Development | AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)

Development

  • 64 questions
  • 4 subtopics
  • Paper 1
  • Paper 1

Development is examined in Paper 1, Cognition and behaviour.

It covers early brain development, nature and nurture, Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development, Piaget in education, naughty teddy and policeman doll studies and Dweck's mindset theory, learning styles and Willingham.

Sample questions from Development

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

  1. Early brain development, nature and nurture

    What does the developing cortex allow a child to do?

    Show the answer
    The cortex is responsible for cognition, including thinking, language, memory and reasoning. The cortex develops most slowly, continuing to mature into adolescence and beyond.
  2. Early brain development, nature and nurture

    What role does nature play in early brain development?

    Show the answer
    Genes control the basic plan and sequence of brain development. The brain stem, thalamus, cerebellum and cortex develop in the same order in every baby.
  3. Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development

    A child learns that the animal she called a dog is actually a cow, and forms a new category for cows. Which process is this?

    Show the answer
    The child is using accommodation, because her dog schema has been changed and a new cow schema created.
  4. Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development

    What can children in the concrete operational stage do that younger children cannot?

    Show the answer
    Concrete operational children can conserve and are much less egocentric. Children at this stage reason logically, but only about real, concrete objects.
  5. Piaget in education, naughty teddy and policeman doll studies

    Outline the method of the naughty teddy study.

    Show the answer
    Eighty Scottish children aged four to six were shown two equal rows of counters. The experimenter rearranged a row deliberately in one condition. A 'naughty teddy' glove puppet messed up the row in the other.
  6. Piaget in education, naughty teddy and policeman doll studies

    Outline the method of Hughes' policeman doll study.

    Show the answer
    Thirty children aged three and a half to five saw a model of two walls crossing to form four sections. Each child had to hide a boy doll where one or two policeman dolls could not see him.
  7. Dweck's mindset theory, learning styles and Willingham

    What did Mueller and Dweck find when they praised children for either intelligence or effort?

    Show the answer
    Children praised for intelligence later chose easier tasks and coped worse with failure. Children praised for effort chose harder tasks and persisted more.
  8. Dweck's mindset theory, learning styles and Willingham

    What is the idea behind learning styles?

    Show the answer
    Learning styles theories claim each person has a preferred way of taking in information. Teaching in that preferred style is supposed to improve learning.

The 4 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic What it covers Questions
Early brain development, nature and nurture How the brain develops from the neural tube through the brain stem, thalamus, cerebellum and cortex, maturation, and the part nature and nurture play in early development. 16
Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development Schemas, assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium, the four stages, object permanence, egocentrism and the three mountains task, conservation, and the theory's evaluation. 16
Piaget in education, naughty teddy and policeman doll studies Discovery learning and readiness in the classroom, and McGarrigle and Donaldson's naughty teddy and Hughes' policeman doll studies as challenges to Piaget. 16
Dweck's mindset theory, learning styles and Willingham Fixed and growth mindsets, praise for effort, self-efficacy beliefs, verbalisers and visualisers, and Willingham's criticism of learning styles. 16
Development is 64 of the 619 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

  1. Step 1 · Closed book

    Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.

  2. Step 2 · Open book

    Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.

  3. Step 3 · Closed book again

    Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.

Nearby topics

All 8 topics Guide overview

AQA GCSE Psychology Active Recall Guide

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