Child_Psychology__What_Is_Naturalistic_Approch__

What is a naturalistic experiment'  What is naturalistic approach' As many other observational methods naturalistic approach is also being used to observe the topic. The naturalistic experimentation is a method used by psychologists that includes noticing the children in their own home setting. “The biggest advantage of the naturalistic method of research is that researchers view participants in their natural environments” (Hale J, 2011). The investigator tries not to interfere, recording things as accurately as possible. This method was first used by psychologist Roger Brown for observing language development in infants. “Naturalistic observation refers to the collection of data without manipulation of the environment”. (http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~ps202vc/PDF/NaturalisticObservation.pdf). Forexample a psychologist who is developing a theory about mentally ill children in social setting, he needs to observe them at home, classroom or in playground. But the subject always knows that they are being watched. Some of the advantages of this technique are • People incline to act normally. • Data that is collected is rich and full. • Can be used where other methods are not possible • Replication is not possible. Naturalistic observational studies: Let’s discuss some of the studies on infant language development that uses naturalistic observational method. Roger W. Brown (1925-1997), was the first psychologist to use naturalistic observational method to observe the infants for language acquisition; his studies in the 1960s raised the earliest understanding of how children acquire basic sentence structures in English. He used the longitudinal study on adam, eve and sarah, by taking their recording from their home every two weeks. Eve was visited from age 18m to 26m, Adam from 27m to 42m, Sarah from 27m to 48m. He closely observed the communication of mother and child. According to him a child omits some words when he imitates his mother he called it a telegraphic speech. (In telegraphic speech the words that are spoken are tend to be verbs, nouns and adjectives and the order they are spoken resembles to the mother speech. The joining words are omitted. These characteristic make early speech sounds like telegrams). He also explained how frequently a mother imitates the children with some expansion of words Furthermore he also introduced the stages of child language development. The other theories that use the naturalistic observational methods are the behaviourist theory of B.F. Skinner proposes that the appearance of language is the result of imitation and reinforcement. The nativist theory of Noam Chomsky proposes that language in an inborn quality in children and they are born with a language gaining device in their throat that allows them to start talking once they have acquired enough vocabulary. Criticism on naturalistic observational method: • Reliability: The results may be biased. For example if a researcher is observing at violent acts in a game and thinking that boys will be violent, the results may be interpreted in that way as well • Ethics: it’s a big issue in naturalistic observation. Many participants creates privacy issue as if they know they will be watched they will not give consent to take part. • Cause and effect: The whole environment cannot be controlled as many variables makes it impossible to determine cause and effect of relationship sometimes you cannot be sure which factors are making the behaviour like this. • Sample Size: The sample size is normally very small. So results cannot be very reliable. Q2. Explain what is meant by longitudinal study.  What is meant by longitudinal study “Longitudinal research is a type of research method used to discover relationships between variable that are not related to various background variables”( Kendra Cherry; about.com).  Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the life span. This research method includes studying the same people over and over again for long period of time. In some situations, longitudinal study can take several years. “A longitudinal study is somewhat similar to a repeated measures study but in this case people are study and restudied over a period of time”( http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php'term=Longitudinal%20Study) “The benefit of this type of research is that it allows researchers to look at changes over time. Because of this, longitudinal methods are particularly useful when studying development and lifespan issues” (Kendra Cherry; about.com) Why longitudinal studies are used for language development: A longitudinal study collects data from the same subjects over time.  If someone wants to study language development they need to see it developing in very young children, if someone wants to observe the growth of intelligence they need to witness it, and it really needs lots of time, may be years of hard work, so for language development we need to study the children over and over again, and when they involve children, they are even more time-consuming because special precautions must be observed. So that’s the reason longitudinal studies are used for language development studies. Forexample: longitudinal study was used by roger brown to investigate language development in new-born. He investigated three kids for more than 5 years, Until they were grown enough and started talking. So language development study was long and time consuming. So that’s why longitudinal studies and used. Roger brown longitudinal study on child language development Roger Brown 1973 focused on the uses of language when trying to explain language acquisition. Brown studied the development of language using the observational method in a longitudinal study. He studied three American children from middle class with very intelligent parents. He transcribed children’s conversations and analysed them; he use to