Reading points - midterm 2 Flashcards
how father stopped 7 month old boy grabbing glasses
but them behind his back
as object removed from sight, according to piaget never existed so boy stopped being annoying trying to play with them
what do developmental theories provide
a framework for understanding important phenomena
emphasis on observations and experiences in a larger context and deepen our understanding of their meaning
developmental theories raise questions about
human nature
how does baillargeon argue around children under 8 months don’t reach for an object hidden by a cloth
do realise the hidden object continues to exist but lack the memory or problem-solving skills necessay for using that understanding to retreive hidden objects
developmental theories lead to a better understanding about
children
new research stimulated
eg piaget theory led to research of retrieving toys now from under an opaque cover (which 7 month olds did) this supported piaget’s original interpretation showing neither lack of motivation nor lack of ability to reach for the toy explained the infants usual failure to retreive it
diamond’s experiemnt with opaque cover and waiting times
varied amount of time toy was hidden when the infant was allowed to reach for it (again opque covering used)
6 month olds immediate, 7 2 second wait, 8 4 second wait
memory for the location of hidden objects as well as the understanding that they continue to exist is crucial to success on the task
5 theories of cognitive development in text book
piaget - active child, continuity/ discontinuity
information-processing - how change occurs
core-knowledge - continuity/ discontinuity
sociocultural - influential of sociocultural context, how change occurs
dynamic systems - active child, how change occurs
all adress nature vs nurture
Piaget’s theory
swiss psych
cognitive development involves a sequence of four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operatioal and formal operational stages) that are constructed through the processes of assimilation, accomodation and equilibration
why do we still use / think about piaget today
observations vivd for each age
remind care givers of own experience with children
breadth of theory
intuitively plausible depiction of the interaction of nature and nurture in cognitive development as well as continuities / discontinuities that characterise intelectual growth
piaget fundamental assumption
children are metnally active from the moment of birth
mental and physical activity contribute greatly to their development
piaget approach =
constructivist
child constructing knowledge for themselves in response to their experiences
three most important of children’s ocnstructive processes
generating hypotheses
performing experiments
drawing conclusions from their observations
= child scientists
piaget son - laurent book observation
dropping toys in different places
when lands somewhere new eg pillow will do it several times to work out the the difference
what is the second basic piagetian assumption
children learn many important lessons on their own, rather than depending on instructions from others
pebble example from piaget in book
line up pebbles and count ten in one direction
then count in the other direction checking there are still ten
what is the third basic piagetian assumption
children are intrinsically motivted to learn and do not need rewards from other people to do so
when they aquire a new capability - they apply it as often as possible
also reflect on lessons of their experience becuase they want to understand themselves and everything around them
piaget view on nature vs nurture
they interact to produce cognitive development
nurture includes the experiences children encounter
nature = ability to learn from experience, tendency to integrate particular observations into coherent knowledge
vital part of children’s nature is how they respond to nurture
three processes which are the main sources of continutiy according to piaget
assimilation
accomodation
equilibration
assimilation
book example
the process by which people translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts they already understand
eg 2 yo child - saw man with bald patch ontop of his head then long side hair - shouts clown clown as assimilated into his own knowledge
accomodation
book example
the process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experience
eg boy father explained bald man not a clown as whilst hair correct, no silly costume etc = boy’s clown conceot changes
equilibration
book example
the process by which children (or other people) balance assimilation and accomodation to create stable understanding
4-7 yo believe animals are the only living things as they move in ways to help them survive. then learn flowers and plants move too = causes disequilibrium (now confused about what it means to be alive) thiking then becomes accomodating that animals are plants are alive as both move to survive
= more stable equilibrium because subsequent info about animals and plants will not disrupt it
this is how children learn about the world surorunding them
according to piaget when satisfied with their knowledge =
and explain the opposite
equilibrium
disequilibrium = when they recognise shortcomings in their understanding of the phenomena but cannot generate a superior alternative. simply = confused. finally will develop a more sophisticated understanding that eliminates the shortcomings of the old one
= more advanced equilibrium within which a braoder range of observations can be understood
4 central properties of piaget’s stage theory
qualitative change
broad applicability
brief transitions
invariant sequence
piaget’s view on qualitative children
