Theory Flashcards
(15 cards)
What makes a good theory?
- logically sound
- empirically sound
- clear, testable, parsimonious
- hard to vary
- covers a large area of science
- falsifiable
Why do we need theory?
organises information, helps understand structure, guides research questions, methods etc, helps understand how different phenomena relate to each other, lays out hypotheses that we can disprove or accept
Theories in dev Psych
development theories focus on change over time and seek to explain the processes underlying that change
Piaget Theory
- can be considered under a constructivist label (depicts children as constructing knowledge for themselves)
Children are seen as:
- scientific problem solvers
- learning lessons on their own, which they are motivated to do
Move through distinct hierarchical stages:
- brief transitions, qualitative change
- four stages overall
Stages of Piaget’s Theory
Sensorimotor (0-2): fundamental senses (peek-a-boo task)
Preoperational (2-7): internal representation of the world
Concrete Operational (7-11): able to think logically
Formal Operational (11-adulthood): think systematically, abstact concepts
Sources of Learning & Continuity
Assimilation and accommodation are balanced on either side of equilibration
- equilibration: encounter something new that you can’t fit into understanding so you have to update it
Assimilation Example
Girl growing up during COVID thinks boxes on trees are hand sanitisers and when shown photo of another box on a tree she doesn’t see a difference
- her thoughts do not update despite new information
Accommodation Example
Toddler sees dog and says “toy”, mother says no “dog” and now the toddler knows this is a dog
- her thoughts update after receiving new information
What did Piaget get right?
- cognition during childhood is important
- changes in cognition are surprising, interesting and worth studying (e.g object permanence)
- great insights can come from studying children in context, there is a high ecological validity
What did Piaget get wrong?
- empirical evidence for strict stages is weak
- little explanation for the mechanisms of change
- not enough evidence of “performance”
- underestimated children’s abilities
Using the criteria for what makes something a good theory, measure Piaget’s.
Logically sound? yes
empirically sound? no
clear, testable, parsimonious? no
hard to vary? no
covers large area of science? yes
Eleanor Gibson, idea of affordances
ecological theory of perceptual development
idea of affordances: children knowing their body’s abilities in relation the environment surrounding them
Esther Thelan
- dynamic systems theory, motor and language development
- known for longitudinal studies of reaching/walking and psychophysiological measures
Suggested that development change happens to complex interaction of brain, body and environment that are all changing at the same time
- constantly thought about why these changes were occurring rather than just detailing the changes that occur at different stages (that Piaget did wrong)
Elizabeth Spelke
- core knowledge theory, perceptual and cognitive development
best known for claims that infants have an innate understanding of the physical world and that they have an innate understanding of numbers
- highly opposing to Piaget’s theory that everyone has a blank slate
Alison Gopnik
- “theory” theory, cognitive development
known for thinking about infants like scientists
- “blicket detection” to understand causal learning
even in second year of lie, children would understand people have different preferences for broccoli or crackers
