Cognitive Development-Piaget

Question 1

What are the general characteristic of cognitive development according to Piaget?

Answer 1

•According to Piaget, the stages 
 –Involve discontinuous (qualitative) change 
 –Form an invariant sequence  
•Stages are never skipped  
–Are universal  
•Apply to individuals everywhere

Question 2

What is the first stage in Piaget’s Theory?

Answer 2

Sensorimotor phase (1-2 years)

Question 3

How many subclasses are found within the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 3

Six

Question 4

Describe the first substage in the sensorimotor stage.

Answer 4

Substage 1: Reflexive Schemes (birth-1 month) –Newborns have reflexes (e.g., sucking, grasping) and basic perceptual abilities (seeing, hearing, etc.)
•Not capable of intentional behavior
-Schemes are based on overt behavior

Question 5

Describe substage two of the sensorimotor stage

Answer 5

Substage 2: Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)
•Circular Reactions: Occur when infants repeat behaviors (actions) that first occurred by chance (unintentionally)
–Primary circular reactions: Centered around the infant’s body
•Ex: thumb sucking
-Behaviors become intentional, but initially occur by chance

Question 6

Describe substage 3 of the sensorimotor stage

Answer 6

Substage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
–Centered around objects
•Ex: shaking a rattle
-Start to imitate familiar behaviors
-Will intently repeat behavior if they do something by chance and they like it

Question 7

Describe the 4th substage of the sensorimotor stage.

Answer 7

Substage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12 months)
–Infants are able to combine different circular reactions intentionally to solve problems
–Ex: Hidden object
•Infants can combine “moving” whatever is hiding the object and “grasping” the object

Question 8

What is object permanence?

Answer 8

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be perceived directly

Question 9

When does object permanence develop?

Answer 9

–According to Piaget, infants have some understanding of object permanence at around 8 months
–Piaget argued that a full understanding of object permanence is not present at 8 months because infants make the A-not-B error

Question 10

What is the A not B error?

Answer 10

A-not-B error: Tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden
-Kids continue to make the A not B error until at least one year of age

Question 11

Describe Substage 5 of the sensorimotor phase.

Answer 11

Substage 5:Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
•Infants intentionally repeat actions with variations
–Capacity to experiment
–Makes them more effective problem solvers •Ex: Will look in multiple locations for a hidden toy
–Capable of solving visible displacement problems (i.e., do not make the A-not-B error any more

Question 12

Describe Substage 6 of the sensorimotor stage.

Answer 12

Substage 6: Mental Representation (18-24 months)

–Children are capable of representing events and objects mentally (symbolically)

Question 13

What are some indicators that mental representation is present?

Answer 13

Deferred Imitation: Imitation of another person’s behavior after a substantial period of delay
•Implies mental representation (memory)
–Complete understanding of object permanence
•Can solve invisible displacement problems
–Invisible displacement problems: One object serves as a symbol for a second object that is hidden from view
–Can solve some problems mentally without “trial-and-error” experimentation
-Language explosion and pretend play

Question 14

Provide an example of how children no longer need to solve problems through trial and error in Substage 6

Answer 14

Example: When daughter was younger she had a doll carriage that she would run into the wall repeatedly until she could get it through the door frame. He saw her later pause before the door and without acting out she was able to determine how to get the carriage through the door and did it the first time

Question 15

What is the second stage in Piaget’s Theory?

Answer 15

The Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
-Egocentrism: Tendency to perceive the world solely from one’s own point of view
–Ex: Three Mountains Task
-Centrism: Centration: Tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event

Question 16

What is the purpose of the the three mountain task?

Answer 16

Child is to identify the perspective of the doll. Preoperational kids typically fail because they don’t understand that the doll’s perspective is different then their own

Question 17

How is egocentrism displayed in the speech of preoperational children?

Answer 17

Neither child is taking into account the other’s perspective. Parallel speech. Kid’s don’t provide enough context for you to understand what is going on

Question 18

What is centrism?

Answer 18

Tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event
–Contributes to the difficulty preoperational children have with some types of problems •Exs: balance scale problems; conservation problems
–Conservation Concept: The idea that merely changing the appearance of objects does not change their key quantitative properties (e.g., number, volume, or mass

Question 19

What is the third stage of Piaget’s theory?

Answer 19

-Concrete Operational Phase (7-12 years):
Children can think logically, but their logical thinking is limited to concrete objects and events
–Cannot think about purely abstract ideas
–Cannot reason hypothetically (scientific reasoning

Question 20

What is the fourth stage in Piaget’s theory?

Answer 20

Formal Operations Stage (12 and older) •Ability to think abstractly
–“What if . . . ?”
•Ability to reason hypothetically (scientific reasoning)
–Ex: pendulum problem

Question 21

Describe the pendulum problem (formal operations).

Answer 21

Person given different weights and different strings. They are trying to determine what factor determines how long it takes for the pendulum to make one revolution.

• Have to use scientific method
• Vary one factor at a time

Question 22

What are some general criticisms of Piaget’s theory?

Answer 22

1. Does not explain HOW cognitive development occurs
   –Better description than explanation of children’s cognitive development
2. Underestimates the role of specific environmental experiences in cognitive development
   –Ex: Certain culturally-specific experiences (like formal schooling) may promote conservation and other abilities
3. Piaget’s theory describes children’s thinking (within a stage) as being more consistent than it really is
   –Ex: Children can solve some conservation problems sooner than others

Question 23

What are some general criticisms of Piaget’s theory?

Answer 23

4. Neglects the variability in children’s thinking at any given age
5. Infants and younger children are more cognitively advanced than Piaget’s theory suggests
   –Ex: deferred imitation (and thus mental representation) is present earlier than Piaget claimed (he claims it appears 18-24 months)

Question 24

Describe the study that disputes Piaget’s idea of deferred imitation

Answer 24

Study that involved 6-9 month olds. Had an activity board (novel). The experimenter would demonstrate some of the things on the busy board (6 of possible 12-different ones for different infants). The child was brought back 24 hours later and gave them the activity board. The infants were more likely to play with things on the board that they had seen the experimenter demonstrate. Indicates that deffered imitation is present much sooner then Piaget thought