Development (topic 1)

Question 1

Early brain development?
(20w fetus, 3-4w, 5w, 6w?)

Answer 1

20 weeks as a fetus:
-medulla oblongata (responsible for involuntary responses e.g. breathing)

3-4 weeks:
-the long tube develops
-three sections of the brain form: forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain

5 weeks:
-forebrain and hindbrain split further.
(forebrain: posterior and anterior)
(hindbrain: splits into half)

6 weeks:
-cerebellum develops (responsible for motor movements)

Question 2

4 stages of development (Piaget)

Answer 2

1. Sensorimotor stage (0-2yrs)
2. Pre-operational stage (2-7yrs)
3. Concrete operational stage (7-12yrs)
4. Formal operational stage (+12yrs)

Question 3

sensorimotor stage

Answer 3

-based on senses and motor skills
-starts with reflexes then start to control their movements
-object permanence: knowing objects still exist even when it cannot be seen

Question 4

pre-operational stage

Answer 4

–the symbolic function stage (2-4yrs)–
-children start to copy others
-symbolic play: using objects/ideas to represent others
-animism: the belief that objects are alive
-egocentrism- views of the world through their viewpoint only

–the intuitive thought stage (4-7yrs)–
-children are eager to learn a lot more
-centration: focus on one quality or feature of an object/something
-irreversibility: unable to understand that actions can be reversed

Question 5

concrete operational stage

Answer 5

-decentration: viewing multiple viewpoints (opposite of egocentrism)
-seriation: the ability to sort objects into size/colour
-classification: can name objects according to appearance
-reversibility: can reverse actions
-conservation: understanding something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes

Question 6

formal operational stage

Answer 6

-children develop the ability to think about abstract concepts
-they understand that time changes things
-aware of life has a sequence
-understanding that actions have consequences

Question 7

what is schema?

Answer 7

mental representations of the world based on one’s own experiences.

Question 8

what is morality?

Answer 8

general principles about what’s right and wrong

Question 9

what is assimilation?

Answer 9

incorporating new experiences into existing schemas

e.g., a child sees a plane and calls it a bird

Question 10

what is accommodation?

Answer 10

a schema no longer works and has to be changed in order to deal with the new experience

e.g., the child will see that birds are alive and planes are not., so they will have to change their ‘everything that flies is a bird’ schema

Question 11

what is adaptation?

Answer 11

using assimilation and accommodation to make sense of the world.

Question 12

what is equilibrium?

Answer 12

mental balance

Question 13

Piaget and inhelder (1956): three mountains task

Aims?

Answer 13

-to see to what extent children of different ages could decentrate

Question 14

Piaget and inhelder (1956): three mountains task

procedure?

Answer 14

-100 participants (4-12yrs)
-4 equipment used:
*wooden doll
*three mountains model
*10 pictures of the model from different angles
*3 coloured cards
-children were asked to use cardboard shaped to show how the mountain model looked from different viewpoints
-children were shown 10 different viewpoints and were asked to pick the picture that represented what they could see from different positions and what the doll could see
-children chose the picture and then positioned the doll so it could ‘see’ that veiwpoint

Question 15

Piaget and inhelder (1956): three mountains task

results?

Answer 15

–pre-operational stage–
children of 4-6yrs chose pictures and places cardboard to show their own viewpoints. overall shows egocentrism.

–concrete operational stage–
7-9yrs children start understanding that others looking from a different position can see the model differently.
9-10yrs children can understand that the doll has a different view at different positions

qualitative data was collected

Question 16

Piaget and inhelder (1956): three mountains task

conclusions

Answer 16

-children up to 7yrs old were egocentric
-towards the end of the pre-op stage children were more able to understand that there were different viewpoints
-older children were non-egocentric. they saw the mountains as objects relating to each other. they were able to position their own viewpoint among the views of others and could coordinate different perspectives

Question 17

Piaget and inhelder (1956): three mountains task

strenghts?

Answer 17

+provided a great deal of detail: qualitative data
+reliable as it has been repeated many times
+standardised procedure was used - controlled variables

Question 18

Piaget and inhelder (1956): three mountains task

weakness?

Answer 18

-lab experiment: unnatural environment= unnatural behaviour
-there may be demand characteristics (investigator effect)
- not realistic

Question 19

Dweck’s mindset theory

define the term mindset

Answer 19

it is a set of attitudes someone may have about qualities such as intelligence and abilities

Question 20

Dweck’s mindset theory

what kind of behaviour would someone with a fixed mindset display?

Answer 20

• avoids challenges
• gives up easily
• thinks that effort is useless
  -feels threatened by another person’s success
• they only try the things they know they’re good at

Question 21

Dweck’s mindset theory

what kind of behaviour would someone with a growth mindset display?

