Piaget's theory

suggests development happens in 4 stages; children are mentally active from birth; they learn by experimenting; they are motivated to learn

assimilation

taking new information and fitting it into concepts children have already formed

accomidation

children improve their current understanding of a concept they already have formed

equilibrium

people go through a process to achieve equilibrium when forming new ideas, using assimilation, or accommodation

Sensorimotor stage

birth-2 years old, learning through sensory, object permanence, A-not-B error

A-not-B error

happens in the sensorimotor stage, around 8 months once infants have achieved object permanence and watch an object be hidden, they tend to look in the same spot for hidden item, even when they watch it being hidden somewhere else

Preoperational stage

2-7 yrs; symbolic representations, egocentrism, centration/lack of conservation, sequences cannot be reversed

concrete operational stage

7-12 yrs, they gain conservation but have difficulty with abstract thinking, though they can reverse their thinking

formal operational stage

12yrs +, gain in abstract thinking

flaws to Piaget's theories

vague about how children gain the skills in each stage, underestimating environmental impacts, underestimating children's cognitive abilities, and children's thinking isn't always consistent

Information processing theories

focus on structure of the cognitive system and mental activities used for memory and attention to solve problems

task analysis

identifying goals needed to perform a task, and the obstacles that prevent those goals, as well as strategies for achieving those tasks

computer simulation

mathematical model that expresses ideas about mental processes precisely

information processing theorists view cognitive development as _______.

a continuous thing, and as children grow, their cognitive functions improve

information processing theorists assume children are _____

active problem solvers, as they assess things like the goal-obstacle- strategy

goal-obstacle- strategy

children assess goals and obstacles to get there, and perform problem-solving to get there

working memory

actively attending to, maintaining, and processing info; this happens quickly and isn't retained for long

Long-term memory

knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, including facts, concepts, procedures, and attitudes; retained for long periods of time

Executive functioning

controling behavior and though process

inhibition

an executive function, resisting temptation

enhancement of working memory

an executive function; using strategies to pick important pieces of information

cognitive flexibility

an executive function; imagining someone else's perspective

Basic processes that strengthen memory

associateing, recognizing, recalling, and generalizing

encoding

representing memory events that are considered important

rehersal

repeating of information multiple times in order to remember it

selective attention

focusing on information that is most relevant to the goal

content knowledge

children tend to remember more information than adults do, and remembering something about a content can help association with other details

overlapping waves theory

that children use a variety of approaches to solve problems, as they tend to use different strategies at different times/ages

the development of planning

children often fail to plan in problem-solving situations

why children fail to plan in problem solving

-they'd rather try solutions than try picking the best strategy first - younger children tend to overestimate their abilities and therefore have trouble planning their problem solving

core-knowledge theories

approach the view that children have some innate knowledge about certain things, and that their brains are naturally prepared to learn more about those things - facial recognition, language, cause & effect relationships

Domain specific knowledge

how core-knowledge theorists view knowledge, they have knowledge in a specific area

TOMM

Theory of mind module

Theory of mind module

believed to produce learning about one's own and other's minds, but other mechanisms are believed to produce other things like faces

Nativism vs. Constructivism

Nativists are researchers who emphasize innate knowledge, while constructivists emphasize the generation of increasingly sophisticated domain-specific theories AND an innate foundation

Nativists

believe the "core- knowledge theory"

Core knowledge theory

infants begin life with core knowledge systems, under an important domain on things like inanimate objects, mechanical interactions, minds of people/animals, numbers, spatial layouts, and language

Constructivists

theorize that infants have initial knowledge, but it strengthens over time through experience

Sociocultural theories

emphasize that much of cognitive development happens through interactions

guided participation

people with more knowledge than the child guide them

social scaffolding

a type of guided participation, where adults or MKOs organize an environment in which students learn

MKO

More knowledgeable other

cultural tools

symbol systems, objects, kills, and values which teach children a culture

Vygotsky's theory

portrayed children as social learners and viewed private speech as vital

Children as teachers and learners

we want to teach others about ourselves, and we want to attend to & learn from such teachings this is how culture is taught

Children as products of their culture

processes that produce development tend to be similar across cultures, but the context in which they learn can differ, which can shape children's thinking

Intersubjectivity

the mutual understanding that people share during communication; a topic they are on the same page to talk about

joint attention

infants learn to look towards things near or related to others; they may also direct a partner's attention towards things they find interesting

Piaget's background

trained as a biologist, and gave IQ tests to children. He observed that kids of similar age had a tendency of making the same mistakes and giving similar wrong answers.

