Topic 1 – Development: How did you develop?

How do the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain develop?

• At 3 to 4 weeks, a long tube divides the brain into

3 round sections:
- Forebrain: the anterior part of the brain,
responsible for controlling body temperature,
reproductive functions, eating, sleeping, and
the display of emotions.
- Midbrain: the middle section responsible
hearing, motor control, sleep and
wakefulness, arousal (alertness), and
temperature regulation.
- Hindbrain: the lower part of the brain
responsible for survival, motor activity, etc. It
consists of the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata (refer below for more information)

• At 5 weeks, the forebrain splits into an anterior (front) and posterior (back) section. The hindbrain
splits in the middle. The midbrain does not divide.

How do the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata develop?

• The cerebellum is responsible for several functions including motor skills such as balance,
coordination, and posture. It develops in the fetus at 6 weeks and is triple the size at the age of 1
• The medulla oblongata is responsible for autonomic (involuntary) functions. It forms when the fetus is
20 weeks old and connects the brain to the spinal cord.
• The pons is responsible for generating the respiratory rhythm of breathing. It develops at 5-6 weeks.

Neural connections

• The links formed between neurons in the brain are important for communication and brain
development. Between the ages 0 and 3 around 1000 neural connections form every second.
• The brain is double in size over the first year and reaches 80% of its size at the age of 3. By the age of 5
the brain is said to be fully grown.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

• Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)

- Senses and movements used to understand
- Learn by linking their senses to objects
- Reflex actions are seen
- Movements are controlled
- At 4 months, children repeat actions
- At 6 months they develop object permanence – knowing that an object exists even when it cannot
be seen

• Pre-operational stage (2-7)

1. The symbolic function stage (2-4)
- Children imitate others
- Symbolic play is seen where one object is used to represent other objects
- The use of words as symbols for objects is the beginning of language development
- Children are egocentric meaning they can only see the world through their viewpoint
and cannot take up the views of others
- Animism is present. This is where children believe objects behave as if they are alive
 2. Intuitive though stage (4-7)
- Children ask a lot of questions
- Centration is seen: focusing on one feature and ignoring the rest
- Conservation is not achieved. Children do not realize that a change in appearance does
not alter the volume, size, etc.
- Irreversibility is seen: children do not understand that actions can be reversed

• Concrete operational stage (7-12)

- Children apply rules and strategies
- They find it difficult to understand abstract ideas
- They develop:
1. Seriation, the ability to sort objects according to shape and size
2. Classification, the ability to name and identify objects
3. Reversibility
4. Conservation, knowing that changes in appearance do not alter the weight and size
5. Decentration, the ability to take on multiple views

• Formal operational stage (12+)

- Children have control over their thoughts
- They can think about multiple features
- They understand actions have consequences
- They understand that events occur in a sequence

Piaget’s explanation on how we view the world

• Schemas – mental representations we have of the

world based on our own experiences
• Assimilation – incorporating new experiences into
existing schemas
• Accommodation- when a schema must be changed to
deal with new experiences
• Adaptation – using both assimilation and
accommodation to make sense of then world
• Equilibrium- a state of mental balance. When our
scheme can explain all that we experience

Piaget and education

• Piaget said that a student being egocentric can be misunderstood for disobeying a teacher. He also said
that a child’s experiences can help him/her build up on knowledge
 Stage How to help development?
Sensorimotor Provide the child with stimulation using shapes,
bright colours, sounds, etc. This can help the
child engage with the world and build their
schemas
Pre-operational Discovery learning should be promoted as
children can learn more by doing than watching
Concrete Children can be asked to think of multiple
aspects of an issue – to think ‘out of the box’
Formal Discuss abstract issues and ask complex
questions

Slavin (2005) – implications for teaching using Piaget’s knowledge

• Focus on how the child came up with the answer rather than whether the answer is correct
• Encourage discovery learning
• Teachers should accept that children do not think like adults
• Individual focus to each child should be given as each child is different

Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 1. DID NOT TAKE INDIVIDUAL/CULTURAL
- Discovery learning promoted DIFFERENCES INTO CONSIDERATION
-Used to help students learn - Dasen (1994) found that Aboriginal children
develop the ability to conserve at a much later stage
as compared to Piaget’s Swiss sample
2. RESEARCH EVIDENCE 2. SUBJECTIVE
- The Three mountains task, Piaget and Inhelder - His interpretations of situations and events are
(1956) is used to support the statement that children based on his opinions so they could be biased
are egocentric till the age of 7
Carol Dweck’s mindset theory