children of different ages think in qualitatively different ways
early stages of cognitive development conceive of morality in terms of the consequences of the behaviour and not the persons intent (which they work out later)
eg person who knocks over cookie jar smashing all the cookies acciendetally was naughtier than the person who stole one cookie (by 8 reverse)
what does piaget mean by broad applicability
the type of thinking characteristic of each stage influences children’s thikings acorss diverse topics and contexts
what does piaget mean by brief transitions
before entering a new stae, children pass through a brief transitional period in which they fluctuate between the type of thinking characterised by the new and the old
what does piaget mean by invariant sequence
everyone progresses throught the stages in the same order without skipping any of them
during the sensorimotor stage intelligence is bound to
the immediate perceptions and actions
which stage has the clearest example of the active child
sensorimotor intelligence
between birth and age three the brain
weight triples
piaget general primciple: the earlier in development
the more rapidly changes occur
piaget proposed when infants suck on an object…
they gain not only pleasure but also knowledge about the world beyond their own bodies
reflexes textbook interested in babies are bron with
object infront of eyes = visually tracked
objects placed in mouth = sucked
objects come into contact with their hands = grasp them
when they hear noises = turn towards them
during their first few months babies change their reflexes to make them… and example
more adaptive
eg very quickly learn to change sucking depending on object
so infants moidfy their actions to the parts of the environment to which they interact
over the first few months of development, infants reflexes…
organize into larger complex behaviours
most centered on own bodies
define object permanence
the knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view
eg little bell hidden by piaget hand his son won’t look for
define a not b error
the tendency to rach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than in new location where it was last hidden
define deferred imitation
the repetition of other people’s behaviour a substantial time after it occured
jaceueline deferred imitation example
watched a little boy throw a temper tantrum
next day copied it herself
main aquisition during preoperational stage
symbolic representation - the use of one object to stand for another
eg a card as an iphone or stick as a gun
tends to be physically resemblative, as they develop further they rely less on self-generated symbols and more on conventional ones
eg drawing flowers begin to use more similar depictions
most noteable weaknesses during preoperational stage
egocentrism and centration
define egocentrism
the tendency to perceive the world soley through one’s own point of view
also envident in language (egocentric speech)
egocentric speech decrease can lead to
verbal quarrels in children as are now listening to other children and understanding they have a different view to us
define cetration
the tendecny to focu on a single perceptually striking feature of an object or event
what is the conservation concept
the idea that merely changing the appearance in objects does not necessarily change the objects other key properties
how concrete operations children fail swinging pendulum test
come up with various experiments that valid conclusions cannot be drawn from - are changing too mnay thigns at once
which stage did piaget believe was not universal
formal operations stage
cruicial weaknesses in piaget’s theory (4)
vague about the mechanisms that give rise to children’s thinking and that produce cognitive growth
infants and yound children are more cognitively competent than piaget recognised - his tests were hard, children tend to pass looking paradgims of his test earlier
piaget’s theory understates the contribution of the social world to cognitive developnent
the stage model depicts children’s thinking as being more consistent than it is - eg at age 6 conservation of number passes but solid quantity failed
educational applications of piaget’s theory
at different ages need to teach children differently as they think differently
children learn best when interacting with their environment and not just sat being told
eg two horses round a circular race track, only understand when physically do it that person on the inside goes slower than person on the outside
define information-processing theories
a class of theories that focus on the structure of the cognitive system and the mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems
define task analysis
the research technique of identifying goals, relevant information in the environment and potential processing strategies for a problem
define computer simulation
a type of mathematical model that expresses ideas about mental processes in precise ways
give an example of where computer simulations have been used for understanding child development
on the knowledge and mental processes that led young children to fail on conservation problems and the different processes that make oldre kids suceed on them.
comparing the two = can work out the difference between failure and success
also used on object permanemce, word learning, categorization, phonology, working memory, reading and problem solving
what are the two noteable characteristics of information processing
precise specification of the processes involved in children’s thinking
emphasis on thinking as a process that occurs over time
information-processing theorists see cognitive development as..
