psychlotron org uk PSYB 3 Cognitive Development Where

psychlotron. org. uk PSYB 3 Cognitive Development

• Where have you encountered developmental psychology before? • What do you think cognitive development will be about? • What do you think you will need to learn? – Content? – Skills? psychlotron. org. uk Cognitive Development

Content (AO 1) Skills (AO 2; AO 3) Explanations of how & why children’s thinking changes over time: • Jean Piaget; • Lev Vygotsky; • Renee Baillargeon; • Robert Siegler. Empirical studies of thinking in childhood • • Using theories to analyse and explain real-world behaviour; Using evidence to evaluate theories; Evaluating evidence according to the methods used to obtain it; Designing research studies to test specific hypotheses. psychlotron. org. uk Cognitive development

• How can we find out what infants and children are thinking? • How is a child’s thinking different from an adult’s? • Does nature or nurture have more influence on children’s development? • Can a child’s rate of development be accelerated? psychlotron. org. uk Some recurring questions. . .

psychlotron. org. uk • Pair up. Decide who will be child and who will be investigator. • The child will be given an object to play with. The investigator must observe carefully in order to be able to describe what the child did. • Now swap roles.

psychlotron. org. uk Assimilate Equilibrium Adaptation of schemas Accommodate Disequilibrium

You are learning about. . . You are learning how to. . . Piaget’s theory of cognitive development • Schemas • Adaptation Analyse real world behaviour and experiences in theoretical terms psychlotron. org. uk Today’s session

• The first person to study cognitive development scientifically and systematically. • The most influential theory of cognitive development. psychlotron. org. uk Jean Piaget (1896 -1980)

• The process by which the child changes its mental models of the world to match more closely how the world actually is. psychlotron. org. uk Adaptation

As the child gets older its schemas become. . . More complex More numerous More abstract More interconnected psychlotron. org. uk Cognitive development

The child’s understanding develops because. . . Its brain is developing (maturation) It is exploring the world around it (experience) psychlotron. org. uk Cognitive development

psychlotron. org. uk • Where do you think Piaget would stand on the nature-nurture debate?

• Write a paragraph describing a child adapting its understanding of the world due to an experience it has had. Make sure you use the correct terms: – Schema – Assimilation – Disequilibrium – Accommodation – Equilibrium psychlotron. org. uk Homework