take recording for the children after every two weeks. His findings have stimulated further research into telegraphic speech, children’s use of negatives and tenses, and the structure of early sentences. He proposed 5 stages of language acquisition. Brown’s five stages of language development Stage 1: cooing, babbling, simple one or two word; Age 12 months to 26 months Stage 2: starts taking name of objects; Age 27 and 30 months of age Stage 3: starts asking questions - why' where' When' ; Age 31 and 34 months Stage 4: starts joining short sentences; Age 35 and 40 months Stage 5: starts using complex sentences; Age 41 and 46 months of age Other language acquisition studies:- 1. Learning Theory/Reinforcement theory - language is learned like other behaviours is learned; through selective reinforcement by parents. The main theorist associated with the learning perspective is B.F. Skinner. “Skinner argued that adults shape the speech of children by reinforcing the babbling of infants that sound most like words”( http://languagedevelopment.tripod.com/id15.html).  In other words, when a parent or carer shows eagerness for something a child attempts to say, this should encourage the child to repeat the word. But again, even though reinforcement may help, this theory cannot account for children’s inventions of language. 2. Nativist Theory – according to nativist theory babies are born with a biological "language acquisition device." Babies born with ability to organize sounds.  Over time and many trials they start to understand rules. The main theorist associated with this perspective is Noam Chomsky. Chomsky proposed that all humans have a language acquisition device (LAD). The LAD contains knowledge of grammatical rules common to all languages .The LAD also allows children to understand the rules of whatever language they  are  listening to. Chomsky also developed the concepts of transformational grammar, surface structure, and deep structure. “Noam Chomsky has proposed that language development should be described as “language growth”, because the “language organ” simply grows like any other body organ. This view seems to underestimate what others consider the importance of environment and experience in the child’s development of language” (http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/73035/Documents/16%20First%20language%20acquisition.pdf) Can animals acquire language' Lots of attempts have been made to teach language to animals, including chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans, dolphins and dogs. “Chomsky had a more nativist position that language itself, not only the ability to think, is a trait that is specific to the human species” ( Arash Farzaneh, 2008). In 1930 a female chimpanzee Gua who was raised like human infant started to understand 70 different words but never spoke herself. Another chimpanzee viki spooked three words mama, papa and cup. But she was also not clear about the words and got confused when excited.. “Animals cannot acquire grammar. Chimpanzees can combine words into multiword utterances, but there is no sign that they do so in any consistent, rulegoverned manner”( http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/32602_02_Saxton_CH_02.pdf) But talking is not only medium to communicate as deaf people do communicate with signal language. The first of the signing apes, Washoe, was born some time in 1965 and started learning American Sign Language (ASL) at about 10 months of age. She learned about 60 signs and uses them properly. Another chimpanzee Kanzi can recognize and use 348 different lexigram symbols and Kanzi understands more than 3,000 spoken English words. Some of the Animal like chimpanzee, dogs, and parrots can learn words but their vocabularies do not exceed a few hundred items.“Animal communication systems overlap in various ways with language. But animal communication remains strictly limited in key ways, including its lack of creativity, semanticity, arbitrariness and displacement”( http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/32602_02_Saxton_CH_02.pdf) Q3. How would the results of the above study be interpreted'  What is intelligence' One of the most complex topics of psychology is intelligence. There is no clear answer we can found that what intelligence really is. Different psychologists give different understandings. Intelligence is often known as the mental ability to perform things. According to Psychologist Robert Sternberg intelligence is a "mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-world environments relevant to one’s life." (Kendra Cherry, Theories of intelligence). Whereas the other psychologist Wechler defines intelligence as “the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his/her environment”(http://shazwellyn.hubpages.com/hub/Psychology-101-What-Is-Intelligence).Or intelligence can be define as “Intelligence is a flexible comprehension of shifting ideas and settings “(Stanton Peele, PHD). History of intelligence testing: Early 1900s, the French government asked psychologist. Alferd Binet to help decide which children will face problems in school. The government passed law that all French students should appear in school, so they can find problems that children are facing. Binet and his colleague started developing a number of questions that can decide how intelligent a child is. They questions included memory skills, problem solving skills and mathematical skills. By using these questions binet decides the intelligence of the.Binet at once realised that few children were able to answer more tough questions that usually older children answers, where as other children of same age group were able to answer questions which normally many young children do answer. So binet concluded with a new terminology of mental age. A mental age is the age of child according to his skills and performance level. What is Intelligent Quotient (IQ)' “Intelligence testing is used to