NMAT - Social Sciences

Assimilation

Patterns of social acceptance where an incoming group is assimilated into the dominant society; ‘become like the majority’

Cultural Pluralism

Cultures continue to exist without giving up their identities

Amalgamation

Different cultures mix together and make an entirely new culture

Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive development

👶 Sensorimotor (0–2) → "I touch."

🧸 Preoperational (2–7) → "I pretend."

🧩 Concrete Operational (7–11) → "I reason."

🎓 Formal Operational (12+) → "I think abstractly."

Sensorimotor

0-2 years; Learn through senses and movement; object permanence

Preoperational

2-7 years; Symbolic thinking, imagination, not yet logical; pretend play, no logic, deferred imitation

Concrete operational

7-11 years; Logical thinking about concrete things

Formal operational

12+ years; abstract and hypothetical thinking

Deferred imitation

Imitation of absent models; child copies something after the model is gone

Main cause of increasing disabilities in aging

Disease and Poverty

Piaget’s Moral Development

1. Objective Morality (Heteronomous)

2. Subjective Morality (Autonomous)

Objective Morality

(5-10 years) Right and wrong based on consequences

Subjective Morality

(10+ years) Right or wrong based on their intentions

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

1. Preconventional Morality

• Punishment and obedience

• Self-interest
  

2. Conventional Morality

• Good boy and girl

• Law and order
  

3. Postconventional Morality

• Social contract

• Universal ethical principles

Preconventional

Will I get punished? What do I get?

Conventional

What will people think? What do the rules say?

Postconventional

What is truly right?

Operant Conditioning

We learn by the consequences of our actions

Outcomes of operant conditioning

1. Positive reinforcement

2. Negative reinforcement

3. Positive punishment

4. Negative punishment

Classical Conditioning

Pavlov’s dog; association of reward