Answer 21

• embraces challenges
• persists in the face of setbacks
• sees effort as the path to mastery
• learns from criticism
• excited to try new things

Question 22

Dweck’s mindset theory

give one evidence against Dweck’s mindset theory

Answer 22

Bouchard and Megue

reviewed 111 studies and found correlations between genetics and IQ suggesting that intelligence is partly inherited

Question 23

Dweck’s mindset theory

give evidence for Dweck’s mindset theory

Answer 23

Yeager and Dweck (2012)

more than 1500 participants. researched the impact of students mindsets on their resilience to academic and social success. found that those who had a growth mindset had higher success rate during challenging transitions at school.

Question 24

Gunderson et al (2013)

define the term person praise

Answer 24

praise offered to an individual as opposed to what they are doing e.g, you’re so clever

Question 25

Gunderson et al (2013) define the term process praise

Answer 25

praise offered to an individual for what is being done e.g., you worked so hard

Question 26

Gunderson et al (2013) what is the entity theory?

Answer 26

fixed theory, children believe that their behaviour or abilities result from a person's nature. they are less likely to put effort

Question 27

Gunderson et al (2013) what is the incremental theory?

Answer 27

children are likely to see ability as changeable and puts effort

Question 28

Gunderson et al (2013) praise and gender: what is the difference between the thoughts of boys and girls about ability and effort?

Answer 28

- boys tend to think that behaviours and abilities are changeable. this suggests that they receive more process praise - girls are more likely to be offered person praise so they are more likely to think that ability is inherited and cannot be changed.

Question 29

Gunderson et al (2013) what were the aims?

Answer 29

- to see if children are affected by different kinds of praise given in a normal environment - do boys receive more process praise than girls?

Question 30

Gunderson et al (2013) what was the procedure of the study?

Answer 30

- 53 children took part - participants were visited every 14, 26 and 38 months 90 minutes of interactions were videotaped during each visit - double-blind technique was used- they thought the study was about language development - coding was completed by two more experimenters- inter-rater reliability increased - at 7-8 year old children completed two questionnaires - they aimed to test what they thought let to a person's intelligence - the questionnaire also tested the children's socio-moral actions (what is considered to be good or bad)

Question 31

Gunderson et al (2013) what results were found?

Answer 31

- there was a significant correlation between parental process praise and children's instrumental motivational framework. the more process praise received the more likely children were to think effort is worthwhile. this was tested in two domains (socio-moral and intelligence) -there is no correlation between person praise and entity motivational framework

Question 32

Gunderson et al (2013) what were the conclusions that were made?

Answer 32

- children whose parents used more process praise were more likely to have beliefs and behaviours allocated with an incremental motivational framework, measured in the socio-moral and intelligence domains - however, no evidence was found that person praise led to an entity motivational framework - boys received significantly more process praise than girls even though the amount of praise given in general was the same

Question 33

Gunderson et al (2013) what are then strengths of the study?

Answer 33

+ shows that the findings in Dweck's artificial setting were also found in a naturalistic environment too. findings from two methods: ---observational ---experimental + researchers didn't know the aim of the study so demand characteristics were avoided

Question 34

Gunderson et al (2013) what were the weaknesses of the study?

Answer 34

- not ethical as the participant didn't know the aims therefore deceived and weren't given a debrief - not generalisable as only 53 children were used -parents may have changed their way of praise- may lack validity

Question 35

Willingham's learning theory what is the working memory?

Answer 35

it is part of our memory that is involved in processing information coming in from our senses. used for decision-making and problem-solving

Question 36

Willingham's learning theory what is Willingham's thoery?

Answer 36

-Willingham believed that knowledge can free up space in our working memory > this extra space then could be used from problem-solving -he believed that the more existing knowledge we have the more processing power we have available

Question 37

Willingham's learning theory how to build knowledge?

Answer 37

practice and effort. if practiced enough, things become automatic, which will free up space in working memory.

Question 38

Willingham's learning theory how can cognitive development be supported?

Answer 38

activities should be prepared according to the child's stage of development. problems that are a little bit difficult can help the child put extra effort into their work. each childs abilities are different and could change from day to day

Question 39

Willingham's learning theory how can physical development be supported?

Answer 39

movement should be suitable for their age and must be practiced in order for the muscle commands to be automatic. they need to make an effort to develop motor skills

Question 40

Willingham's learning theory how can social development be supported?

Answer 40

children tend to copy the behaviours of grown-ups therefore appropriate social behaviour should be demonstrated. children should also be taught how to control impulsive behaviour and should delay rewards so children can learn self-control.

Question 41

Willingham's learning theory what are the strengths of this theory?

Answer 41

+ it has practical application (education and parenting) +positive theory. it promotes development + draws on other theories +there is evidence to prove this theory