7. Cognitive Development

Question 1

developmental psychology

Answer 1

the field of study that explores patterns of stability, continuity, growth and change that occur throughout a person’s life

Question 2

physical development

Answer 2

the growth of the body and its organs

the functioning of physiological systems such as the brain physical signs of ageing, changes in motor abilites

Question 3

cognitive development

Answer 3

changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem-solving and other mental processes

Question 4

psychosocial development

Answer 4

changes and continuities in personal and interpersonal aspects such as motives, emotion, personality traits, interpersonal skill, relationships and roles played in the family and society

Question 5

what are the broad domains of development

Answer 5

physical, cognitive and psychosocial

Question 6

what are the stages of life?

Answer 6

prenatal period
infancy
early childhood
middle childhood
adolescent
early adulthood
middle adulthood
late adulthood

Question 7

what is piaget’s cognitive theory?

Answer 7

children actively construct new understandings of the world based on their experiences

Question 8

what are piaget’s stages?

Answer 8

sensorimotor
pre operational
concrete operational
formal operational

Question 9

sensorimotor stage

Answer 9

0-2 years

coordination of sensory and motor activity; achievement of object permanence

dominant cognitive structures are the behavioural schemes that develop through coordination of sensory information and motor responses

Question 10

pre operational stage

Answer 10

2-7

use of language and symbolic representations; egocentric view of the world, make-believe play

Question 11

concrete operational

Answer 11

7-11

solutions of concrete problems through logical operations; objects are organised into hierarchies and classes and subclasses; thinking is not yet abstract

Question 12

formal operaitional

Answer 12

11-adult

systematic solution of actual and hypothetical problem using abstract symbols

Question 13

what is assimilation

Answer 13

learning new information

Question 14

accomodation

Answer 14

changing schemes to incorporate new information or ideas

Question 15

what are Piaget’s direct concepts of direct learning?

Answer 15

schemes

assimilation
accommodation
adaptation

Question 16

what are the 6 substages of the sensorimotor stage

Answer 16

reflex
primary circular reactions
secondary circular reactions
coordination of secondary schemes
tertiary circular reactions
beginning of thought

Question 17

reflex activity stage

Answer 17

first month

reflexive reaction to internal and external stimulation

Question 18

primary circular reactions

Answer 18

1-4 months

infant repeat actions relating to their own bodies

Question 19

secondary circular reactions

Answer 19

4-8 months

repetitive actions involving something in the infant’s external environment

Question 20

coordination of secondary schemes

Answer 20

secondary actions are co-ordinated in order to achieve simple goals (e.g. pushing / grasping)

Question 21

tertiary circular reactions

Answer 21

12 -18 moths

experimentation: actions are repeated with variation

Question 22

beginning of thought

Answer 22

18 months –>

symbolic thought permits mental representation imitation and recall

Question 23

what is object permanance

Answer 23

developed during sensorimotor period

it is the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are not visibe

Question 24

what is the a 4-8 month old thinking in regard to object peromanance

Answer 24

out of sight out of mind

Question 25

12 months in regard to object permanance?

Answer 25

make the A not B error

Question 26

1 year (object permanence)

Answer 26

A-not-B error overcome, but continued trouble with invisible displacement

Question 27

18 months (object permanence)

Answer 27

mastered

Question 28

what is a common focus of a child in the pre-operational stage?

Answer 28

perceptual salience - the most obvious features of an object or situation - means that pre-schoolers can be fooled by appearance

Question 29

what do pre-operational children have difficulty with?

Answer 29

logic the rely on perceptions and lack of logical thought means that they have difficulty with conversation. (the idea that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is altered a superficial way)

Question 30

what are the cognitive limitations of the pre-operational stage?

Answer 30

``` centration irreversible thought static thought difficulty with classification egocentrism ```

Question 31

centration

Answer 31

focusing on one aspect of the problem or object

Question 32

irreversible thought

Answer 32

cannot mentally undo an action

Question 33

static thoguht

Answer 33

focusing on the end state rather that the changes that transformed one state into another

Question 34

difficulty with classificaiton

Answer 34

using criteria to sort objects on the basis of characteristics such as shape, colour or function lack of class inclusion, ability to related the whole class (e.g. furry animals) to its subclasses (dogs and cats)

Question 35

egocentrism and theory of mind

Answer 35

the ability to attribute mental states - beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge - to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own

Question 36

what are examples of false belief tasks and what are its concepts

Answer 36

sally anne task smarties task between the ages of 3 and 4 children acquire the ability to understand that another person can have false beliefs as tested by these tasks

Question 37

what does a child in the concrete operational stage demonstrate

Answer 37

ability to perform operations - mental actions on concrete situations/objects decentration, reversibility of thought, transformational thought, seriation, transivity, less egocentrism, classification abilities improve

Question 38

decentration

Answer 38

cant focus on 2 or more dimensions of a problem at nce

Question 39

reversibility of thought

Answer 39

can mentally reverse or undo an action

Question 40

transformative thought

Answer 40

can understand the process of changing from one state to another. shift from understanding being driven by perceptual salience to logical reasoning

Question 41

seriation

Answer 41

the ability to arrange items mentally along a quantifiable dimensions such as weight or height

Question 42

transivity

Answer 42

the understanding of relationships among elements in a series

Question 43

classification abilities improve

Answer 43

can classify by multiple dimensions and can grasp class inclusion

Question 44

what are formal operations?

Answer 44

mental actions on ideas they permit systematic and scientific thinking about problems, hypothetical ideas and abstract concepts

Question 45

how do formal operations contribute to positive aspects of adolescent development?

Answer 45

provides a sense of identity, complex thinking and appreciation of humour

Question 46

how does formal operations contribute to not so positive aspects of adolescent behaviour

Answer 46

confusion, adolescent idealism and rebellion against ideas that are not logical formal operational thought can also lead to adolescent egocentrism