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PSY 351 Exam 2
Chapters 5-9
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Dynamic Systems Theory | development can only be understood as the multiple, mutual, and continuous interaction of all the levels of the developing system, from the molecular to the cultural; doesn’t assume linearity |
Experience-expectant processes | processes that the brain expects regardless of culture or individual input; visual or language input |
Experience-dependent processes | processes that are based on specific individual experiences; visual input in a rural community with no TV vs. visual input in a crowded urban community with lots of TV |
Experience-expectant processes | similar to “sensitive periods”; our brains expect to have certain input, and they can be impaired without proper experience; relates to the over-production of synapses in expectation of experiences; infancy and early development |
Experience-dependent processes | our brains will not necessarily be functionally impaired without the certain experience; relates to the formation of new synaptic connections triggered by unique experience; later development |
Piaget’s general ideas | active children construct their own knowledge; adaptation to environment involves assimilation and accommodation |
Assimilation | fitting in or interpreting of new experiences in terms of what we already understand |
Accommodation | changing our cognitive structures, what we understand, to fit in with the environment realities |
Equilibration | individuals naturally seek to maintain or restore balance within their cognitive system |
General principles of Piagetian theory | development progresses in stages; stages are order invariant, global (apply to child’s entire way of thinking), qualitatively different ways of thinking |
Piaget’s four periods of development | sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational |
Six sensorimotor substages | exercising reflexes (0-1 mos.), developing schemes (1-4 mos.), discovering procedures (4-8 mos.), intentional behavior (8-12 mos.), novelty and exploration (12-18 mos.), mental representation (18-24 mos.) |
Exercising reflexes | innate, automatic motor responses that are triggered by specific environmental stimuli; sucking when a nipple rubs against the lips (0-1 mos.) |
Developing Schemes | skilled and generalizable action patterns by which infants act on and understand the world; ones that involve the body (sucking, grasping) |
Discovering procedures | infants show a clear interest in their environment; accidental behavior produces an entertaining result, so I might as well do it again |
Intentional behavior | means to ends behavior (8-12 mos.) |
Novelty and exploration | deliberately and systematically vary behavior to create new schemes and new effects (12-18 mos.) |
Mental representation | the use of symbols to picture and act on the world internally (18-24 mos.) |
Object permanence | the understanding that objects exist even when a person cannot see, hear, smell, feel, or taste them |
Object permanence and exercising reflexes and developing schemes | babies don’t realize that objects exist apart from their own actions on those objects; “I dropped a toy of out my car seat. I guess it doesn’t exist anymore!” |
Object permanence and discovering procedures | babies start to search for hidden objects, but only a small part of it is visible |
Object permanence and intentional behavior | baby searches for hidden objects systematically with limits |
Object permanence and novelty and exploration | baby searches for hidden objects even when they are moved to a new location |
Object permanence and mental representation | baby searches for hidden objects even when they are moved to a new location and their movement was done without the child’s knowledge |
Sensorimotor stage | ages 0-2 years; infants understand the world through the overt actions they perform on it |
Preoperational stage | ages 2-6 (preschool period); defining characteristic is symbolic function, or the ability to use one thing to represent something else; features include language, deferred imitation, and symbolic play |
Limits of preoperational thought | egocentrism and centration |
Egocentrism | self-centered view of the world that makes it hard for children to take another person’s perspective |
Centration | children’s tendency to only focus on one aspect of a problem at a time making it hard for children to understand conservation |
Concrete operational stage | ages 6-12; the child is more logical, they can attend to multiple aspects of a situation simultaneously and take various perspective; they have “class inclusion” skills; seriation |
Formal operation stage | ages 12-; not everyone achieves this level of cognitive development; disting. characteristics include hypothetical-deductive reasoning (what-if, might-be, if-then); imagining possibilities, logically evaluating hypotheses, and deducing possible outcomes |
Challenges to Piaget | some skills occur earlier than Piaget described, some later; all children do not pass through all of the same stages in the same order; some children make quantitative changes in thinking, not only qualitative |
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory | child is an active participant in development; development is a fundamentally social and cultural process; language guides thought |
Three overarching themes of the sociocultural theory | study of mental functioning requires studying change at all levels; individual mental development and thought have social origins; human thought and action are mediated by cultural tools and artifacts |
Challenges to Vygotsky | how often is learning really as ideal as vygotsky describes?; how do you summarize data across cultures?; socioculture model might neglect the role of basic cognitive skills; too much emphasis on external factors |
Sociocultural theory | language guides thought |
