Cognition and Development

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  • Created by: Annagc
  • Created on: 05-05-19 14:35
What is a schema?
a set of linked mental representations of the world which we use to both understand and respond to situations
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Examples of innate schemas?
Sucking reflex, rooting reflex, grasping reflex
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What are the characteristics of early schemas?
external and physical
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What is adaptation?
The process of changing a schema that doesn't quite fit a situation which we find ourselves in
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What is the evolutionary purpose of schemas?
They help us survive as a more realistic schema modelimproves our chance of survival in the environment we find ourselves in
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What is the first sub process of adaptation?
Assimilation - the process of applying a schema to a new situation
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Example of assimilation
a child using the grasping reflex when you put something in its palm even if this is not suitable for the object
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What is the second sub process of adaptation?
Equilibration - when the child experiences something that can't be included into their exisiting schemas they are motivated to develop their schemas due to disequlibrium
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What is the third sub process of adaptation?
Accomodation - the process of modifying a schema so we can deal with a new situation more effectively
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Example of accomodation
Modifying the power grip to hold a pencil in a precison grip
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What are functional invariants?
The collective name given to adaptation, disequilibrium and equilibrium which help to develop understanding
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What are variant structures?
structures which change and devlop as new knowledge is discovered e.g. schemas and operations
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What are the strengths of Piaget's notion of schemas?
It has been applied to education and the way children should be taught, for example teachers can promote 'self discovery' and ask hard questions to create disequilibrium to allow for adaptation
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What are the limitations of Piaget's notion of schemas?
Issues of falsifiability as he describes not explains the process, underestimates importance of social interaction (Vygotsky), underestimated ability of young children e.g. object permanence being innate not learned
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What are the key features of Piaget's stages of development?
They are invariant and universal, at each stage understanding is qualitatively different,child is a 'lone scientist', enourmous influence on education
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What concept is acquired in the sensorimotor stage (age 0-2)?
Object permanence
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Evidence to support babies acquiring object permanence?
Piaget observed that babies up to 8 months turn attention away when an object is removed from sight, from 8 months they would actively look for the object
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What is the A not B error and when do children stop making it?
hen children get used to looking behind a particular screen for an object they will continue to look there even when they have seen it be hidden somewhere else, they stop making this error at 12 months old
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Weakness of Piaget's theory of object permanance?
The infants may have not been seraching for the toy because they lacked motor skills, weren't interested, thought it was forbidden
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Bower's contrasting evidence to Piaget's study
4-8 month old continued to track an object with their eyes when it disappeared behind a screen
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What are the key features of the pre-operational stage (age 2-7)?
They are egocentric, they don't understand conservation, the concept that redistributing material doesn't change the mass, number or volume
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Three mountains study
Children were shown a model of three different mountains, the child walked around them, a doll was placed in various positions around the model, the child had to pick what the doll could see, 4-5 y/o chose their view, 7-8 y/o chose the dolls view
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Criticisms of Piaget's three mountains study
It may not be a valid measurement as it is an unfamiliar situation, they may lack motivation, this could cause invalid finsdings
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Piaget's conservation experiment
Childrne were shown two identical beakers with the same amount of water, most children understood this, the water from one was poured into a tall thin beaker, under 7 said the tall beaker contained more water, older children said they had the same
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Weaknesses with the conservation experiment
Asking the same question twice implies the researcher expects a different answer the second time which affects the validity of the findings, Rose and Blank (1974) conducted it without the first question and found 6 y/o made fewer mistakes
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Features of the concrete observational stage
Children can think logically and perform mental operations with real life situations, they understand class inclusion
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Piaget's class inclusion experiment
Showed children a box of brown wooden beads and white wooden beads, asked whether there was more brown beads or wooden beads, only children over 6 answered correctly
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Weaknesses of class inclsuion experiment?
Methodology criticised as questions were unusual so it lowers internal validity, Mcgarrigle used 3 black and 1 white model cow, more children answered correctly
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Features of the formal operational stage
Children can apply mental operations to abstract concepts, adolescents begin to think hypothetically
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Third eye problem experiment (Schaffer)
9 year old suggested a third eye should be on the forehead, 11 year olds were more inventive e.g. on the hand
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Piaget's formal operations experiment
Asked to work out what factors affect the rate at which a pendulum swings, only children in the formal operational stage would identify factors affecting the swing showing systematic logical resoning
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Weaknesses of formal operational stage
Other reaserchers found adolescents are much slower to acquire formal operations than piaget thought, quite a lot of American adults don't reach the formal stage, some cultures with little education cant solve the problems
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Strengths of Piaget's methods
His observations provide rich qualitative data for cog, dev., his tests were innovative so he was influential in reserach design
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Weaknesses of Piaget's methods
Small sample, less rigorous reporting, didn't standardise as his interactions with pp's were very informal, his questions were confusing
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Strengths of Piaget's theory
Profound influence on early education, he has cross-cultural support from Goodnow (1969), evidence supports his idea that stages are fixed and cant be accelerated by adult help
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Weaknesses of Piaget's theory
His stages are too rigid, doesn't consider social processes
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What is Vygostsky's theory of collaborative interaction?
Learning occurs through social interaction with an adult or more knowledgable peer who can provide verbal instructions
