Theories Of Cognitive Development

Question 1

What are the benefits of developmental theories?

Answer 1

They provide a framework for understanding important phenomena

Raise crucial questions about human nature

Lead to better understanding of children by stimulating new research

Question 2

What are the four stages of Piaget’s theory?

Answer 2

Sensorimotor – the period (birth to 2y) in which intelligence is expressed through sensory and motor abilities

Preoperational – the period (2-7y) in which children become able to represent their experiences in language, mental imagery and symbolic thought

Concrete operational – the period (7-12y) in which children become able to reason logically about concrete objects and events

Formal operational - the period (12+) in which people become able to think about abstractions and hypothetical situations

Question 3

How does Piaget suggest these stages are constructed?

Answer 3

Through processes of:

Assimilation
Accommodation
Equilibrium

Question 4

How does Piaget’s theory fit into the themes?

Answer 4

Active child - yes, constructivist and intrinsically motivated to learn

Nature v nurture - interact

Continuity - discontinuous (stages) but talks about 3 processes of continuity

Question 5

How does the information processing theory fit into the themes?

Answer 5

Active child - yes, active problem solvers

Nature v nurture - interact

Continuous

MOC - memory and EF

Question 6

How does the core knowledge theory fit into the themes?

Answer 6

Active child - ?

Nature v nurture - interact (nature = innate knowledge)

Continuous

Question 7

How does the sociocultural theory fit into the themes?

Answer 7

Active child - yes but focus on motivation of others to teach

Nurture

Continuous

Question 8

How does the dynamic systems theory fit into the themes?

Answer 8

Active child - yes, innate motivations but also influenced by others

Nature and nurture - interact

Continuous - in complex systems

MOC - motor activities, attention etc

Question 9

Who is the main information processing theorist and what was their methods?

Answer 9

Siegler and Klhar

Task analysis - including computer simulation

Question 10

Who was the main Piagetian theorist and what was their methods?

Answer 10

Piaget

Clinical methods and observational

Question 11

Who was the main core knowledge theories and what was their main method?

Answer 11

Spelke

Habituation paradigms

Question 12

Who was the main sociocultural theorist and what was their methods?

Answer 12

Vygotsky

Naturalistic and structured observations

Question 13

Who was the main dynamic theorist and what was their main method?

Answer 13

Thelen

Stepping reflex

Question 14

Constructivist

Answer 14

Children construct knowledge in response to experiences

Question 15

Assimilation

Answer 15

The process by which people translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts they already understand

Question 16

Accommodation

Answer 16

The process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences

Question 17

Equilibrium

Answer 17

Process by which children (or other people) balanced assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding.

Includes three stages; satisfied with understanding of phenomena (equilibrium), new info makes them realise mistake (disequilibrium) then they develop a more sophisticated understanding.

Question 18

What are Piaget’s sources for discontinuity

Answer 18

Qualitative change — children of different ages think in qualitatively different ways

Board applicability — the type of thinking characteristic of each stage influences children’s thinking
across diverse topics and contexts

Brief transitions – stages of transition between thinking styles

Invariant sequence — everyone progresses through the same stages in the same order without
skipping any of them

Question 19

Sensorimotor stage of Piagets theory

Answer 19

Adapt movement to environment from birth e.g suck nipples

Lack object permanence

Develop A not B error

Show first sign of deferred imitation

Question 20

Object permanence

Answer 20

Knowledge that objects continue to exist when they are out of view

Question 21

A not B error

Answer 21

the tendency to reach for hidden object where it was last found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden.

Question 22

Deferred imitation

Answer 22

repetition of other people’s behaviour a substantial time after it originally occurred

Question 23

Preoperational stage of Piagets theory

Answer 23

Development of symbolic gestures (use of object to stand for another)

Limited by egocentrism

Limited by centration as shown by conversion problem

Question 24

Egocentrism

Answer 24

tendency to perceive world from own point of view only

Question 25

Centration

Answer 25

the tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event (shown in the balance scale problem)

Conversion problem

Question 26

Concrete operational stage of Piagets theory

Answer 26

Reason logically - solve conversion problems

Limited by reasoning about hypothetical situations and thinking systematically as shown in Inhelder and Piagets pendulum problem

