Chapter 9 - Cognitive Development

Question 1

What is cognition?

Answer 1

The mental activity through which human beings acquire, remember, and learn to use knowledge

Question 2

What does cognitive development research focus on?

Answer 2

How and when intellectual abilities and knowledge of the world first emerge in childhood and then changes as a person gets older

Question 3

What notion did Piaget use to build his theory around?

Answer 3

Schemas

Question 4

What are traits associated with a schema?

Answer 4

A psychological structure
An organised way of making sense of experience/understanding a situation
Forms the basis for organising actions and thoughts in response to the environment
Changes with age: A child builds their world via action-based motor patterns at first, and this later changes to a mental level (mental thoughts) when he gets older

Question 5

What are the processes related to a schema?

Answer 5

Adaptation

• > Assimilation
• > Accommodation

Question 6

What is the process that refers to adjusting one’s thinking to fit with environmental demands?

Answer 6

Adaptation

Question 7

What process refers to using current schemas to interpret the external world?

Answer 7

Assimilation

NO CHANGE IN SCHEMAS

Question 8

What process refers to adjusting old schemas and creating new ones to better fit the environment?

Answer 8

Accommodation

SO YES INVOLVES A CHANGE IN SCHEMAS

Question 9

What’s an example of assimilation and accommodation in action-based motor patterns?

Answer 9

Existing schema: Looking-grasping-sucking
Assimilation: when confronted with new objects, they assimilate to these objects by using this schema
Accommodation: when the schema doesn’t work on this new object (eg a large beach ball) -> have to modify approach and learn to look and hold it instead

Question 10

What’s an example of assimilation and accommodation in mental thoughts?

Answer 10

Existing schema: Knows that a mouse is a furry animal
Assimilation: sees a squirrel and sees that it’s furry -> calls it a mouse
Accommodation: after being corrected by parents, knows that a squirrel is not a mouse. Has to accommodate schema for naming furry animals to include this new category

Question 11

What is the approach adopted by Piaget in his theory?

Answer 11

Constructivist approach: small changes in understanding and interacting with the world eventually result in large-scale changes

Question 12

What are the stages of cognitive development according to Piaget?

Answer 12

1. Sensorimotor (0-2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete Operational (7-11)
4. Formal Operational (11 and above)

Question 13

What are the traits associated with Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

Answer 13

Universal (not affected by culture)

Invariant (does not change, same for everyone)

Question 14

How do infants in the sensorimotor stage build schemas? Name an example of an action they do.

Answer 14

Through sensory and motor exploration
Eg: they like to put their hands in their mouths, and also instinctively grabs things and places them inside their mouths -> important action at this stage as they use this to learn about the world

Question 15

What is a word associated with infants’ reactions at this stage, and what does it mean in this context?

Answer 15

Circular. The child would repeatedly engage in behaviours that please him.

Question 16

What are the stages of sensorimotor development? State, when do these stages, occur as well

Answer 16

1. Basic reflex activity (0-1 months)
2. Primary circular reactions (1-4 months)
3. Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months)
4. Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12 months)
5. Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)
6. Internalization of schemas - the origins of symbolic thought (18 months-24 months)

Question 17

At which stage does object permanence develop at, according to Piaget?

Answer 17

Stage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions

Question 18

What occurs at the 1st stage of sensorimotor development (basic reflex activity)?

Answer 18

Newborn reflexes: focuses on objects directly in front of him

Question 19

Repetitive behaviours focused on own body

No object permanence - displays an expectation that an object may reappear, but not comprehension that an object exists even though it’s out of sight/mind

What are these traits associated with?

Answer 19

The second stage of sensorimotor development - primary circular reactions

Question 20

Why do infants repeat these behaviours (eg sucking their fingers)?

Answer 20

They find it pleasurable, and so they would repeat and modify them over time

Question 21

How do infants develop these behaviours?

Answer 21

By chance

Question 22

At which stage does the infant exhibit repetitive behaviours that are focused on external objects?

Answer 22

Stage 3: Secondary circular reactions

Question 23

How does this repetitive behaviour work? Explain using an example.

This one focuses on external objects.

Answer 23

Child may shake a rattle -> Hears an interesting sound -> shake the rattle again to produce the interesting sound again

Question 24

What develops when the child is able to coordinate secondary circular reactions?

Answer 24

Recognise that this is asking about Stage 4 of sensorimotor development.

Object permanence
Intentional, goal-directed behaviour

Question 25

What does intentional, goal-directed behaviour entail?

Answer 25

Combining schemas to achieve a specific goal -> aka means-end coordination

Question 26

What is object permanence? How does this manifest in the child?

Answer 26

Knowing that an object exists even though we are not interacting with them or seeing them at one point in time The child will start to search for completely concealed objects

Question 27

How do researchers study object permanence in children?

