Development Flashcards
What is the role and function of the cortex?
COrtex = outer COver and COgnition
It is the outer covering of the brain where mental processing takes place. It controls thinking/cognition, sensory processing and motor processing
What is the role and function of the cerebellum?
CerebelluM = Co-ordination, Movement
It is the “little brain” at the base of the brain above the spinal chord. Plays important role in co-ordination and movement, as well as co-ordinating sensory info with motor activity (sensorimotor)
What is the role and function of the thalamus?
ThalamuS = Signals (motor and sensory)
It is located deep inside the brain and acts as a hub of information for the brain receiving and sending signals. It receives sensory signals from the retina in the eye and sends signals onto the visual area. Co-ordinates motor signals, sending info from the motor area.
What is the role and function of the Brain stem?
Brain stem = Breathing, Basic functions
It is the part of the brain that connects to the spinal chord. It carries motor and sensory nerves between the brain and the rest of the body via the spinal chord. Controls basic (autonomic) life functions eg heart beat.
What is nature in development?
Refers to genetic influences and characteristics you inherit from ancestors
What is nurture in development?
Refers to all other influences, such as how you were raised your experience, and your environment in general
What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
The idea that children’s cognition (development) occurs within similar time frames.
What is a schema?
A mental structure containing the information we have about something, such as what a car is.
What is cognitive development?
Refers to the way a persons knowledge, thinking and intelligence changes as they get older.
What is assimilation?
A form of learning that takes place when we add new information to an existing schema without radically changing our understanding of the topic
What is accommodation?
A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information that changes our understanding of a topic to the extent that a new schema is developed.
What is conservation?
Knowing that the amount of something stays the same even though its appearance may change.
What is egocentrism?
Not being able to see things from another person’s point of view.
What is object permanence?
Knowing that objects still exist even when they are out of sight.
What are the 4 stages of Piaget’s theory?
Sensorimotor stage
Pre-operational stage
Concrete operational stage
Formal operational stage
What is the sensorimotor stage?
Occurs from 0-2 years.
Children learn about the world through their senses and by doing things coordinated by the cerebellum. They develop object permanence around the age of 8 months.
What is the pre-operational stage?
Occurs from 2-7 years
Children are now more mobile but do not think in a consistently logical way. children are egocentric under the age of 7.
What is the concrete operational stage?
Occurs from 7-11 years.
Children now perform better on tasks which tests for egocentrism. They also develop the ability to conserve, but they may struggle to imagine objects/situations they cannot see.
What is the formal operational stage?
Occurs from 11+ years.
Children are able to focus on the form of an argument and not be distracted by its content. They can solve problems in systematic ways and think about abstract concepts.
What are some evaluations of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
Strength - usefulness
Piaget’s theory has had a major impact on early years education and his methods of testing children were new and fun, using simple resources which people can replicate. This is a strength because it shows the theory can be applied to real-life and replicated today.
Weakness - sample size
Piaget’s theory is based on data collected from small samples of children, such as even his own children. This means the sample is unrepresentative and lacks population validity
Hughe’s policeman doll study AMRC (KEY STUDY)
A - to see if children can see things from another person’s point of view at an earlier age than Piaget suggested.
M - children shown a model of 2 walls making a cross, then asked to place a boy doll in the section where the policeman couldn’t see him. This process was repeated from a different placement to ensure the children understood the task, and were allowed to retry if they failed. The real experiment then began with two policemen.
R - 90% of children hid the doll successfully from the policeman even though they shouldn’t be able to do this.
C - Children can see things from someone else’s point of view if the situation is familiar to them and the task makes sense, showing Piaget underestimated their abilities. However, there continued to be age differences suggesting Piaget was correct in the way that children’s thinking changes with age.
What are some evaluations of Hughe’s policeman doll study?
Strength - the task used was better understood by children than Piaget’s mountain task, as it was more of an ‘everyday’ problem. The study proved that Piaget may have underestimated children’s ability, as many were able to act outside of egocentrism
Weakness - validity
Researchers may have accidentally hinted at the correct box by looking at it. This means children were able to identify the correct one because of the researcher, meaning the results may not be fully valid as sometimes it was not testing children’s egocentrism
McGarrigle and Donaldson - Naughty Teddy Study AMRC (KEY STUDY)
A - to see if Piaget’s results in the counter experiment was due to seeing the counters being moved (deliberate change meant there was a change in number of counters
M - 80 children, all from Edinburgh, with 40 from nursery schools and 40 from primary schools. Children shown a naught teddy who escaped and messed up toys. There were 2 rows of counters, (4 red and 4 white) and after the teddy messed them up chaotically, they were asked whether there were more in one row or if they were the same
R - 42% of children gave correct answer (rows are the same) when the display was changed deliberately compared to 68% when teddy changed the counters. Primary school children got it right more
C - traditional method of conservation underestimated children. Many conserved quantity even though Piaget said they couldn’t. However there were still age differences which suggests Piaget was right about how thinking changes with age
Naughty Teddy Study Evaluations
Weakness
Over 30% still failed which means individual differences must be taken into account. Additionally, another study found the results were not as high as found in this study
Weakness - population validity and sample bias
All children were from Edinburgh, meaning we cannot generalise the findings. Additionally, changes in older and younger answers may have been due to educational background differences, not age, affecting validity.
