Chap 5 - Cognitive Growth: Piaget & Vgotsky Flashcards
Assimilation
The process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive dev & way of thinking
Scheme
An organized pattern of sensorimotor functioning that adapt & change w/mental dev
Accommodation
Changes in existing ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events
Sensorimotor stage (of cognitive development)
Piaget’s initial major stage of cognitive dev, which can be broken down into six substages; birth to 2 yrs
Goal-directed behavior (substage 4)
Behavior in which several schemes are combined & coordinated to generate a single act to solve a problem; infants push one toy out of way to reach another toy that is partially exposed
Object permanence
The realization that people & objects exist even when they cannot be seen; emerges in substage 4
Deferred imitation
An act in which a person who is no longer present is imitated by children who have witnessed a similar act
Preoperational stage
According Piaget, the stage from approx age 2 to 7 in which children’s use of symbolic thinking grows, mental reasoning emerges, & the use of concepts increases.
Operations
Organized, formal, logical mental processes
Symbolic function
The ability to use a mental symbol, a word, or an object to stand for or represent something that is not physically present
Centration
The process of concentrating on one limited aspect of a stimulus & ignoring other aspects
Conservation
The knowledge that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement & physical appearance of objects
Transformation
The process in which one state is changed into another
Egocentric thought
Thinking that does not take into account the viewpoints of others
Intuitive thought
Thinking that reflects preschoolers’ use of primitive reasoning & their avid acquisition of knowledge about the world
Postformal thought
Thinking that acknowledges that adult predicaments must sometimes be solved in relativistic terms; Labouvie-Vief says thinking goes beyond Piaget’s formal operations; encompasses dialectical thinking
Acquisitive stage
According to Schaie, the first stage of cognitive dev, encompassing all of childhood & adolescence, in which the main developmental task is to acquire info
Achieving stage
The point reached by young adults in which intelligence is applied to specific situations involving the attainment of long-term goals regarding careers, family, & societal contributions
Responsible stage
The stage where the major concerns of middle-aged adults relate to their personal situations, including protecting & nourishing their spouses, families, & careers
Executive stage
The period in middle adulthood when people take a broader perspective than earlier, including concerns about the world
Reintegrative stage
The period of late adulthood during which the focus is on tasks that have personal meaning
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
According to Vygotsky, the level at which a child can almost, but not fully, perform a task independently, but can do so with the assistance of someone more competent
Scaffolding
The support of learning & problem solving that encourages independence & growth
Mental representation
An internal image of a past event or object
Key elements to Piaget’s theory
Piaget argues that infants do not acquire knowledge from facts communicated by others, nor thru sensation & perception. He believes that knowledge is the product of direct motor behavior.
Action = Knowledge
Based on stage approach dev
4 universal stages of Piaget’s theory
- Sensorimotor (birth to 2 yrs)
- Preoperational (ages 2-7)
- Concrete operational (ages 7-12)
- Formal operational (ages 12-15)
2 principles that underlie growth in children’s schemes
- Assimilation
2. Accommodation
Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years) - 6 substages
- Simple reflexes (1st month)
- First habits & primary circular reactions (1 - 4 months)
- Secondary circular reactions (4 - 8 months)
- Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8 - 12 months)
- Tertiary circular reactions (12 - 18 months)
- Beginnings of thought (18 months to 2 years)
Primary Circular reactions
Schemes reflecting an infant’s repetition of interesting or enjoyable actions, just for the enjoyment of doing them
Secondary circular reactions
Schemes regarding repeated actions that bring about a desirable consequence
Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)
Infants appear to carry out miniature experiments to observe the consequences
Piaget’s concrete operational thought stage (ages 7-12)
Characterized by active & appropriate use of logic; decentering; concept of reversibility; permits children to grasp such concepts as relationship between time & speed
Decentering
Children can consider multiple aspects of a situation; occurs in Piaget’s concrete operational thought stage
Critical thinking limitation in Piaget’s Concrete Operational Thought Stage
Children remain tied to concrete, physical reality. They cannot understand truly abstract or hypothetical questions, or questions involving formal logic, such as the concept as free will or determinism
Piaget’s formal operational stage (ages 12-15)
People develop the ability to think abstractly; propositional thought
Propositional thought (Piaget’s formal operational stage)
Reasoning that uses abstract logic in the absence of concrete examples;
I.e. all A’s are B (premise)
C is an A (premise)
Therefore, C is a B (conclusion)
Dialectical thinking
An interest in & appreciation for argument, counterargument, & debate; accepts that issues are not always clear-cut & that answers must sometimes be negotiated
Perry’s approach to postformal thought
Dualistic thinking - Students entering Harvard believed something is either right or wrong, people are bad or evil; as they encountered new ideas & points of views from other students, dualistic thinking declined
Schaie’s perspective on postformal thought
Suggests that adult thinking follows a set pattern of stages; focuses on ways in which info is used during adulthood, rather than on changes in the acquisition & understanding of new info, as in Piaget’s approach
Schaie’s Stages of Cognitive Development
- Acquisitive stage - all of childhood & adolescence
- Achieving stage - young adults
- Responsible stage - middle-aged adults
- Executive stage - further into middle adulthood
- Reintegrative stage - late adulthood
Vygotsky’s view of cognitive dev
Product of social interactions; children gradually grow intellectually & begin to function on their own bc of assistance that adult & peer partners provide
