psychology development

early brain development

name the three sections that the brain develops in when the fetus is ¼ weeks old

forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain

what develops at 6 weeks in hindbrain

pons,cerebellum and medulla oblongata

medulla

responsible for automatic/involuntary responses (breathing, blinking, sneezing)

cerebellum

joining the midbrain and spinal cord, responsible for balance, coordination and moving

the forebrain and hindbrain splits at five weeks

forebrain: splits into anterior (front) and posterior (back) section

hindbrain: splits in half

neural connections

linsk formed by messages passing from one nerve cell to another

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

changes we go through in terms of our thinking, problem solving, perception and language

• piaget suggested that all children will go through four cognitive stages that are universal (relating to everyone) and invariant (never changing)

stages of cognitive development

• 0-2: sensorimotor stage

• 2-7: pre-operational stage

• 7-11: concrete operational stage

• 11+: formal operational stage

sensorimotor stage

• they explore the world using their senses (smell, hearing, touch, taste)

• around 6 months, they develop object permanence

• around 4 months old children repeat actions

object perminance

knowing that something exists even when its out of sight

preoperational stage (part 1)

1) symbolic stage (2-4)

• children use objects as symbols to represent people or objects

• animism can be seen where children believe objects can behave as if they’re alive

• children here are also egocentric (only sees the world from their own view)

preoperational stage (part 2)

2) intuitive thought stage (4-7)

• children use reasoning to understand the world (they ask lots of questions) -→ centration: focusing on one feature of a situation and ignoring other features

• children also do not realise that changing how something looks does not change the volume, size or weight (irreversibility)

concrete operational

children apply rules and strategies to aid their understanding and thinking

abilities include:

1. seriation: sorting objects

2. classification: naming and identifying objects

3. reversibility: reverse actions

4. conservation: understanding quantity and length stay the same

5. decentration: taking multiple views

formal operational stage

children has more control in their thinking, they can understand abstract thoughts, time and how it changes and examine consequences

how to help different stages in education

sensorimotor: hands-on activities to explore physical environment and develop motor skills

preoperational:use visual aids and encourage imaginative play to enhance understanding and communication.

concrete operational:incorporate hands-on activities and introduce problem-solving tasks to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills.

formal operational: engage in discussions and debates to stimulate abstract thinking and reasoning.

strengths of piaget’s cognitive stages of development

1. application: can be used in education to help children

2. research support

3. useful

weaknesses of piaget’s cognitive stages of development

1. validity: some studies shows children develop earlier

2. not generalisable: did not look at influence of social influence or cultural setting

schema development

patterns are formed about what we experience, mental structures gives us frameworks to understand the world

equilibrium

when a child’s schemas can explain all that they experience → a state of mental balance

disequilibrium

when a child experiences new things in life and new information is added to them that does not make sense in terms of their schemas

assimilation

incorporating new experiences into existing schemas

accomodation

when a schema needs to be changed to fit new information and experiences that do not align with existing schemas.

adaptation

using assimilation and accommodation to make sense of the world

Dweck’s mindset theory

mindset: a set of beliefs we have about our ability to succeed in education and other areas in our life

fixed mindset: believing that your abilities are fixed and unchangeable

growth mindset: believing that practice and effort can improve abilities

key points of dweck’s mindset theory

• children should be praised for effort rather than ability

• children can develop a fixed mindset and give up on challenges because they’re discouraged

• teachers also have fixed and growth mindset

strength of dweck’s mindset theory

Application: practical to help teachers in school and parents encourage a growth mindset in children.

research evidence

weakness of dweck’s mindset theory

validity: much research evidence used artificial settings so it doesn’t replicate real life

reliability: findings can be inconsistent across different studies.

Willingham’s theory of practice

he suggested that to learn and develop skills, you must have previous knowledge. Knowledge frees up space in our working memory → allowing us to practice skills such as problem solving

Willingham’s theory of practice (importance of practice and effort)

practicing allows knowledge and skills to move from STM to LTM → enough practice allows you to do things automatically

strategies to boost students cognitive, physical and social development

1. cognitive development

   • use problems that are not too far out of student’s reach

   • remember children’s abilities change everyday

2. physical development

   • focus on what movements are necessary for a task

   • practice the muscle movement in front of children

3. social development

   • encourage self regulation (don’t be influenced by others)

   • demonstrate appropriate behaviour for children to model

strengths of Willingham’s theory of practice

application: can be applied to education and other situations to promote child development

research support

weakness of Willingham’s theory of practice

not useful: ignored individual differences in learning

not reductionist: comes from areas of neuroscience, memory and cognitive development → not a singular theory

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task background

children in preoperational stage see world from own viewpoint, understanding viewpoints is something that develops

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task aim

To study the perspectives of children and investigate relationships between the child’s viewpoint and their perception of the viewpoint of others.

