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43 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Theory |
A set of organised ideas proposed to describe and/or explain one or more aspects of behaviour and mental processes. |
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Adaptation |
The continuous process of using the environment to learn and to adjust to changes that occur in the environment.
There are two types of adaptation - Accommodation - Assimilation
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Assimilation |
Process of taking in new information and fitting it into and making it part of an existing mental idea about objects or the world. AKA Fitting |
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Accommodation |
Changing an existing mental idea in order to fit in new information. So for example, "If you have always thought that there are only hot deserts, and you discover Antarctica is actually a cold desert", this is accommodation. AKA Changing |
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Schema |
A mental idea, or organised mental representation, of what something is and how to deal with it. |
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Piaget's Four Stage Theory of Cognitive Development |
Piaget’s best-known theory of cognitive development proposes that we move through four distinct and sequential stages from birth to adulthood in developing our cognitive abilities.
As well as describing a sequential progression through four stages, Piaget outlined key cognitive accomplishments that individuals achieve in each stage. |
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List of Four Stages of Piaget Theory |
Sensorimotor Stage Pre operational Concrete Operational Formal Operational |
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Sensorimotor Stage |
In this stage (0 - 2 years) infants construct their understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (for example, vision and touch) with motor (movement) abilities. |
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Key Accomplishments in Sensorimotor Stage |
Object Permanence Goal Directed Behaviour |
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Object Permanence (Sensorimotor Stage) |
Refers to the understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen or touched. |
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Goal Directed Behaviour (Sensorimotor Stage) |
Behaviour which is carried out with a particular purpose in mind. The infant begins to develop this ability towards the end of the sensorimotor stage, working out various ways to obtain things they want |
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Preoperational Stage |
Children in this stage become increasingly able to internally represent events (that is, think about and imagine things in their own mind). |
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Key Accomplishments in Pre operational Stage (2 - 7) |
Symbolic Thinking Egocentrism Animism Transformation Reversibility Centration
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Symbolic Thinking (Pre-Op Stage) |
Ability to use symbols such as words and pictures to represent objects, places or events. |
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Egocentrism (Pre-Op Stage) |
Having difficulty seeing or being unable to see things from another persons perspective or point of view. When children finally see things from another persons perspective, Piaget called this decentring. |
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Animism (Pre Op Stage) |
The belief that everything which exists has some kind of consciousness or awareness. |
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Transformation (Pre Op Stage) |
Understanding that something can change from one state (form or structure) to another. |
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Centration (Pre Op Stage) |
The tendency for children to be only capable of focusing on quality or feature of an object at any time. |
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Reversibility (Pre Op Stage) |
The ability to follow a line of reasoning back to its original starting point. |
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Concrete Operational Stage (7 - 12) |
This stage begins at about seven years of age and continues through to about 12 years of age. The thinking of children revolves around what they know and what they can experience through their senses; that is, what is concrete. |
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Key Accomplishments of Concrete Operational Stage |
Conservation (Of Volume, Mass, Number and Length)
Classification |
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Conservation (Conc. Op Stage) |
Refers to the idea that an object does not change its weight, mass, volume or area when the object changes its shape or appearance. |
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Classification (Conc. Op Stage) |
Ability to organise information (things or events) into categories based on common features that sets them apart from other classes or groups (categories). |
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Formal Operational Stage (12 +) |
In this stage more complex thought processes become evident and thinking becomes increasingly sophisticated. |
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Key Accomplishments in Formal Operational Stage |
Abstract Thinking Logical Thinking |
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Abstract Thinking (Form. Op Stage) |
A way of thinking that does not rely on being able to see or visualise things in order to understand concepts (as the child in the concrete operational stage does). |
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Logical Thinking (Form. Op Stage) |
The mental ability to reason systematically on the basis of known information. |
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Criticisms of Piaget's Theory |
- Research has found that infants know a lot more and learn it sooner than what Piaget estimated.
- He has also been criticised for the small sample size he used in his experiments
- Another criticism is that Piaget might have overestimated the children's language ability |
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Moral Dilemma |
A social problem which has two or more solutions, each of which is ‘wrong’ in some way. |
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Moral Behaviour |
Behaviour that is considered proper or ethical according to a society or culture. |
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Moral Development |
Involves the gradual development of an individual’s concept of right and wrong. It includes the development of a ‘conscience’, religious values, social attitudes and certain behaviour. |
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Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development |
Lawrence Kohlberg proposed that development of moral reasoning progresses sequentially through a series of developmental stages. Like Piaget's theory, he stated not everyone achieves every stage. His theory had three levels which contained 2 stages in each of the levels. |
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Six Stages of Moral Development |
Preconventional Level (0 - 9): - Obedience and Punishment Orientation - Naively Egotistical Orientation
Conventional Level (9 - 16) : - Good boy/nice girl Orientation - Law and Social Order Orientation
Post Conventional Level (16+): - Legalistic- Social Contract Orientation - Universal Ethical Orientation |
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Preconventional Level |
At this level, children have little awareness of moral behaviour which is socially or culturally acceptable. They see rules as something they have to follow because others, usually authority figures, tell them to. |
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Obedience and Punishment Orientation |
In this stage, children follow rules to avoid punishment. Their behaviour is based largely on fear, rather than on the belief that the behaviour is right or wrong. |
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Naively Egotistical Orientation |
In this stage, children start to think that they will be rewarded if they do something right. Thus, they often will do the right thing to please others, rather than doing it because they think it is the right thing to do. |
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Conventional Level (9 - 15) |
Children in this stage are considerate of the thoughts and feelings of others, have adopted many moral values and seek to obey the rules set down by others |
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Good Boy/Nice Girl Orientation |
In this stage, the pre-adolescent often obeys rules in order to please others and to obtain praise or approval from people who are important in their life. |
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Law and Social Order Maintaining Orientation |
In this stage, the adolescent’s focus shifts to social institutions such as the law, school or church. They seek to avoid the guilt and shame which come from criticism by authoritative figures such as police, teachers and priests. |
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Postconventional Level (16+) |
At this stage, an individual’s decision to do what is morally ‘right’ is guided by their conscience. At times, their conscience may conflict with society’s laws. |
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Legalistic-Social Contract Orientation |
Individuals in this stage choose moral principles to guide their behaviour, being careful not to interfere with the rights of others |
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Universal Ethical Orientation |
Individuals at this stage know that what is moral is not simply what the majority of people want to do. They want laws that are best for everyone, regardless of whether the rest of society agrees. |
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Criticisms of Kohlberg's Theory |
- His theories were mainly tested on males and doesn't take into consideration the development of females
- Criticisms have been made on his method of data collection since he used to interview small children. If the children misinterpreted what Kohlberg was asking, the results would have been misleading
- His theory also doesn't account for cultural differences and was only tested on male westerners. |
