Cognitive

Psychology
WEEK 4
OVERVIEW

• DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
• COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
• Piaget
• Vygotsky
developmental
psychology
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY?

• Examines how people are continually developing from infancy through

old age.
• Developmental psychology is the field in which psychologists study
how people grow and change throughout the life span, from
conception until death.
 Physical development

Cognitive development

Areas of Social development

development
Moral development

Personality development
ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY: NATURE VS. NURTURE

• Are we who we are because of our genes, or are we who we are

because of our environment and culture?
• Our unique experiences in our environment influence whether and
how particular traits are expressed, and at the same time, our genes
influence how we interact with our environment
ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY: NATURE VS. NURTURE

• The genetic tendencies can only

be perfomed in an appropriate
environment;
• Are you good at baseball?
ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY: NATURE VS. NURTURE

• Yet, there might some instances one is more important than the
other;
• Primary alexithymia; You are born with
• Secondary alexithymia; You develop as you go through
difficulties
ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY: NATURE VS. NURTURE

• A woman's diet during pregnancy may influence her child's mental

health.
• Maternal periconceptional food intake characterized by high
glycemic loading would affect your personality; children are more
likely experience anxiety, stress and impulsive behaviours
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL
• To understand what factors might cause behaviours, emotions or
overall mental wellbeing, most psychologists take an integrated
biopsychosocial perspective that explains many human
experiences, disorders as the result of interactions among biological,
psychological, and social factors.
• The biological level
• The psychological level
• The social level
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL
• Biological side focuses on genetic and epigenetic influences,
biochemical imbalances, and abnormalities in brain structure and
function.
• Psychological perspective focuses on maladaptive learning and
coping, cognitive biases and dysfunctional attitudes.
• Social factors include poor socialization, stressful life experiences,
and cultural and social inequities.
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL

• A person might experience certain emotions as a result of

• biological causes (e.g., genetics, hormones),
• psychological causes (e.g., beliefs, personality),
• social causes (e.g., racism or social inequalities),

• Biopsychosocial model: More likely as a result of some combination

of these factors.
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL

• Perhaps you are a great baseball player;

• biological means (genetics, physiology),
• psychological means (beliefs, competitive),
• social means (caregiver support, facilities)
 COMPUTERS AS MODEL
• Hardware (Donanım); pyhsical components, hard drive, processor,
screen, wires, hard drive etc
• Software (Yazılım); operating system, applications, office programmes
etc

Hardware Software

Biological
Psychological level
level

Social level (could be

hardware as well)
 BIOLOGICAL LEVEL

Neurons

Biological level Nervous system

Brain
The brain
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BRAIN
• Moving from the bottom to the top, functions get more and more
complex:
• the hindbrain
• the midbrain
• the forebrain
 DEVELOPMENT OF OUR BRAINAND NERVEOUS
SYSTEM
• The hindbrain execute simpler or automatic physical functions like
reflexes, heartbeat, breathing, sleep.
• The higher levels of the brain perform more complex functions. The
midbrain executes the more complex task of orienting and
movement.
• Finally, a more complex task, such as imagining what your life will
be like 20 years from now, is performed in the forebrain
 THE FOREBRAIN
• You could survive if you had only a hindbrain and a midbrain.
• The structures in the hindbrain would take care of basic functions
necessary to sustain life,
• The structures in the midbrain would help you to move your body
and run away from threat
• To understand where the abilities that make us fully human come
from, we need to consider the forebrain.
 THE FOREBRAIN
• When the task requires more complex cognition or intellectual skills we
use forebrain.
• The forebrain is the highest level of the brain and controls complex
cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor functions.
• Reading,
• Detect the sarcasm in a friend’s joke,
• Planning for future,
• Recognize emotions
 THE FOREBRAIN
• Thalamus- It acts as a sensory relay station, directing incoming
information from the sense receptors (all the major senses except smell)
• Hypothalamus- eating, drinking, hormones and sexual behaviours. The
hypothalamus is involved maintaining balance (homeostasis)
• Limbic system- involved in motivation and emotion
• The hippocampus- is critical for creating new memories and
integrating them into a network of knowledge.
• The amygdala- plays a central role in many emotional processes,
particularly the formation of emotional memories.
• Cortex- involved in higher processes in the human brain, including
thinking, learning, reasoning and problem-solving
TWO GREAT FEATURES OF OUR BRAIN

MIRROR NEURONS PLASTICITY

How is it that we have such strong emotional responses like
empathy?

