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Summary AQA A level revision notes for Cognition and development
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Very detailed revision notes for the cognition and development notes for AQA A level psychology
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Cognition & developmentPiaget’s theory of cognitive development
à he believed children think in a very different way to adults & divided childhood into 4
stages – he looked at the role of motivation in development & how knowledge develops
Cognitive development
= a general term describing development of all mental processes (in particular thinking,
reasoning & our understanding of the world. Cognitive psychologists have been concerned with
how thinking/reasoning develops in children.
Schemas (units of knowledge about the world)
à become increasingly complex during development as we acquire new info about
objects/ideas as they’re a mental framework/template based on previous knowledge
and/or experiences.
Piaget states children are born with a small no. of schema’s (just enough to allow them
to interact with other people) & in infancy we construct new schemas - one being the
‘me-schema’ where all a child’s knowledge about themselves is stored.
The motivation to learn
Piaget states we’re motivated to learn when our existing schemas don’t allow us to make sense
of something new (which leads to the unpleasant sense of disequilibrium) – to escape this, we
have to adapt to the new situation by exploring & learning what we need to know (once done,
achieve equilibrium – the preferred mental state where everything is balanced as new info is
now understood).
How learning takes place
He saw learning as adapting to the new situation, so we understand it – he identified 2 key
processes by which this adaptation takes place
Assimilation takes place when we understand a new experience & equilibrate by adding new
info to our schemas
Accommodation takes place in response to a dramatically new experience – the child adjusts
by making a new schema
, Support - Howe et al put children (aged 7-12 However, Vygotsky disagrees with
years) into groups of 4 to discuss the Piaget’s idea that learning occurs in
movement of objects down a slope. Their the mind of the individual – he states
knowledge of this topic was assessed before learning is essentially a social process
& after the discussion - when working & children are a lot more capable of
together & discussing they were found to advanced learning than Piaget
have increased their knowledge. However, suggested. Vygotsky stated that
critically, the children hadn’t come to same children can learn more if scaffolded
conclusion - supports Piaget’s idea that by an expert other - contradicts
children learn by forming their own personal Piaget’s theory of cognitive
representations (schemas). development.
Positive - Piaget has been extremely However, there’s debate as to whether the
influential in developing educational stages are as fixed to age as Piaget
policy & teaching practice. E.g., a suggested. Dasen cites studies he conducted
review of primary education by the in remote parts of the central Australian desert
UK government in 1966 was based with 8-14 year-old Aborigines. He gave them
strongly on Piaget’s theory. The result conservation of liquid tasks & spatial awareness
of this review led to the publication tasks & found the ability to conserve came
of the Plowden report (1967). How later in the aboriginal children, between aged
children are educated changed 10 & 13 (as opposed to between 5 & 7, with
from silently copying from the board Piaget’s Swiss sample). However, he found that
to discovery learning –idea that spatial awareness abilities developed earlier
children learn best through doing & amongst the Aboriginal children than the Swiss
actively exploring - was seen children. Such a study demonstrates cognitive
as central to the transformation of development is not purely dependent on
the primary school curriculum. In A maturation but on cultural factors too – spatial
level classes this might be ‘flipped awareness is crucial for nomadic groups of
learning’. people.
However, the concept of schema is incompatible with the theories of Bruner & Vygotsky.
Behaviorism would also refute Piaget’s schema theory because it can’t be directly
observed as it’s an internal process. Therefore, they would claim it can’t be objectively
measured.
Piaget’s stages of intellectual development –
à his approach to understanding intellectual development involves identification of a
series of stages, each of which is characterized by a set of particular mental abilities. He
believed they’re universal (all children go through them) & invariant (fixed by age).
Sensori-motor (0-2years)
Þ He states a baby’s early focus is on physical sensations & developing a basic
sense of co-ordination.
Þ Children learn by trial and error, during the first 2 years children learn that other
people are separate objects & it acquires some basic language.
Þ Around the age of 8 months a baby acquires object permanence (the
understanding that objects still exist when they’re out of sight).
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