assess the all-around effectiveness of an individual's mental processes, especially understanding, reasoning, and the ability to recall information”( http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/86/Intelligence-tests.html). Intelligence is not something we can see or hear, or taste. We can feel it in some person or child. Forexample a child of age 2 can answer some question of older children we call such child an intelligent person. “IQ tests attempt to measure a person's intelligence by using a set of standardized questions in a number of subjects, including mathematics, language and reasoning involving drawings and shape . To measure the intelligence of a person intelligent Quotient is used. Alferd Binet (1905) created some of the first tests that later developed at Stanford University (USA) from 1916. He used his initial tests for French schools as a way to identify and help less able school children. The intelligent quotient was based on single number score. This score was calculated by dividing the test taker's mental age (the age at which a child is performing intellectually) by their chronological age (The age measured according to time), and then multiplying this number by 100. For example, a child with a mental age of 12 and a chronological age of 10 would have an IQ of 120 (12 /10 x 100). This test is still used with some revisions and is knows as Stanford-Binet test of intelligence. The IQ test score should be reliable (reliability refers to the consistency of results) and valid (validity refers to the extent that a test measures what it is supposed to measure) so that people don’t confuse with it, and it should be long and precise enough to answer all the things that we intent to measure. Wechsler Intelligence Scales is another way of testing intelligence by American psychologist David Wechsler. Much like Binet, Wechsler believed that intelligence involved a lot of different mental capabilities. The Wechsler Intelligence Scales consist of numerous diverse consistent tests used to assess knowledge and abilities in pre-schoolers. Theories of intelligence: There are many theories that define intelligence. Different psychologists have given different viewpoints and they all have their own theories of intelligence. Some of the theories are as follows: • Two factor theory of Spearman: British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945) described a concept he referred to as general intelligence, or the g factor After using a technique known as factor analysis to examine a number of mental aptitude tests • Group-factor theory of Thurstone: Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887-1955) theory focused on seven different mental abilities. The abilities were verbal comprehension, reasoning, perceptual abilities, numerical ability etc. • Gardner's seven intelligences: Howard Gardner divided intelligence into seven abilities which include linguistic, logical mathematical, spatial, musical and interpersonal abilities. • Structure of Intellects by Guilford: J. P. Guilford proposed three dimensions of mental ability which include operations, contents and products of thinking Advantages and disadvantages of IQ test: | Advantages |Disadvantages | |Helps identify the best pupil of school |If the result gets open the children with poor score may feel degraded | |Helps identify pupil with learning difficulties |Just tell us single score of result. Don’t clarify where the weakness | | |and strength lies. | |Helps teacher to spot out children who need additional help |Knowledge of result of IQ may affect the self-confidence of a child | |IQ test access individual differences |IQ test are limited in forecasting occupational achievement | |IQ test are valuable tool to access handicap children |IQ tests are biased against ethnic minorities as they were made for | | |white people and work for white people. | Conclusion: There has been quite a lot of debate been done on intelligence but still no definite results has emerged. Today, psychologists discuss many different views on intelligence and knowledge but still this debate is on-going. The methods and tests to check in intelligence have been developed but they all seem to be culturally biased. Though, these tests are supportive as a comparative viewpoint based on aspects of intelligence. Q4. Describe one psychological study which has been carried out on the effects of changing the home, residential environments of 'deprived' children, and discuss its findings.  Project head start study: Head start is a USA federal program for low income families’ children to support them for their early education so that they can perform well in there school. Children who attend Head Start involve children in various educational activities. The children who attend head start also receive free medical, dental facilities and healthy snacks as well. “Head Start is a federally funded preschool program that provides comprehensives services to both low-income children and their families”( http://www.healthofchildren.com/G-H/Head-Start-Programs.html#b) Head Start began in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty program launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Head start is the longest running program for stopping poverty cycle in US by providing children with emotional, social, health and nutritional needs. According to 2005 report more than 22 million pre-school children have attended head start. Large numbers of three to four year old children were involved. The major reason of starting head start is to give children from poor families an equal chance to perfume well in school. Head start help children to get familiar with school and its routine and young age. It seems that head start gives advantage to poor kids to start school before the legal age. Head start allows simply allow them to close the gap between poor and higher economic status families in order to achieve and maintain the level