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differences between the groups (e.g., in terms of the relative roles of environment and genetics) are due to age or to
other factors.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Babies are born with a variety of skills and abilities that contribute to their survival, and they also actively learn by
engaging with their environments. - The habituation technique is used to demonstrate the newborn’s ability to remember and learn from experience.
- Children use both assimilation and accommodation to develop functioning schemas of the world.
- Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that children develop in a specific series of sequential stages:
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. - Piaget’s theories have had a major impact, but they have also been critiqued and expanded.
- Social development requires the development of a secure base from which children feel free to explore. Attachment
styles refer to the security of this base and more generally to the type of relationship that people, and especially
children, develop with those who are important to them. - Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies are each used to test hypotheses about development, and each approach has
advantages and disadvantages.
EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING
- Give an example of a situation in which you or someone else might show cognitive assimilation and cognitive
accommodation. In what cases do you think each process is most likely to occur? - Consider some examples of how Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development might be used by teachers
who are teaching young children. - Consider the attachment styles of some of your friends in terms of their relationships with their parents and other
friends. Do you think their style is secure?
[1] Beauchamp, D. K., Cowart, B. J., Menellia, J. A., & Marsh, R. R. (1994). Infant salt taste: Developmental, methodological, and
contextual factors. Developmental Psychology, 27, 353–365; Blass, E. M., & Smith, B. A. (1992). Differential effects of sucrose,
fructose, glucose, and lactose on crying in 1- to 3-day-old human infants: Qualitative and quantitative
considerations. Developmental Psychology, 28, 804–810.
[2] Porter, R. H., Makin, J. W., Davis, L. B., & Christensen, K. M. (1992). Breast-fed infants respond to olfactory cues from their
own mother and unfamiliar lactating females. Infant Behavior & Development, 15(1), 85–93.