How children think: Piaget and beyond

Question 1

what are the 3 main stages of piaget’s constructionism?

Answer 1

sensorimotor period
concrete operations period
formal operations period

Question 2

sensorimotor period

Answer 2

0-2 years
has 6 substages

Question 3

concrete operations period

Answer 3

has 2 substages:
- preoperational (2-7 years)
- concrete operational (7-11 years)

Question 4

formal operations period

Answer 4

12+ years

Question 5

what is the sensorimotor period?

Answer 5

intelligence is purely action-based and children develop symbolic representations

Question 6

what is the concrete operations period?

Answer 6

children have a symbolic understanding and develop logical thoughts about the environment

Question 7

what is the formal operations period?

Answer 7

intelligence is logical and abstract understanding is developed

Question 8

stage theory

Answer 8

a description of what happens and when in development, however recent empirical evidence suggests this may be out of date

Question 9

genetic epistemology

Answer 9

an explanation of how development occurs (the origins and production of knowledge)

Question 10

why is piaget’s theory criticised as being too reductionist?

Answer 10

it is an invariant, universal sequence

broad conceptual structures cannot apply to all children, who may perform at different cognitive levels at different stages

Question 11

issues with piaget’s tasks

Answer 11

the difficulty of tasks can demonstrate different concepts, and children may perform earlier stages in familiar experiences

Question 12

horizontal decalage

Answer 12

when a general concept emerges earlier on some tasks than others

this opposes the modern view of cognition, being domain-specific rather than domain-general

Question 13

what does the pragmatist theory of piaget’s cognitive development argue?

Answer 13

development is caused by the interaction of hereditary and environment

Question 14

why is piaget’s theory considered domain general?

Answer 14

development is characterised by qualitiative changes as a result of active development

Question 15

sensorimotor stage: what can intelligence be seen in?

Answer 15

children’s coordinated actions and perceptions (using an intermediary object to reach another object), rather than any observable language

Question 16

sensorimotor stage: how is behaviour coordinated?

Answer 16

through a ‘schema of action’ which develop new situations for practical functions

Question 17

sensorimotor stage: what does this stage allow children to construct?

Answer 17

the schema of the permanent object, however they do not yet understand object permanence

Question 18

pre-operational stage: how is intelligence transformed around 2 years?

Answer 18

the understanding of symbolic functions, e.g., the relationship between distance, size, and perspective

Question 19

pre-operational stage: what do children develop a better understanding of?

Answer 19

better spatio-temporal understanding through a perception of past and present, and developing logical thought

Question 20

pre-operational stage: what do children not yet understand?

Answer 20

conservation, which indicates that children only reason from configuration rather than an understanding of transformation

Question 21

concrete operations stage: what do children have an understanding of?

Answer 21

serialising (arranging objects by size or weight) and can classify concrete operations

Question 22

formal operations stage: what do children become capable of?

Answer 22

reasoning on the basis of objects and hypotheses

Question 23

formal operations stage: what are children sufficient at?

Answer 23

reasoning by mental manipulation and concrete objects, by combining mathematics and propositions

Question 24

genetic epistemology: how do infants use their schemas?

Answer 24

use assimilation and accommodation to deal with equilibrium and disequilibrium

Question 25

what happens when something fits with the existing schema?

Answer 25

this leads to equilibrium, and reinforces the schema assimilation

Question 26

what happens when something new happens that does not fit with the existing schema?

Answer 26

this leads to disequilibrium, and infants must accomodate their schemas in response to this

Question 27

the filtering of new experiences through existing schemas is referred to as ________

Answer 27

assimilation

Question 28

assimilation

Answer 28

application of an old schema to a new instance

Question 29

accomodation

Answer 29

development of a new schema

Question 30

how did johnson & morton (1991) find evidence of genetic epistemology in the modern world?

Answer 30

infants preferred to track face configurations over different configurations from birth evidence of an innate genetic preference to orient towards faces

Question 31

what does the sensorimotor theory include a focus on?

Answer 31

knowledge about objects and search errors

Question 32

search errors

Answer 32

evidence of applying current action schemas to situations where it no longer works, to demonstrate assimilation and accomodation

Question 33

how do children show evidence of developing 'manual search-errors' in stage IV?

