1
Q
What is the key aim of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development?
A
To understand HOW children learn and gain knowledge, starting with studying children.
2
Q
How does Piaget view children?
A
“Little scientists”
3
Q
How did Piaget believe children’s thinking develops?
A
Through discovery learning, problem solving, play and experience.
4
Q
How did Piaget’s view of children differ from before his theory?
A
Children were seen as “mini adults.” Piaget argued they think differently to adults and pass through four stages of development.
5
Q
What is biological maturation?
A
Children learn when they are biologically ready - learning cannot be accelerated through instruction.
6
Q
What is a schema?
A
A mental framework of knowledge. Children are born with basic survival schemas (grasping and sucking) and develop more complex ones over time.
7
Q
What is the “me-schema”?
A
A schema about the child themselves, developing before speech.
8
Q
What is assimilation?
A
Adding new information to an existing schema. If successful, the child is in equilibrium.
9
Q
What is disequilibrium?
A
The uncomfortable state when new information cannot be assimilated.
10
Q
What does disequilibrium do?
A
It motivates the child to adapt and learn.
11
Q
What happens when the child learns new information which allows them to make sense of it?
A
They move back to equilibrium.
12
Q
What is accommodation?
A
Altering an existing schema to fit new information that couldn’t be assimilated.
13
Q
What is adaptation?
A
Applying an updated schema to similar future situations, restoring equilibrium.
14
Q
Walk through the grasping schema example.
A
Baby grasps with one hand (existing schema) → tries to grab a large cube, fails → disequilibrium → uses two hands (accommodation) → succeeds → applies two-handed method to future situations (adaptation).
15
Q
Which study provides research support for Piaget’s idea of discovery learning?
A
Howe et al. (1992) — children aged 9-12 discussed movement of objects down a slope. All improved their understanding but reached different conclusions, supporting the idea that children actively construct their own individual knowledge.
16
Q
How has Piaget’s cognitive theory been applied in education?
A
It shifted teaching from teacher-led instruction to discovery learning.
E.g. physical props in early years and flipped learning in higher education.
17
Q
What does Lazonder & Harmsen (2016) suggest about discovery learning?
A
That it works best with significant teacher input - contradicting Piaget’s view that children construct knowledge independently.
18
Q
What is the problem with Piaget’s sample for his cognitive development theory?
A
He used his own children and then children from a university nursery - both highly intelligent and unrepresentative. This limits the generalisability of his findings to the wider population.
19
Q
What does Piaget’s Theory of Intellectual development focus on?
A
On WHEN children develop different abilities.
20
Q
What are Piaget’s 4 stages of intellectual development in order?
A
- Sensorimotor
- Pre-operational
- Concrete operational
- Formal operational
21
Q
What did Piaget believe about the sequence of stages?
A
All children pass through the same sequence - suggesting the stages are universal and innate. As children progress, their reasoning ability increases.
22
Q
When is the sensorimotor stage?
A
0-2 years
23
Q
What are the key abilities developed in the Sensorimotor stage?
A
Learning through trial and error, developing coordination, understanding people are separate objects, simple language skills, and object permanence (develops around 8 months).
24
Q
What is object permanence?
A
The understanding that an object still exists even when it is out of sight.
25
When does object permanence develop?
Around 8 months old.
26
When does the Pre-operational stage occur?
2-7 years old
27
What is the focus of the Pre-operational stage?
Developing conservation, overcoming egocentrism, and understanding class inclusion.
28
What can a child do at the start of the Pre-operational stage (aged 2)?
Toddling, limited language, showing reasoning errors and object permanence.
29
What is conservation?
The understanding that physical properties of an object stay the same even if its appearance changes.
30
When does conservation develop?
Develops around 5-6 years.
31
How did Piaget test conservation?
Equal amounts of liquid were poured into identical cups, then one was poured into a differently shaped cup. Children who couldn't conserve said the amounts were different.
32
What is egocentrism?
The inability to see the world from another person's perspective.
33
When do children lose their egocentric perspective?
Around 7 years
34
How did Piaget test egocentrism?
The Three Mountains Study - children described what a teddy could see from the other side of a table with three mountains. Egocentric children described their own view instead.
35
What is class inclusion?
