Chapter 7 - Three Cognitive Theories Flashcards
Information-processing
- relates to how information is modified, resulting in knowledge, perception, or behaviour
- dominant model of the cognitive approaches
- computer metaphors
Culture
- sum total of attainments and accumulated customs, beliefs, and morals of a group
- typically marked by shared languages, beliefs, habits, etc.
Mind
- human consciousness
- based in the brain and evident in thought, perception, feelings, etc.
Enactive representation
- Bruner
- how young children represent their world in terms of sensations and actions
Iconic representation
- Bruner
- child’s representation of the world characterized by representing the world in terms of relatively concrete mental images
Symbolic representation
- Bruner
- final stage in child’s representation of the world
- uses arbitrary symbols such as language
Categories
- grouping of related objects or events
- both a concept and percept
- Bruner defines it as a rule for classifying things as equivalent
Categorization
- process of identifying objects or events on the basis of the attributes they share with other instances
Concepts
- abstraction or representation of the common properties of events, objects, or experiences
- an idea or notion
Percept
- the effect of sensory experiences
- according to Bruner, percepts are equivalent to concepts
Attributes
- a characteristic of an object
- a quality or value
Criterial attributes
- characteristics of objects, events or experiences that define their membership in a category
- Bruner
Coding system
- hierarchical arrangement of related categories
Transfer
- a general term for the application of old learning to a new situation
Prototype model
- prototype is an abstraction of the most average or representative features of a concept, to which new instances can be compared
Exemplar model
- assumes that people learn and remember the best examples of a concept and then compare new instances with these examples
Paradigm
- pattern or model
- theoretical, philosophical, or scientific framework that guides investigations, theories, and conclusions
Narratives
- stories that transmit the details of an occurrence of a series of events
- Bruner = narratives play a fundamental role in the construction of personal reality and meaning
Discovery learning
- acquisition of new information or knowledge largely because of the learner’s own efforts
- associated with Bruner, contrasts reception learning
Conceptual change movement
- discovery-oriented movement in education
- emphasis on discover and mental reorganization
Reception learning
- involves primarily instruction or tuition rather than learner’s own efforts
- expository or didactic methods
Méthode clinique
- Piaget’s experimental model
- invervie technique in which questions are determined largely by the subject’s responses
Adaptation
- changes in an organism in response to the environment
Assimilation
- act of incorporating objects or aspects of objects into previously learned activities
Accommodation
- modification of an activity or ability in the face of environmental demands
- assimilation and accommodation are the means in which adaptation occurs
Schema
- unit in cognitive structure
- activity together with the biology that underlies the activity
- idea or concept
Equilibration
- process by which people maintain a balance between assimilation and accommodation
- essential for adaptation and cognitive growth
Internalization
- processes by which activities, objects, and events in the real world become represented mentally
Deferred imitation
- ability to imitate people or events in their absence
- crucial in the development of language abilities
Cognitive structure
- content of mind
- individual’s mental representations
Sensorimotor intelligence
- 0 - 2
- understanding the world in terms of their activities with it and sensations of it
Object concept
- child’s understanding that the world is composed of objects that continue to exist apart of their perception
Preoperational thinking
- 2 - 7
- weaknesses in child’s logic
- intuitive thinking, preconceptual thinking
Preconceptual thinking
- 2 - 4
- child has not yet developed the ability to classify
Transductive
- reasoning that proceeds from particular to particular
Intuitive thinking
- 4 - 7
- ability to solve problems intuitively
- inability to respond correctly in the face of misleading perceptual features of problems
Conservation
- certain quantitative attributes for objects remain unchanged unless something is added to or taken away from them
Egocentrism
- a way of functioning characterized by an inability to assume the viewpoint of others
Operation
- thought process
- action that has been internalized and is reversible
Concrete operations
- 7 - 12
- ability to deal with concrete problems and objects, or objects and problems easily imagined
Reversibility
- ability to reverse or undo activity in either an empirical or conceptual sense
- realize the logical consequences of an opposite action
Identity
- a logical rule that specifies that certain activities leave objects or situations unchanged
Compensation
- certain changes can compensate for opposing changes, thereby negating their effect
Formal operations
- 11 - 15
- increasing ability to use logical thought processes
Propositional thinking
- thinking of the formal operations child
- the ability to think about abstract, hypothetical states of affair
Maturation
- process of normal physical and psychological development
- occurs independently of particular experiences
Zone of proximal development
- individual’s current potential for further intellectual development
- might be assessed by further questioning and the use of hints and prompts while administering a conventional intelligence test
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
- strong form = belief that language is essential for thought and that different languages lead people to think and behave differently
- weak form = language limits but does not determine thought
Vygotsky blocks
- set of 22 wooden blocks of different colours, heights, shapes, and size
- used to study the development of thought and language
Genetic epistemology
- one of Piaget’s labels for his system
- the origins and growth of knowledge
Social speech
- 0 - 3
- primitive stage of language development
- child expresses simple thoughts and emotions out loud
- function is to control the behaviour of others
Egocentric speech
- 3 - 7
- children often talk to themselves in an apparent effort to control their own behaviour
Inner speech
- 7+
- characterized by self-task
- gives direction and substance to thinking and behaviour
- involved in all higher mental functioning
Scaffolding
- various types of support that teachers need to provide for children if they are to learn
- eg. directions, suggestions, other forms of verbal assistance
- most effective if it involves tasks within the zone of proximal growth
