Psych Across Lifespan - Module 5: Brain and Cognition 2

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary and concepts related to brain and cognitive development across the lifespan, including the theories of Piaget and post-formal thinking.

Perceptual Salience

The most obvious feature of an object or experience that has a disproportionate influence on perception.

Sensorimotor stage

Stage from birth to age 2, with goals to gain symbolic capacity and object permanence.

rely on sensory input and motor responses to solve problems and adapt to environment, learn by watching effect of actions.

6 substages to this stage.

Object permanence through sensorimotor stage

Conservation

The concept that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is superficially altered.

Centration

The ability to only focus on one aspect of an object or situation.

Egocentrism

The tendency to view the world from one's own perspective, failing to recognize that others may have different viewpoints.

Preoperational Thinking

A stage (ages 2-7) characterized by egocentrism and the mastery of conservation.

Uses symbolic thinking and can refer to past/future, play flourishes.

Fooled by appearance due to perceptual salience.

Fail conservation tasks due to centration, irreversibility and static thought.

Symbolic Thinking

Using symbols such as language to understand the world.

Decentration

The ability to focus on two or more dimensions of a situation or object simultaneously.

Reversibility

The process of mentally undoing an action.

Static Thought

Thinking that focuses on the end state rather than the transformative process.

Classification (Class Inclusion)

Understanding that parts or subclasses are included in the whole class, and the whole is greater than its parts.

Taxonomic Classification

The ability to categorize objects, recognizing that they belong to a group even if they do not look similar.

Inductive Reasoning

Drawing cause-effect conclusions based on factual information presented.

Spatial Reasoning

The ability to represent, reason, and manipulate objects in space.

Animism

Attributing life-like qualities to inanimate objects.

Magical Thought

Belief that unexplainable events can be attributed to magic.

Number Concept

Understanding various fundamentals of numbers such as one-to-one correspondence and cardinality.

Ordinality

The principle stating that numbers occur in a consistent order.

Concrete-Operational Thinking

A stage (ages 7-11) marked by logical thought but difficulty with abstract concepts.

Mastered logical concepts such as reversibility, transformational thought, classification & overcomes egocentrism.

preforms mental actions on objects & can engage in internal operations that car be applied to variety of problems.

Logical Operations

Cognitive processes that allow individuals to perform mental actions on objects.

Seriation

The logical operation that allows for ordering stimuli along a quantifiable dimension.

Transitivity

Cognitive ability to recognize necessary logical relations among elements.

Formal-Operational Thinking

Stage (ages 11+) characterized by mental manipulation of thoughts and hypothetical thinking.

able to adopt a more systematic and scientific approach to problem solving and use hypothetical- deductive reasoning

Variation in achievement of formal operations- dependant on sociocultural factors.

Hypothetical Thinking

Cognitive ability to deal with possibilities even if they contradict reality.

Propositional Thought

The cognitive ability to evaluate statements without referring to the real world.

Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning

Cognitive problem solving that starts with general ideas to deduce specific implications.

Sociocultural Context

The environment that influences the development and achievement of cognitive operations.

Adolescent Egocentrism

Difficulty in distinguishing one’s thoughts and feelings from those of others.

Imaginary Audience

The belief that one's thoughts and feelings are the focus for everyone else.

Personal Fable

The belief that one’s own thoughts and feelings are unique and exceptional.

Post Formal Thought

Cognition that goes beyond formal operational thought, responding to the demands of adult life.

Relativistic Thinking

Understanding that there are multiple ways of viewing a problem depending on context.

Dialectical Thinking

Advanced thought involving recognizing and reconciling inconsistencies among ideas.

Knowledge Relativity

The understanding that knowledge consists of nuances rather than absolutes.

Complex Thinking

A form of cognition that recognizes contradictions and integrates them into a broader understanding.

Acquisitive Stage

The stage of childhood and adolescence focused on gaining knowledge.

Executive Stage

The stage where adults manage complex responsibilities.

Achieving Stage

The phase where cognitive development focuses on personal goals and responsibilities.

Legacy Creating Stage

The stage focused on establishing a lasting impact.

Reorganisational Stage

The stage of re-evaluating life goals and achievements.

Reintegrative Stage

The stage characterized by a focus on important elements within life.