Week 15 Flashcards
Comparative perspective
A comparative perspective focuses on non-human animals to better understand the evolution of behaviour and mental processes
Rogue Test
Test used to determine development of a sense of self by using a dot of red colour on the nose of the child or animal
Self concept
An individuals perception of self, including knowledge, feelings, ideas about oneself. It is used as bias for how we describe ourselves
Autobiographical memory
Memory for the specific experiences that make up a persons life story; influences development of self concept
Social comparisions
Evaluating one’s abilities and opinions by comparing oneself and other and consider how we differ
Imaginary audience
Adolescents thought processes in which they believe they are constantly on a stage and everyone is watching them, attending to their every move and mistake
Theory of mind
Expectations concerning how experience affects mental states, especially those of another. It is a reasoning process that attempts to predict how others might think or behave based on gods/motive/needs
False belief problems
Set of tests used to determine children’s theory of mind and false belief understanding
Displacement test
False belief task like the Sally Anne task that ecplores how children reason through a change in location from two different perspectives
Intersubjectivity
An understanding between 2 individuals of the topic they are understanding
Infant habituation
The simplest form of learning in which a given stimulus is presented repeatedly. The child learns not to respond to an unimportant event that occurs repeatedly.
Preservation
Inability to switch strategies as new information is presented: the initial strategy might work, but when a change is called for, the strategy often remains the same. Often occurs in young children and individuals with frontal lobe damage.
Jean Piaget
- Emphasized the importance of the interaction between environmental and maturation factors in development
- Proposed cognitive abilities in developed stages and children of similar ages had similar abilities
Schema
Mental framework or body of knowledge that organizes and synthesizes information about a person/place/thing
Assimilation
Process by which new information about the world is incorporated into existing schemata
Accomadation
Process of altering one’s existing schemas or ideas as a result of new information or new experiences
Equilibrium
Process within Piagets theory that recognizes schemata
Sensorimotor Stage
The 1st period in Piagets theory of cognitive developement
Object permanence
Feature of Piaget’s sensorimotor period market by the understanding that objects to not disappear when they are out of sight
Altruism
A motive to increase another’s welfare without conscious regard for one’s self interest
Prosocial behaviour
Positive/constructive, helpful behaviour that is beneficial to others that are usually at cost to oneself
Longitudinal studies
Study of development that compare observations of the same individuals at different times in their lives
Kohlberg’s Stages
Heteronymous mortality Instrumental mortality Good child Law and order Social contract Universe ethical principle Cosmic orientation
Pre-operational stage
The second period in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, characterized by language development, using symbols, pretend play and mastering the concept of conservation. At this stage children are quite egocentric and also have trouble with conservation
Concrete operational stage
3rd period in Piaget’s TOCD during which children come to understand conservation, perspective theory and other concepts such as categorization
Formal operational stage
4th period in Piaget’s TOCD during which individuals first become capable of formal abstract thinking and hypothetical reasoning
Socio-cultural theory
The TOCD that places emphasis on environmental factors, including cultural influences
Joint attention
The ability to share attention with another towards the same object/event
Social referencing
The tendency of a person to look to another in an ambiguous situation to obtain clarifying information
Core knowledge theory
Speculate that from birth, the brain has mechanisms that predispose humans to learn specific skills very quickly or to understand phenomena in specific ways
Theory Theory
Children form coherent and abstract models (system of rules) about the way in which the world functions and then actively experiment to test and revise their models
