Chapter 6: The Symbolic Child: Piaget's Theory and Beyond Flashcards
An abstract representation of an object or event
Scheme
In Piaget’s theory, types of cognitive schemes that are mental (that is, require symbols), derive from action, exist in organized systems, and follow a set of logical rules, most importantly that of reversibility
Operations
The cognitive mechanism that keeps the different mental schemes integrated with one another in a hierarchical nature
Organization
The process of adjusting one’s cognitive structures to meet environmental demands; includes the complementary processes of assimilation and accommodation
Adaption
The process of incorporating information into already existing cognitive structures
Assimilation
The process of changing a mental structure to incorporate new information
Accommodation
The process by which balance is restored to the cognitive structure
Equilibration
In Piaget’s theory, the first major stage of cognitive development (birth to 2 years old) in which children understand their world through sensory and motor experience
Sensorimotor Period
Means-ends (that is, intentional) problem solving, first seen in the latter part of the first year
Goal-directed behavior
The second major stage of cognitive development (2-7 years old) characterized by prelogical, intuitive thought
Preoperational Period
The knowledge that the quantity of a substance remains the same despite changes in its form
Conservation
In Piaget’s theory, the tendency to interpret objects and events from one’s own perspective
Egocentrism
In Piaget’s theory, the knowledge that an operation can be reversed, characteristic of the concrete operational period
Reversibility
In Piaget’s theory, the tendency of the preoperational children to attend to one aspect of a situation to the exclusion of others
Perceptual Centration
The third major stage of cognitive development in Piaget’s theory, in which the children can decenter their perception, are less egocentric, and can think logically about concrete objects
Concrete Operational Period
The progressive acquisition of a certain skill within the same intellectual stage
Horizontal decalage
The ability to classify items in terms of more than one dimension simultaneously, such as shape and color
Multiple Classifications
The knowledge that a subordinate class (dogs) must always be smaller than the superordinate class in which it is contained (animals)
Class inclusion
The ability to order objects according to the quantitative dimension of a certain trait
Seriation
In Piaget’s theory, the final stage of cognitive development, in which children are able to apply abstract logical rules
Formal Operational Period
A formal operational ability to think by generating and testing hypothesis
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
The type of thinking that goes from specific observations to broad generalizations, characteristic of formal operational thought
Inductive Reasoning
The ability to reflect upon knowledge one possess, and without the need of additional information from the external environment, to arrive at new knowledge; characteristic of adolescent thought
Reflective abstraction
Expression of adolescent egocentrism, without adolescents feeling that they are constantly “on stage” or playing to an imaginary audience
Imaginary Audience