• A mindset is the set of beliefs we have about our abilities. The type of mindset we have can determine
whether we put in effort or not.
• A person with a fixed mindset believes that their abilities are fixed and unchangeable, so they do not
put in effort
• A person with a growth mindset believes that with practice, their abilities can improve so they put in
effort
• Dweck states that a child with a fixed mindset is more likely to give up whereas one with a growth
mindset enjoys the idea that they can one day succeed
• She also stated that teachers also have fixed and growth mindsets and that a teacher with a fixed
mindset would see a child lacking whereas one with a growth mindset will find ways to help the child
improve

Research/Experimental evidence to support Dweck’s findings

• Mueller and Dweck (1998) – praising students ability led them to having a fixed mindset whereas
praising effort led to them having a growth mindset
• Yeager and Dweck (2012) – conducted research on 1500 students and found that low-achievers using a
growth mindset did better compared to a control group who was not taught to use a growth mindset
•
Evaluating Dweck’s Theory

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 1. FINDINGS LACK ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
- Dweck’s findings can be applied in classrooms - Experiments conducted in labs give findings that do
not represent real life situations. The only exception
is Gunderson et al (2013) done in a natural setting
2. RESEARCH EVIDENCE 2. IGNORES OTHER FACTORS
- Mueller and Dweck (1998) - The child becomes the focus rather than the quality
- Yeager and Dweck (2012) of teaching, environment, etc.
Factual knowledge precedes skill
• Having prior knowledge helps you to build problem-solving and reasoning skills much better
• This is because you are able to free space in your working memory, the part of your memory which is
responsible for processing information coming in from your senses and decision making.
• More free space in your working memory leaves room to use mental skills such as problem solving.
• Willingham states that knowledge gives an individual more processing power to solve a problem and better
understanding

The importance of practice and effort

• Willingham states that practice and effort is crucial to master knowledge and skills
• Practicing enables us to do things automatically, which leads to more space being free in the working memory
• The short-term memory is the initial memory store that is temporary and limited. Rehearsal is very important
(repeating information) for the transfer of knowledge/skills into the long-term memory.
• The long-term memory stores limitless amounts of information for a lifetime. With constant reviews and
practice, what is learned will retain in the LTM.
• There comes a point where you have practiced enough that the knowledge/skill is fixated and does not require
constant practice.
• With enough practice, problem solving, and creative thinking skills become automatic, meaning that there is
more space available in the working memory, which is important for students

Strategies to support cognitive development

• Teachers should use problems that are new, which require effort
• The student’s stage of development should be considered when planning activities
• Understand that students’ abilities vary
• Consider other factors such as the student not understanding the task

Strategies to support physical development

Willingham believed that practice and effort can help motor skills, actions that involve muscles and brain processes.

• Focus on movements that are suitable and their order

• Practice the movement repeatedly so that it becomes automatic
 • Continue raising the bar to develop your skills

Strategies to support social development

• Willingham disagrees with Piaget’s view that children are egocentric until the age of 7 and therefore states that
teachers should build on a child’s ability to take the view of someone else
• He stated that appropriate social behaviour should be demonstrated as children learn via social learning, which
is where they copy an observe others
• Help a child stop impulsive behaviour by helping them develop more suitable responses to social situations and
removing triggers
• Practice should be encouraged which requires children to limit and control themselves without the influence
from others. This is called self-regulation. Willingham talks about how self-regulation comes from genes
(nurture) and how environmental factors (nature) such as support from parents is equally important
• Delay giving a reward for a task to encourage a child to keep on working hard

Evaluation
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 1. RESEARCH MAY LACK ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
His findings can be applied in education and at home Repacholi and Gopnik’s study was conducted in lab
conditions and therefore the results cannot be applied to
real-life settings
2. RESEARCH EVIDENCE 2. WILLINGHAM DOES NOT STRESS ON INDIVIDUAL
Willingham states that children can take the viewpoint of DIFFERENCES WHICH COULD AFFECT DEVELOPMENT AND
others at a much earlier age, and this is supported by INSTEAD PROVIDES UNIVERSAL STRATEGIES
Repacholi and Gopnik’s (1997) study (broccoli and
crackers)
3. WILLINGHAM DRAWS ON MANY THEORIES RELATED
TO COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND MEMORY. THIS MEANS
THAT HIS FINDINGS CANNOT BE TESTED
EXPERIMENTALLY
PIAGET AND INHELDER’S THREE MOUNTAIN TASK (1956) – experiment on egocentrism

AIM OF THE STUDY 1. To study the extent at which children of different ages
could take the viewpoint of another person
2. To study children’s overall system of putting together
a number of different views
PROCEDURE SAMPLE
4 to 6.5 years old – 21
6.5 to 8 years old – 30
8 to 9.5 years old – 33
9.5 to 12 years old – 16