The understanding that objects can belong to multiple categories at once — e.g. a dog is both a dog and an animal.
36
When do children have an understanding of class inclusion?
Around 7 years old
37
How did Piaget test class inclusion?
He showed children 5 dogs and 2 cats and asked "are there more dogs or animals?" Children under 7 said more dogs, showing they couldn't place dogs into the wider category of animals.
38
When does the Concrete Operational stage occur?
7-11 years old.
39
What is the key limitation of the Concrete Operational stage?
Children can only perform operations using physical objects — they still struggle with abstract concepts they cannot see or touch.
40
When does the Formal Operational stage occur?
11+ years old.
41
What is the focus of the Formal Operational stage?
Developing formal reasoning — the ability to focus on the form of an argument without being distracted by its content.
42
How is formal reasoning tested?
The "Charlie the yellow cat" task:
"All yellow cats have 2 heads, I have a yellow cat called Charlie, how many heads does Charlie have?"
Children without formal reasoning get distracted by the content and cannot answer. Those with formal reasoning answer 2.
43
What is the key thing to note about all the weaknesses of Piaget's stages in the intellectual theory?
The criticisms are about the ages Piaget assigned to each stage, not the stages themselves. There is support for the stages, and that performance improves with age - Piaget simply underestimated the age at which children could perform these tasks, largely due to his methodology.
44
How has Piaget's idea of concurrent development been applied in education?
It influenced the Key Stages system, grouping children by age based on the assumption that language, reasoning and egocentrism develop alongside one another.
45
How does research from the autism spectrum challenge concurrent development of Piaget's intellectual theory?
- Children with Asperger's show high language and reasoning but struggle to decentre.
- Children with autism can have delayed language but no delay in reasoning.
46
Why are demand characteristics a problem in Piaget's conservation experiment?
The researcher asks the same question multiple times. Children may change their answer not because they don't understand conservation, but because repeated questioning implies they got it wrong the first time.
47
How did McGarrigle & Donaldson's Naughty Teddy study challenge Piaget on conservation?
- They made the change appear accidental by having "Naughty Teddy" move the objects.
- 72% of children aged 4-6 answered correctly in the naughty teddy task.
48
How did Seigler & Sventia challenge Piaget on class inclusion?
100 five-year-olds completed class inclusion tasks. Those given a logical explanation ("dogs are included in animals") showed improved understanding.
- This suggests children can grasp class inclusion earlier than Piaget thought when the task is explained clearly.
49
How did Hughes' police officer study challenge Piaget on egocentrism?
- Children were asked to hide a doll from two police officers.
- At 3.5 years, 90% succeeded with one officer.
- At 4 years, 90% succeeded with two officers.
This suggests children can decentre much earlier than Piaget claimed.
50
Who was Vygotsky and what did he agree with Piaget on?
A Russian psychologist who agreed there is a sequence of development and that different abilities emerge at different ages.
51
What was Vygotsky's key difference from Piaget?
Vygotsky emphasised the role of culture, language and other people in cognitive development.
52
What did Vygotsky mean by children being "little apprentices"?
Children learn from more knowledgeable others (MKOs) around them, gradually internalising knowledge through social interaction.
53
What is the difference between intermental and intramental knowledge?
- Intermental — knowledge exists between the more and less expert individual.
- Intramental — knowledge exists within the mind of the less expert individual.
54
What are elementary functions?
Biologically driven functions children are born with — such as perception and memory.
55
How do elementary functions become higher mental functions?
Culture facilitates the transformation — through social interaction, language and cultural tools, elementary functions develop into higher mental functions.
56
What are cultural "tools" in Vygotsky's theory?
Things children acquire to help them function in their culture — such as language and skills.
57
How is culture transmitted according to Vygotsky?
Culture is transmitted through semiotics (signs and symbols of a particular culture).
58
What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?
The gap between what a child can do unaided and what they cannot do even with help from a MKO.
In the ZPD children can perform tasks with aid.
59
What did Vygotsky think about learning and the ZPD?
Vygotsky argued all major learning occurs within this zone.
60
What is scaffolding?
Support provided by a MKO to help a child through the ZPD. Steps are gradually removed as the learner becomes more independent.
