest, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour studied
• type of attachment is determined by mother’s behaviour and sensitivity to the childs needs

Question 8

Describe Kohlberg’s work on moral development

Answer 8

• development starts from a selfish desire to avoid punishment in small children (personal)
• then progresses to a concern for group functioning in adults (societal)
• and a minority of people proceed to a concern for the consistent application of universal ethical principles - moral

Question 9

Describe What are Kohlberg’s levels of moral development

Answer 9

level 1: preconventional morality (primary)
- punish the wrong and reward what is right
- act selfishly to avoid punishment and get rewards

level 2: conventional morality (general society)
- want to be perceived as good to fit into society
- and uphold laws and societal rules

level 3: postconventional morality (philosophical)
- understands the rules in society might not actually benefit everyone
- personal ethical values will overrule laws

Question 10

Define language then describe the progression of language development

Answer 10

language: rules for communicating, so not just speech

• babbles - 4-6 months
• says first word - 10-12 months
• knows ~10 words - 18 months
• understood by somone outside family - 3yrs
• sentences - 2 words at 2yrs, pronouns at 3yrs
• fluent + grammar - 5yrs

Question 11

Briefly describe the theories of language development (good luck)

Answer 11

• behaviourists: reward for imitating language
• chomsky: innate ability to learn language which needs exposure to language
• piaget: language is a reflection of thought but not needed for thought (cognitive development is before linguistic development)
• vygotsky: language and thought interacts - a child’s egocentric speech comes before they start thinking in words
• intentionality: interactions generated by the child promote language learning - language is used to explore the world