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task procedure

• took 100 participants (aged 4-12)

• _{^{21 were aged between 4 and 6 years old}}

  _{^{30 were aged between 6 and 8 years old}}

  _{^{33 were aged between 8 and 9 years old}}

  _{^{16 were aged between 9 and 12 years old.}}

1. A model of three mountains including a house, red cross, snow and a path

2. 10 pictures the three mountains from different positions

3. Pieces of card in the shape of mountains to represent the mountains

4. A wooden doll

Ways of questioning:

1. Place the shapes to show how the mountain looked for them and the doll

2. Pick out of 10 pictures what they could see and the doll could see

3. Choose a picture and position the doll to see that view

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task findings

Pre-operational stage (4-6.5 years): Chooses pictures and shows picture for what they can see.

Concrete operational stage (7-9 years): Start to understand that others see the model differently. Children 9-10 years old understand the doll has a different view.

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task conclusion

Children in Piaget’s stage 2 (pre-operational) are egocentric, unable to see the doll’s viewpoint and only recall their own perspective. This reflects their limited reasoning skills. In stage 3 (concrete operational), children begin to understand others’ viewpoints, initially by adjusting their own perspective to help the doll see. By the end of this stage, they can fully adopt the doll’s viewpoint, showing that egocentrism has decreased.

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task strengths

validity: provided lots of detail about children’s development, used qualitative data, natural task bc children from switzerland and familiar with mountain scenary

reliability: careful controls used

piaget and inhelder: three mountain task weakness

validity: does not have realistic task (lack mundane realism)

generalisability: did not have range of cultures, only used swiss children

counter research evidence for piaget and inhelder: three mountain task findings

Helen Borke (1975) argued that children are not egocentric but found Piaget’s ‘three mountains task’ too difficult and unrealistic. She modified the task by replacing the wooden doll with Grover from Sesame Street and placed the mountain model on a turntable that children could rotate. Using this more engaging setup, she found that 3-year-olds correctly recalled Grover’s viewpoint 79% of the time, and 4-year-olds did so 93% of the time.

Gunderson et al: parent praise background

 There are two types of praise given to children. The type of praise can affect the type of motivational framework that the child develops.

Person praise (praising the individual) can lead to a child developing an entity motivational framework.

Process praise (praising the child’s behaviour) can lead to a child developing an incremental motivational framework.

Entity motivational framework

Behaviour and ability is fixed and based on a child’s nature.

Incremental motivational framework:

Behaviour and ability can be changed with effort

Gunderson et al: parent praise aims

To examine how different types of praise influence children's motivation and mindset development.

Gunderson et al: parent praise procedure

The sample included 29 boys and 24 girls. This included a range of cultures e.g. 64% were white, 17% were African American, 11% were Hispanic, and 8% were multiracial.

Longitudinal study – Children were assessed using a questionnaire at 14 months, 26 months and 38 months. Five years later their motivation was reviewed. The questionnaire included a range of questionnaires about their motivation, morality, beliefs and intelligence

Gunderson et al: parent praise results

Results: Overall parents gave more process praise than person praise. Process praise was given more to boys than girls.

Process praise = 18%

Person praise = 16%

Boys = 24% process praise

Girls = 10% process praise

A strong correlation between process praise and motivation was strengthened.

Gunderson et al: parent praise conclusion

• Clear relationship between parents use of process praise and a child’s later use of incremental motivational framework (ability being changeable)

• Did not find that parental use of person praise led to an entity motivational framework (ability to fixed)

Gunderson et al: parent praise strengths

Validity: Gunderson  et al conducted their research in naturalistic settings. This increases the ecoglogical validity of the study.

Validity: The researchers who videotaped and analysed the data did not know what the study was on. This means the interpretation is less likely to be influenced by bias.

Generalisability: There were a mixture of participants cultures.

Gunderson et al: parent praise weakness

Ethical issues: The ethics can be criticised. The participants were told that the study was on child development.

Validity: The parents were observed during the research and so they may have changed their behaviour towards their child.

issues and debate morality piaget

Piaget thought that moral development happens in stages.

From 5-10 years old rules are about punishment and right and wrong. = heteronomous. Other people provide rules which govern our behaviour.

From 10 years onwards its about bad actions could have good consequences = autonomous. Individuals are responsible for their own behaviour and decide what is right or wrong.

issues and debate Kohlberg – Heinz’s dilemma

A moral reasoning scenario presented by Kohlberg to illustrate his stages of moral development, where a man named Heinz must decide whether to steal a drug to save his dying wife.

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development

1. Obedience and punishment: The child is good to avoid punishment.

2. Individualism: Children realise that adults may have different viewpoints.

3. Relationships: The child is good to look good for other people.

4. Law and order: The child is good to uphold rules in society and not feel guilt.

5. Social contract: Children realise that sometimes rules might change for the greater good.

6. Universal Principals: Children develop their own set of morals and laws

weaknesses of theories of moral development

Not useful: Piaget and Kohlberg used made up unrealistic stories which means the they lack ecological validity as the answers given might not be the real decisions they would make.

Not useful: Kohlberg used an all male sample so his findings are not generalisable to women’s morality.