61
What did Wood & Middleton (1975) find and what does it support in Vygotsky's theory?
- Mothers worked with their 3-4 year olds on a 3D pyramid puzzle.
- When the child failed, mothers gave explicit instructions.
- When the child succeeded, mothers gave less direct help.
- They found task mastery was linked to this contingent support.
62
What did Roazzi & Bryant (1998) find and what does it support?
Children aged 4-5 estimated sweets in a box either alone or with an older child (MKO). Most working alone failed, but most in the MKO condition succeeded with prompts. This supports the ZPD — children achieve more with the help of a MKO.
63
What did Conner & Cross (2003) find and what does it support?
A longitudinal study followed 45 children in problem-solving tasks with their mothers at 16, 26, 44 and 54 months. Mothers used less direct intervention and more hints over time, offering help only when needed. This supports scaffolding and also acknowledges individual differences in development.
64
How has Vygotsky's theory been applied in education?
Group work, peer tutoring and teaching assistants have all been used to scaffold children.
65
What research demonstrates that tutoring by old students is beneficial?
Van Keer & Verhaeghe (2005) found 7-year-olds tutored by 10-year-olds progressed further in reading than controls.
This supports this idea of scaffolding and the MKO.
66
How does the Oksapmin counting system support Vygotsky?
The Oksapmin people of Papua New Guinea count using body parts rather than abstract numbers, going up to 27. This is culturally specific — supporting Vygotsky's idea that cognitive development is a social process.
67
How do cultural differences challenge Vygotsky's theory?
- Liu & Matthews (2005) found that in China, classes of up to 50 children learn effectively in lecture-style classrooms with very little individual interaction.
- This contradicts Vygotsky's emphasis on scaffolding.
- Low cross-cultural validity.
68
How does the issue of individual differences challenge Vygotsky's theory?
Vygotsky implies that children learning together will learn roughly the same thing at the same time. This is reductionist — children with learning disabilities, ADHD or autism learn very differently from neurotypical children.
69
What type of explanation is Baillargeon's theory?
A nativist explanation — she believed infants are born with an inbuilt sense of the physical world, rather than constructing it through experience.
70
How does Baillargeon's view of object permanence differ from Piaget's?
Piaget believed object permanence develops at 8 months. Baillargeon argued infants are born with it — babies may not search for hidden objects due to lack of motor skills not because they think it has gone.
71
What is the visual cliff experiment?
A baby is asked to crawl across a table to their mother. The first half is solid, the second is glass with a chequered pattern below. The baby will not cross the glass section — suggesting an innate understanding of depth and danger, even without prior experience of falling.
72
What is Violation of Expectation (VOE)?
Events which defy logic and do not appear physically possible. VOE research depends on an infant's innate understanding of the physical world.
73
What are the three types of VOE studies conducted by Baillargeon?
Occlusion, containment, and support.
74
What is an occlusion study?
- Based on the principle that solid objects should not be visible if obscured by another solid object.
- If an impossible occlusion event occurs, infants should look for longer.
75
What happened in Baillargeon's rabbit and carrot occlusion study?
- 24 infants aged 5-6 months watched a short and tall rabbit pass behind a block with a cut-out.
- In the impossible event, the tall rabbit passed behind the block but was not seen through the cut-out.
- Infants looked for 33.07 seconds at the impossible event vs 25.11 seconds at the possible event.
76
What is a containment study?
Based on the principle that when an object enters a container, it should still be there when opened.
77
What is a support study?
Tests understanding of gravity.
78
What support study did Baillargeon conduct?
A tractor appeared to drive off the edge of a block but was secretly held up by a stick. Children were surprised when it kept going — suggesting an innate understanding of gravity.
79
How does Bower (1982) provide scientific support for Baillargeon?
Bower measured infants' heart rates during possible and impossible events and found heart rate increased during impossible events.
80
How does the VOE method have greater validity than Piaget's method?
Piaget assumed a baby looking away from a hidden object meant they thought it no longer existed — but this cannot distinguish between lack of belief and simple distraction. VOE only measures looking time at the visual scene, controlling for this confounding variable.
81
How does Hespos & Van Marle (2012) support Baillargeon's theory?
If an understanding of basic physical world characteristics were not innate, we would expect significant cultural and individual differences, but there is no evidence for this.
