Unit 1 Theorists

Question 1

What was Piaget’s conclusion about children?

Answer 1

• Children think differently to adults
• Suggested that a 4 year old cannot use abstract logic (abstract logical thinking) because they are not mature enough (no matter how well they are taught)

Question 2

What did Piaget suggest about childrens’ thinking?

Answer 2

• They use egocentric thinking which means they can only understand the world from their own perspective.
• Young children assume that other people see, hear and feel exactly the same as the child does

Question 3

When did Piaget believe the ability to think logically happened?

Answer 3

• 7 years old when children can use simple logic (concrete logical thinking)
• e.g. that the amount of water stays the same when poured into a different shaped/sized container

Question 4

What were Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

Answer 4

• Sensorimotor (birth-two years)
• Preoperational (2-7 years)
• Concrete operational (7-11 years)
• Formal operational (11-18 years)

Question 5

What occurs at the sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years)?

Answer 5

• Infants think by interacting with the world using their eyes, ears, hands and mouth
• Infants invent ways of solving problems such as pulling levers to hear the sound of a music box, finding hidden toys and putting objects into and taking them out of containers
• Piaget believed a baby would not have a way of remembering and thinking about the world until they were around 18 months old

Question 6

What occurs at the preoperational stage (2-7 years)?

Answer 6

• Children use symbols to represent their earlier sensorimotor discoveries
• Development of language and make-believe play takes place
• Piaget believed children at this stage cannot properly understand how ideas like numbers, mass and volume work
• E.g. a child might be able to count to 100 but may not understand what a set of 10 really means
• E.g. if 10 buttons are stretched out in a line and 10 buttons are placed in a pile, a child may think there are more in the line because it is longer

Question 7

What occurs at the concrete operational stage (7-11 years)?

Answer 7

• Children’s reasoning becomes logical (providing issues are concrete)
• May understand simple logical principles
• E.g. If someone asks ‘Jessica is taller than Joanne, but Jessica is smaller than Sally, who is the tallest?’ A 7 or 8 year old might find it difficult to viualise the situation and therefore may struggle to answer. However, if someone showed the child a picture of Jessica, Joanne and Sally, the child may quickly point out the tallest person

Question 8

What occurs at the formal operational stage (11-18 years)?

Answer 8

• This is when the capacity for abstract thinking allows adolescents to reason through symbols that do not refer to objects in the real world, as is required in maths
• Young people can also think of possible outcomes of a scientific problem, not just obvious ones
• Abstract thinking enables individuals to think through complicated ideas in their heads without having to see the concrete image

Question 9

What are the stages of intellectual development that children go through according to Piaget?

Answer 9

• Schemas

Question 10

What are schemas?

Answer 10

• A child develops concepts about the world around them (state of equilibrium) as they experience situations where new information is presented
• When their schemas are upset, they reach a stage of disequilibrium
• As new information is accommodated, the original schemas are modified or changed so they can again reach equilibrium

Question 11

What is an example of a schema?

Answer 11

• Jack is 2 years old and he has developed a schema for a cow, he knows it is large, has four legs and a tail
• When Jack sees a horse for the first time, he calls it a cow
• Once Jack has been told that the horse is a different animal, he will modify his existing schema for a cow and create a new schema for a horse

Question 12

What is Piaget’s conservation theory?

Answer 12

• Children in the operational stage understand the theory of conservation - that something’s appearance may change but the quantity will stay the same
• By the age of 7 they have the ability to understand that when you move liquid from a wide container to a tall thin container it doesn’t affect volume
• Younger children think the amount of liquid has changed

Question 13

What does Piaget say about egocentrism?

Answer 13

• It is the best way to describe a young person’s inability to see a situation from another person’s point of view
• E.g. at nursery, preoperational children engage in parallel play. They are absorbed in their own world and speech is used to externalise their thinking rather than to communicate with other children

Question 14

What are the criticisms of Piaget?