Baillargeon & Spelke's modern approach to development

gave a possible task (ball stopping when hitting wall), habituated infants to this task, and then gave another possible task (ball stopping when hitting a closer wall)- when they saw the second task, they were already habituated to it. Then, infants were given an "impossible task", where the ball appeared to go through the wall. Infants young as 2 months dishabituated, and showed interest in the ball going through the wall. This may have been because babies have experiences with solid objects in the womb, before birth

Dynamic systems theory

focuses on how change occurs over time in complex systems

children's goal-solving in dynamic systems theory

changes occur through different behaviors attempted to achieve the same goal, and eventually they will choose the most efficient and effective method to solving a problem

why children believe in "magic"

- parents suggest it - they don't understand what is possible and what isn't

Around age _____, children believe magic is just "tricks"

7

Concrete operational

ages 7-11 years, achieves conservation, can reverse thinking, can order objects, classify things by 2 dimensions, though thinking is limited to concrete events and they cannot think abstractly

Formal operational

Ages 12+, abstract thinking, idealism and values (ethics and beliefs), scientific reasoning, and adolescent egocentrism

adolescent egocentrism- personal fable

a false sense of egocentrism

adolescence egocentrism- imaginary audience

everyone notices and sees me

Winer et. al 2013

compared 3rd graders to college students, asked sensory-related questions, like "can you see with your fingers?", college students said yes, but 3rd graders said no

Chess and working memory

when pieces are placed randomly, children who are chess experts can remember where the pieces are placed over adults who are not chess experts, while the adults were able to remember the randomly placed pieces

Older children also have better abilities to direct their attention

6-year-olds struggled to focus on a specific aspect of a photo (flower, when they focused on a bug), while 12-year-olds were able to focus on just the flower

metacognition & metamemory

older kids do better at thinking about thinking, and thinking about memory

content knowledge

with age, kids have more experience, and so, they reason better

Keil and Batterman 1984

Used to examine kid's understanding of content knowledge, children who were given prototypical descriptions without a defining feature, and also given a non-prototypical definition with a defining feature older children were able to recognize the defining features in the examples where they have experience

Background to Leichtman & Ceci (1995)

preschoolers heard about whales spouting water, and kids misinterpreted, leading to the 1980s preschool sexual abuse scandals

Ecological validity

How well do we capture the real world in the lab? its hard to remember emotional circumstances, as children tend to give answers adults want to hear

Why might young children be more susceptible to social pressures that influence memory?

- dependence on adults (wanting to please those they depend on) - demanding for a specific answer - repeated questioning - creation of schemas from parental information

Leichtman & Ceci study

Sam Stone visits the preschool class, and children are put into four groups: 1. Control group 2. Given a stereotype about Sam 3. Suggestion group (asked suggestive questions) 4. Stereotype + suggestion group the suggestion group and sterotype + suggestion group have the least accurate testimonies about what happened with Sam Stone

Sadeth et al (2000)

Studying sleep data for children, cross sectional study of grades 2,4, 6 found that 2nd graders have an hour earlier bedtime than 6th graders, that the kids woke up roughly 2 times each night, and the best predictions to children's sleep was parent's age (younger parents encouraged children to sleep more)

Sadeth et. al (2003)

Cross sectional study, grades 4, 6 Testing working memory (NBF) Groups 1. Went to bed earlier and got around 35 mins more of sleep 2. Went to bed 1 hr later, and lost 41 mins of sleep; also experienced more daytime sleepiness The difference in sleep groups was bigger than age difference when it came to working memory tests

Fredinksen et. at. (2004)

relationship of sleep and depression was a correlational study, since they can't ethically experiment longitudinal study, 6th and 8th graders, same kids in both age groups, studied sleep habits in 6th grade, and depressive symptoms in 8th grade 8th graders got 40 mins less sleep on average, and there was a negative correlation between total sleep in 6th grade, and depressive symptoms (less sleep in 6th grade, more depressive symptoms in 8th grade)