chapter 9 - the growth of knowledge Flashcards
domain-general
referring to a learning mechanism or representational format that applies across all domains of cognitions
domain-specific
referring to a learning mechanism or representational format that applies to a specific domain of cognition
foundational constraint
a constraint that is present from the start and is usually associated with nature accounts of learning and development
emergent constraint
a constraint that emerges over the course of development and that reflects the influences of experience and the environment
preoperational period
a stage of cognitive development occurring after the sensorimotor period, at roughly 2 to 7 years. In this stage, children are able to represent the world in symbolic terms, but have difficulty thinking nonegocentrically or considering different dimensions of situations and the relations between them because they are missing mental operators
conservation task
any of the tasks designed by Piaget in which children are asked to judge whether certain physical properties of an object, such as its size, or aspects of an array, such as its number, remain unchanged when the object of an array is transformed along different dimensions
operator
a formal mental tool by which people mentally represent states and changes in the world
compensation
a mental operation, according to Piaget, that emerges in the concrete operational period and that enables the child to understand how a change in one dimension, such as height, might be compensated for by another change, such as in width, with a third dimension, such as quantity, remaining invariant
reversibility
a mental operation, according to Piaget, that emerges in the concrete operational period and enables the child to realize that certain transformations on the physical world are reversible
identity
a mental operation, according to Piaget, that emerges in the concrete operational period and that enables the child to realize that a single dimension or aspect remains the same despite dramatic changes in other dimensions
centration
a mental operation, according to Piaget, that emerges in the preoperational period and that causes the child to focus on one dimension while ignoring relevant other dimensions
classification
in Piaget’s theory, the ability to think about groups of things as forming classes defined by a single property or relation
concrete operational period
a stage of cognitive development occurring after the preoperational period and before the formal operational period, roughly from 7 to 12 years. During this stage, children start to use mental operators such as identity and reversibility to more flexibly understand the physical world and the ways in which it can change
formal operational period
a stage of cognitive development occurring after the concrete stage, at roughly 12 years old but with considerable variability. In this stage, children start to engage in deductive and logical reasoning about situations and processes and are able to consider logical alternatives and their potential consequences
hypothetico-deductive reasoning
the ability to think systematically about different possibilities that might depart from the current reality and to derive predictions given that certain information is true
class-inclusion relations
how different classes of things in a hierarchy relate to each other and how broad superordinate categories can encompass narrower, subordinate categories
basic level of categorization
a level of categorization at which category members maximally contrast with members of the same categories
core domains
a domain of knowledge and thought that is thought to have a privileged role in development, emerging early in infancy and maintaining a strong influence throughout much of development
cognitive maps
a mental representation of the spatial layout, used to infer distance, direction, and a way of navigating the environment
landmark
a large object in the environment that enables an organism to navigate by estimating distance and direction from the landmark
geometric information
the information about an environment’s overall shape (its contour) that helps to locate oneself in space
bootstrapping
building new conceptual structures out of earlier ones that serve as a framework for fostering conceptual change and growth
animism
according to Piaget, the tendency of young children to attribute psychological motivations to nonliving things
property attribution
assumes that the kinds of guesses a child makes about what properties apply to living things can reveal the underlying conceptual system that the child is using to think about living things
vitalism
the belief that living things are imbued with a vital force that is the cause behind growth, movement, and possibly other biological activities
essentialism
a tendency to assume that the surface properties of entities are caused by deeper essences
zone of proximal development
a level of cognitive attainment that is the next possible achievement by a child, often made possible through adult guidance
scaffolding
a process through which adults and older children structure the young child’s environment and social milieu in a manner that enables the child to move to new levels of cognitive achievement
