psychology: topic 1

• What is theforebrain?


  The anterior (outer) part of the brain, including the hemispheres and the centeral brain structures.

  
• What is the midbrain?

  The middle section of the brain, forming a part of the central nervous system.

  
• What is thehindbrain?


  The lower partof the brain that includes the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata.

  
• What is the cerebellum?


  The area of the brain near to the brain stem that controls motor movements(muscle activity): such as muscle coordination and balance.

  
• What is the medulla?


  Connects the upper brain to the spinal cord and controls automatic responses: such as hear the beat and breathing.

  
• What is thefirst stage of piaget's stages of development and what is the age range? 


  The sensorimotor stage, from birth to 2 years.

  
• What does egocentric mean?

  The in ability to see the world through another’s viewpoint.
• What are the key features of the sensorimotor stage?

  • Infants develop reflex and action schemas: Such as sucking.• Infants are totally egocentric.• They begin to learn object permanence at around6 months.

  
• What is object permanence?


  The understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight.
• What is thesecond stage of piagets stages of developmet and what is the age range? 


  second stageof Piaget’s stages of development? And what is theage range?Thepre-operationalstage, from2 years to 7 years

  
• What are the


  key featuresof thepre-operationalstage?• Children begin to usesymbolic play: such as using a box as a stool and usingrole playin games like ‘mummies and daddies’.• Symbolic representation: Children think insymbolsand usepictureswhich is the start oflanguage development.• Children haveanimism.•Lack of conservation.
• What does


  animismmean?The belief thatnon-living objectsare actuallyaliveand that theyhave feelings.
• What is meant by a lack of conservation?

  Not realising that just because the look of something changes, it doesn't mean it's amount has changed. An example can be pouring a tall glass of water into a wide glass.

  
• What is the


  thirdstage of Piaget’s stages of development? What is theage range?Theconcrete operationalstage, from7 to 12 years

  
• What are the


  key featuresof theconcrete operationalstage?•Ability to de-centre: they can look at things from others viewpoints.•Ability to conserve.•Reversibility: a child will know that 2+4=6 and that this can be reversed to 6-4=2.

  
• What is the


  fourth and final stageof Piaget’s stages of development?Theformal operationalstage, from12 years onwards.

  
• What are the


  key featuresof theformal operationalstage?• Hypothetical reasoning.

  • Systematic and analytical thinking.

  • Logical problem solving.

  • Tendency to philosophise.
• What are schemas?


  Mental representations of the world based on one's own experiences.

  
• What is


  assimilation?Incorporatingnew experiences intoexisting schemas.An Example: A young child develops a schema for birds flying and, seeing an aeroplane, calls it a bird.

  
• What is


  accommodation?When a schemano longer worksand has to be changed to deal with anew experience.An Example: The child will see that a bird is alive and aeroplanes are not, and so they will need to change their ‘everything that flies is a bird’ schema.
• What is


  equilibrium?When a child’s schemas work for them and explain all that they experience, the child is in equilibrium. They are in a state ofmental balance. Childrenask many questionsin order to reach equilibrium.

  An Example: the ‘bird’ schema is changed. Aeroplanes are included, and a child understands that they are metal and carry passengers; thus moving from disequilibrium into a state of equilibrium.
• What are the


  strengthsof Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?• It has helped educators learn when it is appropriate to teach children particular topics and subjects based upon their mental development.

  • Piaget's has backed up his findings with credible evidence.

  • Gives us a better understanding of egocentrism and conservation.
• What are the


  weaknessesof Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?• Piaget’s theory did not look at the the influence ofsocial interactionsor theculture settings, which can affect the development patterns suggested.• Criticism of ‘ages and stages’ - his findings are based on interviews and observations.• Object permanence ismore flexiblethan Piaget argues, he is challenged in Bowers 1982 experiment.• Piaget’sconservation tasks are challengedby McGarrigle’s and Donaldsons 1974 experiment.
• What is a


  fixed mindset?Believing your abilities are fixed and unchangeable.

