Summary Psychology A-level Paper 3 Cognition and Development A* notes
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Course
Cognition and Development
Institution
AQA
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A01 Piaget - children scientists active exploration, discovery learning, trial and error
interacting with environment through age
complex / detailed representations of world - schema
Infancy ‘Me schema’
A01 Learning - adapting new situations
Existing schema doesn't make sense of something new
Leads to disequilibrium - need to adapt to new situations achieving equilibrium
Assimilation - adding new information to existing schema e.g different dog breeds to dog schema
Accommodation - changing current schema or forming new e.g existence of another category of animals like cats
A03 RWA - education, exploring environment in curriculum
Revolutionised classroom teaching - physical properties to flipped
A03 Howe - children (9-10) groups of 4, object down slope, worked together with increased understanding but
different conclusions. Supports individual mental representations but similar experiences. Children personalised
learning.
A03 Piaget - individual mind important, underplayed role of other people as sources of information
Social experiences enable development of higher mental functioning
A03 Carmichael - kidney shape shown, told either kidney bean or canoe, asked to draw, drawn differently, words
affect way we remember, limitation - language influence
Piaget’s Stages of Intellectual Development
A01 Sensorimotor (0-2) - coordinate sensory input with motor actions
Object permanence (8 months). child playing with a toy then covered in a blanket, under 8 months didnt search
for the toy, over 8 months would search.Preoperational (2-7) Can’t conserve e.g number and liquid, egocentric
e.g three mountains (doll on side - different angle to child), child chose picture matching their POV when asked
the doll's perspective. Cannot classify - struggle class inclusion. Pictures (5 dogs and 2 cats), ‘Are there more
dogs or animals?’ - said more dogs. Can’t see dogs as subsets of animals.
A01 Concrete Operations (7-11) can conserve, class inclusion and decentre. Issues with abstract ideas.
Formal Operations (11+) can hypothetico-deductive reason, solving abstract ideas e.g cause and effect. Idealistic
thinking.
A03 McGarrigle and Donaldson - ‘naughty teddy’ messed up counters in number conservation task, row longer,
children coped better as explained by behaviour (67% correct). Demand characteristics in OG study - asked 2
questions, experimenter deliberately transforming items. Underestimating children’s conservation as
methodology inappropriate.
A03 Hughes - three mountains with 2 intersecting walls, naughty boy hiding from 2 policemen. Children age 3
positioned boys where officers could see him (90%).Can decentre if realistic task. Poor methodology.
A03 Siegler and Matija - 3 sessions of 10 class inclusion tasks. 9 animals, 6 dogs -1 condition - told there must
be more animals than dogs. 1 condition - when the task is explained clearly - children in preoperational stage
understand class inclusion. Can be taught before biologically ready.
A03 RWA - education in curriculum. Preoperational children struggle with maths. Piaget - activities should be
appropriate for child age. Bryant and Trabasso - practice improves performance.
, Baillargeon’s explanation of early infant abilities
A01 Baillargeon's Challenge to Piaget: Objects permanence not fully developed by 8 months.
Babies have a built-in physical reasoning system from birth.
Babies don't search for hidden objects due to lack of motor skills.
Initial Concept: All-or-none understanding of physical relations.
9.5 months: Surprise if no object under cover with protuberance. 12.5 months: Surprise if object smaller than
protuberance suggested.
Development Sequence → Protuberance indicates object and Size and other variables are understood later.
A01 Baillargeon and Devos - Violation of expectation - infants (3 months) look at things that don't fit their
understanding of the physical world for longer than things that do fit their understanding. Large (impossible
condition) or small carrot (possible condition) sliding on track hidden by window. Large carrot visible passing
window, small carrot hidden. Object permanence shown as surprised when the carrot didn't appear (violates
expectation).
A01 Psychological world - False beliefs and fairness - VOE - doll with blue hair and skunk. Women preferred
dolls. Both toys in boxes, skunk in box with blue hair coming out - infant aware where toys are. Infants 14.5
months watched women open boxes and showed more surprise if the women opened the box without blue hair.
A03 VOE solves limitations of Piaget research (babies lose interest in hidden objects they no longer believe
exist). Could be distracted by other visual stimuli. The VOE method is better as distraction does not overcome the
outcome. Measured how long the baby looks at the visual scene - looking away isn't recorded. High internal
reliability as confounding variable controls.
A03 Bremner - even if babies devoting attention to unexpected events doesn't mean they consciously understand
aspects of the world, may not represent change in their cognitive abilities.
A03 Support - universal understanding of the physical world. Hespos and Marle - regardless of culture and
personal experience e.g drop ring - it falls. Understanding of the physical world is innate, no individual
differences.
A03 Collectivist cultures may have a better understanding of the physical world as familiar with sharing. Only
research on Americans - ethnocentric, further research needed.
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
A01 Culture influences - language shared between adult and child enabling intellectual development
Problem solving with Expert
Responsibility as guidance transfers to child
Semiotics - signals and symbols e.g maths
Child builds mental representation to communicate alone
A01 Zone of proximal development - gap
Current level of development alone and with expert assistance
Interacting - better understanding and reasoning abilities than individual exploration (reaching potential)
Higher mental functions learnt via interaction with experts
A01 Scaffolding - Experts help children crossing ZPD. Wood, Bruner and Ross - 5 aspects: 1) General Prompts -
‘Now draw something’, 2) Specific Verbal instructions - ‘How about the green crayon’, 3) Indication of materials -
adult points to crayon, 4) Preparation for Child - adults helps child grasp crayon, 5) Demonstration - adult draws
object with crayon.
A03 Roazzi and Bryant - 4-5 year olds estimate the number of sweets in a box either working alone or with
another. Alone - failed to give a good estimate. Expert - offered prompts, pointing in correct direction. Supports
ZPD development of reasoning skills.
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