How is it that we can read other people's body language and

faces so well?

What is it that allows us to connect so deeply when we watch

other humans?
 • Human experiences are represented
THE in different brain regions.
ANSWER- • You don’t need to perform an
action, observing can create the
MIRROR same impact in your brain.
NEURONS • Mirror neurons are active when an
animal performs a behavior, such as
(AYNA reaching for or manipulating an
object, and are also activated when
NORONLAR) another animal observes that
animal performing the same
behavior.
MIRROR
NEURONS
• You experience the same changes
in your brain just by observing
another person.
• give us the ability to connect with
one another
• the brain's way of translating what
we see so we can relate to the
world and understand it
 • Growing up as children, first you
see, then you do
• Through this process we develop a
rich basis of knowledge that we can
MIRROR use to apply to how we see other
people
NEURONS • When we see → we experience
MIRROR
NEURONS
• fMRI studies of emotional faces
• The same neurons fired when you imitated
a face seen on a picture as well as when
you just looked at the picture
• Suggests that mirror neurons send signals
to emotional systems in the brain. This in
turn allows us to empathize!
• Laugh
• Yawning
THE BRAIN IS PLASTIC

• Brain is not a fixed organ that stay stable over a period of time.
• Many aspects of brain can change and adapt to external changes
• The flexibility of our brain or its ability to change is called brain
plasticity.
FUNCTIONS OF BRAIN PLASTICITY

• Replecament
• If you lose your left hand the brain region that represent your left
hand will become unresponsive.
• After some time that brain region will be responsive again and
reassigned to represent another area.
• Blind people
• Representation
• If you use your left hand extensively the brain region that represent
your left hand will get bigger.
• Taxi drivers (who have overdeveloped brain areas that are used
during navigation)
SENSITIVE PERIODS FOR BRAIN PLASTICITY

• Plasticity level is different at all ages.

• Childrens brain show greater plasticity than adults.
• Explains why children learn faster
SENSITIVE PERIODS FOR BRAIN PLASTICITY

• There are periods of time where we have the greatest plasticity for
learning new skills; Sensitive periods
• After the sensitive period has passed, plasticity is still possible, but
not as easy.
• Sensitive periods are out best window of time to make changes or
learn new skills
• There's no point where plasticity ends. Plasticity continues throughout
it just gets to be less. It never gets to zero
SENSITIVE PERIOD IN LANGUAGE

• Our brain is more sensitive to learning language in early ages

(meaning that we have more plasticity)
• If you are exposed to a second language before age 7, you will
be as fluent as a native speaker.
• If exposed between 8 – 10 years, it will be harder to achieve
fluency.
• If exposed after age 17, fluency will be low.
The Sensitive Period in Language
THE SECOND CHANCE

• As we get older the plasticity slows down

• The second period of extraordinary neuroplasticity occurs between
the ages of 15 and 22.
• Neuroplasticity, or the capacity to change the brain's structure and
function, allows teenagers to become functionally smarter and take
ownership of their learning.
STRESS AND SENSITIVE PERIODS

• What if things go wrong during sensitive periods

• Toxic stress has the potential to change your child's brain
chemistry, brain anatomy and even gene expression.
• Toxic stress weakens the architecture of the developing brain,
which can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and
physical and mental health
CAN WE IMPROVE PLASTICITY OF OUR BRAIN?

• EXERECISE
• Physical exercise can increase the number of synapses and even
promote the development of new neurons. Recent studies with
people have begun to document beneficial effects of cardiovascular
exercise on aspects of brain function and cognitive
• SLEEP
• A number of studies have associated sleep patterns with learning
and memory performance in humans
CAN WE IMPROVE PLASTICITY OF OUR BRAIN?

• PLAY INSTRUMENT
• It stimulates different aspects of cognition by combining motor and
sensory auditory training
• PLAY VIDEO GAMES
• It trains not only complex motor skills, but also complex cognitive
skills. Young adults who played video games for 2 months showed
significant improvements in planning, working memory, and motor
performance
CAN WE IMPROVE PLASTICITY OF OUR BRAIN?

