Chapter 6: cognitive development Flashcards
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
children actively construct their own cognitive worlds
schemes
actions or mental representations that organize knowledge
assimilation
using existing schemes to incorporate new information
accommodation
adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences
organization
grouping isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order, smoothly functioning cognitive system
equilibration
shifting from one stage of thought to the next
sensorimotor stage
infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions. An infant progresses from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward the end of the stage
- birth to 2 years
preoperational stage
the child begins to represent the world with words and images. These words and images reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the connection of sensory information and physical action
- 2 to 7 years
concrete operational stage
the child can now reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets
- 7 to 11 years
formal operational
the adolescent reasons in more abstract, idealistic, and logical ways
- 11 years through adulthood
6 substages of the sensorimotor stage
- simple reflexes
- first habits and primary circular reactions
- secondary circular reactions
- coordination of secondary circular reactions
- tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity
- internalization of schemes
simple reflexes stage
this occurs in the 1st month after birth where sensation and action are coordinated through reflexive behavior, such as rooting and sucking. The infant begins to produce behaviors that resemble reflexes in absence of the usual stimulus for the reflex.
first habits and primary circular reaction stage
this occurs between 1 and 4 months of age where habits and circular reactions are something the infant repeats the same way each time
primary circular reaction
a scheme based on an attempt to reproduce an event that initially occurred by chance
secondary circular reaction stage
this occurs between 4 and 8 months of age where the infant becomes before object oriented moving beyond preoccupation with the self and imitates some simple actions and physical gestures
secondary circular reaction
actions are repeated because of their consequences
coordination of secondary circular reaction stage
this occurs between 8 and 12 months of age where the infant must coordinate vision and touch, hand and eye. Their actions become more outwardly directed and they readily combine and recombine previously learned schemes in a coordinated way.
-intentionality
tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity stage
this occurs between 12 and 18 months of age
tertiary circular reaction
schemes in which an infant purposefully explores new possibilities with objects, continually doing new things to them and exploring the results
internalization of schemes stage
this occurs 18 to 24 months of age where infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols
symbol
in Piaget’s model, an internalized image or word that represents an event
object permanence
the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched
A-not-B error
occurs when infants make the mistake of selecting a familiar hiding place (A) rather than a new hiding place (B) as they progress into the stage of secondary circular reactions
core knowledge approach
infants are born with domain-specific innate knowledge systems
-space, number sense, object permanence language
-evolutionary
-built-in sense of morality
operations
reversible mental actions that allow children to do mentally what they previously only did physically
symbolic function substage
the child gains the ability to mentally represent an object that is not present
egocentrism
inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s
animism
belief that inanimate object have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
intuitive thought substage
the child uses primitive reasoning and wants to know the answers to all sorts of questions
- 4 to 7 years
centration
focusing of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all other
conservation
awareness that altering the appearance of an object or substance does not change its basic properties
seriation
ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension
transitivity
ability to logically combine relations to reach certain conclusions
hypothetical-deductive reasoning
develop hypotheses/guesses and systematically deduce which is the best path to following in solving a problem
adolescent egocentrism
heightened self-consciousness of adolescents
-reflected in beliefs that others are interested in them as they themselves are
- involved imaginary audience and a personal fable
imaginary audience
feeling one is the center of attention
personal fable
sensory of personal uniqueness and invincibility
- vulnerable
neo-piagetians
argue for more emphasis on how children use attention, memory, and strategies to process information
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
emphasizes that children actively construct their knowledge and understanding and the role of the social environment in stimulating cognitive development
- society and cultures
-children use speech both for social communication and to help them solve tasks
zone of proximal development (ZPD)
the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and assistance from others
- lower limit: independent
- upper limit: more dependent on help
scaffolding
changing the level of support over the course of a teaching session, through dialogue, children’s concepts become more systematic, logical, and rational
private speech
used for self-regulation to plan, guide, and monitor their behavior > eventually becomes inner speech in our minds
Vygotsky’s teaching struggles (2)
- use a child’s ZPD in teaching and observe/support when needed
- monitor and encourage children’s use of private speech and place instruction in meaningful conetxt
social constructivist approach
emphasis on the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction
role of language to Vygostky
major role in shaping thought
cognitive changes in adulthood
adults and adolescents use the same type of reasoning and they think in qualitatively the same way but many individuals do not reach the highest level of formal operational thinking until adulthood
adolescents often view the world in terms of ________
Polarity
- right/wrong
- we/they
- good/bad
With age, they become more aware of diverse opinions and the multiple perspectives of others
emerging adulthood cognition
they are high in empathy, flexibility, and autonomy and are more likely to engage in complex, integrated cognitive-emotional thinking
middle age cognition
more inwardly reflective and less cognitive-dependent in their thinking
postformal thought is described as…
- reflective, relativistic, and contextual
- provisional
- realistic
- influenced by emotion
fluid intelligence
ability to reason abstractly
- decreases with age
crystallized intelligence
accumulated information and verbal skills
- increases with age
cognitive mechanics
declines with age
cognitive pragmatics
increases with age
