Introduction to Cognitive Development

Question 1

cognitive development

Answer 1

the development of thought processes and mental activity
- memory, attention, language, reasoning, social cognition, problem solving, and more!

Question 2

constructivist theory

Answer 2

children construct their own understanding of the world
- reject both sides of nature and nurture (children aren’t sponges)
- children themselves conduct their own teaching and learning (play an active role in learning about the world)
- child as scientist: they ask questions, test things, derive conclusions

Question 3

jean piaget

Answer 3

father of cognitive development
- First major theory of comprehensive development
- Idea of how children change in their thinking as they develop

Question 4

jean piaget: early fascination

Answer 4

fascinated with the mistakes children made in logic that to an adult, seemed incomprehensible
- Started by testing his own children

Question 5

schema

Answer 5

organized ways of thinking and acting on the world

Question 6

schemas: adults vs children

Answer 6

As an adult: we have many different schemas
○ Ex: we have schemas about how to drive a car and use it every time we drive a new car
○ Ex: how to ride a bicycle

Kids have different schemas for everything that they build
○ When we encounter something we’ve never seen before, we use our known schemas to interact with them

Question 7

how we change schemas

Answer 7

• assimilation
• accommodation

Question 8

assimilation (schemas)

Answer 8

new info viewed thru existing schemas
- bring new info into our existing schemas

Question 9

accommodation (schemas)

Answer 9

schemas are adapted according to new experiences
- adapt our ideas; change our schema according to our new information
- as we gain more information, we can accommodate our schemas

Question 10

button schema: example

Answer 10

we know what a button is, but when we encounter a bead, we need to change our existing schema and maybe make new ones

Question 11

Piaget’s stage theory of development

Answer 11

• Discontinuous development: it’s qualitatively different
• Times in between stages are when children do radical shifts
• In each stage, Piaget talks about things that children learn/mistakes that they make

Question 12

Piaget’s stage theory of development: stages

Answer 12

1. Sensorimotor (0-2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete operations (7-12)
4. Formal operations (12+)

Question 13

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 13

Overall way that children think about the world is thru their senses and motor actions (looking, sucking, touching, reaching)
- growth in their understanding: they learn how to grow and adapt
- object permanence

Question 14

first reflexes (sensorimotor)

Answer 14

Babies: sucking reflex
□ Everything they get they’re going to try and assimilate by their sucking reflex

Question 15

object permanence (sensorimotor)

Answer 15

@ 6-10 months
the understanding that an object continues to exist even when you can’t see it
§ Once an object disappears, they stop searching for it; they “think” that it doesn’t exist anymore

Question 16

sensorimotor stage: accomplishments

Answer 16

• adapting to the environment
• object permanence

Question 17

sensorimotor stage: gaps

Answer 17

representing the world mentally
- need to be able to represent things in your world to understand they still exist even when you don’t see them

Question 18

preoperational stage

Answer 18

2-7 years
- symbolic representations
- imaginary play
- being able to represent in our minds that something is not just always the object as it exists, but it can be represented as something else

Question 19

symbolic representations

Answer 19

• Ability to make symbolic representations
• Something can make something else
  ○ Seen in kids pretend play
  ○ Drawing: symbolically representing that lines on a paper can represent something
  ○ Playing with objects: a banana can represent a phone

Question 20

preoperational stage: gaps

Answer 20

• conservation
• egocentrism
• not yet capable of “operations” –> logical manipulation of information
• no mental logic

Question 21

conservation (preop. gap)

Answer 21

understanding that physical properties do not change despite changes in form or appearance
- focusing on the physical properties of something (often height) and not the underlying volume
- Same error seen on different tasks where physically, things look different but the count says the same
- Even when they’re observing it, they’re not able to follow the mental logic that something is the same thing

Question 22

centration (conservation/preop gap)

Answer 22

focus on one aspect; perceptually physical property

Question 23

egocentrism (preop. gap)

Answer 23

the ability to go beyond your viewpoint
- They see things just from their own viewpoint
- Difficulty understanding that other people have viewpoints, and that people can have different viewpoints from them
ex: playing hide and see; “i can’t see you so you can’t see me” perspective

Question 24

how piaget would test preop. gaps

Answer 24

Three Mountains Task
- One has a house, one has a cross, one has snow
- One side has a doll
- Children are asked “what does the doll see?”
○ Children in the preoperational stage describe just from their viewpoint; they don’t understand that the doll sees something different

Question 25

concrete operational stage

Answer 25

7-12 years old - able to use mental logic to reason about concrete things ○ i.e. things they can directly experience and can see ○ Decentration: able to focus on multiple dimensions - pass conservation and egocentrism tests

Question 26

concrete operational stage: gap

Answer 26

reasoning about abstract, hypothetical concepts - While they're using mental logic to reason about concrete things, they can't reason about abstract things ○ Hypothetical things, things they haven't directly experienced themself

Question 27

formal operational stage

Answer 27

12+ years old - now able to use mental logic to reason about abstract, hypothetical things - logically examine evidence and test hypotheses (use logic to test hypotheses)

