Module 1: Development

Question 1

Describe brain development in the womb

Answer 1

• 3-4 weeks: forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain develop
• 5 weeks: forebrain splits into anterior and posterior sections, hindbrain splits down middle
• 6 weeks: cerebellum develops
• 20 weeks: medulla oblongata develops

Question 2

What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development?

Answer 2

• Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2yrs)
• Pre-operational stage (2 - 7yrs)
• Concrete operational stage (7 - 11yrs)
• Formal operational stage (12+ yrs)

Question 3

Describe the sensorimotor stage

Answer 3

• Know the world through sensations, don’t understand time
• Learn through linking sensations with objects (grasping, sucking, etc)
• ~6 months develop object permanence & sense of self

Question 4

Describe the pre-operational stage

Answer 4

Symbolic function stage (2-4yrs):
- Symbolic play
- Are egocentric
- Display animism
Intuitive thought stage (4-7yrs):
- Ask many questions
- Display centration
- Display irreversibility

Question 5

Describe the concrete operational stage

Answer 5

• Display seriation (can sort objects)
• Display reversibility
• Display decentration
• Develop logic, but are still concrete/literal
• Become less egocentric
• Struggle with hypothetical/abstract concepts

Question 6

Describe the formal operational stage

Answer 6

• Can think hypothetically/abstractly
• Can use deductive logic

Question 7

Describe Dweck’s mindset theory

Answer 7

• Fixed mindset vs growth mindset
• Fixed: believe ability is fixed at birth, no point in challenges/trying to improve
• Growth: believe ability changes with effort, encourages taking challenges/listening to feedback
• Mindset affected by type of praise

Question 8

What are the strengths of Dweck’s mindset theory?

Answer 8

• Practical applications
• Evidence: Yeager and Dweck’s (2012) study

Question 9

What are the weaknesses of Dweck’s mindset theory?

Answer 9

• Studies done in artificial settings, lacks validity
• Problem may lie in quality of teaching, not child’s effort
• Doesn’t consider factors other than praise

Question 10

Describe Willingham’s learning theory

Answer 10

• Knowing facts helps build skills
• Skill can be learned through practice (REPETITION), transferred from short-term to long-term memory

Question 11

What are the strengths of Willingham’s learning theory?

Answer 11

• Practical applications

Question 12

What are the weaknesses of Willingham’s learning theory?

Answer 12

• Does not consider individual differences (genes)
• Ideas not a singular theory that can be tested

Question 13

What were the aims of Piaget and Inhelder’s (1956) ‘Three Mountains’ task?

Answer 13

• To investigate the extent to which children of different ages could take another point of view
• To investigate children’s overall systems of putting together different views of what they see

Question 14

What was the procedure of Piaget and Inhelder’s (1956) ‘Three Mountains’ task?

Answer 14

• Three models mountains, child given three pieces of card to represent the mountains
• Asked to arrange the cards to show the positions of the mountains from their viewpoint
• Then asked to arrange the cards to represent the viewpoint of a wooden doll

Question 15

What were the results & conclusions of Piaget and Inhelder’s (1956) ‘Three Mountains’ task?

Answer 15

• Pre-operational stage showed egocentrism
• Concrete operational stage starts to understand other viewpoints
• Concluded children up to 7 years old were egocentric

Question 16

Give weaknesses of Piaget and Inhelder’s (1956) ‘Three Mountains’ task

Answer 16

• Task unrealistic, results may have been due to a lack of spacial awareness and not egocentrism
• Other studies with simpler/more familiar tasks showed children under 7 and under 18 months displaying decentrism

Question 17

What were the aims of Gunderson et al. (2013) study?

Answer 17

• To investigate the effect of different types of parental praise on children in a natural situation
• Find whether girls receive more person praise than boys
• Does the type of praise affect the child’s motivational framework 5 years later

Question 18

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

Answer 18

• 90mins recorded of parent guiding child through tasks in the home
• ‘Person praise’ (praises ability) and ‘process praise’ (praises effort) recorded
• Parents, children & data gatherers did not know the study was on praise
• Children aged 14, 26 & 38 months, ideas about behaviour measured 5 years later

Question 19

What were the results/conlcusions of Gunderson et al. (2013) study?

Answer 19

• Close relationship between process praise and later incremental motivational framework
• No relationship between person praise and entity motivational framework
• Boys received more process praise than girls
• Girls more often had entity motivational framework than boys

Question 20

Give weaknesses of Gunderson et al. (2013) study.

Answer 20

• Ethics: participants deceived, no debrief
• Parents may have subconsciously changed praise style as they were being observed

Question 21

Name Kolberg’s (1958) three stages of morality

Answer 21

Pre-conventional morality, conventional morality, post-conventional morality

Question 22

Describe pre-conventional morality

Answer 22

(Before age 9)
Stage 1 - avoid punishment, rules cannot be changed
Stage 2 - sometimes value personal interest over rules, basic view of right/wrong

Question 23

Describe conventional morality

Answer 23

(Most young people & adults)
Stage 3 - conform to group norms to be liked/seen as good
Stage 4 - maintain social order as it is a duty

Question 24

Describe post-conventional morality

Answer 24

(~10% reach this level)
Stage 5 - understands some morals are cultural and differ in other cultures, view of right/wrong independent of group norms
Stage 6 - understands some morals go beyond group norms/laws and are universal

Question 25

Give weaknesses of Kolberg’s (1958) of development of morality theory

Answer 25

• Hypothetical moral dilemmas show what someone thinks they should do, not what they’d actually do
• Male-only sample used