Research Methods and Cognitive Development Flashcards
1
Q
Developmental psych
A
- How we are as children
- How we change as we get older
2
Q
Cross-sectional research
A
- Research one specific group, or compare in the moment two or more specific group
3
Q
Cross-sectional research positives
A
- easy to control fro random variables
- easily replicated
- Relatively inexpensive
- good at telling you how people at specific ages act
4
Q
Cross-sectional research negatives
A
- Doesn’t show change over time
- Doesn’t account for cohort differences (group of people born at the same historical time)
5
Q
Longitudinal research
A
Study the same group of people over a long period of time
6
Q
Longitudinal research positives
A
- Get a very large amount of information about the group
- The only research method that can prove causation
7
Q
Longitudinal research negatives
A
- Very expensive and time consuming
- Hard to explain for random variables
- High attrition rate (people leaving the study)
8
Q
Biographical research
A
- Also called retrospective research
- Study the impact of an event in someone’s life after it happens
9
Q
Biographical research positives
A
- Can find out about unexpected phenomena
10
Q
Biographical research negatives
A
- Memory is pretty unreliable
- We cannot account for many variables that influence up until the point of interest
11
Q
Cognitive development
A
- How our thinking changes as we get older
- We are trying to determine:
- what basic ideas children have to know to correctly understand the world
- how we learn those beliefs
12
Q
Ways that we think about the world
A
- Object permanence
- Conservation
- Theory of mind
- Symbolic thought
- Concrete reasoning
- Abstract thinking
13
Q
Object permanence
A
- The knowledge that things continue to exist even when you can’t see them anymore
- critical for understanding the physical world
- Piaget says that we develop this around 8 months in the sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to age 2
14
Q
Conservation
A
- The principle that quantity remains the same even if the shape changes
- Piaget says develop around age 5, in the preoperational stage
15
Q
Theory of mind
A
- The understanding that other people have other points of view (literally + metaphorically)
- The idea that other people have their own minds that are separate from ours
- Critical for interpersonal relationships
- Before theory of mind develops, children are egocentric
- Develops around age 4-5 in the preoperational stage
16
Q
Symbolic thought
A
- The understanding that one thing can represent something else (map)
- Piaget also thought this developed in the preoperational stage
- Language indicative of symbolic thought
17
Q
Language
A
- Before we can talk, we have ideas, and then words just get layered on top of those
- Lev Vygotsky - we don’t think about things that aren’t coded language
18
Q
Concrete reasoning
A
- A correct understanding of our physical world, but reasoning is based in reality, rather than abstraction
- Piaget says that this occurs between ages 7-12
19
Q
Abstract thinking
A
- The development of a theoretical or conceptual understanding of both earlier and new concepts
- Piaget says that we develop this starting around the age of 12, which is the beginning of the Formal Operational stage
20
Q
How does our thinking change over time?
A
- Piaget - believes that this is “nature” - we naturally progress through these stages, little can be dont to influence
- Vygotsky - we are fundamentally shaped by our environment because we are constantly moving into new “zones of proximal development”
- we can do something or think about something with some help, but not entirely on our own
- once we master the concept, we get help with the next thing, etc