Child Development Midterm 2

Piaget’s Theory

Posits that cognitive development involves a sequence of 4 stages that are constructed through the process of assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium

Sources of Continuity

• Assimilation

• Accommodation

• Equilibration

Assimilation

The process by which people translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts they already understand

Accommodation

The process where people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences

Equilibration

The process by which children (or other people) balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding

Sources of Discontinuity

1. Qualitative Change

2. Broad Applicability

3. Brief Transitions

4. Invariant Sequence

Qualitative Change

Source of discontinuity meaning children of different ages think in qualitatively different ways

Broad Applicability

Source of discontinuity meaning that thinking is influenced across topics

Brief Transitions

Source of discontinuity meaning that they pass through transition periods and fluctuate between types of thinking

Invariant Sequence

Source of discontinuity meaning that everyone progresses through the stages in the same order without skipping any

Sensorimotor Stage

Stage of cognitive development from birth to 2 years

• sensory and motor abilities used to perceive and explore the world

Preoperational Stage

Stage of cognitive development from 2-7 years

• language and mental imagery used to represent other experiences

• more memory and sophisticated concepts

Concrete Operational Stage

Stage of cognitive development from 7-12 years

• reason logically about concrete objects/events

• Conservation

• can’t think abstractly

Formal Operational Stage

Stage of cognitive development from 12 years and up

• think deeply about abstractions and purely hypothetical situations

• perform systematic scientific experiments and draw conclusions

A-not-B Error

The tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than in a new location where it was last hidden

• happens in sensory stage

Symbolic Representation

The use of one object to stand for another

• happens in Pre-op Stage

Egocentrism

The tendency to perceive the world solely from one’s own point of view

• limitation of Pre-op stage

Centration

The tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object/event

Conservation

The idea that merely changing the appearance of objects does not necessarily change the object’s other key properties

Piaget’s Weaknesses

1. Vague about mechanisms that produce thinking/cognitive growth

2. Infants are more competent than he recognized

3. Understates the contribution of the social world

4. Stage model depicts thinking as more consistent than it is

Information-Processing Theories

A class of theories that focus on the structure of the cognitive system and the mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems

Task Analysis

The research technique of specifying the goals, obstacles to their realization, and potential solution strategies involved in problem solving

Computer Simulation

A type of mathematical model that expresses ideas about mental processes in precise ways

Working Memory

Involves actively attending to, maintaining, and processing information

Long-term Memory

Retained information on an enduring basis

Executive Functioning

Cognitive control of behavior and though processes

• inhibition, working memory enhancement, cognitive flexibility

Basic Processes

The simplest and most frequently used mental activities

• recognizing objects, recalling facts, generalizing, etc

Encoding

The process of representing in memory information that draws attention or is considered important

Content Knowledge

With age and experience, children’s knowledge about almost everything increases; also provides useful associations

Rehearsal

The process of repeating information multiple times to aid memory of it

Selective Attention

The process of intentionally focusing on the information that is most relevant to the current goal

Overlapping Waves Theory

An information-processing approach that emphasizes the variability of children’s thinking and gradual movement toward greater use of more advances strategies

Planning

• Makes problem-solving more successful

• Maturation of the prefrontal cortex is important for this

Core-Knowledge Theories

Approaches that view children as having some innate knowledge in domains of special evolutionary important and domain-specific learning mechanisms for rapidly and effortlessly acquiring additional information in those domains

Domain-Specific

Information about a particular content area

Theory of Mind Module

Believed to produce learning about one’s own and other peoples’ minds

Nativism

The theory that infants have substantial innate knowledge of evolutionarily important domains

Language Acquisition Device

Learning mechanism that enables young children to rapidly master the complicated systems of grammatical rules present in all human languages

Constructivism

The theory that infants build increasingly advanced understanding by combining rudimentary innate knowledge with subsequent experiences

• blend of nativism, piaget, and info-processing

Sociocultural Theories

Approaches that emphasize that other people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children’s development

Guided Participation

A process in which more knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to learn

Social Scaffolding

A process in which more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own, until they can think independently in an advanced way

Cultural Tools

The innumerable products of human ingenuity that enhance thinking

• skills, values, manufactures objects, symbols, etc

Vygotsky’s Theory

Portrays children as social leaders, intertwined with other people who help them gain skills and understanding

• emphasizes gradual, continuous change

• thought is internalized speech

Private Speech

The second phase of Vygotsky’s internalization-of-thought process, in which children develop self-regulation and problem-solving abilities by telling themselves what to do

Internalizing Speech

1. Behavior controlled by other people statements

2. Behavior controlled by private speech (“Goes underground”)

3. Behavior controlled by internalized private speech

Processes; Content

The ____ that produce development, such as guided participation, are the same in all societies, however the ____ that children learn vary greatly

Intersubjectivity

The foundation of human cognitive development is our ability to establish this

• happens around 1 year

Headcams and Eyecams

Helps solve the problem of how to asses infants’ visual understanding in natural settings