Answer 27

Eye-tracking studies. 5 month old: only looks at the ball when it's not hidden by the box. When it moves behind the box, the infant does not know the ball still exists and hence does not look at the box 7 month old: looks at the box when the ball moves behind it

Question 28

What is the error associated with object permanence?

Answer 28

A-not-B error. Although the child will search successfully for an object hidden in a location, if the object is moved to another location as the child watches, the child will still continue to search for the object in the first hiding location.

Question 29

What does this error imply?

Answer 29

The child thinks that their own actions will lead to the presence of the object, and does not know that an object can move from place to place

Question 30

Which paradigm can be used to explain how Piaget underestimates children's ability to acquire object permanence?

Answer 30

Violation-of-expectation paradigm

Question 31

Which school of thought suggests that children are born with rich knowledge on the structure of the world, and are hence born with object permanence?

Answer 31

Nativist

Question 32

Which school of thought suggests that children are born into a "blooming, buzzing, confusion" and must discover the structure of the world through perceptual and motor experience?

Answer 32

Empiricist

Question 33

Why does the VoE paradigm contradict what Piaget taught?

Answer 33

Found that children appeared to have object permanence at 3 months, but Piaget theorized that children only developed object permanence at 8 months

Question 34

How does the VoE paradigm work?

Answer 34

Focuses on whether infants understand the principle that a solid object cannot move through the space which is occupied by the other solid object If babies have core knowledge, they would be able to differentiate between possible and "impossible" events Child would look longer at the "impossible" event

Question 35

What are limitations experienced by the child at the preoperational stage?

Answer 35

Childhood egocentrism Lacks hierarchical classification/ difficulty understanding part-whole relations Unable to understand conservation Unable to make transitive inferences

Question 36

What is childhood egocentrism?

Answer 36

The child's tendency to view the world from his perspective and to have difficulty seeing things from another viewpoint

Question 37

What is the test used to test for childhood egocentrism, and how does it work?

Answer 37

Three-mountains test. A table will have 3 mountains, and the child will take a position on one side of the table. A person will sit opposite the child/a toy will be placed opposite the child. The child will then be asked what they can see from their viewpoint, and what the person/toy will see from their viewpoint.

Question 38

How will children at this stage respond to this test?

Answer 38

Even when asked to think of what the person sitting opposite them would see, they still tend to say what they can see from their viewpoint.

Question 39

What was the three-mountain test criticised on?

Answer 39

Might be too confusing for young children

Question 40

What task was used to illustrate that children had difficulty understanding part-whole relations and lacked hierarchical classification? How does it work?

Answer 40

Class inclusion Children were given a picture with 7 dogs and 3 cats, that means 10 animals in total. Could answer correctly if asked if there were more dogs or more dogs Could not answer if there were more dogs than animals. Dog: part, animal: whole

Question 41

What is conservation?

Answer 41

The understanding that altering an object's or a substance's appearance does not change its basic attributes or properties

Question 42

What do the conservation tasks illustrate about children in the preoperational stage?

Answer 42

Centration in thinking prevented them from acquiring conservation, and they are unable to comprehend reversibility.

Question 43

What is centration?

Answer 43

Focusing one's attention on only one dimension or characteristic of an object or situation

Question 44

What is reversibility?

Answer 44

The understanding that the steps of a procedure/operation can be reversed and that the original state of an object/situation can be obtained.

Question 45

What properties do the conservation tasks test on?

Answer 45

Conservation of: 1. Number 2. Mass 3. Length 4. Liquids 5. Area 6. Weight 7. Volume

Question 46

Were there any issues with regard to the execution of conservation tasks?

Answer 46

Questioning style. " Are they the same?" / "Is this bigger, or are they the same?" / "Is this bigger, or is this bigger, or are they the same?" Found to not have an effect on children's performance anyway Social cue Action of spreading out tokens might influence child to respond that the longer row had more tokens -> masks the possibility that the child actually knows how to conserve

Question 47

How does the task on transitive inferences work?

Answer 47

Present a child with 3 children of varying heights in differently composed pairs, pictures provided. Eg: Mary is taller than Susan, Susan is taller than Linda. Mary and Linda, who is taller? Children cannot answer.

Question 48

What are the milestones and limitations associated with children in the concrete operational stage?

Answer 48

Can now solve part-whole relations test -> understands hierarchical classification now Able to understand conservation (decentration, reversibility) Can answer questions related to transitive inferences WITH THE AID OF PICTURES Still have difficulty performing more than one kind of mental operation at once

Question 49

Describe Inhelder & Piaget's pendulum problem.

