AP Psychology AMSCO Guided Notes
3.4: Cognitive Development Across the Lifespan
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP Psychology Guided Notes
AMSCO 3.4 - Cognitive Development Across the Lifespan
Essential Questions
- How do theories of cognitive development apply to behavior and mental processes?
I. Cognitive Development: Overview and Major Theories
1. What is cognitive development and what abilities does it encompass?
2. How do Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories differ in their explanations of cognitive development?
II. Piaget's Theory of Discontinuous Cognitive Development
1. What is a discontinuous or step theory of development, and how did Piaget's observations of children inspire his theory?
A. Assimilation and Accommodation
1. What is assimilation and how do children use it to understand new experiences?
2. How does accommodation differ from assimilation, and when do children use accommodation?
3. How do both children and adults continue to use assimilation and accommodation throughout life?
B. The Sensorimotor Stage
1. What is the sensorimotor stage and what is the relationship between motor activities and sensory satisfaction?
2. What is object permanence and at what age do infants typically develop this understanding?
3. How do separation anxiety and stranger anxiety relate to infants' developing cognitive abilities?
C. The Preoperational Stage
1. What is the preoperational stage and why is it called 'preoperational'?
2. What is egocentrism and how does it affect preoperational children's understanding of the world?
3. What is animism and how does it demonstrate preoperational thinking?
4. What is conservation and why do preoperational children struggle to understand it?
D. Theory of Mind
1. What is theory of mind and how does it develop as children transition from preoperational to concrete operational thinking?
2. How does the Sally-Anne test demonstrate whether a child has developed theory of mind?
E. The Concrete Operational Stage
1. What is the concrete operational stage and what is two-dimensional thinking?
2. What is reversibility and how does it help concrete operational children understand conservation?
3. How do concrete operational children's social understanding and logical thinking differ from preoperational children?
F. The Formal Operational Stage
1. What is the formal operational stage and what types of thinking become possible during this stage?
2. How does the ability to think abstractly and hypothetically affect adolescents' identity development and future planning?
G. Criticisms and Limitations of Piaget's Theory
1. What are the major criticisms of Piaget's stage theory regarding the ages at which children develop cognitive abilities?
2. How do researchers' findings about object permanence and conservation challenge Piaget's original theory?
III. Vygotsky's Theory of Cultural and Biosocial Development
1. How does Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective differ from Piaget's view of cognitive development?
2. What is the zone of proximal development and how does it relate to children's independence?
3. What is scaffolding and how do mentors use it to support children's cognitive development?
IV. Cognitive Development in Middle Age and Beyond
1. What changes occur in the brain after middle age that affect cognitive functioning?
2. What is fluid intelligence and how does it change with age?
3. What is crystallized intelligence and why does it generally increase with age?
4. How do working memory and long-term memory change differently as people age?
A. Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease
1. What is dementia and how does it affect thinking, memory, and behavior?
2. What is Alzheimer's disease and what are its typical signs and symptoms?
3. What biological and genetic factors are associated with Alzheimer's disease?
4. How can cognitive and physical activity help reduce the risk of developing dementia?
Key Terms
abstract concept
accommodation
animism
assimilation
cognitive development
cognitive disorder
concrete operational stage
conservation
crystallized intelligence
dementia
egocentrism
fluid intelligence
formal operational
hypothetical situation
object permanence
preoperational stage
pretend play
reversibility
scaffolding
schema
sensorimotor stage
sociocultural perspective
theory of mind
zone of proximal development
Jean Piaget
Lev Vygotsky