final Flashcards
What are the different types of pervasive themes in developmental psychology
Continuous and discontinuous
What is the Continuous pervasive theme?
quantitative change (think pine tree)
What is the discontinuous pervasive theme?
qualitative change (think butterfly)
Stage theories are:
Discontinuous theories of development
examples of “continuous”
how fast or strong, growth in height or weight, cognitive development
example of discontinuous
crawling to walking, using concrete facts v abstract reasoning (counting vs algebra)
Was is Piaget’s theory?
children are active participants in their own cognitive development, their maturational development and their experiences
How did Piaget think of children?
He thought of them as scientists, they develop hypothesis of of world works and then test them
Throughout life, children are creating and refining cognitive structures called ________
Schemas
Schemas are formed through the processes of ________ and ____________
Assimilation and Accommodation
Assimilation
absorbing new info into existing mental categories (schema)
Accommodation
modifying existing mental categories (schemas) in response to new info
Schemas can be thought of as _________.
Mental folders
Examples of assimilation:
Child see porpoise swimming in water —> assimilation—-> associated with fish
Examples of accommodation:
Child sees porpoise breathing, pets one —–> accommodation—> animals that live in water, breathe air and like people
What was Piagets idea of deveelopment?
A theory based around four stages based on complexity of schemas that can be formed and used.
What are the four stages to Piagets’s theory of development?
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
What were some of the rules to Piaget’s theory?
stages always in the same order, age approximate, culturally universal,
Sensorimotor stage
First stage, birth to 2yr, characterized by behavioral schemas, infants learn through actions, “thinking” consists of coordinating sensory info w/ bodily movement
major accomplishment of the sensorimotor stage
object permanence
What is object permanence
understanding that an object continues to exist when you cannot see or touch it
preoperational stage
second stage, 2 to 7 years old, characterized by symbolic schemas, but child cannot perform operations
What is the first stage in Piagets theory?
Sensorimotor
approximate age for sensorimotor stage?
birth to 2 years