A-Level Psychology: Cognition and Development
Cognition and Development is one of the option topics in A-level Psychology, and it asks you to compare theories of how children's thinking develops and to judge them against clever experimental evidence. This material follows the current content (for example AQA's A-level Psychology for first teaching from September 2025, where theory of mind remains but its use as an explanation of autism is no longer part of the topic).
The Piaget questions apply assimilation and accommodation to a toddler learning a new word, place a child who fails a conservation task in the pre-operational stage, identify class inclusion from a question about toy dogs and cats, and use Hughes' policeman-doll task and McGarrigle and Donaldson's 'naughty teddy' study to show how Piaget may have underestimated young children.
The Vygotsky questions cover the zone of proximal development in an everyday example and the strategies of scaffolding described by Wood, Bruner and Ross. Baillargeon's research is represented by the tall-and-short carrot study, with a question on why longer looking may reflect novelty rather than understanding.
The social cognition questions ask you to identify the third-party level of Selman's perspective-taking, explain what a correct answer in the Sally-Anne false-belief task shows about theory of mind, and separate accurate claims about the mirror neuron system from overstatements.
The material offers four formats. The 12-question quiz gives an explanation after every answer. The 17 flashcards cover every key term and study. The printable written work sets eight open questions, including a comparison of Piaget and Vygotsky, with ruled space for handwritten answers that are then checked. In the oral exam an examiner asks one question at a time, asks you to apply concepts to short descriptions of children and gives precise feedback at the end.
It is designed for students taking Cognition and Development as their first option who want to practise applying the theories to examples and evaluating them with the research that challenged them.
- Explain Piaget's concepts of schemas, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration and his stages of development
- Evaluate Piaget's theory using research on egocentrism, conservation and class inclusion
- Explain Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding
- Describe and evaluate Baillargeon's violation of expectation research
- Explain Selman's levels of perspective-taking and theory of mind, including the Sally-Anne study
- Evaluate the role of the mirror neuron system in social cognition
Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Cognition and development option in A-level Psychology specifications (for example AQA A-level Psychology 7182, specification for first teaching from September 2025, section 4.3.4).
Sample question
Two-year-old Leo knows the word 'doggy'. On a farm he points at a cow and says 'doggy'. Later, after being told it is a cow and noticing that it moos and is much bigger, he starts using the word 'cow'. According to Piaget, which processes are shown, in order?
- Accommodation, then assimilation
- Assimilation, then accommodation
- Egocentrism, then conservation
- Class inclusion, then object permanence
See the answer
Assimilation, then accommodation
At first Leo fits the new animal into his existing 'doggy' schema (assimilation). When the mismatch creates disequilibrium, an unpleasant state, he changes his schemas by forming a new 'cow' schema (accommodation), which restores equilibrium. Piaget called this drive to restore balance equilibration.