of education throughout there country. The eligibility to join head start is “Between ages three and five, low-income children and their families may also be eligible for Head Start”( http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2010_05_10_HL_EarlyHeadStart.pdf). Head Start provides education, health and social services. Education includes preschool education to national standards. Health services include screenings, health check–ups and dental check–ups. Social services provide family advocates to work with parents and assist them in accessing community resources for low income families. Findings: The findings of head Start are controversial some of the reports claimed it be to be very effective were as some says that the IQ once gain but it fades away over time. According to Huskin 2004 report that positive impact of head start program decrease over time and eventually fades away another psychologist Barret reports the same thing “Studies of model programs typically show initial gains in children’s IQ scores that fade out over time” (W. Steven Barnett ; Jason T. Hustedt, 2005) Positive findings of head start: According to the research The Effectiveness of Early Head Start for 3-Year-Old Children and Their Parents: Lessons for Policy and Programs by Jhon M, Helen Raikes, Jill Constantine and other participants in 2005.“The overall positive impacts included higher performance in children’s cognitive and language functioning, as well as a reduction in aggressive behaviour as rated by their primary caregiver” (John M love, Raikes H, Constantine J, Brooks J; 2005) A recent research in January 2010 by US department of health and human services head start is making a positive impact on deprived children lives. In Head Start Impact Study Final Report they said that “Providing access to Head Start has a positive impact on children’s preschool experiences. There are statistically significant differences between the Head Start group and the control group on every measure of children’s preschool experiences measured in this study”( Puma M,Bell S, Cook R, Heid C ; Jan 2010).Some of the main benefits in attending head start are 1. Children perform better in vocabulary test, maths and literacy skills 2. (Improvements in behaviour-hyperactive behaviour and total problem behaviour, and social skills and positive approaches to learning. 3. Children health status improved. Another research being done in 2000 by Oden S, Schweinhart L, Weikart D with Marcus S and Yu Xie, shows some interesting findings of a 17 years follow up study on 622 young adults in Colorado and Florida, the adults were actually born in poverty and did or didn’t attend head start program. The study found evidence of important effects on school success and crime. The study showed that Florida sample girls who had joined “Head Start were significantly more likely to graduate high school or earn a GED (95% vs 81%) and significantly less likely to have been arrested at age 22 (5% vs 15%) than were girls in the non–Head Start comparison group” (W. Steven Barnett; Jason T. Hustedt, 2005) Critics on Head Start: Magnuson, Ruhm, and Waldfogel (2004)"Early education does increase reading and mathematics skills at school entry, but it also boosts children's classroom behavioral problems and reduces their self-control. Further, for most children the positive effects of pre-kindergarten on skills largely dissipate by the spring of first grade, although the negative behavioral effects continue" “The impact of participation in Head Start is investigated using a national sample of children. Comparisons are drawn between siblings to control for selection. Head Start is associated with large and significant gains in test scores among both whites and African-Americans. However, among African-Americans, these gains are quickly lost. Head Start significantly reduces the probability that a white child will repeat a grade, but it has no effect on grade repetition among African-American children. Both whites and African-Americans who attend Head Start, or other preschools, gain greater access to preventive health services”( Janet Currie; Duncan Thomas: 1995)  Jay Greene explained that head start is having no effects and government is wasting a lot of money on this program in his article "Head Start Basically Has No Effect," “It is safe to say from this very rigorous evaluation that Head Start had no lasting effect on the academic preparation of students, says Jay Greene, a professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute”(  Jay Greene ; 2010)  Conclusion: The head start shows lot of positive effects with some critics on it as well. They Obama government is working on this issue now a day, they want to make sure of Head start is making any difference in poor children life or not, so the future of head start is still to be seen. Q5. Discuss two problems that researchers may face in carrying out studies that involve changing the home/residential environment of deprived children. State how each problem may be overcome.  What is intelligence' Intelligence is the mental capability of mind.” Intelligence can be defined informally as intellectual ability” (Andrew M. Colman; Aspect of intelligence).Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon (Simon and Binet, 1905) introduced the first form of intelligence testing in 1905. The test became famous as the Stanford-Binet test and is still being used referred to as Intelligence Quotient; Is intelligence genetic' There have been many researches been done to understand if intelligence is genetic or not... The psychologists study genetics to examine how much and by what way mental capacities are affected by genes. As genes environment and some other factors tend to effect intelligence of a baby. Since many factors impact intelligence, it is considered a complex characteristic. Many pshyclogist have researched that how much genes affect intelligence and how much it is influenced by environment. Cyril Burt is one of the most famous names I history regarding genetic intelligence. Let’s look at his twins study and what problems he faced in doing that study. Twin study of intelligence: Cyril Burt was a British psychologist.. He is well known for his work in intelligence testing. He did a research on twins and “He concluded that genetic factors were more important than environmental factors in determining intelligence. “(Lori Lahna ;May 1997) . Burt did research on twin that were separated and raised in different environment (Monozygotic twins and zygotic twins). He claimed that intelligence was extremely inherited. Burt collected most of his data between 1913-32 when he was a research psychologist for the London educational system. According to his work intelligence is more than 75% fixed by inherited capacities. “He chose such individuals because they provide the only really adequate natural experiment for separating genetic from environmental effects on humans. However, such cases are extremely rare” (N Mackintosh; 1996). Problems psychologists face with such studies: Let’s see some of the problems a psychologist face in doing research on intelligence: • It’s really hard to diagnose with certainty the two types of twins, monozygotic and dizygotic, as only about 25 per cents of all twins are monozygotic. • Separation of twins is very rare. And even if they are separated they are often moved to their uncle or aunt house with similar environment. • It is really hard to get access to children as most of parents don’t allow this. • The confidentiality of results is really very important. As children with low IQ level if revealed would be shame for that child. So the fear of getting revealed and shame children hesitate to participate in intelligence testing. Sound & valid methodology.  “This is even more vital when the research topic is socially sensitive.  Academics are able to detect flaws in method but the lay public and the media often don’t.  When research findings are publicised, people are likely to take them as fact and policies may be based on them” (http://psychology4a.com/Ethics.htm) How the problems can be solved: • Parents should be taken in full confidence. If children is under 16 parents’ permission should be taken properly. In research involving children, great caution should be exercised when discussing the results with parents, teachers or others in loco parentis, since evaluative statements may carry unintended weight. • The children and parents should be explained the detail benefits of intelligence testing. The data will be confidential and it will help children to proceed better in their class, as teacher will properly understand their problems and week points. Ownership of data.  “When research findings could be used to make social policies which affect people’s lives, should they be publicly accessible'  Sometimes, research is commissioned by a party with their own.  Some people argue that scientists should be compelled to disclose their results so that other scientists can re-analyse them.  If this had happened in Burt’s day, there may not have been such widespread belief in the genetic transmission of intelligence” (http://psychology4a.com/Ethics.htm) • A full Informed consent should be taken as participants should be complete alert of how taking part in the research may disturb them. • The data should be kept Confidential as if it will be leaked it will effect child’s life. • The right of withdrawal of data.” This should be available and made clear to participants before the research starts. Both Milgram and Zimbardo claim that withdrawal was possible in their studies although when questioned afterwards it is clear that not all participants realised this” (http://psychology4a.com/Ethics.htm) Other studies of intelligence: Other studies have showed that intelligence is major environmental effected. The early experiences which child takes into their life effect there latter stages of life. Many of the children that are from poor family background suffer in there latter life as they were unable to get quality education at the start of their life. Many attempts have been made to compensate such children. Project head start is one of the examples. Williams and Moore did research on such deprived children. William researched on preschool children giving them extra lessons to see if there is reduce in failure. He checked this by control group and experimental group. As a result the experimental group performed better. But latter it was proved that there was no special effect being found. Problems psychologist face in studying deprived children: 1. No parents want their children to be in control group. As they don’t want to get deprived of good education. 2. It is tough to work with children as psychologist has to take extra care. Some children might not respond as they should, which may affect they overall results of the study. Solutions to the problems: 1. The control group children should be advantaged at the end of the study with some extra lessons as well which may encourage children and parent to take part in research as control group. 2. Full consent should be taken from parents making them realise the after effects of the study. Q6. -Name and describe the stage which these eight year olds have reached according to Piaget's theory.  