Cognitive Development

Question 1

Piaget

Answer 1

Semi constructed interviews
Observed childrens spontaneous activities
Laboratory experiments

Question 2

Sensori motor (0 to 2 years)

Answer 2

Object permanence (objects continue to exist when out of sight)
Egocentricism – child conceives the object only in relation to itself.
By end of sensor-motor stage child has internal representation of objects; not dependent upon perception (seeing it) or action (where s/he last searched for it)
Deferred imitation (read in Martin textbook).

Question 3

Evaluation of Sensori motor

Answer 3

Object permanence

• Using measures such as heart-rate, rate of sucking and habituation technique (i.e. not relying on reaching behaviour) studies (‘violation of expectation’) have found evidence for object permanence much earlier than Piaget claimed
• 3 ½-month-olds more surprised (change in heart rate) at not seeing object when screen is removed than when do see object (Bower, 1982)
• 3 ½-month-olds more surprised when a solid object ‘appears’ to move through another solid object (Baillargeon, 1991)

Question 4

Pre-operational (2-7 years)

Answer 4

Pre-conceptual period (2-4 years)

Egocentricism
-3 mountains task (Piaget & Inhelder, 1956)
-4- to 5-yr-olds often selected their own view
Intuitive period (4-7 years)
- Lack of conservation Understanding certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same even when their appearance changes
- Mass (balls of clay); Quantity (counters); volume (liquid)
Failure due to child focusing on one dimension

Question 5

Concrete Operational (7-12 years)
Formal Operational (12 onwards)

Answer 5

Concrete - Children now can pass perspective and
conservation tasks
They have more flexible thought
But they need concrete materials to succeed, cannot solve if presented abstractly
Formal - Adolescents develop the capacity for abstract scientific thinking (Hypothetico-deductive reasoning)
Evaluation - Piaget’s findings are replicable, and order in which he stated (Tomlinson-Keasey, 1978)
Challenges
- Success depends upon cultural experiences and task context
- Abstract reasoning later developing ability than Piaget claimed

Question 6

Overall evaluation of Paigets theory

Answer 6

Challenges to specific claims – some themes:
Under-estimate younger children’s thinking; over-estimate older children’s thinking
Methodology
- Did the tasks make ‘human sense’
- Didn’t always use standardized procedures
- Piaget’s reporting of his data was sometimes incomplete
General challenges
- Are there stages in children’s thinking, and do they follow the sequences?
- Is each stage coherent?
- Are stages universal?
- Do children learn on their own? What about social understanding (knowledge transferred by others)

Question 7

Lev Vygotsky

Answer 7

• Language is a key cultural tool for communicating that knowledge to the child
• Defined intelligence as ‘the capacity to learn from instruction’ (emphasized role of more knowledgeable others)

Question 8

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Answer 8

Two levels of attainment:
Level 1: actual ‘present level of development’
(what child can do on own)
Level 2: ‘potential level of development
(in collaboration with adults’)

• Gap between actual and potential is the zone of proximal development
• Through appropriate social support child can gain knowledge already held by others
• Support must be pitched at the right level (not beyond child’s comprehension)
• When child attains potential then ZPD shift so that there is a new, higher level, potential to be attained
• Language is crucial for knowledge transfer

Question 9

Comparrison

Answer 9

Both were stage theories:

• Piaget’s stages were more fixed.
• Vygotsky’s stages more dynamic/flexible

Both constructionist theories:

• Piaget saw child as a ‘lone scientist’
• Vygotsky considered thinking shaped by society

Universal development/ individual differences:
- Piaget theory more focused on universal cognitive change
- Vygotsky’s theory more scope for individual variation in learning due to cultural knowledge
Role of Instruction
- Vygotsky saw teaching in it broadest sense – any passing down of communal knowledge to child by more knowledgeable others. Constantly changing ZPD.
- Piaget believed child’s thinking only shifted when ‘cognitively ready’, guidance from others was important at these time points
Role of language:
- Piaget: language merely represents child’s level of thinking
- Vygotsky: after 2 years of age language stimulates thought
Research supports and challenges both theories
Both revolutionised cognitive development theory
- Facilitated generation of many new theories (Neo-Piagetians, e.g., Case, Pascual-Leone) and Information Processing Approach.