Answer 49

The child has to work out which factor was most important in determining the speed of swing of the pendulum. 1. Length of the string 2. Heaviness of the weight 3. Strength of the push

Question 50

What were the findings of the pendulum problem when it's executed on children from 7-11 years old?

Answer 50

Were not able to formulate a hypothesis, and were hence unable to perform the task systematically Wouldn't attempt to control for any variable. Sometimes use different length, sometimes use different weight. Means they cannot think abstractly.

Question 51

What are the milestones associated with the formal operational stage?

Answer 51

Able to think abstractly and logically Can solve problems that have no basis in reality (eg ask them where they would put their 3rd eye) Able to review several possible hypotheses in a problem-solving situation

Question 52

What proves as evidence of abstract thinking?

Answer 52

1. Ask children in formal operational stage where they would put their 3rd eye - Said they'll put it behind them - Not the case for children aged 7-11. They would put their 3rd eye on their forehead as they cannot conceive of any other places that would have an eye. 2. Able to solve transitive inferences test without pictures

Question 53

What were the findings of the pendulum task when carried out on 11 y/o children?

Answer 53

Children who have reached the formal operational stage can think hypothetically Able to take into consideration different factors They approached the task systematically and takes into consideration different factors. Would test effects of these variables one at a time, by controlling for one variable first, to see its effect.

Question 54

What are the strengths of Piaget's theory?

Answer 54

Views the child as a "little scientist" who actively seeks and construct knowledge on their own Integrates a wide array of information

Question 55

What are the weaknesses of Piaget's theory?

Answer 55

Underestimates the child's abilities - Eg violation of expectation paradigm Rarely considers the child's socioemotional and cultural context - He thinks the 4 stages are universal

Question 56

What does Vygotsky's sociocultural theory teach?

Answer 56

Cognitive development is mostly the result of children's interactions with more experienced members of their own culture Focuses on influence of child's social and cultural worlds on cognitive development

Question 57

What are mediators and how do they work?

Answer 57

Critical psychological tools for learning - eg: language, counting, art, writing, mnemonic devices, algebraic symbols Culture creates mediators, and children learn to use many types of mediators to learn about this world

Question 58

What are the 3 levels involved in Zone of Proximal Development?

Answer 58

1st (The Learner): Contains what is already known. Don't teach anything here to the child because they will find it too boring 2nd (ZPD): What the learner can understand with proper guidance. Can teach to the child and education should only focus on this level. 3rd: Too difficult for the child to learn even though it's taught. Child is not ready or able to learn so don't teach them things here.

Question 59

What does the Zone of Proximal Development imply?

Answer 59

One's ability to learn increases with biological maturity and experiential growth Zone always surrounds each level of maturity and development

Question 60

What is scaffolding?

Answer 60

An instructional process in which the more knowledgeable partner adjusts the amount and type of support he offers to the child, to fit with the child's learning needs over the course of the interaction

Question 61

What are examples of scaffolding?

Answer 61

``` Book-centred interaction: Bed-time stories and read-aloud Reciprocal instruction Community of learners Guided participation Intent community participation ```

Question 62

What does Vygotsky's theory emphasize?

Answer 62

The role of culture and language in cognitive development. Role of language: - A cultural product that mediates cognitive functioning - A central role in Vygotsky's approach - > egocentric speech: "private speech" - > inner speech: internal and silent speech

Question 63

What are the differences between Vygotsky's and Piaget's theories?

Answer 63

Social learner vs learning product of own efforts Type of learning depends on prevalence of activities in the context vs same regardless of context Language and thought are related vs independent of each other Egocentric speech: an area of development vs a limitation displayed by children

Question 64

What is theory of mind?

Answer 64

The ability to understand the mental states of others. Involves the awareness of self and others as beings - Can differentiate others from self - Recognise that others have different beliefs from themselves

Question 65

What is often used to investigate TOM?

Answer 65

False-belief tasks

Question 66

When does TOM surface in children, as evidenced by findings from false-belief tasks?

Answer 66

When they are 3 years old

Question 67

What problem related to false-belief tasks leads to the formation of a TOM scale?

Answer 67

Lying is not representative of TOM.

Question 68

What is in the TOM Scale?

Answer 68

Diverse Desires: child's understanding that the self and others can have different desires Knowledge-ignorance: The participant judges the character's knowledge about the contents of the box, whilst the participant himself is aware of what's in the box Diverse Beliefs: Understanding that people can have different beliefs about the same situation Content-false beliefs: Understanding that something can be true, but someone else might believe something different Hidden Emotions: The child's ability to understand that feelings and facial expressions can be different

Question 69

What are other problems associated with false-belief tasks?

Answer 69

Difference between fictional information and knowledge Do children understand mental states, or the question being asked? -> do they understand the word "think" or any other word related to mental states? Most researchers agree that ToM is present earlier than what FBT suggests.