PSYB3 Cognitive Development

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PSYB3 Cognitive Development
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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?

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Cognitive development
Content (AO1) Skills (AO2 AO3)
Explanations of how why childrens 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.
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Some recurring questions...

• How can we find out what infants and children are
  thinking?
• How is a childs thinking different from an
  adults?
• Does nature or nurture have more influence on
  childrens development?
• Can a childs rate of development be accelerated?

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• 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.

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Assimilate
Adaptation of schemas
Disequilibrium
Equilibrium
Accommodate
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Todays session
You are learning about... You are learning how to...
Piagets theory of cognitive development Schemas Adaptation Analyse real world behaviour and experiences in theoretical terms
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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

• The first person to study cognitive development
  scientifically and systematically.
• The most influential theory of cognitive
  development.

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Adaptation

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

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Cognitive development
As the child gets older its schemas become...
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Cognitive development
The childs understanding develops because...
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• Where do you think Piaget would stand on the
  nature-nurture debate?

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Homework

• 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