Piagetian theory | thought guides language |
Piaget’s thoughts | cognition guides language; stage theory (discontinuous); child constructs knowledge; developmental change is universal; endpoint is formal operations |
Vygotsky’s thoughts | language guides cognition; continuous development; social role of knowledge transfer ( ZPD); developmental change varies by culture; is there an endpoint to development? |
Information processing | goal is to specify the steps by which the mind transforms sensory inputs into cognitive or behavioral outputs; based on a computer metaphor; focuses on nurture; measured through computer stimulations, microgenetic studies, behavioral studies |
Information processing | all models rely on a theory of memory; this theory is saying that when you’re an infant you are not as efficient, this builds with experience |
Four mechanisms for cognitive change | encoding, automization, strategy construction, strategy selection |
Encoding | identify the most important features of objects and events and using the features to form internal representations |
Automatization | with practice, processing becomes more efficient |
Strategy construction | we create a variety of strategies to increase efficiency |
Strategy selection | we pick the most effective strategy depending on the situation |
Development of memory in infancy | recognition memory and recall memory |
Recognition memory | once they experience new things, they are making some sort of mental note of what they’re seeing |
Recall memory | recall things that happened earlier, reenact something that happened previously, pull it out and act on it; deferred imitation |
Deferred imitation | ability to see a sequence of events happen and be able to recreate it later; increase in efficiency of memory; Piaget, on the other hand, thinks of it as a use of symbols |
Development of memory in childhood | strategies (mnemonics), content knowledge, metacognition (thinking about thinking) |
Explanations to dimensional change card sort | informational processing theory, has had more input with the color game so he can’t switch; Piaget, centration; Vygotsky, adult didn’t provide enough scaffolding |
Core knowledge | we are born with a set of innate capacities, focuses primarily on the skills we are point with |
Information processing | domain-general, suggest that mechanisms for cognitive change are not dependent on the material to be learned |
Core knowledge | domain specific, suggest that we have specific innate mechanisms for different types of knowledge |
Evolutionary perspective | certain types of knowledge are essential for survival |
Theorist’s perspective | assumption that we are all capable of developing flexibility and skill because we all have these core systems that we are born with |
Approximate number system | both humans and nonhumans have the ability to do this |
Core knowledge | based on nature |
Information processing | based on nurture |
Theory of mind | the ability to take another persons perspective, often developed during preschool, related to things like having more empathy and doing better in academics |
Piaget | centration |
Vygotsky | haven’t learned language to guide their thoughts |
Core knowledge | theory of mind develops out of an innate capacity for social behavior |
Information processing | children don’t have well developed neural networks for remembering multiple perspectives yet |
Contexts that affect schooling success | effects on cognition, teacher effects, effects on motivation, ability tracking and grouping |
Why we study IQ | one of the most often used measures in school placement; tests capture concepts of cognition covered in previous chapters |
Traditional views of IQ | Spearman and Cattell |
Spearman | people have a “g” and an “s” but “s” is not important |
Cattell | student of Spearman who didn’t think the global “g” was enough; fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence |
Fluid intelligence | an intelligence that is assumed to reflect a more innate, or biologically influenced intelligence such as processing speed; seems to peak around late twenties, early thirties |
Crystallized intelligence | the abilities we acquire from experience, including general facts and social norms; continues to grow throughout life |
How we measure IQ | compare children to other children their age |
Stanford-Binet | provides a general IQ score, originally had good intentions but possible cultural bias |
Wechsler | still used today, more of a focus on cognitive processes rather than products (verbal, perceptual, working memory, and processing speed); possible cultural bias |
Kaufman battery for children | overcomes limitations by including more cultural diversity and fairness |
Bayle Scales of Infant Development | motor skills, sensory-perceptual, early language, and memory in infants |
Issues in IQ testing | genetics, cultural bias, and influence in home environment (SES) |
Steinberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence | analytic, creative, and practical intelligence |
Analytic intelligence | thinking about thinking |
Creative intelligence | thinking outside the box |
Practical intelligence | street smarts |
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences | musical, body-kinesthetic, interpersonal, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, naturalistic, intrapersonal, and visual-spatial |
Schooling Bronfenbrenner style | schooling environment has the potential to have a huge influence on a child |
Effects of schooling on children | middle school malaise (puberty and social environment), competition and comparison, more controlling, more focus on grades, switching classrooms, new peers |
Argument for ability grouping and tracking | allow teachers to meet more of the students needs and differentiate instruction based on level of achievement |
Argument against | students in remedial groups receive poorer education, can be stigmatized, and make less learning gains |