Naive Psychology

A commonsense level of understanding of other people and oneself

• crucial to normal human functioning

Self-consciousness

A rudimentary understanding that they are separate from other people and can act in ways that accomplish their goals

• implicit in infants

Early Understanding

• Nativists: it is possible bc children are born with a basic understanding of human psychology

• Empiricists: it is possible bc of experiences with other people and info-processing capacities

Sense of Self

Infants realize they are individuals distinct from others in their second year

Joint Attention

Two or more people focus on the same referent

• happens in the 2nd year

Theory of Mind

An organized understanding of how mental processes such as intentions, desires, beliefs, perceptions, and emotions influence behavior

False-belief problems

Tasks that test a child’s understanding that other people will act in accord with their own beliefs even when the child knows that those beliefs are incorrect

Number

• Nativists: children are born with a core concept of number

• Empiricists: children learn about numbers through experiences and learning mechanisms

Numeral Equality

The realization that all sets of N objects have something in common

• ex: 2 cups share “twoness”

Nonsymbolic Sense

Newborns have _______ of numerical equality - can learn set sizes in 3:1 ratio

Counting

Many children begin to do so verbally at 2 years of age

• don’t understand the meaning behind it

Counting Principles

Preschoolers acquire understanding of these:

1. one-one correspondence (single word)

2. stable order (same order)

3. cardinality (amount of objects = last #)

4. order irrelevance (left-right, right-left)

5. abstraction (any set of things can be counted)

Comprehension; Production

Language use requires both ______ (understanding what others say) and _____ (the process of speaking, signing, writing, etc)

Generative

System in which a finite set of words can be combined to generate an infinite number of sentences

Phonemes

Smallest unit of meaningful sound

Morphemes

Smallest unit of meaning in a language

Syntax

Rules specifying how words from different categories (nouns, verbs, etc) can be combined

Pragmatics

Knowledge about how language is used

Dialects

A particular form of a language, often based in a specific region or social group

5

Sensitive period for language ends sometimes between age ___ and puberty

Prosody

The characteristic rhythm and intonational patterns with which a language is spoken

Word Segmentation

Infants begin ______ during the 2nd half of their first year

Babbling

Babies begin ___ between 6 and 10 months

Whole-object Assumption

Children expect a novel word to refer to a whole object rather than to a part, property, action, or other aspect of it

Pragmatic Cues

Aspects of the social context used for word learning

Cross-situational Word Learning

Determining word meanings by tracking the correlations between labels and meaning across scenes and contexts

Synaptic Bootstrapping

The strategy of using grammatical structure to infer the meaning of a new world

Simple Sentences

Most children begin to combine words into ______ by the end of their 2nd year

11

Infants expect frequent word combinations by ____ months

Telegraphic Speech

Short utterances that leave out nonessential words

Overregulation Errors

Treating irregular forms as if they were regular

• ex: grewed, mans, goed, walkeded

Factual

Caregivers are more likely to correct ____ than grammatical errors

Narratives

Storyline descriptions of past events that 5 year olds can produce, unlike 3 year olds

Behaviorists

Believed that development is a function of learning through reinforcement/punishment

Skinner

Parents teach children to speak by means of the same kinds of reinforcement techniques used to train animals to perform certain behaviors

Chomsky

Believed development can’t be via reinforcement because:

1. we can understand/produce sentences we’ve never heard

2. children know details about the structure of language they aren’t taught yet

Universal Grammar

A proposed set of highly abstract structures that are common to all languages

• Chomsky (nativist)

Domain General

Mechanisms are used for learning many kinds of things

Specific

Nativists believe cognitive language mechanisms are highly ____ to language

Connectionism

Computational modeling approach that emphasizes the simultaneous activity of numerous interconnected processing units

Dual Representation

Treating a symbolic artifact both as a real object and as a symbol for something other than itself

• young children struggle with it

Emotions

Neural and physiological responses to the environment, subjective feelings, cognitions related to those feelings, and the desire to take action

Discrete Emotions Theory

A theory in which emotions are viewed as innate, and each emotion has a specific and distinctive set of bodily and facial reactions

• put forward by Darwin

Functionalist Perspective

Theory that the basic function of emotions is to promote action toward achieving a goal

• emotions not discrete from each other

• vary somewhat based on social environment

Six Basic Emotions

Most researchers agree there are ______ universal in all cultures

• happiness, fear, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust

Social Smiles

Smiles that are directed at people; they first emerge around the 3rd month of life

Fear

Initial signs of ___ in infants begin by 7 months

Separation Anxiety

Feelings of distress that children, especially infants/toddlers, experience when they are separated from individuals to whom they are emotionally attached

• emerges at 8 months

• declines around 24 months

Anger

Infants rarely express solely ____, but blended with sadness

Surprise

Most infants begin to express ____ by age 6 months

Self-conscious Emotions

Emotions such as guilt, shame, embarrassment, and pride that relate to our sense of self and our consciousness of other’ reactions to us