Cognitive Development Flashcards
Why does Piaget’s theory have a biological bias
Initial training and education in zoology
Why is Piaget’s theory described as constructivist
Children discovering or constructing knowledge of the world through their own activity
What are schemes
Mental representations or internal depictions of information that a mind can manipulate
In Piaget’s theory what is adaptation
Building schemes through direct interaction with the environment comprising two complimentary activities: assimilation, accommodation
What is assimilation
Using current schemes to interpret the external world
What is accommodation
Creates new schemes or adjust old ones after noticing the current way of thinking does not capture the environment completely
What is equilibrium
Children are not changing their schemes they assimilate more than they accommodate
What is disequilibrium
Cognitive discomfort moving from assimilation to accommodation
What is the process of back and forth movement between equilibrium and disequilibrium
Equilibration
According to Piaget’s which stages the most complex because of the greatest amount of accommodation taking place
The sensorimotor stage
What are the age groupings for the sensorimotor stage
Birth to 2 years
What is primary circular reaction
Largely motivated by basic needs, repeating chance behaviours, e.g. thumb sucking
What are secondary circular reactions
Actions aimed at repeating interesting events in the surrounding environment; around four months
What method to researchers studying infant cognition often use to determine what infant understand about the physical world
Violation-of-expectation
According to Piaget’s categories are ________________ in early infancy, but become more __________________ in later infancy.
Perceptual, conceptual
At 7 to 8 months infants develop intentional means-action sequences. What does this mean?
A problem-solving strategy, such as pulling on a string to obtain a toy.
What suggests more effective problem-solving strategies that Piaget’s theory suggests?
As early as 10 to 12 months infants can engage in analogical problem-solving: applying a solution strategy from one problem to other relevant problems.
In which of Piaget’s stages does socio-dramatic play first occur
The preoperational stage
What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development?
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.
Define sociodramatic play
Make-believe play with others
What that Piaget’s believe to be the main benefit of socio dramatic play
Exercising representational schemes
What does current research suggest about make-believe play
Piaget’s scheme too limited -not only reflects but also contributes to children’s social and cognitive development
What are the three stages of drawing development in the preoperational stage
Scribbles; first representational forms (first labelling of shapes); more realistic drawings (5 to 6 years of age)
Piaget used the three mountain problem to demonstrate what?
Egocentrism
What is animistic thinking
Inanimate objects have lifelike quality such as thoughts and feelings
What is conservation
The idea that physical characteristics of an object remains the same even when their outward appearance changes
What is one cause of preoperational children’s inability to conserve
Centration: focus on one aspect but neglecting others
What doe follow-up research on preoperational thought show
When children are given simplified, relevant tasks, they do better than Piaget’s predicted
In which age group is concrete operational thought found
In ages 7 to 11 years
What things appear in the concrete operational phase
Conservation: classification: seriation: spatial reasoning
What is transitive reasoning
The ability to infer that if a is longer than b and B is longer than C then a must be longer than C
In order to make predictions and test inferences students must be able to use what kind of thought?
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
What is propositional thought
Ability to evaluate logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real world circumstances
What is imaginary audience
Belief in adolescents that they are the focus of everybody’s attention
What is the personal fable
Due to imagine the audience and inflated opinion of their own importance (special and unique)
What is the core knowledge perspective propose
Begin life with innate special-purpose knowledge systems known as core domains of thought permitting a ready grasp of new related information
What is theory theory
Children as theorists, (test naive theories against real-life and experience when it cannot account for new information)
Which domain in theory theory develops last
Biological
According to Vygotski, what is the main force that drives children’s cognitive development
Effects of social and cultural context
What is the purpose of private speech
A form of self guidance used when tasks are appropriately challenging
What is the zone of proximal development
A range of tasks too difficult for the child to do alone but possible with the help of adults and more skilled peers
What is scaffolding
Adjusting support offered to fit the child’s current level of performance
What is Vygotski’s view of make-believe play
Source of development in which children advance themselves as they try out new or challenging skills
What do Vygotskian classrooms promote
Assisted discovery in which teachers guide children’s learning
