Exploring Cognitive Development

Types of Play

• Functional Play: Involves simple, repetitive movements using objects or one's body, focusing on the outcome of actions.

Parenting Styles

• Authoritative Parenting: Linked with positive outcomes like higher self-esteem, social competence, and academic achievement.

Attachment Behavior

• Seeking Contact/Comfort: Behavior where a child seeks comfort from the mother after encountering a stranger, indicating a secure attachment.

Anxious Avoidant/Insecure Attachment

• Characteristic Behavior: Exhibits avoidance or minimal contact with the caregiver, resulting in emotional distance.

Gender-Consistent Behaviors

• Gender Role Acquisition: The process through which individuals learn and adopt behaviors aligned with their gender.

Personality Dimensions

• Agreeableness: A personality trait characterized by sympathy, trust, cooperativeness, and altruism toward others.

Mental State Attribution

• Theory of Mind: Refers to the ability to understand and attribute mental states like thoughts and feelings to oneself and others.

Age Range for Formal Operational Thought

• Adolescents and Adults: Typically emerges in individuals aged 12 and older, reflecting advanced cognitive abilities.

Post-Formal Thinking

• Characteristic Feature: Recognizes that knowledge can be context-dependent and that problem-solving may involve balancing multiple perspectives.

Knowledge Accumulation

• Information-Processing Theory: Knowledge is built up through the continuous processing and organization of information over time.

Theories of Development

• Freud and Erikson: Both focus on stages of development marked by conflicts and crises impacting personality and social relationships.

Stage 1 Outcome of Erikson’s Theory

• Trust vs. Mistrust: Successful resolution leads to a sense of security and trust in the world.

Stage 3 Conflict of Erikson’s Theory

• Initiative vs. Guilt: Children grapple with taking initiative in their actions while managing feelings of guilt over potential misbehavior.

Marcia's Identity Status Model

• Identity vs. Role Confusion: Characterizes the stage where adolescents face the conflict between developing a stable identity and experiencing confusion about their social roles.

Operant Conditioning

• Behavior Reinforcement: Reinforced behaviors are likely to be repeated, strengthening the connection between the behavior and its outcome.

Piaget's Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor Stage: Characterized by the development of object permanence, where infants understand that objects continue to exist even when not visible.

Classical Conditioning

• Conditioned Stimulus: Used to elicit a specific response or behavior through association with an unconditioned stimulus.