psychology

• Forebrain


  The anterior part of the brain, including the hemispheres and the central brain structures
• Midbrain


  The middle section of the brain forming part of the central nervous system
• Hindbrain


  The lower part of the brain that includes the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata
• Anterior


  Directed towards the front, when used in relation to our biology
• Posterior


  Directed towards the back, when used in relation to our biology
• Cerebellum


  An area of the brain near to the brainstem that controls motor movements (muscle activity)
• Medulla oblongata


  Connects the upper brain to the spinal cord and controls automatic responses
• Involuntary response


  A response to a stimulus that occurs without someone making a conscious choice. They are automatic, such as reflexes
• Neural connections


  Links formed by messages passing from one nerve cell (neuron) to another
• Brain development


  • The brain and connections within it are very complex
  • While not everything about it is known, there is some current understanding about how the brain develops
• Development of the midbrain, forebrain and hindbrain


  1. When the foetus is about 3 or 4 weeks old, a long tube develops in the brain, which is divided from the front into three distinct round sections

  2. The forebrain and hindbrain have each split into a further two cavities (giving five in total)

  3. The midbrain does not divide
• Development of the cerebellum and medulla

  1. The cerebellum can be seen in the foetus at about 6 weeks and a year after birth the cerebellum is three times the size

  2. The medulla oblongata has formed by the time the foetus is 20 weeks old, and connects the rest of the brain to the spinal cord
• A key part of a baby's brain development is the huge increase in the number of neural connections from birth to 3 years old, with 700-1000 new connections forming every second</b>
• The brain doubles in size over the first year and reaches 80 per cent of its size by the age of 3 years
• Early connections are said to be of great importance and are reinforced by use, so it is important that babies get plenty of stimulation
• Piaget's stages of development

  Distinct stages of development that our thinking abilities go through, with a change in thinking indicating when the next stage is reached
• Piaget's four stages of development

  • Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
  • Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
  • Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years)
  • Formal operational stage (11 years and above)
• Mental operations


  How we reason and think about things, such as sorting building blocks into size order
• Sensorimotor stage


  1. Infants use their senses and movements to get information about their world

  2. At first they live in the present rather than understanding time and space around them

  3. They learn by linking what they see, hear, touch, taste or smell to objects they are using

  4. They begin with reflex actions and then learn to control their movements

  5. At around 6 months, they develop object permanence
• The role of the stages of development in education is to help teachers understand how students' thinking abilities change over time and to plan lessons accordingly
• Sensorimotor stage


  Infants use their senses and movements to get information about their world
• Sensorimotor stage


  • At first they live in the present rather than understanding time and space around them
  • They learn by linking what they see, hear, touch, taste or smell to objects they are using
  • They begin with reflex actions and then learn to control their movements
  • Around 6 months, they develop object permanence
  • By the end of this stage, the child has a sense of themselves as existing separately from the world around them
  • An interesting part of this stage occurs from around 4 months old, when children repeat actions, such as dropping something deliberately that they first dropped by chance
• Observing a baby aged 4 to 6 months old


  1. Ask for parents' permission

  2. Watch to see if the baby repeats actions

  3. Look to see if they show an understanding of object permanence

  4. Hide a ball under a blanket and see if the baby looks for it
• Cognitive


  Thinking, including problem-solving, perceiving, remembering, using language and reasoning
• Operations


  How we reason and think about things
• Object permanence


  Knowing something exists even if it is out of sight
• Pre-operational stage


  Two stages: symbolic function stage and intuitive thought stage
• Symbolic function stage (2 to 4 years)


  • Children start imitating others and can use objects as symbols
  • Symbolic play involves using one object to represent different objects
  • Children think in pictures and use symbols
  • They start to use words as symbols for objects, which is the beginning of language development
  • Children see the world through their own eyes, not through someone else's (egocentrism)
  • Animism can also be seen where children believe objects can behave as if they are alive
• Intuitive thought stage (4 to 7 years)

  • This is the start of reasoning
  • Children ask a lot of questions as they realise that they know a lot and want to know more
  • They can only consider one aspect when something is complex (centration)
  • Conservation is not yet achieved
  • There is also irreversibility, referring to a child not being able to use thought to reverse events
• Concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years)


  • Children begin to apply rules and strategies to help their thinking and use concrete objects to aid their understanding
  • They have difficulty with abstract ideas such as morality
  • Abilities include seriation, reversibility, conservation, and decentration
• Formal operational stage (12+ years)


  • Young people can think about more than two things
  • They have the ability to think about how time changes things
  • They can also understand that events have a sequence
  • They can see that actions have consequences
  • There is also the understanding that they and others exist in the real world and separate from each other
• Piaget's theory has been applied to classroom practices
• Egocentrism


  Unable to see the world from any other viewpoint but one's own
• Symbolic play


  Children play using objects and ideas to represent other objects and ideas
• Animism


  Believing that objects that are not alive can behave as if they are alive
• Centration


  Focusing on one feature of a situation and ignoring other relevant features
• Irreversibility


  Not understanding that an action can be reversed to return to the original state
• Morality


  General principles about what is right and wrong, including good and bad behaviour
• Schema/schemata(s) (development)


  Mental representations of the world based on one's own experiences
• To help sensorimotor development, children are treated as individuals and provided with a lot of stimulation and materials to practise skills and build schemas