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