  
• What is a


  growth mindset?Believing practice and effort can improve your abilities.

  
• Define ability.


  What someone can do.
• Define effort.


  Trying to do better through using determination.
• What were the


  aimsin the ‘Three mountains task’ ?To find the abilities of children of different ages to take the viewpoint of another person.
• How many children took part in the 'Three mountains task' ?

  100 in total.

  
  

  4 to 6.5 = 21

  6.5 to 8 = 30

  8 to 9.5 = 33

  9.5 to 12 = 16
• What are the 5 main pieces of equipment use in the 'Three mountains' task?

  1) Small mountain (with distinctive characteristics)

  2) Medium mountain (with distinctive characteristics)

  3) Large mountain (with distinctive characteristics)

  4) A wooden doll or teddy bear (with no facial features)

  5) 3 coloured pieces of card, 1 each the same colour as each mountain

  
• What was the child asked to do in the 'Three mountains' task?

  The child is asked to a place the coloured pieces of card in the arrangement of how they can see the mountains.

  They were then asked to put the cards in the arrangement of how they thought the doll, which is sitting opposite, could see the mountains.

  The child is then shown 10 photos of the setup and asked to identify which photo matches to the different positions of viewpoint.
• In the ‘Three mountains’ task, what were the findings for the


  4 to 6.5 year olds, in thepre-operational stage?The children would pick pictures and place the cards as howTHEYcould see it, even when asked to arrange the cards as of the perspective of the doll.
• In the ‘Three mountains’ task, what were the findings for the

  7 to 9 year oldsin theconcrete operational stage?Many children began to understand that the mountains are seen differently by people looking for different positions.
• In the ‘Three mountains’ task, what were the findings of the

  9 to 10 year oldsin theconcrete operational stage?By 9 to 10, children have an understanding that the mountains do not appear the same from different perspectives.
• What did Piaget and Inhelder

  concludefrom their findings in the ‘Three mountains’ task? [3 points]• Children, up until the age of about 7 years old, were egocentric. They could not 'see' from the viewpoint other than their own.

  • Children older than 7 began to develop the ability to de-centre, they could 'see' from other's perspectives.

  • By age 9, children could fully de-centre and understand that different positions have different perspectives.
• What are the


  strengthsof the ‘Three mountains’ task? [3 points]• They wrote about individual children, giving qualitative data that's rich in detail and depth.

  • They used fair experimental method that allowed for a fair test, using control, dependent and independent variables. This allows for fair comparisons between age groups.

  • The experiment was repeated with multiple participants, this meant there was reliability in the findings.
• What are the


  weaknessesof the ‘Three mountains’ task? [3 points]• The results show that thinking ability progressively develops as a child ages, it does not change at a distinct age - it is a gradual transition. This is why some children had characteristics of the 'stage above' at a younger age.

  • Other study's with similar aims came up with different result, its argued that the results from the 'Three mountains' is not because children were egocentric, but instead became it was too hard and confusing for younger children - Piaget's experiments were deemed "Unrealistic".

  • The cracker and broccoli study found that children understood that different people prefer the taste of different foods at only 18 months. This is why the children would hand the broccoli to the examiners as the children had previously seen the examiner enjoyed the broccoli. This is a contradiction to the results of the 'Three mountains' task.
• What were the


  aimsof Gunderson et al. (2013) Parent Praise to 1-3 year olds? [3 points]• The affect of different types of parental praise on children in a natural situation.

  • To find out if parents give girls less process praise and more person praise than boys.

  • How process and person praise predicts a child's reasoning 5 years later in what motivates them and causes behaviour.
• How many boys and how many girls took part in the Parent Praise experiment?

  29 boys

  24 girls
• What was the procedure of the Parent Praise experiment?

  Neither the participants nor the people collecting data knew that praise was being studied. The participants thought the study was about language development.

  Participants were asked to go about typical 'day to today' activity at home where their interactions with their child would be videotaped and observed.