chapter 4 Flashcards
theories
jean piaget
- 1896 to 1980
- swiss psychologist
- attempted to identify the stages that a child passes through as they move towards adult like cognitive abilities
- used case studies of his own kid
piaget’s view of children
constructivist
- depicts children as constructing knowledge for themselves in response to their experiences
piaget assumptions
- mentally active since birth
- children learn lessons on their own
- children are intrinsically motivated to learn
piaget version of nature/nurture
nature
- brain / body
- ability to perceive, act, and learn from experience
nurture
- every experience children encounter
sources of continuity
assimilation
accommodation
equilibrium (x2)
disequilibrium
advanced equilibrium
assimilation
the process by which people translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts they already understand
accommodation
the process by which people improve their current understanding in response to new experiences
equilibrium (1)
balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding
equilibrium (2)
satisfaction with understanding of a particular phenomenon
disequilibrium
realization of shortcomings of understanding, but do not have better explanations
advanced equilibrium
more sophisticated understanding and broader range of observations can be understood
sources of discontinuity
qualitative change
broad capability
brief transitions
invariant sequence
qualitative change
children of different ages think differently
broad capability
type of thinking at each stage is influential
brief transitions
fluctuations between each type of thinking
invariant sequence
some stage progression, no skipping
piaget’s stages of development
- sensorimotor stage
- preoperational stage
- concrete operations stage
- formal operations stage
- sensorimotor stage
birth to age 2
physical interactions are mania source of knowledge, thinking, and experience
- mental representation
- object permanence
- a-not-b error
- deferred imitation
also:
- infants’ activities center on their own bodies first
- early foals are concrete but later goals are abstract
- increasingly able to form mental representations
mental representation
physical and concrete to having an idea of something that’s not there
object permanence
understanding that objects continue to exist when out of view
A-not-B error
tendency to reach for hidden object where it was last found rather than its new location
deferred imitation
repletion of other people’s behaviors a substantial time after it originally occurred
- preoperational stage
ages 2 - 7
ability to construct mental representations of experience but not yet perform operations on them
- symbolic representation
- egocentrism
- centration
- conservation
symbolic representation
the use of one object, word, or thought to stand for another
egocentrism
inability to see the world from others’ perspectives
centration
focus on a single perceptually striking feature of an object
conservation
understand that despite a translation in the physical amount, the amount remains the same
- concrete operations stage
ages 7 - 12
can reason logically about concrete objects and events
- formal operations stage
ages 12+
ability to perform hypothetical reasoning beyond the here and now
limitations to piaget’s theory
- children are cognitively competent
- development is more continuous
- may be culturally biased
information processing theories
theories that focus on the structure of cognitive systems and mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems
- thinking as a process that occurs over time
- task analysis
- computer simulation
task analysis
identify goals, relevant information in the environment, and potential processing strategies for a problem
computer simulation
mathematical model that expresses ideas about mental processes in precise ways
memory development
working memory
long term memory
executive functioning
working memory
actively attending to, maintaining, and processing information
- limited in both capacity and length of time in can be maintained
- capacity and speed of working memory over time due to brain maturation
long term memory
knowledge that people accumulate over their lifetime
- factual knowledge (song lyrics)
- conceptual knowledge (fairness)
- procedural knowledge (riding a bike)
executive functioning
control behavior and thought processes
- inhibition
- enhancement of working memory
- cognitive functioning
basic processes memory)
Associating events with one another
Recognizing objects as familiar
Recalling facts and procedures
Generalizing from one stance to another
Encoding specific features of objects and events
Improving processing speed
- Myelination
- Increased connectivity
strategies for memory
rehearsal
selective formation
rehearsal
repeating info multiple times
selective formation
intentionally focusing on the info that is most relevant to the goal
content knowledge
prior content knowledge improves encoding, provides useful associations, and guides memory in useful directions
problem solving (information processing theories)
children depicted as active problem solvers
- overlapping waves theory
- planning
overlapping waves theory
emphasize the variability of children’s thinking
planning
problem solving is more successful if people plan ahead before acting
core knowledge theories
views children as having some INNATE knowledge in domains of special evolutionary importance
- domain specific learning
- language acquisition device
infants begin life with 4 core knowledge systems
infants begin life with 4 core knowledge systems
- inanimate objects and mechanical interactions
- minds and goal-directed actions
- numbers
- spatial layouts and geometric relations
language acquisition device
specialized learning mechanism for language allows children to rapidly master the complicated systems of grammatical rules
view of children’s nature (core knowledge theories)
similar to piaget
- children are active learners
different from piaget
- children have innate capabilities
specialized mechanisms
nativist vs constructivist
specialized mechanisms
faces
language
living things
numbers
nativist
emphasize innate knowledge
constructivist
emphasize generation of increasingly sophisticated domain-specific theories on top of the innate foundation
constructivism
- blends elements of nativism, piagetian theory, and information-processing theories
- young children actively organize their understanding of the most important domains into informal theories
sociocultural theories
theories that emphasize that there people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children’s development
- social scaffolding
- cultural tools
- guided participation
social scaffolding
“experts” organize the physical and social environment to help children learn
cultural tools
ways in which cultures influences our thinking
guided participation
more knowledgable people organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgable people to perform activity at higher levels than they could manage on their own
lev vygotsky
russian psychologist
viewed children as social learners
continuous
- three phases of internalized speech
three phases of internalized speech
- children’s behavior is controlled by other people’s statements
- children’s behavior is controlled by their own private speech
- behavior is controlled by internalized private speech (thoughts) in which they silently tell themselves what to do
view of children’s nature (sociocultural theories)
children seen as teachers and learners
children seen as products of their culture
central development issues (SC.T)
intersubjectivity
joint attention
intersubjectivity
mutual understanding that people share during communication
- requires focus on same topic and each other’s reactions
joint attention
children and their social partners intentionally focus on a common referent in the external environment
dynamic systems theories
dynamic
- continuously changing
systems
- each child is a well integrated system
view of children’s nature (dynamic systems theories)
- children are internally motivated to learn about the world around them
- children’s actions shape their development
central developmental issues (DS.T)
development as a process of self-organization that involves integrating attention, memory, emotions, and actions to adapt to a continuously changing environment
- soft assembly
changes occur throughout mechanisms of variation and selection
soft assembly
components and their organization change from moment to moment and situation to situation
- habit
- memory
- attention
variation
use of different behaviors to pursue the same goal
selection
increasingly frequent choice of behaviors that are effective in meeting goals
