3-7 Flashcards
• A Swiss biologist, philosopher, and psychologist
• Saw that human cognition (intelligence) as adaptive
• Believed that mental structures of children are qualitatively different from adults
• Viewed that children are as an active constructor of knowledge
Jean Piaget
• The basic units of the intellect
• Cognitive structures by which we make sense out of experiences
• Organizes out interactions with environment
• Interpret the external world
Mental Schemas or Schemas
Processes to develop the Schemas
Assimilation
Accommodation
Equilibrium or cognitive balance
• The process of interpreting new information and experiences according to one’s existing schemes
• The person interprets reality in a way that fits his/her mental schemes
Assimilation
• The process of modifying or differentiating existing schemes to better fit the new stimulus or information
• Our mental schemes become more complex and reflect the external world more accurately, thereby allowing us to adapt more effectively
Accommodation
• Attained when schemes that emerge are in accordance with the demands and information from the external world
Equilibrium or cognitive balance
Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor
Preoperational Stage
Concrete Operational Stage
Formal Operational Stage
• From birth to 2 years old
• Children explore and gain knowledge of the world primarily through their senses and motor activities
• Babies do not have the capacity to mentally represent information and experiences
• All they know is based on direct manipulation and exploration of the environment
Sensorimotor Stage
An understanding that they are separate
from the external world
Decentration
• Realizing that they can purposively act on objects
Intentionality
• The understanding that objects and other stimuli continue to exist even outside of the infants perception
Object permanence
2 to 7 seven years old
Preoperational Stage
Development of two very important mental processes arise:
- Symbolic Thinking
- Representational Thinking
• Understanding that one thing can arbitrarily stand for something else
• Examples include:
• Playing Pretend
• Drawing
• Imitation
Symbolic Thinking
• A child is liberated from the rigidity of
sensorimotor areas
• Motor actions will have now become “interiorized” by now
• The child can now use mental images rather than mental actions
• However the child’s thinking is still illogical and still cannot perform mental operations
• “Are representations of actions that obey logical rules”
Representational Thinking
Several limitations in the Preoperational Stage
• Centration
• Inability to Conserve
• Egocentrism
• A child’s propensity to focus or attend to one aspect at a time
Centration
• A child’s inability to understand that physical properties of objects remain the same despite changes in the object’s outward appearance
Inability to Conserve
• A child’s inability to consider viewpoints other than his own
• Egocentrism
• 7 to 11 years old
• Child had overcome most of the limitations of the
previous stage
• Thought is now more logical and flexible
Concrete operational stage
In concrete operational stage, child is now capable of the following skills:
Seriating
Transitive Reasoning
Classification
• Child’s ability to order objects according to quantitative dimensions
Seriating
• Basic logical problem solving ability
Transitive Reasoning
Recognizing hierarchical relations between sets and subsets
Classification
•11 years old and beyond
• Reasons logically, starting from premises
• Entertains and tests hypothesis
• Solves problems by systematically considering the multiple sides and possibilities of a given situation
Formal Operational Stage
• “Treat each person as an end, not as a
means.”
• Basis for the notion of universal morality characterized by justice and equality
Immanuel Kant’s Practice Imperative
LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Preconventional Morality
Conventional Morality
Postcon
• Primary consideration is the consequence of the act to the self
• Moral Decisions are egocentric
• Behaviors are motivated by self interest
• Avoidance of punishment or;
• Attainment of rewards
Precon