Theorists Flashcards
What was Jean Piaget’s theory?
That intellectual development happened in stages, and a child will only move on to the next one when the first one has been completely mastered
What is a Schema?
Linked mental representations of the world we use to understand and to respond to situations.
What is the sensory motor stage? (Birth to 2 years)
Child gains understanding of its environment by using its senses
What is object permanence?
The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.
What is an example of object permanence?
When you play peekaboo with a baby, when you cover your face, babies actually think you’ve disappeared
What is the pre-operational stage? (2-7 years)
Child becomes able to represent objects or events by symbols or signs. The child is now able to use language to express their ideas
What is egocentrism?
A young child’s inability to see a situation from another persons perspective. They assume everyone thinks and feels the same way in which they do
What is conservation?
Children are unable to understand that mass or volume remain the same despite changes in their appearance. E.g. a small and big glass of orange juice with the same volume in, the taller glass looks like there’s more in it
What is the concrete operational stage? (7-11 years)
The child is said to have decentred. This means that they can take into account more than one aspect of a situation
What is the formal operational stage? (11-18 years)
Formal logic and is the most sophisticated stage of thinking. They can think through and solve problems
Who are Piaget’s critics?
Donaldson suggested conservation errors showed by children have actually caused the children to provide the wrong answers that goes against their better judgement
What did Samuel and Bryant believe?
They argue that asking the same question twice causes children to make mistakes. The assumption is that the first answer must have been wrong
Who was Gene the wild child?
She was a girl that was kept in a basement for 13 years, and she was never exposed to language. Her father shot himself, and her mother sent her to social services. She began to learn new words, but couldn’t form sentences. Scientists concluded that she will never be able to learn language
What did Chomsky believe?
That we are born with a language acquisition device. If this isn’t triggered by the time we reach puberty, we will find it difficult to learn a language and grammar
What were Chomsky’s theories?
That a Childs brain is genetically determined to pick up language. We should be fluent in a language by the time we are 5
What is a language acquisition device?
The brain is a ‘device’ for picking up language. Chomsky believed that grammar is never taught, learning the language rules just happen
When does the language acquisition device develop?
During maturation
What are Chomsky’s views?
Just from hearing language, children’s brains are triggered to pick up language
What is socialisation?
Bruner believed that socialisation was very important to learning language. Without being exposed to other people talking, children won’t learn vocabulary
Who is John Bowlby?
He is the leading theorist on attachment
What did Bowlby believe?
Family life was important to emotional development and that children need to have a strong and stable relationship with their primary carer
What does Bowlby think will happen if a child is separated from their parents?
Likely to suffer psychological problems later in life
What are the three stages of separation anxiety?
Protest
Despair
Detachment
Nurseries will never let the child get to the detachment phase, they’ll distract them with toys and playing
What did Harry Harlowe research?
He researched monkeys to prove that babies need a mother figure to attach to
What happened in Harlowe’s experiment?
He separated infant monkeys from their natural mothers and placed in cages with two substitute mothers. One was made of wire and supplied food and water, and the other was made of cloth
What were the results of Harlowe’s experiment?
The monkeys showed a preference for the soft padded monkey and would only go to the wire one for food. The monkeys wanted a warm and comfortable object to cling to for security
What was Mary Ainsworth’s theory called?
The strange situation
What was Ainsworth’s theory about?
That a child will seek comfort when their carer leaves the room
What happened in Ainsworth’s experiment?
There was a mother and a child who were playing together. A stranger enters the room and the child is wary of them. The mother leaves, and the child begins to cry.
What did Ainsworth’s experiment show?
Parents are the secure base from which children explore the world around them. They help the child to feel happy, secure and confident
Why do children need a secure attachment?
leads to happier and healthier attachments in the future
What effect does a secure attachment have on a child?
They’ll feel secure and loved
Like they can reach their potential
They’ll cope with stress and anxiety
What happens if there is no secure attachment for a child?
They won’t trust their caregivers
Have behaviour problems
Lack ability to receive affection
What is Gesell’s maturation theory?
That development was pre-determined and the outside world had very little effect. If a child is delayed then its down to their heredity rather than their environment
What was Gesell interested in?
How children developed and created milestones for them
What did Gesell do?
He created milestones or norms for each development area by watching children
Define ‘maturation’ in terms of Gesell
A genetically programmed sequence of change. E.g. the onset of the menopause
What do critics say about Gesell’s theory?
That it doesn’t take individual or cultural differences into consideration for children with learning difficulties
What was Gesell’s maturation theory?
That children naturally become interested in sounds and signs that they see around them and the ability to speak unfolds
What was Bandura’s social learning theory?
that people learn behaviours through the observation of others
What is ‘Attention’ in Bandura’s cognitive and behavioural processes?
people learn from a model
What is ‘retention’in Bandura’s cognitive and behavioural processes?
how well the individual remembers the models action
What is ‘motor reproduction’in Bandura’s cognitive and behavioural processes?
the watcher imitates what they’ve seen
What is ‘reinforcement’in Bandura’s cognitive and behavioural processes?
motivated to show the modelled behaviour
What was the Bobo Doll experiment?
Children were separated into groups, and one group watched someone be physically and verbally abusive towards the Bobo Doll. The children who watched this repeated their actions. The other group of children watched an adult play nicely with the Bobo Doll, then repeated their actions
What is Skinner’s reinforcement theory?
the process of shaping behaviour by controlling consequences of the behaviour
What is operant conditioning?
a method of leaning that occurs through rewards and punishment of behaviour
What is Skinner’s Box?
He put a hungry rat into a cage. the box had a lever on one side and as the rat moved around it would knock the lever and food would drop. the rat learned quickly that he needs to repeat this action
What is positive reinforcement?
it strengthens behaviour by providing a consequence the individual finds rewarding
What is negative reinforcement?
it strengthens behaviour because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience
What is the stress diathesis model?
Its shows how vulnerable we are to mental health disorders. some people are more likely to get them than others, if they’re further down the line than other people