Question 27

Formal operational stage

Answer 27

Think abstractly

Reason hypothetically

Not universal

Question 28

Information processing theory

Answer 28

Focus on the structure of the cognitive system and mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems

Emphasis on process involved in children’s thinking and thinking as a process that occurs over time

Child is limited by their memory capacity and speed of processing which both increase over time

Question 29

Memory and IPT

Answer 29

Working memory capacity is limited but increases through childhood

LTM is unlimited

Memory is key to identity

Question 30

EF and IPT

Answer 30

Inhibiting inadvisable actions, enhancing WM and being cognitively flexible

3yo have trouble switching goals whereas 5yo don’t
Simon says - inhibition

Quality of EF enhances academic success

Question 31

Overlapping waves theory

Answer 31

IPT

refers to using a variety of strategies to solve problems, with the strategies becoming more advances with age and experience

Question 32

Core knowledge theory

Answer 32

View that children have some innate knowledge domains of special evolutionary importance and domain-specific learning mechanisms for rapidly and effortlessly acquiring additional information in those domains

Tendency to deceive increases (they understand people don’t have access to same knowledge as them) - contradicts Piaget’s egocentrism

ToMM

Question 33

CKT and constructivism v nativism

Answer 33

Nativism: the theory that infants have substantial innate knowledge of evolutionary important domains as well as the ability to quickly and easily acquire more knowledge in these domains

Constructivism: the theory that infants build increasingly advanced understanding by combining rudimentary innate knowledge with subsequent experiences

Question 34

Spelke’s 4 innate core knowledge systems

Answer 34

Inanimate objects and their mechanical interactions

Minds of people and other animals capable of goal directed actions

Numbers

Spatial layouts and geometric relations

(Language is another core knowledge believed to be innate)

Question 35

Sociocultural theory

Answer 35

Emphasise that other people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children’s development.

It’s suggested that its others that are motivated by watching you learn and develop through guided participation which is a process in which more knowledgeable individuals organise activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to learn

Question 36

Vygotsky’s phases of internalisation of speech

Answer 36

Behaviour controlled by other peoples statements

Private speech – children develop self-regulation and problem solving abilities by telling themselves aloud what to do

Internalised private speech

Question 37

Chen, Mo and Honomichi (2004)

Answer 37

Conducted a study with uni students in US and China and asked them to solve two problems, one related to a fairy tale of each culture e.g Hansel and Gretel for US and they found that if the problem was related to a fairy tale from their culture they were superior in solving it

Question 38

Wang (2013)

Answer 38

Asked 4-8 year olds about earliest memories in China and US they found correlation with the cultures values and attitudes i.e independence v interdependence

Question 39

Intersubjectivity

Answer 39

The mutual understanding that people share during communication, by focussing on the same topic as well as the other persons reaction.

Joint attention is at the heart of intersubjectivity, a process in which social partners internationally focus on a common referent in the external environment - children start this at age 1

Question 40

Social scaffolding

Answer 40

Process in which more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own

It involves explaining the goal of the task, demonstrating how the task can be done and helping with the most difficult parts, until they gradually need less and less support.

Social scaffolding helps process of forming autobiographical memories as children are encouraged to expand on their statements, improving encoding of key information.

Question 41

Dynamic systems theory

Answer 41

Focus on how change occurs over time in complex systems.

Integrative of all theories

Thinking serves an adaptive process as it helps attain goals but also requires action.

Centrality of action - how specific actions shape development e.g walking or imitating others

Question 42

Thelen et al (1993)

Answer 42

Conducted a longitudinal study on the reaching efforts of 4 infants during their first year. A computer analysed the infants muscle movements, and found that because of individual differences in the infants physiology, activity level, arousal, motivation and experience, each child faced different challenges in attempts to master reaching.

Infants varied in age that they reached the milestone, reaching speeds and typical motions.

Smith et al (1999) - A not B error as motor habit

Question 43

Self-organisation

Answer 43

Development is a process of integrating attention, memory, emotions and actions as needed to adapt to a continuously changing environment. The organisational process is sometimes called soft assembly, because the components and their organisation change from moment to moment and situation to situations.

Question 44

Stepping reflex

Answer 44

Neonatal reflex in which an infant lifts one leg and then the other in a coordinated pattern like walking.

Disappears around 2 months due to rapid weight gain

If you place babies legs in water it comes back and attach weights to newborns ankles and disappears