82
How does Rivera et al. (1999) challenge Baillargeon's methodology?
They suggested infants may look longer at impossible events simply because they prefer watching moving objects over stationary ones.
83
Why is using infants as participants a limitation for Baillargeon?
Babies cannot be asked about their responses, so results rely on inference and are open to interpretation. This lowers the internal validity of the research as the true cause of their behaviour cannot be known.
84
What is Selman's theory about?
The role of thinking in our social behaviour — specifically how our thinking affects the way we interact with others.
85
What is perspective taking?
The ability to see the world and experiences from someone else's viewpoint.
86
How is Selman's perspective taking different from Piaget's egocentrism?
Piaget studied physical perspective taking, Selman focused on psychological perspective taking.
87
How does perspective taking develop as children age?
- Very young children assume others feel and think the same as them.
- As they mature, they take realise people can have different perspectives.
- Eventually they understand how cultural and social values shape perception.
88
How did Selman study perspective taking?
He developed social dilemmas and observed how children of different ages reasoned through them.
89
What are Selman's 5 stages of perspective taking in order?
Stage 0 - Egocentric
Stage 1 - Social-Informational
Stage 2 - Self-Reflective
Stage 3 - Mutual
Stage 4 - Societal
90
When do you go through stage 0 according to Selman?
3-6 years
91
What is perspective taking like in Stage 0?
Children cannot distinguish between their own perspective and someone else's. They assume others think and feel the same as them.
92
When do you go through stage 1 according to Selman?
6-8 years
93
What is perspective taking like in Stage 1?
Children understand others may have different perspectives, but only based on having different information — not deeper thoughts or feelings.
94
When do you go through stage 2 according to Selman?
8-10 years
95
What is perspective taking like in Stage 2?
Children can step into another person's shoes and consider two perspectives at once.
96
When do you go through stage 3 according to Selman?
10-12 years
97
What is perspective taking like in Stage 3?
Children understand that two people can consider each other's perspectives simultaneously - viewpoints are reciprocal.
98
When do you go through stage 4 according to Selman?
12+ years
99
What is perspective taking like in Stage 4?
Adolescents understand that perspectives are shaped by broader societal values and norms.
100
Why is correlation not causation a problem for Selman's theory?
Just because perspective taking and social competence are correlated does not mean one causes the other.
101
How does the nature vs nurture debate challenge Selman's theory?
Selman suggests the stages are biologically driven, but a cultural study found Chinese children had more advanced perspective taking skills than US children — this suggests experience plays a role.
102
How do longitudinal studies support Selman's theory?
- Selman (1971) gave perspective taking tasks to 60 children aged 4-6 and found a significant positive correlation between age and perspective taking ability.
- A cross-sectional study of 225 participants aged 4.5-32 years found continual development with no regression and no skipping of stages.
103
What are the practical applications of Selman's theory?
Used in schools — e.g. team sports help children understand their role in a group. Used in therapy and prisons through Social Skills Training, helping those lacking empathy to understand how their behaviour impacts others.
104
What is Theory of Mind?
The understanding that other people have different mental states to ourselves - including different beliefs, emotions and intentions.
105
When does Theory of Mind typically emerge?
Around 3-5 years old. Children begin using words like "think" and "know," suggesting language development coincides with Theory of Mind.
106
What are false belief tasks?
Tasks that test whether a child understands that others may hold and act on mistaken (false) beliefs - a key indicator of Theory of Mind.
107
What did Wimmer & Perner (1983) find in their false belief study?
Using the "Maxi's chocolate" scenario - 3 year olds said the wrong location, 4 year olds were mixed, and 6 year olds all correctly identified where Maxi would look.
108
What was the Sally-Anne test and who designed it?
Baron-Cohen et al. (1985) — Sally puts a marble in a basket and leaves. Anne moves it to a box. Children are asked where Sally thinks the marble is. Tests whether children understand that Sally holds a false belief.
109
What were the results of the Sally-Anne test?
- 85% of neurotypical children and most children with Down's Syndrome answered correctly.
- Only 20% of children with ASD answered correctly; suggesting those with ASD lack a developed ToM.
110
What did Baron-Cohen (1997) find in his eyes task?
