Psy 1110102 Introductory Psychology

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Psy 111-01/02Introductory Psychology
Exam Dates Section I Exam I January 30th Exam
2 February 15th Note these dates on your
syllabus
www.nd.edu/aventer/intro.html
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physical and cognitive development
topics to be covered
developmental psychology?
theories of cognitive development
critical issues in developmental psychology
piaget vygotsky information processing
maturation/learning continuous/discontinuous gener
ality/specificity methods
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developmental psychology

• these people have different physical, mental,
  and social abilities because of their
• differing points of development
• differing life experiences

developmental psychology studies the differences
similarities among people of different ages the
quantitative/qualitative psychological changes
over time

• developmental psychologists are interested in
• physical changes/similarities over time
• cognitive changes/similarities over time
• social changes/similarities over time

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critical issues within developmental psychology I

• maturation versus learning

• maturation
• relatively permanent change in an individual
  occurring as a result of the biological processes
  of growing older

• learning
• relatively permanent change in thought/behavior
  as a result of experience

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critical issues within developmental psychology
II

• continuous or discontinuous development?

discontinuous discrete stage or step-like change
continuous uninterrupted, smooth, gradual
progression
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critical issues within developmental psychology
III

• domain generality or specificity in development?

• generality
• skill development occurs in multiple areas
  simultaneously

• specificity
• Skill development can be localized in specific
  areas

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critical issues within developmental psychology
IV

• methods longitudinal or cross-sectional?

longitudinal follow particular group across
lifespan cross-sectional diverse sample of
people of various ages at a given time
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cognitive development

• piagets theory

adults
symbolic/abstract world conception
11 up
formal-operational stage
adaptive function
7 to 11
concrete-operational stage
process of equilibration
2 to 7
preoperational stage
0 to 2
sensorimotor stage
infants
concrete here-and-now world conception
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piagets stage theory

• sensorimotor stage

0 to 2

• builds on reflexes
• initial mental life consists of
• transient/unconnected sensations and motor
  reactions
• past/future
• permanent/temporary
• me/not me
• develops first mental representations
• object permanence
• mental schemas
• critical processes
• assimilation
• accommodation

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piagets stage theory

• preoperational stage

2 to 7

• initially chaotic/disorganized mental life
• development of operations
• representation without understanding
• basis of understanding

conservation of
quantity
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piagets stage theory

• preoperational stage

2 to 7

• initially chaotic/disorganized mental life
• development of operations
• representation without understanding
• basis of understanding

conservation of
number
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piagets stage theory

• concrete-operational stage

7 to 11

• mental operations that abstract
• the essential attributes of reality
• number and substance
• limited to
• relations between concrete events
• does not work when the relations are entirely
  abstract

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piagets stage theory

• formal-operational stage

• mental operations that abstract
• the essential attributes of reality
• number and substance
• unlimited in scope
• relations between concrete events
• and entirely abstract ones

11 up
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evaluating piagets theory I contributions

• piagets contribution
• rethinking the way in which children were
  viewed
• how they think
• the stimulus for an entire field
• process of maturation
• development occurs from inside-out

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evaluating piagets theory II criticisms

• infancy
• cognitive starting point not chaotic jumble
  some category precursors
• space and objects
• object permanence and the search process
• number in infancy
• social cognition
• predisposition to faces
• shared attention

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evaluating piagets theory III criticisms

• preschoolers
• cognitive development
• numerical skills
• counting
• reasoning
• social cognition
• theory of the mind
• egocentrism
• perceptions/desires
• true/false beliefs

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evaluating piagets theory IV criticisms

• stage-like/discontinuous perspective
• sequencing versus discrete stages
• intellectual precursors

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vygotskys cognitive developmental theory

• dominated developmental psychology in the
  70s/80s
• two major contributions
• internalization
• development proceeds from outside in
• absorbing info from a given social context
• how parents treat others
• zone of proximal (potential) development
• the range between
• the developed abilities that a child clearly
  shows
• and the latent capacities that the child might
  be able to show (given the appropriate
  environment)
• measurement
• static versus dynamic assessment environments
• no interaction versus prompting

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information processing theories

• identifies specific processes that account for
  cognitive development
• focused on continuous, quantitative changes
  versus broad qualitative ones
• variables identified
• processing speed
• tasks such as categorization, decision making
• mental quickness increases with age, levels off
  at age 15
• knowledge base
• accumulated knowledge influenced by experience
• automatic processing
• process of executing mental processes with
  increased efficiency
• to the point that they require less and less
  attention
• involves shifting from conscious to
  implicit/automatic processing
• cognitive strategies
• metacognition
• thinking about thinking
• metamemory knowledge re own memory and
  retrieval strategies