Chapter 6: Cognitive Development: Piagetian, Core Knowledge, and Vygotskian Perspectives Flashcards
A-not-B search error
The error made by 8- to 12-month-olds who, after an object is moved from one hiding place (A) to another hiding place (B), search for it incorrectly in the first hiding place (A).
accommodation
In Piaget’s theory, that part of adaptation in which new schemes are created or old ones adjusted to produce a better fit with the environment. Distinguished from assimilation.
adaptation
In Piaget’s theory, the process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environment. Consists of two complementary activities: assimilation and accommodation.
analogical problem solving
Applying a solution strategy from one problem
to other relevant problems.
assimilation
In Piaget’s theory, that part of adaptation in which the external world is interpreted in terms of current schemes. Distinguished from accommodation
centration
In Piaget’s theory, the tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation, neglecting other important features.
circular reaction
In Piaget’s theory, a means of adapting schemes in which babies try to repeat a chance event originally caused by their own motor activity.
cognition
The inner processes and products of the mind that lead to “knowing,” including all mental activity—attending, remembering, symbolizing, categorizing, planning, reasoning, problem solving, creating, and fantasizing.
cognitive maps
Mental representations of familiar large-scale spaces, such as school or neighborhood.
concrete operational stage
Piaget’s third stage, extending from about 7 to 11 years, during which thought becomes logical, flexible, and organized in its application to concrete information.
conservation
The understanding that certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes.
constructivist approach
Piaget’s view of cognitive development, in which children discover, or construct, virtually all knowledge about their world through their own activity.
cooperative learning
Collaboration on a task by a small group of peers who work toward common goals by resolving differences of opinion, sharing responsibilities, and providing one another with sufficient explanations to correct misunderstandings. (
core knowledge perspective
A perspective that states that infants begin life with innate, special-purpose knowledge systems, or core domains of thought, each of which permits a ready grasp of new, related information and therefore supports early, rapid development of certain aspects of cognition.
deferred imitation
The ability to remember and copy the behavior of models who are not present.
displaced reference
The realization that words can be used to cue mental images of things that are not physically present.
dual representation
The ability to view a symbolic object as both an object in its own right and a symbol.
egocentrism
Failure to distinguish others’ symbolic viewpoints from one’s own.
equilibration
In Piaget’s theory, the back-and-forth movement between
equilibrium and disequilibrium that produces more effective schemes.
formal operational stage
Piaget’s highest stage, beginning around age 11, in which adolescents develop the capacity for abstract, systematic, scientific thinking.
guided participation
Shared endeavors between more expert and less expert participants, regardless of the precise features of communication. A broader concept than scaffolding.
hierarchical classification
The organization of objects into classes and subclasses on the basis of similarities and differences.
hypothetico-deductive reasoning
A formal operational problem-solving strategy in which adolescents begin with a hypothesis, or prediction, about variables that might affect an outcome. From the hypothesis, they deduce logical, testable inferences. Then they systematically isolate and combine variables to see which of those inferences are confirmed in the real world.
imaginary audience
Adolescents’ belief that they are the focus of everyone else’s attention and concern.
intentional, or goal-directed, behavior
A sequence of actions in which schemes are deliberately coordinated to solve a problem.
intersubjectivity
The process whereby two participants who begin a task with different understandings arrive at a shared understanding.
logical necessity
A basic property of propositional thought, which specifies that the accuracy of conclusions drawn from premises rests on the rules of logic, not on real-world confirmation.
make-believe play
A type of play in which children act out everyday and imaginary activities.
mental representation
An internal depiction of information that the mind
can manipulate, including images and concepts
object permanence
The understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight.
operations
In Piaget’s theory, mental representations of actions that obey logical rules.
organization
In Piaget’s theory, the internal rearrangement and linking together of schemes so that they form a strongly interconnected cognitive system. In information processing, a memory strategy that involves grouping related information to improve recall.
personal fable
Adolescents’ inflated opinion of their own importance—the belief that they are special and unique and that others cannot possibly understand their thoughts and feelings.
preoperational stage
Piaget’s second stage, extending from about 2 to 7 years of age, in which children undergo an extraordinary increase in representational, or symbolic, activity, although thought is not yet logical.
private speech
Self-directed speech that children use to guide their own thinking and behavior.
propositional thought
A type of formal operational reasoning involving the ability to evaluate the logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances.
reciprocal teaching
A teaching method in which a teacher and two to four
students form a cooperative group and take turns leading dialogues, creating a zone of proximal development in which children scaffold one another’s progress.
reversibility
The ability to go through a series of steps in a problem and then mentally reverse direction, returning to the starting point. In Piaget’s theory, part of every logical operation.
scaffolding
Adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child’s current level of performance. As competence increases, the adult gradually and sensitively withdraws support, turning responsibility over to the child.
schemes
In Piaget’s theory, specific psychological structures, or organized ways of making sense of experience, that change with age.
sensorimotor stage
Piaget’s first stage, spanning the first two years of life, in
which infants and toddlers “think” with their eyes, ears, hands, and other sensorimotor equipment but cannot yet carry out many activities mentally.
seriation
The ability to order items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight.
sociodramatic play
The make-believe play with others that is under way around age 2 and increases rapidly in complexity during early childhood.
theory theory
A theory that assumes that children draw on innate concepts to form naïve theories, or explanations of events, that differ among core domains of thought. Then they test their theory against experience, revising it when it cannot adequately account for new information.
transitive inference
The ability to seriate, or arrange items along a quantitative dimension, mentally.
video deficit effect
In toddlers, poorer performance on a task after watching a video than a live demonstration.
violation-of-expectation method
A method in which researchers show babies an expected event (one that follows physical laws) and an unexpected event (a variation of the first event that violates physical laws). Heightened attention to the unexpected event suggests that the infant is “surprised” by a deviation from physical reality and, therefore, is aware of that aspect of the physical world.
zone of proximal development
In Vygotsky’s theory, a range of tasks too difficult for the child to do alone but possible with the help of adults and more skilled peers.
