Theories Of Cognitive Development

Question 1

What are Piaget’s 3 sources of continuity

Answer 1

1. Assimilation - fitting new information into pre existing schemes
2. Accommodation - altering pre existing schemes to fit new information
3. Equilibrium - shortcomings in the understanding of a schema are eliminated and a more sophisticated understanding is developed

Question 2

Does Piaget believe development is continuous or discontinuous

Answer 2

Discontinuous

Question 3

What are Piaget’s 4 stages of development

Answer 3

1. Sensorimotor
2. Pre operational
3. Concrete operational
4. Formal operational

Question 4

What is the sensorimotor stage

Answer 4

Birth - 2 years

Can differentiate themselves from objects
Achieve object permanence
Begin to act intentionally

Question 5

What are the first 3 stages in the sensorimotor stage

Answer 5

1. 0-1 month - reflexes visually track objects and suck things in their mouth
2. 1-4 months - primary circular reactions. Refine their reflexes and turn them into more complex actions
3. 4-9 months - secondary circular reactions. Behaviour becomes more responsive to the outside world and pay attention to the outcome of actions

Question 6

What is the preoperational stage

Answer 6

2-7 years

Learn to use language
Still egocentric
Classifies object by a single feature
Cannot solve conservation

Question 7

What are 2 experiments children cannot complete in the preoperational stage

Answer 7

1. 3 mountains task - children sat opposite a doll. Asked to say what the doll can see from their view. State what they can see instead as they have egocentrism
2. Conservation of liquid - children shown liquid in 2 glasses - a tall thin glass and a shirt wide glass. Both have same amount of liquid Asked which one has more liquid in. Say the tall glass as they cannot solve conservation

Question 8

What is the concrete operational stage

Answer 8

7-11 years

Get conservation
Can think logically about events
Can classify objects according to several features
Cannot solve the pendulum problem

Question 9

What is the formal operational stage

Answer 9

11+

Can test hypotheses systematically
Become concerned with the future and ideological problems

Question 10

What are 3 strengths of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 10

1. Lots of experimental data and research
2. Shows infants experience the world different from adults
3. Has domain generality - the transition between the stages affects the reasoning in all domains

Question 11

What are 3 weaknesses to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 11

1. Some of the tasks may be too complex
2. Understates the affect of the social and cultural world on development
3. Children are more cognitively component than Piaget’s states

Question 12

What is the pendulum problem that children in the concrete operational stage cannot solve

Answer 12

Asked how the weight, string length and dropping point affect the time it takes for a pendulum to swing back and forth. Children in this stage do it unsystematically

Question 13

What is Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective of cognitive development

Answer 13

Children are social learners
Thinking and reasoning is due to social activity
Cognitive development is due to interactions children have with others

Question 14

What are the 3 phases of internalised speech

Answer 14

1. Children’s behaviour is controlled by other people’s statements
2. Children’s behaviours is controlled by their private speech, they tell themselves what to do out loud
3. Children’s behaviour is controlled by internalised private speech, silently tell themselves what to do

Question 15

What is social scaffolding

Answer 15

More competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than they could manage on their own e.g by demonstrating how to do tasks or helping with more difficult parts

Question 16

How does culture affect cognitive development according to Vygotsky

Answer 16

Content that children learn e.g language, skills and values are affected by culture

Question 17

What is the information processing theory of cognitive development

Answer 17

Children improve their processing limitations e.g memory capacity by increasing their processing speed, increasing the amount they can process at one time and acquiring new knowledge

Question 18

What are the final 3 stages of the sensorimotor stage

Answer 18

4. 9-12 months - coordinations of circular reactions. Do one to do another e.g drop toy to grasp another. Make A not B error as don’t have object permanence
5. 12-18 months - tertiary circular reactions. Don’t commit A not B error as have object permanence
6. 18-24 months - invention of new means through mental combinations - start pretend play and develop symbolic thought, capable of deferred imitation