Answer 33

at 8 months, in the 'A-not-B' task. they begin to have an egocentric understanding of objects

Question 34

by 2 years, how have infants developed a better understanding of objects?

Answer 34

they notice 'visible displacement' and can 'logically track' potential search locations when objects are hidden

Question 35

what does improvement in the 'A-not-B' task show?

Answer 35

an increased complexity of motor schemas, as children develop the 'symbolic function' of objects this means they can be imagined in serial locations using logiodeductive thought

Question 36

piaget's explanation for failing the 'A-not-B' task

Answer 36

limitations in object concept

Question 37

alternative explanation for failing the 'A-not-B' task

Answer 37

limitations in executive function, and children's ability to perform coordinated actions

Question 38

what have children developed by 2 years?

Answer 38

their ability to think about and imagine objects- the acquisition of imaginative thought- and reversibility

Question 39

what have children developed by 2 years?

Answer 39

their ability to think about and imagine objects- the acquisition of imaginative thought- and reversibility

Question 40

reversibility

Answer 40

begin to learn that actions can be reversed

Question 41

what does the preoperational period consist of?

Answer 41

children recapitulate the sensorimotor period within the realm of thought

Question 42

what does the concrete operational period consist of?

Answer 42

children develop an ability to think logically about objects

Question 43

what is developed within the concrete operations period?

Answer 43

transitive inference, class inclusion, and conservation

Question 44

conservation task

Answer 44

tests children's understanding of invarance across transformations

Question 45

piaget's explanation for failing the conservation task

Answer 45

preoperational children centrate on a single aspect and cannot understand quantity

Question 46

alternative explanation for failing the conservation task

Answer 46

may lack an understanding of the words being asked children had a conception of numbers, but were led into incorrect answers by piaget's social pragmatics

Question 47

social pragmatics

Answer 47

the cues and responses of experimenters prompt children to provide a different answer

Question 48

perspective taking task

Answer 48

children placed in a position in front of a 3D array were asked to select a picture of what it would look like from the other side at 4 years, children typically picked their own view

Question 49

piaget's explanation for failing the perspective taking task

Answer 49

egocentrism of thought, which is overcome by developing 'reversibility' of perceptual transformations children cannot understand spatial transformations

Question 50

alternative explanation for failing the perspective taking task

Answer 50

having 10 photographs to choose from may be difficult for children's working memory, due to the task's high executive demand

Question 51

transitivity task

Answer 51

children must make a transitive inference by comparing two values by using their relationship to an intermediary value

Question 52

piaget's explanation for failing the transitivity task

Answer 52

preoperational children are unable to infer the difference between AC as they lacked an understanding of 'reversibility' they failed to understand B could hold different simultaneous relations

Question 53

alternative explanation for failing the transitivity task

Answer 53

places unrealistic demands on children's memory, as they must remember the length of A when taught to remember the length of A, they passed easily

Question 54

what are problems with piaget's sensorimotor theory?

Answer 54

his methods depend upon the manual abilities of children, and do not consider that babies may understand objects but are unable to act upon them

Question 55

what are problems with piaget's account of logical development?

Answer 55

alternative explanations towards the concrete operations account limit the value of piaget's work - the information processing account considers the limitations of cognitive development in children

Question 56

information processing account

Answer 56

considers: - neopiagetian accounts consider the processing limitations of children - emerging empiricist account rejects piaget - nativist accounts believe cognitive development is restricted by maturation of function

Question 57

what did cross-cultural research find about the concrete and formal operations stage?

Answer 57

the attainment of these stages is varied performing well in one domain does not ensure high performance in another domain

Question 58

why is piaget's domain general account disregarded?

Answer 58

developmental disorders and cognitive impairments indicate domain specificity

Question 59

which part of piaget's work remains influential in the 21st century?

Answer 59

the role of genetic epistemology in developmental cognitive neuroscience

Question 60

what does piaget's stage theory underlie?

Answer 60

the beginning of research into cognitive development, as 'theory of mind' has clear ties to children's egocentrism and false-belief