Introduction - CD1 Flashcards
What is cognitive development?
changes that occur in how children think between infancy and adulthood
Who are the 2 frontrunners in cognitive development?
Piaget and Vygotsky
What is the Piegetian perspective? (3)
- children actively construct their own cognition
- this drives and leads to the discrete stages of cognitive development
- constructivist theory
What is the Vygotskian perspective? (4)
- we share some cognition with animals
- children’s cognition is also constructed through social interactions = scaffolding
- social constructivist theory
- child is still active in construction but scaffolding helps them
What did Piaget think about science and reason? (3)
- they are the pinnacle of human development
- cognitive development is the process of developing it
- societies without it are primitive
What is cognitive adaption?
changing knowledge structures in response to the environment to improve response
What 2 processes does cognitive adaption happen through?
assimilation and accommodation
What is assimilation?
incorporating new information into already existing knowledge structures (schemas)
What is accommodation?
modifying already existing knowledge structures (schemas)
What are concepts? (3)
- similar to assimilation
- but more strictly referring do your ideas of entities, not just knowledge about anything
- they are knowledge structures about entities
What is categorisation? (2)
- similar to accommodation
- processing of new information with support from concept knowledge (knowledge structures)
What processes are involved in movement between Piaget’s stages of development?
assimilation and accommodation
Where do most changes happen in Piaget’s theory?
between the stages, not within
What are Piaget’s 4 stages of development? When do they happen?
- sensorimotor stage - 0-2
- preoperational stage - 2-7
- concrete operational - 7-11
- formal operations - 11+
What happens in the sensorimotor stage? (2)
- learning about entities and properties within the world
- do this through trial and error
What happens in the preoperational stage? (3)
- can think symbolically and engage in make believe play
- thinking is egocentric and lacks logic
- lack of conservation (properties are the same when arranged differently)
What happens in the concrete operational stage? (2)
- start to think more rationally and move away from centration and egocentrism
- more concrete thinking and struggle with abstract and hypothetical
What happens in the formal operational stage? (2)
- move towards more adult-like thinking
- more abstract and hypothetical thinking
Why is perspective taking an important ability? (3)
- understand more about objects and entities by considering how others perceive them
- help understand the minds of others by tracking mental states and perspectives
- support the building of social and language conventions
In which stage did Piaget suggest perspective taking isn’t present at all?
sensorimotor