Jean Piaget Background: Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland in 1896. He received his doctoral degree at young age of 22; Piaget started his profession which has a lot of impact on both psychology and education. After working with Alferd Binet, Piaget developed an interest in child Development. After research he concluded that children were not less smart than adults, they just reason in a different way. He had his first publication on molluscs when he was still at High School. His view of how children's minds work and develop has been enormously influential, particularly in educational theory. He was employed at Binet University in 1920 to write questions for IQ test. When he notices wrong answers of children he notices the difference of answers of children and adult. “Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development”(McLeod, S. A ; 2009). His work includes theory of cognitive development with detail structure which involves clever tests to reveal different cognitive abilities. According to piaget children's thinking does not develop completely at once instead there are certain ages where they learn different things. His work showed how children think different from the adults. According to him children are born with basic skills but with the passage of time they learn lots of new things. “To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience”  (McLeod, S. A ; 2009). Children build an image in their mind about the world but they experience different prospective as they learn this world. "Piaget's work on children's intellectual development owed much to his early studies of water snails"(Satterly, 1987:622) Components of Piaget's Cognitive Theory: 1. Schemas: They serve as building blocks of knowledge. They are the most basic set of knowledge a child have. Child are born with schemas Like sucking, grasping. Later these schemas become complex like love, nature, debate etc. 2. Assimilation: A child requires new information or skills to live in this world. When he learns new schemas it’s called assimilation. 3. Equilibration: A child needs a balance world to lives in it. When an existing schemas cannot cope with the situation and it creates imbalance in the child world and child try to alter the schemas by learning new schemas. This is called as equilibration. 4. Accommodation: new information or ideas cannot be fitted into the child's current understanding so it either has to alter existing schema or make a totally new schema [pic] Theory of cognitive development: |Stage |Child Under-go |Characteristics |Research Study | |Sensori- Motor |Object Permanence |A child starts recognising objects. |Blanket and Ball study | |(0 – 2 years) | | | | | | |Starts performing certain small actions | | |Pre-Operational |Ego centrism |A child sees everything from its own |Three mountains | |(2 – 7 years) | |prospective only. | | | |Animism |A child is dominated by the external world. | | | | |The incapability to understand that some | | | | |things remain unchanged in spite of looking | | | | |changed. | | |Concrete operational |Conservation |A child starts thinking logically. |Conservation of numbers | |(7 – 11 years) | |Achieves conservation of number, figure and | | | | |weight |Conservation of height | |Formal operational |Abstract Reasoning |“children in this stage can concentrate on the|Pendulum task | |(12 - adult) | |form of an argument without being distracted | | | | |by the content “ | | | | |http://psychology4a.com/cognitive_development.| | | | |htm | | Ego-centrism In psychology, egocentrism is known as the partial distinction of the self and the world, including other people, the tendency to observe, understand and interpret the world in terms of the self. The ego centric people cannot think according to other people perspective. According to piaget “The belief that you are the centre of the universe and everything revolves around you: the corresponding inability to see the world as someone else does and adapt to it. Not moral selfishness, just an early stage of psychological development” (Atherton J S (2011). The child doesn’t distinguish itself from others as they are unable to differentiate themselves from the environment. It “refers to a lack of differentiation between some aspect of self and other” ( Patrick Hill ,Daniel Lapsley). Child remains egocentric as it’s their inability to see things from other people prospective. Piaget supposed that ego centrism slowly diminishes as the child gets older. Piaget showed this in his Three Mountains Study. Piaget’s Three Mountains Study: A children seated on a table with three mountains in front of them, a doll placed in various position around table. A child is then shown with various photos with different views. They were then asked to tell the best fitted view a doll can see. So to finish this task successfully a child needs to think with a dolls point of view as how she would have seen the picture. The children under 7 showed problems in completing the task. Most of them choose the photo as they can see the mountains. “Egocentrism dominates a child’s thinking in the sensori-motor and preoperational stages.  Piaget would therefore predict that using group activities would not be appropriate since children are not capable of understanding the views of others” (http://psychology4a.com/cognitive_development.htm) Criticism on Three mountains theory The piaget theory was criticised by Hughes (1975). He criticised that children are judged by visual awareness nor by egocentrism. Hughes repeated the three mountains task using a state he believed would be more acquainted to the child, i.e. the naughty boy hiding from the policeman.  He found that 90% of children aged 3 to 5 can finish the job successfully, So he concluded that children were not egocentric but they were unable to understand the scenario. Bibliography: Atherton J S (2011) Learning and Teaching; Piaget's developmental theory [On-line: UK] retrieved 4 September 2012 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm SATTERLY D (1987) "Piaget and Education" in R L Gregory (ed.) The Oxford Companion to the Mind Oxford, Oxford University Press McLeod, S. A. (2009). Piaget | Cognitive Theory. Retrieved fromhttp://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html http://psychology4a.com/cognitive_development.htm  Patrick Hill, Daniel Lapsley ; 2003 http://www.education.com/reference/article/egocentrism/ Hale, J. (2011). The 3 Basic Types of Descriptive Research Methods.Psych Central. 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