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Pyschology Quicknotes

Studying Infants

babies do not have very clear vision (20/600)
babies hear differently than adults
they have reflexes which are specific to babies
babies do not have fine-motor capabilities
ethics

Memory and Aging

recall may suffer. Recognition does not appear to suffer
longitudinal designs:
- testing the same amount of people over set amount of time
cross-sectional designs:
- compare people of different age groups
- matched if possible--all at one point in time
numerous theories about why the deficits occur as we age
maybe because of inhibition is not as good
maybe because of cultural stereotypes about aging-self fulfilling prophecies

Jean Piaget

schemata- mental models of the world that we use to guide and interpret our experiences
assimilation- fitting new experience into existing schemata
accommodation- adjust the existing schemata to fit our new experiences

Piaget's 4 Stages of Development

#1. Sensorimotor Period: birth-2 years
reflexes: sucking, rooting, Moro, etc.
once these reflexes wane, babies start to actively choose to interact within the world. Use sounds, movement
Towards the end of the period, babies develop a sense of object permanence
- the ability to recognize that objects still exists when they are no longer in sight.
#2. Preoperational stage: 2-7 years
solid understanding of object permanence
imagination abilities begin
these children do not however understand "conservation"
- they do not understand different physical properties of items
( play-dough, water)
#3 Concrete Operational Period 7-11 years
can perform very concrete mental operations, but still lack the ability to perform more abstract mental operations.
they can start solving some logic problems in their heads by the end of the period
imagination is still strong, but it is based on concrete objects, that actually exist
#4 Formal Operational Period 11+ years
begin to solve abstract mental operations
can understand...