• MAKE ART
• Research from 2015 suggests art forms such as drawing and
painting directly benefit your brain by enhancing creativity and
improving cognitive abilities.
• TRAVEL
• Experiencing something new can also help you learn about different
cultures and become a better communicator, both of which can
have additional cognitive benefits.
KEEP YOUR BRAIN OCCUPIED - USE IT OR LOSE IT
cognitive development
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

• Cognition refers to the mental activities that help us function, including:

• problem-solving.
• figuring out how the world works.
• developing models and concepts.
• storing and retrieving knowledge.
• understanding and using language.
• using self-talk and inner thoughts.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: JEAN
PIAGET
• Jean Piaget was originally a biologist, but he began observing children, at
first mainly his own kids and relatives.
• Jean Piaget believed that cognitive development:
• is a combination of nature and nurture. Children grow by maturation
as well as by learning through interacting/playing with the
environment.
• is not one continuous progression of change. Children make leaps in
cognitive abilities from one stage of development to the next.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: JEAN
PIAGET

• Children of the same age made roughly the same mistakes.

• And as they aged, they stopped making these mistakes at about the same
time.
• Suggested that cognitive development occurs in four stages:
• the sensorimotor stage – Duyusal-motor donem
• the preoperational stage- Islem oncesi donem
• the concrete operational stage – Somut islemler donemi
• the formal operational stage - Soyut islemler donemi
1-SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (FROM BIRTH TO AGE 2)
• In the sensorimotor stage, children explore by looking, hearing,
touching, mouthing, and grasping.
• By actively exploring their environments with their eyes, mouths, and
fingers, infants begin to construct schemas, which are pieces of
knowledge about the way the world works.
• Schemas (şemalar) – Schemas are categories of knowledge that help
us to interpret and understand the world. A schema describes both the
mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing.
 JEAN PIAGET AND SCHEMAS
• ‘Mental models’ we use to interpret new information.
• We fit new experiences into our existing schemas.
• This child has formed a schema called “COW” which he uses to
think about animals of a certain shape and size.
• Her sakallıyı dedesi sanmak
“Cow!” “Cow!”
 JEAN PIAGET AND SCHEMAS
• Orange is circular and I eat it
• I can eat things in a circular shape (schema)
• Football is circular
• I can eat a football
OR
• Ball is circular and I play with it
• I can play with things in a circular shape (schema)
• Orange is circular
• I can play with an orange
 JEAN PIAGET ASSIMILATION AND
ACCOMMODATION
• We use schemas to interpret new information. Through assimilation,
we fit new experiences into our existing schemas. When new
experiences don't fit, we adjust our schemas or create new ones
through accommodation.
• Schemas –Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to
interpret and understand the world.
• Assimilation – The process of taking in new information into our
previously existing schema’s is known as assimilation.
• Accommodation – The process of changing or altering our existing
schemas in light of new information, a process known as
accommodation.
 JEAN PIAGET AND SCHEMAS
• Orange is circular and I eat it
• I can eat things in a circular shape (schema)
• Ball is circular
• I can eat a ball (assimilation)
• No, they are different objects (accommodation)
 1- SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH TO AGE 2)
• Object permanence— the idea that objects continue to exist even
when they are not visible
• Where are you when a child doesn’t see you?
 1- SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH TO AGE 2)
• Piaget - Object permanence failure (Sensorimotor Stage)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVqJacvywAQ&ab_channel=Adam
 2- PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (AGE 2 TO AGE 6)
• Young children are able to think about things symbolically
• This means the child cannot use logic or transform, combine, or
separate ideas
• They are unable to take the point of view of other people
• They cannot mentally manipulate information (focus on one aspect
and ignore other aspects)
• Bir kilo demir mi ağırdır, bir kilo pamuk mu?
• Kağıt para
 WHAT CAN NOT KIDS DO IN THE
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE?
Conservation refers to the ability to understand that a quantity is
conserved (does not change) even when it is arranged in a different
shape.

