Child Development - Cognition and Intelligence Flashcards
What is cognition?
The mental processes by which knowledge is acquired, elaborated, stored and used to solve problems
What did Jean Piaget theorise about cognitive development?
Four stages of intellectual development, learning through action (how children think rather than what they may know)
What are Piaget’s stages?
- Sensorimotor = 0-2 months
- Pre-operational = 2-7 years
- Concrete operational = 7-11 years
- Formal Operational = 11+ years
What are characteristics of the sensorimotor stage?
- 6 sub-stages
- knowing the physical environment by seeing and touching = ‘thinking only by doing’
- object permanence
- recognition of self as agent of action
- developing memory systems, self-recognition
What is object permanence?
young children do not realise an object is still there if it is hidden by another bigger object
How are memory systems in the sensorimotor stage measured?
- Baseline leg kicks
- Attach string which connects to a mobile, from 2 to 3 months the kicks double in reaction
- test memory later with no string = 2 months remember for 1 day, 3 months remember for 1 week, 6 months for 2+ weeks
What are examples of abilities of 8 months?
- obeys simple requests
- points to objects and following the pointing gesture of an adult
- hold cup to doll’s mouth
- demonstrates affection by hugging and kissing
- shows toes when they are named by mother
- shakes head or says ‘no’ in refusal
What is the mirror test and when does it happen?
Before 18 months, when babies look in the mirror, they see another child.
After, they can point to areas they recognise on themselves
Do animals show mirror self-recognition?
Not all animals but some such as great apes, dolphins and Asian elephants.
What are schemas?
theories about how the physical and social world operate
What is assimilation and accommodation?
Assimilation = understanding a new object
Accommodation = modifying a schema
What are characteristics of pre-operational thought?
Centration = thinking about one thing with the exclusion of others and conservation (understanding that one feature stays the same even though its appearance changes (mass, number, volume)
Egocentrism = self-centred world view, difficulty taking other’s perspectives
What is the 3 mountain problem?
- Doll is placed behind mountains where tallest mountain is the doll’s first view, the child is on the opposite side of the doll.
- Asked to describe the view of the doll.
- Pre 6-7, not able to describe other view
- Rigidity of pre-operational thought
What is an alternative for the 3 mountain problem?
Tell children to hide the doll from the two policemen’s view = success by 90% of children aged 3.5-5
What is operation in terms of cognitive ability?
Logical thought
