Summary A Level Psychology - Cognition and Development Notes
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Full revision notes for the topic of cognition and development for AQA psychology A Level. These notes use the specification points and cover all the necessary AO1 and AO3 information in bullet point form. I just used these to revise and they got me an A* in psychology A Level.
1. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development: schemas, assimilation, accommodation,
equilibration, stages of intellectual development. Characteristics of these stages, including
object permanence, conservation, egocentrism, and class inclusion.
2. Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development, including the zone of proximal development
and scaffolding.
3. Baillargeon’s explanation of early infant abilities, including knowledge of the physical world;
violation of expectation research.
4. The development of social cognition: Selman’s levels of perspective-taking; theory of mind,
including theory of mind as an explanation for autism; the Sally-Anne study. The role of the
mirror neuron system in social cognition.
1. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development: schemas, assimilation, accommodation,
equilibration, stages of intellectual development. Characteristics of these stages, including
object permanence, conservation, egocentrism, and class inclusion.
AO1 – Piaget’s mechanisms of cognitive development.
Schema = a mental framework of beliefs + expectations that influence cognitive processing,
developed from previous experience.
- Behavioural (e.g., grasping an object) + cognitive (e.g., classifying objects).
- Born with innate schemata (e.g., recognising human face) but others develop with
new interactions with the environment.
Assimilation = a form of learning that takes place when we acquire new info or a more
advanced understanding of an object, person, or idea. Adding this new info into a pre-
existing schema = assimilation.
Accommodation = a form of learning that takes place when we acquire new info that
changes our understanding of a topic to the extent that we need to form new schema
and/or radically change existing schema to deal with new understanding.
Equilibration = once assimilation or accommodation has occurred, balance has been
achieved between existing schemas + new experiences. Escaped disequilibrium (which
drives the need to complete accommodation/assimilation).
AO3 – Piaget’s mechanisms of cognitive development.
Research supports idea face schemas are innate.
- Fantz showed infants as young as 4 days old showed preference for schematic face
rather than same features all muddled up.
- Assessed in terms of amount of time they spent looking at each face – may indicate
interest rather than recognition/preference.
- But facial recognition does make sense – a new-born who can recognise + respond
to its own species will better elicit attachment + caring.
Important applications.
- Piaget viewed knowledge as developing through equilibration so self-discovery =
important (true understanding occurs by making one’s own accommodations).
, - Since his research became popular, old-fashioned classroom (where children sat
silently copying from board) replaced by activity orientated classrooms (active
engagement in tasks).
- But Bennett found children taught via formal methods did better in reading, maths +
English – perhaps because teachers spend more time on core topics in class.
- Suggests Piaget’s ideas are important in education, but formal methods are
preferable for some topics (e.g., core topics).
The role of others in learning.
- Limitation – underestimates the role of others in learning.
- Saw others as useful as potential sources of info + learning experiences BUT saw
learning as individual process.
- Contrasts with theories (e.g., Vygotsky) where learning is seen as a more social
process, supported by more knowledgeable others. Vygotsky – learning first exists
between learner + teacher + only then in mind of learner.
- Strong evidence to suggest learning = enhanced by interactions with others so
Piaget’s theory is perhaps incomplete.
AO1 – Piaget’s stages of intellectual development.
Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
- Learns to coordinate sensory input (what they see + feel) with motor actions (i.e.
hand movements + sensations).
- Object permanence = child’s understanding that objects continue to exist despite no
longer being visible. Before 8 months – immediately switched attention away from
object once it was out of sight. After 8 months – continue to look for it.
Pre-operational (2-7 years)
- These 3 concepts lacking but developing during this stage:
- Conservation: ability to distinguish between appearance + reality (e.g., understand
quantity hasn’t changed even when a display is transformed). Conservation tasks
e.g., number – same no. of pennies in 2 rows – initially in same formation (child
would recognise same no. of pennies) then, pennies in one row pushed closer
together (child struggled to conserve + thought there were fewer pennies in row).
- Egocentrism: seeing things from own perspective + unaware of other POVs. 3
mountains task – model of 3 mountains, doll placed in model + child asked what doll
would ‘see’ from a range of pictures. Pre-operational kids often struggled + chose
scene from their own POV.
- Class inclusion: the relationship between 2 groups where all members of 1 group
are included within another (sub groups). E.g., Piaget showed kids 4 toy cows (3
black + 1 white), asking whether there were more black cows or more cows. Pre-
operational kids said more black cows.
Concrete operational (7-11 years)
- Conservation + rudiments of logical reasoning achieved but lack ability to think
abstractly.
Formal operational (11+ years)
- Can solve abstract problems (like a scientist – e.g., developing hypotheses + testing
them to form causal relationships).
- Formal reasoning – focus on the form of an argument + what question is actually
asking instead of distracted by its content.
- Idealistic thinking – no longer tied to how things are but able to imagine how things
might be if certain changes are made.
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