SET-UP
- A model was built consisting of three mountains
ranging from high to low (12 to 30cm) in height.
The lowest mountain was green with a house
and a path, the next highest was brown with a
red cross and river and the highest mountain
was grey with a snow top.
- 10 pictures of the model were taken from
different angles
- Three pieces of card of the same colour as the
mountains were given to the child to be
rearranged in accordance with different
viewpoints
- A wooden doll (3cm tall) with no features was
used

QUESTIONS ASKED FROM THE CHILD

- The child was asked to rearrange the coloured
cards according to different viewpoints. They
were asked to arrange the cards according to
what they see and according to what the doll
sees. The doll was positioned by the researcher.
- Out of the 10 photos the child was chose to pick
which photo represented what he could see,
and which one represented what the doll could
see according to different positions the doll was
kept in
- The child was asked to choose a photo and
position the doll in a way that it could see that
viewpoint
RESULTS PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
- Children between the age of 4 and 6.5 chose the
same photo and arranged the cards in the same
way for both himself/herself and the doll
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
- Children from ages 7 to 9 understand that the
doll sees things differently. Children between the
age of 9 and 10 understand that the doll has a
different view point from their own.
CONCLUSION Children up to the age of 7 were egocentric. Older
children were non-egocentric. They could construct
mental representations of what the doll could see.
EVALUATION STRENGTHS
- Piaget and Inhelder gathered qualitative data by
recording in depth information on each child.
This way they could analyze the trends in
egocentrism between children of ages 4 to 10
- They used controls, standardization and lab
conditions meaning that reliability can be
established.
- The experiment is considered valid as the
measures in place test what the research was
intended to.
WEAKNESSES
- Piagets stages are not clear-cut and distinctive as
stated and rather occur as transitions
- The use of the three mountains lacks mundane
realism. The task does not reflect what is done in
real life. Borke (1975) used puppets from Sesame
street which was more appropriate for younger
children along with the mountains. She found
that 79% of 3-year old’s could correctly identify
Grover’s viewpoint and 93% of 4 year old’s were
correct.
- Gopnik and Repacholi (1997) conducted a study
using crackers and broccoli. The child liked the
cracker and disliked the broccoli whereas the
experimenter thought the opposite and showed a
liking towards broccoli. The experimenter placed
2 bowls on the table and asked the child to pass
the bowl experiment. Children at the age of 14
months passed the crackers, showing
egocentrism whereas 18-month old’s passed the
broccoli, showing non-egocentrism.
- Dasen (1994) found that aboriginal children
developed the ability to conserve later than
Piaget’s Swiss sample, meaning that results
cannot be generalized.
- Swiss children are familiar with mountains
whereas children from other countries are not
meaning that the task is not appropriate to
study egocentrism across cultures
GUNDERSON ET AL. (2013)

Background
- Research states that praising a child’s efforts rather than ability or vise versa can impact their framework.
Framework is a basic understanding of ideas and facts used when making decisions
- Gunderson wanted to obtain evidence on mindset theory from an experiment conducted in a natural
environment. Results from natural experiments have ecological validity unlike those conducted in a lab
- Person praise is where someone praises the individual rather than what is being done. This can lead to an entity
motivational framework, which is where the person believes that behaviour results from the persons nature.
- Process praise is where someone praises one is done rather than the individual. This can lead to an incremental
motivational framework which is where the person believes that putting in effort leads to change in behaviour.
- Previous studies have shown that boys are likely to have an incremental motivational framework as they receive
more process praise as opposed to girls who are likely to have an entity motivational framework as they receive
more person praise.

AIM - To study whether children are affected by

different types of parental praise in a natural
situation
- To study whether parents give less process
praise to girls and more person praise to boys
- To study whether the use of either process or
person praise predicts a child’s framework 5
years later
PROCEDURE - This was a longitudinal study that looked at the
use of parental praise at home when their
children were 14, 26 and 38 months old. 5 years
later the children’s ideas and behaviour were
measured in relation to the type of praise
received

SAMPLE
- 29 boys
- 24 girls
*Race – 64% white, 17% African American, 11%
Hispanic, 8% multiracial

METHOD OF STUDYING PARENTAL PRAISE PATTERNS

- A double-blind technique was used, meaning
neither the participants nor researcher knew that
praise was being studied. This is done to prevent
demand characteristics from occurring because
of participants figuring out the aim of the study
as well as the experiment effect, which is where
the researcher may influence the behaviour of
participants unknowingly. The participants were
therefore told that this was a study on language
development
 - The researcher recorded a 90-minute session of
caregiver-child interactions during a typical day
at home

