DS - Chapter 7

categories; concepts

____ and ____ group together objects, events, etc., that are similar in some way (apples & bananas = fruit)

category

group of things in the world that go together

concept

the thing (representation) in your head that allows you to categorize things

concepts

support generalization of prior experience to new situations

taxonomic (categories)

shared physical features

thematic (categories)

shared function or context.

natural (categories)

things created by nature; shared physical features

artificial (categories)

things created by humans; shared functions

ad hoc categories

formed for specific purpose / context; “things to take on a picnic”

hierarchies

children (and adults) organize categories and concepts into ___

perpetual categorization

grouping based on shared perceptual features

forming a prototype

grouping based on similarity to a “representational average”

perceptual-to-conceptual

categorization shifts from ___-__-___

conceptual development

reflects the interaction of nature and nurture, but the particulars of this interaction are hotly debated.

nativists

____ argue that innate understanding of concepts plays a central role in development.

empiricists

____ argue that concepts arise from basic learning mechanisms

units

identification of fundamental ___ for division of objects and events into basic categories

principles

explanation of many phenomena via fundamental ___

causality

explanation of events via unobservable causes

Piaget’s theory

infants’ physical interactions with objects

information-processing approach

through basic processing skills

core-knowledge theories

infants have a biological predisposition to form particular concepts

sociocultural theories

the social world structures and communicates information about important concepts

theory of mind

the ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others

2 year olds (theory of mind)

• understand the connection between other people’s desires and their actions, but show little understanding of beliefs

• will give someone a preferred snack

3 year olds (theory of mind)

• understands that desires and beliefs affect behavior

• have difficulty with false belief problems, where others’ beliefs are in conflict with the child’s own knowledge

5 year olds (theory of mind)

• understand desires, beliefs, and intentions

• can pass false belief problems

naive biology

• preschoolers understand that biological processes are different from psychological processes

• also understand some properties of living things crucial for their functions (inheritance, essentialism, growth, illness, and healing)

1 year olds (living vs nonliving things)

can distinguish people from other animals and from inanimate objects

3-4 year olds (living vs nonliving things)

assess properties of living and nonliving things

7-9 year olds (living vs nonliving things)

realize plants are living things; children from rural areas do this sooner

nativists

argue that humans are born with a “biology module” that helps children learn quickly about living things

empiricists

argue that children’s biological understanding comes from observations and information received from parents, teachers, and culture

spatial perception

objects and their orientations, distances, shapes, spatial relationships

spatial cognition

navigation and mental rotation

locomotor

children with more ___ experience are more successful in spatial search tasks

egocentric

coding relative to oneself

allocentric

coding relative to external features of the environment

spatial coding

there are multiple frames of reference for ___ ___

perspective-taking

the three mountains task shows limitations in ___-___

sensorimotor

develop awareness of space

preoperational

develop symbolic representations, ability to use spatial language

concrete operational

can mentally transform spatial representations

formal operational

abstract reasoning and logical thinking about space

relative weighting perspective

the ___ ___ ___ posits 4 global spatial systems

response learning (egocentric)

reach to the right

dead-reckoning (egocentric)

always update a “homing” signal by keeping track of your movements relative to known position (desert ants do this really well…)

cue learning (allocentric)

the toy is in the blue toy box

place learning (allocentric)

the toy is 10 inches from the left edge of the sandbox

numerical perception

understanding of quantity (more and less); equality

numerical cognition

counting, numerical operations, abstract mathematical thinking

quantity representation

seen across a wide variety of species

numerical equality

perhaps the most basic numerical understanding is that of ___ ___

numerical equality

infants as young as 5 months appear to have a sense of ___ ___, but it is limited to sets of 1, 2, or 3 objects

in addition, infants possess an approximate sense of larger numbers (16 is more than 8)

approximate

basic addition

there is some evidence suggesting that infants understand ___ ___

the five counting principles

1. one-one correspondence

2. stable order

3. cardinality

4. order irrelevance

5. abstractions

magnitude representation

a general theory of ___ ___ claims representations of space, time, and number are intertwined

nativists

core concepts that are enriched with experience or maturity

empiricists

conceptual knowledge emerges through experience and social interaction