- Participants were shown pictures of eyes and asked to identify one of two emotions. - Those with high-functioning ASD scored a mean of 16.3/25 compared to 20.3/25 for neurotypical participants.
111
What is the Theory of Mind Module?
Baron-Cohen's proposed biological mechanism in the brain that matures around age 4, enabling Theory of Mind to develop.
112
What is a methodological criticism of Baron-Cohen's eyes task?
It is reductionist - only giving participants two emotion options means unsure participants may simply guess, reducing the validity of the findings.
113
What is a methodological criticism of the Sally-Anne task?
There may be a language issue - children may not fully understand what they are being asked to do.
114
How does Carpenter's research challenge the idea that Theory of Mind is a single thing?
Carpenter tested children aged 2.5-5 with and without ASD on understanding of intention - following gaze or finger pointing. He found no difference between groups, suggesting intention and Theory of Mind are separate.
115
How does research on family size challenge the idea that Theory of Mind is purely biological?
Perner et al. (1994) found Theory of Mind appears earlier in children from large families, especially those with older siblings - suggests that environment has an influence.
116
How does Liu et al. (2004) support a biological element of Theory of Mind?
Over 300 Chinese and North American children were compared. Both groups showed a similar sequence of development, supporting a biological basis.
117
How does cultural bias limit Theory of Mind research?
- Baron-Cohen's sample was entirely British, giving a Western perspective on autism.
- Maguire (2013) suggested that higher rates of autism diagnosis in the West may reflect cultural differences.
118
How is Theory of Mind an incomplete explanation of autism?
Not all individuals with ASD lack Theory of Mind — if it were central to the condition, all participants with autism would be impaired.
119
What are mirror neurons?
A class of brain cells found in several brain areas. They are involved in empathy, understanding intention, perspective taking and Theory of Mind.
120
How were mirror neurons discovered?
Accidentally by Rizzolatti et al. (2002). While studying electrical activity in monkeys' motor cortex, a researcher reached for their lunch it triggered neural activity in the monkeys.
121
Why are they called "mirror neurons"?
Because they mirror the motor activity of another person — firing both when an action is performed and when it is observed.
122
How are mirror neurons linked to intention?
Mirror neurons respond not just to observed actions but also to the intentions behind them.
123
How are mirror neurons linked to perspective taking?
If mirror neurons fire in response to others' actions and intentions, we can experience their perspective and emotional state.
124
How are mirror neurons linked to evolution?
Without mirror neurons we could not live in large social groups. They therefore help explain how we developed as a social species.
125
What is the "broken mirror" theory of ASD?
The idea that dysfunction in the mirror neuron system prevents a child from imitating and understanding the social behaviours of others — leading to difficulties reading emotions and intentions, which are characteristic of ASD.
126
What did Dapretto et al. (2006) find and how does it support mirror neurons and ASD?
- 10 high-functioning autistic children and 10 neurotypical children observed and imitated 80 facial expressions.
- Children with ASD showed no mirror neuron activity in the pars opercularis
- Concluded that in autistic children the mirroring mechanism is not engaged.
127
How does Stuss et al. (2001) support the role of mirror neurons in social cognition?
Individuals with damage to their frontal lobes were often unable to empathise with others, read intentions, and were easy to deceive.
128
How does Gallese (2001) support mirror neuron activity in humans?
MRI scanning found the anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal cortex were active both when individuals experienced an emotion and when they observed someone else experiencing the same emotion.
129
Why is the original theory of mind monkey research a limitation?
Findings from macaque monkeys cannot be generalised to humans; adult macaques cannot learn by imitation, while humans can.
130
What follow up research did Rizzolatti do to demonstrate that the results were in more than just monkeys?
Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004) used EEGs, PET and MRI scans on humans and found a similar network of neurons in the frontal and parietal areas to the monkeys.
131
How does Hamilton (2013) challenge the link between mirror neurons and ASD?
A meta-analysis of 25 studies found evidence was highly inconsistent and results hard to interpret.
132
How do gender differences limit mirror neuron research?
Schulte-Ruther et al. (2008) found females show more active mirror neuron areas than males when processing emotional information.
Psychology
flashcards
Decks in class (12)
# Cards