Which row
has more
mice?
 WHAT CAN NOT KIDS DO IN THE
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE?
• A typical child on Piaget's conservation tasks
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnArvcWaH6I&ab_channel=munakatay
 WHAT CAN KIDS DO IN THE PREOPERATIONAL
STAGE?

Do you have
a Sister? Yes.
• Egocentrism:
unaware of perspectives
other than their own
believe that everyone else
perceives the environment
the same way they do
Does she
• “I am the World.” have a No.
brother?
 WHAT CAN NOT KIDS DO IN THE
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE?
• Preoperational children are unaware of perspectives other than their
own believe that everyone else perceives the environment the same
way they do
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDJ0qJTLohM&ab_channel=Adam
WHAT CAN KIDS DO IN THE PREOPERATIONAL
STAGE?
• Collective monologues or Parallel play
• kids appear to be talking to each other, but they’re really
talking about 2 completely different objects.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20xy4wUgbsc&ab_channel=
Children%27sMuseumHouston
WHAT CAN KIDS DO IN THE PREOPERATIONAL
STAGE?
• animism: canlıcılık
• kids believe that nature is alive & controllable by them or
parents; often believe natural things (trees/rocks) have feelings.
• Children cry if a favourite stuffed animal is kicked, because they
are afraid the animal’s feelings will be hurt
• The chair that falls down and hits the child’s ankle is rude.
 3- THE CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (6-12)
• Kids at this age become more logical about concrete (somut) and
specific things, but they still struggle with abstract ideas (soyut
dusunceler).
• Children also become less egocentric during this stage.
• Display skills of reversibility
• (reversing 3 + 7 = 10 to figure out that 10 - 7 = 3).
 3- THE CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (6-12)
• Can think logically about objects and events Achieves conservation of
number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9)
• Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in
series along a single dimension, such as size
 4-FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (AGE 12 +)
• Children's thinking becomes much more sophisticated and advanced.
• Kids can think about abstract and theoretical concepts
• Use logic to come up with creative solutions to problems.
Stage Characteristics
Sensorimotor Infant experiences world through movement and senses, develops
(Birth-2 yrs) schemas, begins to act intentionally, and shows evidence of
understanding object permanence.

Preoperational Child acquires motor skills but does not understand conservation of
(2-6 yrs) physical properties. Child begins this stage by thinking egocentrically but
ends with a basic understanding of other minds.

Concrete Child can think logically about physical objects and events and
operational understands conservation of physical properties.
(6-12 yrs)

Formal Child can think logically about abstract propositions and hypotheticals.
operational
(12 yrs and up)
REASSESSMENT OF JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY

• Although Jean Piaget’s observation and stage theory are useful,

today’s researchers believe:
• Development is a continuous process.
• Children show some mental abilities and operations at an
earlier age than Piaget thought. Overestimates age differences
in thinking
• Underestimates children’s abilities
• Vagueness about the process of change
• Underestimates the role of the social environment
• Lack of evidence for qualitatively different stages
 • It suggests that human learning is largely a
social process, and that our cognitive
functions are formed based on our
interactions with those around us who are
LEV "more skilled.«
VYGOTSKY: • Language plays an important role in
developing new skills and knowledge. As
ALTERNATIVE adults and peers help children master new
TO JEAN tasks, the communication between them
becomes part of the children’s thinking.
PIAGET • The children then use their language ability to
guide their own actions as they practice the
new skill.
 • He also distinguished between two levels of
cognitive development:
• the child’s actual level of development, as
LEV expressed in problem-solving ability,
• the child’s level of potential development,
VYGOTSKY: when guided by an adult or a more
ALTERNATIVE knowledgeable peer The Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD).
TO JEAN • According to Vygotsky, we need to know both the
PIAGET actual and potential levels of development in a
particular child to fully understand that child’s
level of cognitive development and provide
appropriate instruction.
 Vygotsky's Theory Piaget's Theory

Social factors influence Childhood interactions and

development explorations influence development
Development can differ between Development is largely universal
cultures
 Next on Wednesday
• Brain study techniques
• Intelligence
THANK YOU, ANY QUESTIONS?
SAFA KEMAL KAPTAN
safa.kaptan@bogazici.edu.tr
safa.kap tan@ m anchester.ac.uk

SELMA HEKIM
hekimsel@gmail.com