METHOD OF STUDYING CHILDREN’S LATER BELIEFS

- The children were given 2 questions between
the ages of 7 and 8 on what they thought led to
intelligence and people acting morally.
- The questions consisted of 18 items covering
children’s ideas and motivational framework
RESULTS PARENTAL PRAISE PATTERNS
- 3% of all parental comments were praise
- Process praise was 18% of all praise and person
praise was 16%

GENDER DIFFERENCES
- 24.4% of praise for boys was process praise
whereas for girls it was 10.3%

PARENTAL PRAISE AND FRAMEWORKS

- The correlation between process praise and
children putting in effort was 0.35 (positive)
meaning that praising what is done does lead to a
child believing that effort leads to better
outcome
- Person praise can also lead to more incremental
framework
- There was no relationship between person praise
and an entity motivational framework
CONCLUSION - There was a clear relationship between process
praise and incremental motivational framework
- There was no evidence for whether person praise
led to an entity framework
- Boys received more process praise than girls
EVALUATION STRENGTHS
- The study was conducted in a natural
environment meaning the results had ecological
validity
- Using both an experiment and observation
strengthens the theory
- The use of the double- blind technique helped
avoid researcher bias and demand
characteristics
-
WEAKNESSES
- The participants were told that the study was on
language development meaning that they were
deceived which is a violation of ethics (a debrief
would have minimized the effects of this
violation)
- Parents may have altered their behaviour as they
were being observed meaning that the results
 may lack validity as the measures used do not
test what they are supposed to
- The sample is not generalizable as it only used 53
child parent pairs from Chicago.
What are morals?
Morals are the standards of right and wrong behaviour that can differ between cultures and depend on the situation.
Morality is separating what is right and wrong and is an ability all people should have.

What is moral development?

This refers to a child’s growing understanding about what is right and wrong, which can influence decision making.

Piaget’s (1932) theory of moral development

Heteronomous stage: children between the ages 5 and 10

• They believe rules cannot be changed

• Their idea on morality comes from people around them
• They tend to focus on the consequences of actions. For example, disobeying a teacher leads to punishment so
they obey the teacher
• This stage is called the heteronomous stage because the rules are put in place by others

Autonomous stage: children above the age of 10

• A child understands that the intention behind the action is important. An action may have bad consequences
but will be considered a good action if the intention is good
• They understand that rules can be changed if others agree to it and if other benefit from it
• They understand that there is more to morality than consequences of actions
• This stage is called the autonomous stage because rules can be decided by the individual

A weakness in Piaget’s work is that he used made-up stories to study morality in children. These were artificial, meaning
they lacked ecological validity. It is also not a valid method of studying morality as the children knew that there were no
real life effects that occurred from the decisions they made.

Kohlberg’s (1958) theory of moral development

1. Level 1 –pre-conventional morality (up to 9 years old)
The child believes rules cannot be changed. The consequence of the action determines whether it is good or
bad. They form a basic understanding of what is right and wrong.
• Stage 1 – the child obeys orders to avoid punishment
• Stage 2 – the child looks at the benefit gained from moral actions
 2. Level 2 – conventional morality (young people and adults)
They see themselves as good members of society, which is the starting point of moral behaviour. Their
reasoning is based on norms, society’s values, and customs.
• Stage 3 – the individual wants to be seen as good and conforms to social rules to be accepted
• Stage 4 – social order is maintained by obeying authority

3. Level 3 – post-conventional morality (reached by only 10% of people)

Each individual has their own idea on what is good and bad. They understand that there are some universal
moral principles.
• Stage 5 – they believe that laws are social contracts they agree too. There is an understanding that what
an individual believes is right or wrong depends on the social contracts they have agreed to. Ex –
democracy, republicanism.
• Stage 6 – moral reasoning is considered abstract. There are ethical principles that must be followed on a
universal level that go beyond an individual’s belief.

A weakness in Kohlberg’s work is that he used made-up stories to study morality in children. These were artificial,
meaning they lacked ecological validity. It is also not a valid method of studying morality as the children knew that there
were no real-life effects that occurred from the decisions they made. Gilligan (1977) also criticized Kohlberg as he used a
male-only sample, meaning his findings were based on male morality.

Damon (1999) theory on developing a moral self

• Damon argued that moral development is a part of human nature. This is called a nativist theory.
• He states that the development of certain emotions goes in line with moral development.
• The nature part of his theory states that there are emotions that babies feel universally whereas the nurture
part states that environmental and social factors affect moral development.
• He concluded that a child’s moral identity is determined by the experiences he/she goes through
• A child should be consistently told about shared standards to help develop a moral understanding.

Aiding moral understanding

• Expose the child to numerous experiences to aid their understanding and get them thinking
• Make them sort out problems
• Help them develop self-control
• Help them understand accepting social responsibility.