Chapter 5: Cognitive Growth: Information Proessing Approaches Flashcards
cognition
mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgement
Piagets Theory
- primarily studied children
- Action = Knowledge
schemes
mental representations that organize knowledge (a framework), organized patterns of sensimotor functioning
-framework that organize and interpret information
analogy to schemes
folder on your computer=-has a label
contains “like”info
example :Michaela at zoo
assimilation
incorporating new information into existing knowledge schemes, understand an experience in terms of current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking
accommodation
adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences, changes in existing ways of thinking that occur in response encounters with new stimuli or events
Piagetian Processes
Assimilation and Accomodation
first try to assimilate, then learns to accommodate
ex/ baby-sandbox
exploring with touch
sally puts everything in mouth
Piagetian Processes
Organization
Grouping isolated behaviors into a higher-order, more smoothly functioning cognitive system; the grouping arranging of items into CATEGORIES
(to make sense of world, children organize their experiences)ex/ grocery store
Piagetian Proccesses
Disequilibrium and Equilibration
Explain how children shift from one stage of thought to the next
Disequilibrium
shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict
Equilibration
confliict is resolved through assimilation and accommodation, to reach a new balance or equilibrium of thought
Stages if Development
cognition is qualitatively different from one stage to the next
motivation for change in each stage
internal search for equilibrium to become more _______ competent
What makes the stages differ from one another?
each stage consists of a different way of understanding and interpreting the world
Piagets four stages
- sensorimotor
- preoperational
- concrete operational
- formal operational
Sensorimotor Stage
birth to 2 years
infants contruct understanding of world by coordinating sensory experiences with motoric actions
Substage 1 (first month of life)
Simple Reflexes
Substage 2 (1-4 months)
First Habits and Primary Circular Reactions-
coordinate what were seperate actions into single, integrated activities
Substage 3 (4-8 months)
Secondary Circular Reactions-
infants take major strides in shifting cognitive horizons beyond themselves and begin to act on the outside world
Stage 4 (8-12 months)
Coordination of secondary circular reactions-
begin to use more calculated approaches to producing events, coordinating several schemes to generate a single act. Achieve object performance during this stage
Substage 5 (12-18 months)
Tertiary circular Reactions-
deliberate variation of actions that bring desirable consequences. Rather than just repeating enjoyable activities, infants appear to carry out miniature experiments to observe the consequence
Substage 6 (18 months to 2 years)
Beginnings of thought-
mental representation or symbolic thought. Infants imagine where objects that tehy cannot see might be
object permanence
understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen, heard or touched
- fully developed by end of sensorimotor stage
Preoperation Stage (2 to 7)
children represent world with words, images, and drawings
-think of things that are not there presently
operations
organized, formal, logical, mental processes (not in preoperation stage)
symbolic function (2-4) *1st substage of preoperational thought
ability to use a mental symbol, word, or object to stand for or represent something that is not physically present
ex/ imaginative, drawings, scribbles, pretend play
egocentrism
inability to distinguish between one’s own and someone elses perspective
symbolic functions example
phone conversation with a 2-4 year old
“three mountain task”
Intuitive Thought Substage
(4-7 years)
Children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to all sorts of questions
WANT TO LEARN
animism
belief that inaminate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
ex/ that floor hurt me
centration (flaw in thinking)
focusing attention on one charactistic to exclusion of others
demo/ pennies, playdough
Conservation(ability)
Intutitive Thought substage
idea that an amount stays the same regardless of changes in its appearance
*lacking in preoperational stage
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Children can perform operations, understand transformational thought (conservation tasks), logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning as long as the reasoning can be applied to specific, concrete examples
transformation
process in which one state is changed into another
Concrete Operational Stage
begin questioning illogical ideas
“How is this possible” santa
classification
an important ability in concrete operational thought
classification skills- seriation
ordering stimuli along qualitative dimension
classification skills- transitivity
A=B and B=C then A=C
Formal Operational Stage (11-15 years)
individuals move beyond concrete experiences and think in more abstact and logical ways
abstract, idealistic, and logical thinking
hypothetical deductive reasoning
ability to
- develop hypothesis about ways to solve problems and can
- systematically deduce best path to follow in solving them (deductive reasoning)
Adolescent Egocentrism
heightened self consciousness of adolescents
adol ego- imaginery audience
belief that others are as interested in them as they are
adol ego- personal fable
adolescent’s sense of uniqueness and invincibility
Piaget in education
- constructive learning
- faciliate rather than direct, learning
- consider knowledge and level of thinking
- ongoing assessment
- promote students intellectual health
…….classroom into setting of exploration and discovery
“tell me and ill forget, show me and ill remember, let me help you and ill understand”
Piagets contributions
new way of looking at children
piagets critisms
- some estimates of timing of childrens abilities are inaccurate
- development not always uniformly stage like
- effects of training not taken into account
- culture and education influence development
Labouve Vief
logical conclusion interpreted differently if real-world demands and pressures were taken into account
Postformal Thought-labouve vief
thinking that acknowledges that adult predicaments must sometimes be solved in relativistic terms
Perrys approach to Postformal thinking
dualistic thinking(right or wrong good or bad) declines when encountered with new ideas and points of view
Schaie perspective on postformal thought
stages
Acquisitive stage (childhood to adolescence)
main task is to acquire information
Acheiving stage (young adulthood)
point reached by young adult in which intelligence is applied to specific situations involving the attainment of long-term goals regarding careers, family, and societal contributions
Responsible Stage(late stages of early adulthood and middle adulthood)
concerns relate to their personal situations, including protecting and nourishing spouses, families and careers
executive stage (late adulthood and middle adulthood)
people take a broader perspective than ealier, including concerns about the world
(many ppl not all)
Reintegrative stage (late adulthood)
focus is on tasks that have personal meaning
Vygotsky Theory of Cognitive Development
…
Social Constructivist approach
emphasis on social contexts of learning and construction of knowledge through SOCIAL INTERACTION
ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
- measure of learning potential
- captures the child’s skills that are in the process of maturing
scaffolding
changing support over course of a teaching session to fit child’s current performance level (supports independence and growth)
IQ vs ZPD
iq -emphasizes that intelligence is the property of the child
zpd- emphasizes that learning is INTERPERSONAL. Child shared ZPD with a more skilled individual
Language and Thought
- children use language to plan, guide and monitor behavior
- language and thought develop independenty, then merge
private speech
- self talk
- inner talk
teaching strategies Vygotsky
- assess and use childs ZPD
- more skilled peers as teachers
- monitor and encourage private speech
- instruction in meaningful context
- transform classroom
Piaget and Vygotsky learning
Piaget- independent
vygotsky- dependent
(oversimplification)
Test Piaget and Vygotsky
neither believed formal standarized tests were best way to assess a child’s learning
Role of Teachers
Piaget and Vygotsky
serve as facilitators or guides rather than as directors and molders of learning
Both theories are…
constructivist theory
constructivist
children actively construct knowledge and understanding rather than being passive receptacles
Social INteraction- piaget vs. vygotsky
piaget- does not have social emphasis
vygtosky- focused on social interaction; social contexts of learning
PIagets view of adult cognition
- thinking qualitatively same as adolescent’s-formal operational
- adults merely have more knowledge
research in adult cognition
- many dont reach formal operations until adulthood
- many adults dont use formal operatonal thinking
Cognitive changes in adulthood
realistic, pragmatic, reflective and relativistic
realistic
idealism decreases in face of real world constraints
pragmatic
switch from aquireing knowledge to applying it
reflective and relativistic
move away from absolutist thinking of adolescence