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What is the Zone of proximinal development?
The gap between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner
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What is scaffolding?
The gradual withdrawal of adult control and support as a child increases mastery of a give task, it is a form of instruction in which the child is given support which is reduced as they become competent
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Wood and Middleton research into scaffolding
Observed 4 year olds and their parents playing individually with a set of blocks, it was too difficult for the child to complete alone, initially parents demonstrated, then they stopped helping directlybut gave verbal suggestion and encouragement
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Strength of Vygotsky's socio-cultural approch
Greenfield and Lave showed that young Mexican girls watched skilled woman weavers then worked with guidance from them and finally worked alone, she emphasised the role of social interaction which was ignored by Piaget
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Weaknesses of Vygotsky's theory
Piaget suggsts that childrens learning can't accelerated
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What was Baillargeon interested in ?
The extent to which infants understand how the physical world works e.g. object permanence
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Baillargeon and DeVos object permanence methods
A child saw a carrot move from left to right behind a screen, then they saw a short carrot pass from left to right of a cut out screen (possible event) and a tall carrot move behind the cut out screen (impossible)
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Results of object permanence results
Child stares longer at the impossible event, 3 month old babies show object permanence as they are aware of the continued existsnce of the carrot as it passes behind the screen
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Strengths of baillargeon's experiment
Suggests Piaget underestimated the perceptual abilities of young children
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Weaknesses of baillargeon's experiment
Babies don't understand all aspects of the physical world e.g gravity suggesting not all cognitive abilities are innate, may not be valid as they may have stared longer for other reasons, difficult to conduct study with newborns
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What is social cognition?
The mental processes we use when engaged in social interaction
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What is perspective taking?
Our ability to apprecaite a situation from another person's point of view, in a social context means understanding what others are thinking and feeling
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What was Selman's method to research perspective taking?
He took 30 boys and 30 girls, aged 4,5 and 6 and asked them how each person felt in various scenarios,
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Stage 0 (3-6 years) Socially egocentric
Child can distinguish between theirs and other emotions, can identify emotional states in others but not what social behaviours might have caused them
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Stage 1 (6-8 years) Social information role taking
Can tell the difference between their POV and others but can only focus on one at a time
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Stage 2 (8-10 years) Self-reflective role taking
Children can put themselves in the position of others and fully appreciate their perspective, can still only focus on one perspective at at a time
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Stage 3 (10-12 years) Mutual role taking
Children can look at the situation from their own and anothers perspective at the same time
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Stage 4 (12 years+) Social and conventional system role taking
Children can see that sometimes understanding others viewpoints isn't enough to allow people to reach agreement - social conventions are needed to keep order in society
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Strengths of Selmans work
Supported longitudinal study which shows that persepctive taking devlops with age, applications in understandind autism, ADHD etc
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Weaknesses of Selman's work
Mixed evidence in the role of perspective taking in social development, Gasser and Kellr found bullies displayed no difficulties in perspective taking, their are also cultural differences in perspective taking as Chinese pp's did better than American
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What is theory of mind?
Our personal understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling, our theory of what is going on in the mind of others
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Sally-Anne study method
Children are told that Sally places a marble in her basket but when Sally isn't looking Anne moves the marble to her box, the task is to work out where Sally will look for her marble
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Sally Anne study results
Compared to control group of children with down syndrome and a group of children without a diagnosis, 85% of children in control groups answered correctly, 20% of ASD group got answer right
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Adults with Asperger's Sally-Anne study
They succeeded easily suggestin whether ASD can be explained by TOM deficits
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Baron-Cohen Eyes Task
Asked adults with Asperger's to read complex emotions from eyes, those with high functioning ASD struggled suggesting TOM is involved in ASD
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Weaknesses of Selman's research
False belief tasks lack validity as they require other cognitive abilities children might not have, it is hard to distinguish TOM from perspective taking, no clear understadning of how TOM develops, eyes task lacks validity as it is different from RL
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What are mirror neurons?
Special brain cells distributed in several areas of the brain, they fire both in response to personal action and in response to the actions of others
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What did Gallese and Goldman (1998) suggest about mirror neurons ?
They respons not just to observed action but to the intentions behind the behaviour , we simulate other's actions in our motor sstem and experience their intentions using our mirror neurons
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How are mirror neurons involved in TOM and perspective taking?
They are a neural mechanism for experienving and understanding other people's perspctives and emotional states
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Ramachandran and Oberman (2006) How may a poor mirror neuron system explain ASD?
'Broken mirror' theory of ASD, neurological deficits prevent a child imitating and understanding social behaviour in others, this manifests in infancy where children with ASD mimic adult behaviour less
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Strengths of mirror neuron theory
Haker et al supportine evidence - an area rich in mirror neurons is involved in contagious yawning
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Weaknesse of mirror neuron theory
Lack of direct evidence as brain scans only show areas of activity not individual brain cels, questions about if mirror neurons exist at all as we only know them by what they do, lack of reliable evidence of abnormal neural function in ASD
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Card 2

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Examples of innate schemas?

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Sucking reflex, rooting reflex, grasping reflex

Card 3

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What are the characteristics of early schemas?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is adaptation?

Back

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Card 5

Front

What is the evolutionary purpose of schemas?

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