occuring continuously in small increments that happen at different ages on different tasks
differs fundamentally to piaget
the child as a limited-capactiy processing system
part of information-processing theories
similar to computer and software limitations
people’s thinking is limited by the same factors: memory capacity, speed of thought processes, availability of usefu stragtegies and knowledge
cognitive development arises from children gradually surmounting their processing limitations through expanding the amounts of info they can process at one time, increasing their processing speeds and aquiring new strategies and knowledge
define problem solving
the process of attaining a goal by using a strategy to overcome an obstacle
according to information-processing theories children are
active problem solvers
how information-processing theories see nature vs nurture
how they work together to produce development
these theories care about how change occurs
define working memory
memory system that involves actively attending to, gathering, maintaining, sotring and processing information
limited in capacity (amount of infor it can actively attend to and length of time it can maintain info in its active state)
why do we think capacity and speed of working memory increases greatly over childhood
increasing knowledge of the content on which working memory operates and in part becaus eof maturation changes in the brain
kindergarten in highly decorated classrooms study
we have highly decorated classes as we think they make them a more appealing environment to learn in
when taught a series of science lessons in a birghtly decorated classroom or in a room with no decorations they learned more of the material in the undecorated room. in highly decorated room spent more time off task
define long term memory
information retained on an enduring basis
long term knowledge includes
factual
conceptual (eg what justice is)
procedural
attitudes
reasoning strategies
totality of ones knowledge with working memory a subset
unlimited infor for an unlimited period of time
50 years later still remember spanish / alegebra they learnt at school but haven’t used since
what brain area plays an important role in cognitive control / executive funcitoning
prefrontal cortex
what are the three major types of executive functions
inhibiting inadvisable actions
enhancing working memory - eg selectively attend to important info
being cognitively flexible - eg imagining somone else’s perspective in an argument
when does the ability of executive control functions to control thinking and actions increase greatly
during preschool and early elementary years
eg 3yo cannot change rule of sorting easuly but 5yo can
eg simon says game
the quality of executive funcitoning during early childhood predicts
many important later outcomes
academic performance in high school
enrollment in college
income and occupational status in adulthood
also higher exec functioners learn more from their peers and improve their understanding of other peoples thinking
being bilingual…
improves executive functioning
training progrmmes that improve shildren’s executive functioning
tools of mind - teachers stated and implemented clear rules, rewarded positive behaviours, redirected negative behaviours in positive directions = help children inhibit impulses to disrupt classroom activities and help them sustain attention to the task in hand
substantial executive functioning imporvements both immediately after and a year after compared to controls
also for the next three years those who had the interventional performed better in maths and reading than the children in the lib
define basic processes
the simplest, most used mental activities
define encoding
the process of representing in memory information that draws attention or is considered important
define rehersal
the process of repeating information multiple times to aid memory of it
what do information-processing theorists try to explain about memory
the processes that make it as good as it is at each age and the limitations that prevent it from being better
basic processes include
associating events with one another
recognizing objects as familiar
recalling facts and procedures
generalizing from one instance to another
we encode..
only a select amount of info
we fail to encode alot
it is isnt encoded then it isnt remembered
eg american flag we dont actually know where the stars specifically are or where the bars are
balance scale problems
both distance from middle and weight matters
5 year olds look at weight and not distance as they dont encode about distance
how can we asses encoding of balance-scale configurations
children shown balance scale with varying arrangements of weights on pegs - scale is hidden behind opaque barrier
children asked to replicate arrangment on identical but empty scale
5 yo generally reproduce the correct number of weights on each side but rarely put them the correct distance from the middle
but is we teacht them both weight and distance matters = more advanced balance-scale rules that peers who weren’t taught fail to learn on their own
speed of processing increases most…
at young ages
but still continues into adolescents
what are the two biological processes that lead to faster speed of processing
mylentation
increased connectivity among brain regions
define selective attention
the process of intentionally focusing on the information that is most relevant to the current goal
eg tell 7/8 yo to remeber just a certain category of items will direct all attention to those items
same instructions to 4 yo = will still pay equal attention to all items
increase in knowledge leads to
increase in recall of new material as is easier to intgrate the new material with the existing understanding
eg shown in adults vs kids
when given new info kids remember more of the new info than adults when it is in the context of kids tv or know more about soccer (will beat those with higher iq but know less about soccer)
how does prior content knowledge improve memory for new info
improves encoding - eg child experts on chess leads to higher level chunking instead of remebering each piece separately
provides useful associations - eg what is and what is not possible so guides memory in useful directions eg baseball recall a particular inning of a game they can remember only 2 outs an innings, they recognise there must have been a third out so search their memory for it but people who do not have knowledge about baseball will not do this
define overlapping wave theory
an information-processing appraoch that emphasises the variability of children’s thinking