Answer 14

• He based his work on observations of a small number of children
• Critics also suggested that the ages/stages he describes may be more fluid that he thought and that he underestimated/overestimated children’s cognitive - do children really not understand others feelings until 7?
  - Keating (1979) reported that 40-80% of college students fail at formal operational tasks
  - Dansen (1974) states that only one third of adults ever reach the formal operational stage
• Bruner didn’t agree with Piaget’s notion of fixed stages and believed that with adult support children can be helped to progress to higher level thinking skills
• Piaget failed to consider effects that social setting (Bandura) and culture may have on cognitive development

Question 15

What did Chomsky believe about language?

Answer 15

• The ability to develop a signed or spoken language is genetically programmed into individuals (innate)
• All individuals have the ability to understand and use language, regardless of other abilities, and to become fluent in their first language by the age of 5 or 6
• A child could not learn a new language through imitation alone because grammar and syntax of the language is often irregular e.g. an adults speech is often broken up and includes slang or jargon

Question 16

What was Chomsky’s language acquisition device (LAD)?

Answer 16

• It enables children to recognise and develop the languages they experience
• Children are ‘preprogrammed’ to talk just as they will be able to walk and it evolves naturally
• Theory was applied to all languages

Question 17

What were the criticisms of Chomsky?

Answer 17

• Lack of scientific evidence to support theory
• Bruner argues that social interaction, particularly in early stages is critical and has far more influence than Chomsky suggested
• Chomsky didn’t take into consideration children who experience delayed language development for reasons like a learning disability, hearing impairments or speech impairments

Question 18

What did Bowbly refer to attachment as?

Answer 18

• A deep and enduring emotional bond that connects a child to their primary caregiver

Question 19

What was Bowlby’s attachment theory?

Answer 19

• Children were biologically pre-programmed to form attachments and that infancy is a critical period for forming positive attachments
• Led Bowlby to consider problems associated with early separation from the primary cargeiver
• Inconsistencies or disruptions in early attachments could lead to mental health and behavioural problems later in life

Question 20

What did Bowlby find about children (separation anxiety)?

Answer 20

• Children experience separation anxiety, which is an intense distress, when separated from their mothers
• Found that the child’s distress did not stop even when being fed by another person
• Infants have a universal need to seek proximity with their caregiver when under stress or feeling threatened

Question 21

What are the criticisms of Bowlby?

Answer 21

• Theory is too simplified
• Rutter argues that maternal deprivation in itself may not lead to long-term problems and suggests that privation is more damaging (privation occurs when children have not had the opportunity to form attachments or have poor quality attachments caused by a lack of social or intellectual stimulation)
• Deprivation: being deprived of a caregiver to whom attachment already exists
• Privation: being deprived of the opportunity to form an attachment

Question 22

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s theory of attachment?

Answer 22

• Babies are most likely to form attachments to caregivers who respond to their signals effectively (not necessarily the person they spend the most time with)
• Referred to as sensitive responsiveness
• Most important factor in forming attachments is not the adult who feeds and changes the baby but the adult who plays and communicated with them

Question 23

What occurs up to 3 months according to Schaffer and Emerson’s sequence of attachment?

Answer 23

• Most babies respond indiscriminately to any caregiver

Question 24

What occurs from 3 months up to 7 months according to Schaffer and Emerson’s sequence of attachment?

Answer 24

• Infants can distinguish the difference between their main caregiver and other people
• The infant will accept care from other people

Question 25

What occurs from 7 months up to 9 months according to Schaffer and Emerson's sequence of attachment?

Answer 25

- The infant looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection - The baby shows fear of strangers and unhappiness when separated from main caregiver - Some infants are more likely to display fear of strangers and stranger anxiety than others

Question 26

What occurs from 9 months according to Schaffer and Emerson's sequence of attachment?

Answer 26

- The baby starts to become more independent and forms several attachments, referred to as multiple attachments