PSY1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Cognitive Flexibility, Critical Period, Erick Erickson

• School: Monash University
• Department: Health Sciences - Psychology
• Course: PSY1011
• Professor: Dr Christopher Siva

Document Summary

Theory of mind is a coherent understanding of mental states including thoughts, beliefs, desires and intentions. 2 years: children understand desires and their relationship with actions. 3 years: children able to distinguish between mental and physical worlds. 4 years: children have firm grasp of nature of how thoughts and beliefs explain behaviour. Participants were shown a short animation with 3 geometrical figures (large triangle, small triangle and a disc) Shown moving in various directions and at various speeds. The only other figure in the field was a rectangle, a section which could be opened and cloased as a door. Subjects were found to interpret the animation in terms of animated beings, attributing motives and personality. Observed the effects of disturbed relationships between children and their caregivers. Children who form an attachment to an adult (i. e. an enduring social- emotional relationship) are more likely to survive and grow.