why childrens number addition improves
discover new methods (counting-on)
faster and more accurate execution of all the strategies that shildren know (eg retrieve answers from memory)
children’s choice among strategies becomes increasingly adaptive
why according to infromation-processing theories is planning difficutl for children
requires inhibiting the desrie to solve the problem immediately in favour of first trying to chose the best strategy
eg working on an assigned strategy without first planning it
also children tend to be overoptimitic about their abilities and believe they can problem solve without planning = leads to acting rashly. eg 6yo who overestimate their physical abilities have more accidents than their peers who have more realistic expectations
what are of the brai is important for maturation of plannig
maturing prefrontal cortex
also experience helps
in dangerous situations who is most liekly to plan
preadolescents and adolescents are more likely than adults not to plan or ignore prior plans and take risks
educational applications of information-processing theories
children’s ealry knowledge of numbers = predicts their mathematical achievement years later
children from lower ses backgrounds are in a worse place when they start kindergarte
playing numerical board games over colour based board games improves kids number and adding abilities (chutes and ladders)
task analysis of the game = verbal, spatial, temporal and motor cues provide a broadly based, multisensory foundation for knowledge of numerical magnitudes = a types of knowledge that is closely related to overall mathematical achievement
what are core-knowledge theories
appraoches that view children as having some innate knowledge in domains in special evolutionary importance and domain specific learning mechanisms for rapidly and effortlessly aquiring additional information in these domains
areas of core knowledge
understanding and manipulating other people’s thinking
recognising living vs non-living entities
identifying human faces
finding your way through space
understanding cause and effects
learning language
example of deception book starts with
i didn’t break the lamp and i won’t do it again
tries to deceive
but also has back covered just in case
what does deception research reveal
in certain areas of probable importance in human evolution, infants and young shildrent hink in ways that are considerably moer advanced than piaget suggested was possible
eg if children were completely egocentric wouldn’t try deception as the other person would already know what they knew
but preschoolers do try to deceive
how are children depicted in core-knowledge theories
active learners
eg 3yo understand deception much better when they are actively involved in perptrating the deceit than when they are merely witnessing the same deception being purportrated by others
big difference in core-knowledge theories compared to piagetian and information-processing
children enter the world equipped not only with general learning abilities but also specialized learning mechanisms or mental structures that allow them to quickly and effortlessly aquire information of evolutionary importance
child as a well-adapted product of evolution (not as a scientist)
define domain specific
information about a particular content area
different mechanisms produce…
development in each domain
eg ToM is believed to produce learnign about one’s own and other people’s minds but different specialized mechanisms are believed to produce learning about faces, language, movement etc
define nativism
the theory that infants have substantial knowledge of evolutionary important domains
Core-knowledge theory (the theory explained)
prominent nativist theory
infants begin life with 4 core-knowledge systems each of which includes understanding of a particularly important domain
1 innanimate objects and their mechanical interactions
2 minds of people and other animals capable of goal directed actions
3 numbers
4 spatial layouts and geometric relations
studies have shown infants do posses some of these basic understandings eg an object cannot simultaneaously hold the space of another object
core-knowledge theory of language
language aquisition device
specialised learning mechansim enables young children to rapidly master the complicated systems of grammar rules in their own language quickly and effortlessly
this is universal acorss cultures
but learning algebra ot formal logic or kinship relations is not universal
universality of aquisitions early in life without apparent effort and without instruction from other people = particularly important for core-knowledge theorists
define constructivsm
the theory that infants build increasingly advanced understanding by combining rudimentary knowledge with several subsequent experiences
blends elements of nativism, piaget and infor-processing theories
core-knoweldge constructivists suggest
young children actively organize their understnding of the most important domains into informal theories
as rudimental as these theories may be, they share three important characteristics with scientific theories
1 identify fundamental untis for dividing relevant objects and events into a few basic categories
2 they explain many phenomena in terms of a few fundamental principles
3 they explain events in terms of unobservable causes
many ones = bio, psych and physics
according to core-knoweldge constructivits how do children understand bio
divide all obejcts into three categories - people, other animal, non-living
understand broadly applicable bio principles - desire for food and water underlies many behaviours of animals.
vital activities of animals are caused by something inside of the animals themselves as opposed to external forces that determine the behaviour of the objects
what do core-knowledge contructionists wellman and gelman suggest about cognitive development
first theory of psych emerges 18 months, bio at 3yo
at first theory of psych is organised around the understanding that other peoples actions,not just ones own reflect their goals and desires
eg people eat when they not you are hungry
first theory of bio is organized around realization animals and people are living and other things are not
eg animals and people can heal, manufactured objects cannot
more advanced theories then follow
not until 7 yo children believe that the cateogry of living things includes plants and animals
similarly only at 3/4 yo do children recognise beliefs as well as desires influence their own and other people’s actions
