CHAPTER 6: Theories of Cognitive Development

Question 1

Piagets Theory

Answer 1

• children are like scientists
• children mentally active from birth
• make sense of the world through categories of related events, objects and knowledge called schemas
• labeled constructivist - children as constructing knowledge for themselves in response to their experiences

Question 2

Piagets basic principles of cognitive development

Answer 2

children adapt to their environment as they develop by:

A) adding to their schemas (assimilation)

B) refining their schemas (accommodation)

Question 3

Assimilation

Answer 3

adding to schemas
- ex. toddler has a schema for cows ( all 4 legged animals = cows)

Question 4

Accommodation

Answer 4

Refining Schemas

• ex. Child accommodates scheme for large animals to include separate categories for cows and camels

Question 5

1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)

Answer 5

age 0-2
infants “think” with their eyes, ears, hands, and other sensory equipment, as they cannot yet carry out many activities mentally

substage 1: exercising reflex schemas
- infants learn to control and coordinate inborn reflexes (suck, grasp, look)

substage 2: primary circular reactions
- gain voluntary control, repeat behaviours which produce pleasant sensations

substage 3: secondary circular reactions
- actions aimed at repeating interesting effects in surrounding environment; basic imitation

substage 4: coordination of secondary circular reactions
- goal directed behaviour
- better imitation skills
- limited object permanence

substage 5: tertiary circular reactions
- varying actions; experimenting
- reflect infants curiosity
- stacking blocks, scribbling on paper

substage 6: symbolic representation
- base actions on mental representation
- problem solving, use of language
- trial and error

Question 6

Preoperational Stage (age 2-7)

Answer 6

(2-7)
symbolic capacity

age 2 : pretend/fantasy play flourishes

age 3: play becomes less self centred, display awareness that make believe is different

• process mental schemes, but cant perform mental operations
• centration
• exhibit egocentrism

Question 7

benefits to make believe play

Answer 7

playing house, stepping into shoes of parents or teachers

• leads to greater social competence
• learn new roles
• strengthens cognitive skills (attention, memory, creativity)

gender differences:
Girls: family relationships
Boys: adventure, fantasy, use of weapons

Question 8

Drawing progressions

Answer 8

1) scribbles (1.5 – 2)
2) first representational forms (3-4)
3) more realistic drawings (5-6)

Question 9

centration

Answer 9

The tendency to focus on only one feature of an object to the exclusion of all others

causes children to:
Fail tests of conservation (understanding that properties of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes)
- confuses appearance and realting

Question 10

egocentrism

Answer 10

failure to distinguish other’s viewpoints from one’s own
- often talk aloud what they are doing

Question 11

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11)

Answer 11

A) decentration (focusing on several aspects of a problem and relating them)

B) reversibility / conservation

• are better able to focus on multiple aspects of a problem rather than centering on just one

C) classification
- ex. sorting baseball cards by team

D) seriation
- ability to put items in order (ex. by height or weight)

E) spatial reasoning
- can draw maps of neighbourhood or school with accurate landmarks

• declining egocentrism - can think about how others perceive them, a person can feel one way but act another

Question 12

4. Formal Operational Stage (12-17)

Answer 12

• develop capacity for abstract, systematic, scientific thinking

1. thinking about abstract concepts
   - puns, proverbs, metaphors, analogies
   - growth of social thinking (friendship, honesty, freedom)
   - hypothetical scenarios (what life may look like, career choices)
2. Thinking in multiple dimensions
   - ability to view things from more than one aspect at a time
   - understand sarcasm and double entendres
3. hypothetico-deductive reasoning
   - start with hypothesis, then deduce logical, testable infrences
4. propositional thought
   - ability to evaluate the logic of propositions without referring to real world circumstances
   - if then thinking
5. thinking about thinking
   - metacognition
   - monitoring ones own cognitve activity during thinking

Question 13

main contributions of piagets theory of cog. development

Answer 13

• children actively construct understanding of their worlds
• vividly conveys nature of childrens thinking at different ages

Question 14

when does conceptual understanding begin according to piaget

Answer 14

18 months
- much sooner for other developmentalists

Question 15

object permanence

Answer 15

Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight (occurs earlier than Piaget believed)

Question 16

Violation of expectations method

Answer 16

show babies an “expected” event (follows physical laws) followed by “impossible” event (violates physical laws)

Question 17

categorization

Answer 17

By 6 months, can categorize on basis of size, shape, colour (based on visual tracking)
- reducing the enormous amount of info they encounter everyday

18 months: physically sort objects into categories

Move from perceptual (based on similar appearance) to conceptual (based on common function)

Question 18

perceptual categorization

Answer 18

recognizing that an item belongs to a category based on its physical appearance

Question 19

conceptual categorization

Answer 19

being able to mentally make the connection that certain items belong to a category bc they have a common function

Question 20

Wynn (1992) - Counting

Answer 20

5-mo-o’s have knowledge of basic number concepts (e.g., can discriminate between “one” and “two”)

Question 21

Cause-Effect Relationships - “theory theory”

Answer 21

• views children as little scientists, who derive a theory about why an event has occurred

After observing an event, children draw on innate concepts to explain, or theorize about, its cause

example: can distinguish between physical causes and psychological causes for events

Question 22

Naive Biology

Answer 22

Understanding differences between living things and inanimate objects (usu. by age 4)

a. movement
- animals move by themselves

b. growth
- animals get bigger, inanimate objects do not

c. inheritance
- only living things have offspring that resemble their parents

d. healing
- animate things heal; inanimate have to be fixed

Question 23

1C. Understanding People

Answer 23

• infants capable of deferred imitation as early as 6 weeks
• 6-9 months: imitate over longer delays
• Ability improves as memory storage increases

12-18: toddlers able to copy actions of their peers, adults

• can appreciate others perspectives in some situations

Question 24

Theory of Mind (TOM)

Answer 24

The ability to think about how other people’s mental states affect their actions

• becomes more sophisticated from age 3-5
• come to realize that other people have different desires and beliefs
• tested using false-belief tasks
  universal: most 3 year olds make error, 5 year old dont

-lying requires T.O.M

Question 25

Information-Processing Approaches to Cognitive Development

Answer 25

draws an analogy between human brain and computer

• the physical structures of the brain act as the hardware, while the different mental processes we engage in (reasoning, decision-making) are the software
• Input from the environment goes to the sensory register and may be read into working memory, where it may combine with information from long-term memory

Question 26

As children develop, their mental software (control processes) become what:

Answer 26

more powerful and efficient. Older children have better hardware and software than younger children, who are more like last year’s out-of-date devices

Question 27

Vygotskys Cognitive Approach

Answer 27

Lev Vygotsky: Russian psychologist in 1920’s-30’s

• ideas largely overlooked until 1960s
• children are products of their CULTURE
• evolve from social interactions with parents and teachers

Question 28

vygotskys zone of proximal development

Answer 28

Difference between what child can do with assistance vs. alone
E.g., doing jigsaw puzzle

• new skills are easier to acquire if children recieve guidance
• parent can help and slowly let them do it independently

Question 29

scaffolding

Answer 29

Teaching style that matches amount of assistance to learner’s needs

For example, if you’re teaching a four-year-old how to hit a ball off a tee, at first you might have to guide them directly – put your arms on their arms as they swing the bat. As the child’s swing improves, you can stand back and let them try to do it on their own.

Question 30

what are the 3 phases of regulation

Answer 30

babies must learn to regulate their physical states/behaviour

1. Adult uses language to guide child’s activity
2. Child uses language to guide own activity
3. child internalized private speech, which becomes symbolic thought