PSY 3210 Exam #2

Developmental Child Psychology Exam #2 Study Tool

Jean Piagets scientific interest

the qualitative development of cognitive structures

assimilation

adapting external stimuli to fit one’s own internal cognitive structures

accommodation

adapting ones cognitive structure to the structure of stimuli

sensorimotor stage (0-2)

capacity for organize, intelligent looking sensory and motor actions

no “symbolic” thought

knows by anticipating familiar, recurring objects and events

schemes

class of sensory-motor acts that infant repeatedly carries out, normally in response to particular classes of objects or situations

primary circular reaction

repetition of an interesting behavior that involves baby’s own body

secondary circular reaction

repetition of interesting behavior involving objects

tertiary circular reaction

first experimentation: child searches for novelty by introducing variations into familiar events

object permanence

understanding that objects continue to exist even when we’re not in sensory contact with them

preoperational stage (2-6/7)

can think, use symbols

thought is not logical - focus on how things look

difficulty solving problems by mental manipulation alone

concrete operational stage (ages 6/7-11/12)

can solve problems through mental manipulation

can reason logically, but logic is limited to concrete objects

formal operational stage (11/12-up)

thought is logical and flexible

can reason about abstract, hypothetical, and contrary to fact ideas

engage in deductive, scientific reasoning and hypothesis testing

most mature form of cognition

perspective taking

understanding what another person feels, sees, thinks, knows, etc.

ego centrism

lack of differentiation between own and others perspectives

Piagets “three mountain” task

used to measure visual perspective taking

believed children are egocentric until 7 years

Flavell’s level 1

age 2-3

knowledge of what another person sees and doesnt see

knows that to see an object a person must have an eye open that is aimed at an object

enables percept production

assumes that is two people see the same object it will look the same to them

Flavell’s Level 2

age 4 or 5

self and other can see the same object but have it look different to each because of differing position

conceptual perspective taking

understanding what other people know/think

false belief task

theory of mind

child moves from thinking the mind has direct access to “the truth” to realizing that the mind interprets the world

priority

causes come before effects

temporal contiguity

causes and effects tend to come close together in time

spatial contiguity

causes and effects tend to come closer together in space

child understanding of causality

children are pre causal until 7/8

had children explain natural and mechanical phenomena

Gelman counting principles

one-to-one principle

stable-order principle

cardinal principle

abstraction principle

order-irrelevance principle

intermodal perception

matching number across sight and sound (6-8 months)

chi - study of chess experts

Expertise allows information to be organized, reducing number of items to be remembered

effects of expertise on problem solving

planning, noticing similarities to other problems

allows some problems to be solved almost automatically, freeing up mental capacity and

allowing for deeper, more complex thinking

Baumrind’s classic study #1

identify types of children and compare to their parents

based on home visits and lab tasks, parents rated on: parental control, maturity demands, parent child communication, nurturance

Baumrinds classic study #2

identify types of parents and compare to their children

3 styles: authoritarian, permissive, authoritative

Two dimensions of parents

high and low

Authoritative

high parental warmth, high parental control

authoritarian

high parental control, low parental warmth

permissive

high parental warmth, low parent control

uninvolved

low parental control, low parental warmth

Lamborn study

4000 high school students

psychosocial development, school competence, internalized distress, problem behaviors

universal goals of parenting

physical survival/health

child acquires behaviors that enable economic self-sufficiency

child acquires other behaviors valued by culture

Hoffman Study

mothers named characteristics most valued in their child

do well in school, mind parents, be independent and self-reliant, be a good person

different values across cultures