Question 28

formal operational stage: feather + glass rule

Answer 28

The rule: if you hit a glass with a feather, it will break… If you hit a glass with a feather, will it break? - they will now be able to follow this rule

Question 29

formal operational: third-eye question

Answer 29

What would you do if you had a "third eye" that you could place anywhere on your body? - Before formal operational: on the forehead b/c that's the only place they know that eyes can be formal operational: often back of the head

Question 30

how piaget would test formal op. stages

Answer 30

the pendulum problem - Their task is to determine the characteristics that makes the pendulum swing for longer - Teenagers: would approach this problem much more logically ○ Maybe I want to isolate the weight and vary the length ○ Maybe I want to isolate the length and see if the weight makes a difference

Question 31

formal operational stage: social justice movements

Answer 31

one theory: they're learning about a hypothetical future & the knowledge that they can change that - understanding that their future can be different from what it is and they can change that

Question 32

piaget's stages: extra notes

Answer 32

- Everyone goes though this in the same order; you can't skip a stage, you can't go backwards - The only one that he was fuzzy about: not everyone will make it to formal operations stage

Question 33

piaget's legacy

Answer 33

- study of cognitive development (inspired others to investigate children's cog + explore mechanisms of cognitive change) --> almost every other field is based on Piaget's theories - idea of "natural limits" at a given age: not based on outward influence, but the child own's learning - active contribution; children as contributing actively to their own development; children aren't sponges, but actively seek to understand the world thru their experiences

Question 34

Piaget's criticisms

Answer 34

- underestimate influences of outside factors (culture, people, etc.) --> ex: children of pottery makers in Mexico achieve conservation of mass at an earlier age - underestimates development of children and infants --> piaget's tasks are very hard + rely on verbal, motor, and organization for children --> When you simplify the task (reduce language/motor skills), they can understand things a lot earlier

Question 35

piaget's criticisms: recent object permanence findings

Answer 35

Piaget: developed O.P. by 6-10 months current research: O.P. present by 3-5 months

Question 36

piaget's criticisms: recent egocentrism findings

Answer 36

Piaget: develops in concrete operational stage - Three mountains is hard for children to do because of language current research: even toddlers have some awareness of others' perspectives

Question 37

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory

Answer 37

- gradual, continual shifts in knowledge - children as social learners (learning from capable members of your culture) - emphasizes the social component: the knowledge that comes from other people

Question 38

zone of proximal development (Vygotsky)

Answer 38

- the range of tasks to doo difficult to do on your own, but which are possible with the help of a skilled other - Refers to where the learning is happening; where social collaboration is helping to improve our social development

Question 39

scaffolding

Answer 39

how "Zone of Proximal Development" works - "teachers" adjust the level of support they offer to fit the learner's needs - the idea of giving help, but not more than what's needed; slowly taking away help as they grow ○ When someone is first starting to learn something, they need a lot of support ○ As a person gets better and better at it, we pull back at the support

Question 40

scaffolding: cultural variation

Answer 40

seen across cultures BUT different types of scaffolding are more common in some places than others - How people approach scaffolding seems to be different Turkey and US: verbal scaffolding Guatamala: gesture scaffolding India & Guatamala but NOT Turkey and US: gazes & touches; physically putting hands to help guide them

Question 41

Vygotsky: learning thru social collaboration

Answer 41

- Zone of Proximal Development - Scaffolding - Language

Question 42

Language (Vygotsky)

Answer 42

- the most important tool for cognitive development - gives learners access to other knowledge; how we give info to others - allows learners to think about the world - private speech

Question 43

private speech (Vygotsky)

Answer 43

how you talk to yourself - Allows us to work through our own work

Question 44

Vygotsky: legacy

Answer 44

- emphasis on culture --> learning is situation w/i a culture; we learn from individuals within our culture - role of teaching - impact in educational settings

Question 45

Vygotsky: criticisms

Answer 45

- overemphasis on language --> There are individuals who don't use language; individuals who are non-linguistic - undervalue biological mechanisms --> Genetics, nature, individual differences, etc. might play a role

Question 46

Piaget vs. Vygotsky: contrasts

Answer 46

- P: self-discovery/child creating their own knowledge VS. V: learning thru social collab./co-creating their knowledge - P: discontinuous change VS. V: continuous change - P: universal processes of development VS. V: development as culturally situated - P: language and thought are unrelated VS. V: language is key to learning

Question 47

Piaget vs. Vygotsky: similarities

Answer 47

- focus on child: both emphasize the child as an active learner/participant in their learning - children as active learners: looking at not only external influences, but also what the child themselves brings

Question 48

Piaget & Vygotsky: modern notes

Answer 48

current research shows neither of these theories is entirely accurate, and neither can explain all of children's learning - We don't believe all of them - We have lots of research testing - Neither theory is entirely accurate or entirely inaccurate ○ Piaget: underestimate children ○ Vygotsky: overestimate language