Psychology - Cognition and Development

The development of mental processes, mostly thinking, reasoning, and understanding. This topic focuses on Childhood.

Beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processes, developed from experience

A form of learning where we acquire new information on a subject that does not wildly change it, thus, we assimilate it into our existing schema

A form of learning where we acquire radical new information on a topic where we have to create a new schema, or radically change an existing one.

Once undergone accommodation or assimilation, we are in equilibration, everything is balanced

Stages all children go through to develop understanding of the world

0-2 Years, babies learn through trial and error and acquire basic language. Around 8 months, Babies form Object Permanence.

2-7 Years. Toddler is mobile and can use language, but lacks adult reasoning. They lack conservation and are egocentric. Also, they can begin to understand class inclusion, but not fully.

7-11 Years. Children have better views on class inclusion and egocentrism, but they struggle to understand hypothetical ideas

11+. Children become capable of reasoning formally. They can understand the form of an argument, not just the content, and they can understand abstract ideas.

Knowing that when something is out of sight, it still exists

Knowing that quantity remains the same when the appearance of an object changes, e.g water in differently shaped vessels

Children’s tendency to only see the world from their point of view. Lacking the ability to take other’s perspectives

Being able to know that classes of objects have/can be subsets of larger classes. Pre-Operational children struggle to put things in more than one classes, e.g ‘dogs’ and ‘animals’

The gap between a child’s current ability (unaided) and their potential (With the help of a more expert other)

Helping the learner cross the ZPD, advancing as much as they can. Less scaffolding as the learner improves

Our understanding of how the world works, e.g object permanence. There is debate as to when children learn this.

Research that investigates infant knowledge of the world. They may expect certain things to happen, and show surprise when it doesn’t

Mental processes we use in social interaction, e.g deciding how we behave in a social situation

Being able to understand the role/point of view of another human being in a social situation

Our personal understanding of what others think and feel

A spectrum disorder. Autistic people face challenges with social interaction/communication, and repeated/restrictive behaviours. It can cause learning disabilities in some

Consists of mirror neurons in several areas of the brain. They fire in response in our own actions and to the actions of others. They allow us to interpret intention and emotion of others

• Water in 2 same containers

• One is fully poured into a taller (thinner) container

• If subject says the taller container has more water, the dumb-ass has no skills of conservation

• Three mountains

• A doll is placed in a set

• The child is asked to see what the doll sees (E.g a mountain, house, etc)

• If the child can’t see from the doll’s perspective, dumb-ass is egocentric

• 3 month old children

• Looked at a possible and impossible event

• Children stared longer at the impossible until habituated

• Suggests object permanence develops sooner than Piaget suggested

• 30 Boys, 30 Girls

• 20 4, 5, and 6 Year Olds

• ‘Holly’s dad does not want her to climb trees. Holly’s kitten is stuck up a tree’

• Child was asked to describe how each person feels after Holly does/doesn’t climb the tree

• Level of Perspective Taking correlates with age

• Maxi puts chocolate in a blue cupboard and leaves

• Maxi’s mother puts Maxi’s chocolate in the green cupboard

• When Maxi comes back, where will he look?

• 3 Year old Dumb-asses say Green

• 4 Year old geniuses say Blue

• Sally puts her marble in a basket and leaves

• Anne, the bitch, puts it in a box

• Where will Sally look?

• 85% of the control group were correct

• 4 Autistic Children were correct (4/20)

• Studying electrical activity in a monkey’s motor cortex when a researcher reached for food in view of the monkey

• The monkey’s cortex activated the same way for this as if the monkey did it themselves

• The same brain cells that fired for each event

• Suggests they activate not just for observed action but also intention

• They suggested we stimulate others’ actions in our motor system and experience their intentions using neurons

• Suggests mirror neurons are so important they shaped human evolution

• Without cognitive abilities we would be unable to live in large groups with complex social roles

• Neurological deficits that include dysfunction in the mirror neuron system prevent a developing child imitating and understanding social behaviour in others

• Manifests in infancy when children mimic adult behaviour less

• This can lead to challenges in social communication as children and struggle with empathy