Animal studies have been used to demonstrate how nurture is important for early brain development. One study compared two groups of rats with one group having toys to stimulate them while the other did not. The results found that the rats that lived with the stimulating toys developed bigger brains and showed better problem-solving skills compared to rats living on their own without stimulation. This shows how nurture can affect brain development.

We've included exercises and practice application based questions across each topic at the end of every textbook to help students improve their understanding. Perfect For Studying or TeachingWillingham disagreed with this and believed that learning styles do not exist in the ways suggested. As part of his learning theory, he pointed out that there was no experimental support for their existence or effectiveness. Other research studies have also shown that teaching in a students preferred learning style has no effect on their exam results. This meta study demonstrated that even when identical twins were reared apart, they displayed very similar IQ levels and this was stronger than siblings reared together. Some research studies have shown that IQ between identical twins is very similar which implies nature plays a significant role in intelligence. Other research studies have found personality is also shaped by nature; one study compared the behaviours of identical twins who were raised apart. In response to his theory nurseries and primary schools place a heavy focus on discovery-based learning where children are given a variety of objects and allowed to explore them in their own way.

Piaget’s cognitive development theory and its stages have been heavily criticised. Other psychologists have shown that the ages Piaget said children could learn certain tasks we're incorrect. More recent studies have shown how babies develop object permanence before eight months (Hughes “Policeman Doll” study 1978) and children can lose their egocentric thinking and conserve before the age of seven (McGarrigle and Donaldson’s Naughty Teddy study 1974). There is also now the belief that children enter the formal operational stage much later than age 11, and some never reach this stage at all.We've created a detailed study guide on how GCSE psychology students can study for the subject here. Other criticisms of Piaget’s theory focuses on how he conducted his experiments. For example, in the conservation tasks, he asked children the same question more than once before and after the counters had been moved. This could have resulted in researcher bias as the children may have believed that their first answer may be incorrect and so changed this. They were found to be very similar when they met for the first time when aged 39. Both of them drove the same car, went on holiday to the same place as well as bit their nails. Aim: McGarrigle and Donaldson conducted a study to see if children developed conservation skills at an age that was earlier than Piaget’s theory predicted if the change to the materials (counters) was accidental.