Lecture 1 - Big Questions & Methods in Child Development

Question 1

Name the key theories in this section in chronological order

Answer 1

Piaget’s Theory (1896-1990)

Socio-cultural approach (Vygotsky, 1896 - 1934)

Core-knowledge (Spelke)

Information processing (Siegler)

Dynamic-systems (Thelen, 1941 - 2004)

Question 2

What are some of the key themes that these theories touch on? Name these for each approach

Answer 2

NATURE AND NURTURE

THE ACTIVE CHILD

CONTINUITY/DISCONTINUITY

MECHANISMS OF CHANGE

THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

RESEARCH AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE

Question 3

How is the child viewed in each approach

Answer 3

Piaget: Child as a scientist

Socio-cultural: Child as a learner

Core-knowledge: Child as a well-adapted product of evolution

Information processing: Child as a problem solver

Dynamic Systems: Child as a self-organizing system

Question 4

What are the main change processes in each approach

Answer 4

Piaget: Assimilation, Accommodation, Equilibrium

Socio-cultural: Intersubjectivity, guided participation, Joint attention

Core-knowledge: Innate knowledge theories

Information-processing: Basic process strategies, content knowledge

Dynamic-systems: Internal motivation to learn, actions in and on environment

Question 5

Piagetian - what are the main sources of continuity? Expand on them

Answer 5

Continuity and discontinuity: Piaget depicted development as involving both continuities and discontinuities. The main sources of continuity are three processes — assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration — that work together from birth to propel development forward.

Assimilation is the process by which people incorporate incoming information into concepts they already understand.

Accommodation is the process by which people improve their current understanding in response to new experiences.

Equilibration is the process by which people balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding. Equilibration includes three phases.

Question 6

Piagetian - what are some weaknesses?

Answer 6

The stage model depicts children’s thinking as being more consistent than it is. According to Piaget, once children enter a given stage, their thinking consistently shows the characteristics of that stage across diverse concepts. Subsequent research, however, has shown that children’s thinking is far more variable than this depiction suggests. For example, most children succeed on conservation-of-number problems by age 6, whereas most do not succeed on conservation-of-solid-quantity until about age 8 (Field, 1987).

Piaget’s theory focuses primarily on the individual’s cognitive development without giving much attention to the role of social interactions or cultural context. Vygotsky, by contrast, argued that social interaction and culture are crucial for cognitive development, particularly through tools like language and social scaffolding. Piaget placed less emphasis on how learning is shaped by family, peers, or society

Question 7

What are the four stages of development (Piagtean)

Answer 7

Birth – 2 years: The sensorimotor stage

2 years – 7 years: Preoperational stage

Around 7 years: The concrete – operational stage

11 years of age: Formal operational stage

Question 8

How did Adele Diamond (1985) indicate a need to revise Piaget’s theory?

Answer 8

In this study, she explored infants’ ability to use working memory and inhibitory control, key components of executive function, by revisiting the classic A-not-B task that was originally used by Jean Piaget.

The A-not-B task is a cognitive test where an object is hidden at one location (A) several times, and then moved to a different location (B) in full view of the infant. Infants younger than 12 months typically continue to search for the object at the original hiding place (A), even after seeing it moved to location B. This phenomenon is referred to as the A-not-B error.

Diamond’s Focus
Piaget attributed the A-not-B error to a lack of object permanence, but Diamond’s study challenged this interpretation. She hypothesized that the error was not due to a failure in understanding object permanence, but rather a limitation in working memory and inhibitory control—key components of executive functions governed by the prefrontal cortex.

Diamond’s findings indicated that memory for the location of hidden objects, as well as the understanding that they continue to exist, is crucial to success on the task

Question 9

Tell me about Vygotsky and Tomasello and socio-cultural approaches

Answer 9

Sociocultural theories: approaches that emphasize that other people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children’s development.

Important parts: guided participation, social scaffolding, intersubjectivity, the influence of culture.

Question 10

Tell me about Spelke and core-knowledge approaches

Answer 10

Thinks when infants are born they already have some inherent knowledge about the world.

Core-knowledge theories depict children as active learners. For example, research from the core-knowledge perspective shows that 3-year-olds understand deception much better when they are actively involved in perpetrating the deceit than when they merely witness the same deception being perpetrated by others. In this respect, the core-knowledge perspective on children’s nature resembles that of Piagetian and information-processing theories.

1. Knowledge emerges early in development
2. Initial knowledge is domain-specific (e.g.,
   physics, psychology, biology)
3. Initial knowledge is constrained
4. Initial knowledge is innate
5. Initial knowledge constitutes the core of mature
   knowledge
6. Initial knowledge is task-specific

Question 11

Tell me about Siegler and information-processing approaches

Answer 11

1. Information-processing theories focus on the specific mental processes that underlie children’s thinking.
2. Even in infancy, children are seen as actively pursuing goals; encountering physical, social, and processing limits; and devising strategies that allow them to surmount those limits and attain their goals.
3. The memory system includes working memory, long-term memory, and executive functioning.
4. Working memory is a system for actively attending to, gathering, maintaining, briefly storing, and processing information.
5. Long-term memory is the enduring knowledge accumulated over a lifetime.
6. Executive functioning is crucial for inhibiting inadvisable actions, enhancing working memory, and flexibly adapting to changing situations. It develops greatly during the preschool and early elementary school years and is related to later academic achievement and occupational success.
7. The development of memory, problem solving, and learning reflects improvements in basic processes, strategies, and content knowledge.
8. Basic cognitive processes allow infants to learn and remember from birth onward. Among the most important basic processes are association, recognition, recall, generalization, and encoding.
9. Acquisition of strategies and content knowledge enhances learning, memory, and problem solving beyond the level that basic processes alone could provide.
10. Important contributors to the growth of problem solving include the development of planning and encoding.
11. Overlapping waves theory characterizes development of problem solving as involving acquisition of new strategies, increasingly efficient execution of existing strategies, and increasingly frequent choice of strategies that fit particular situations

Question 12

Tell me about Thelen and dynamic-systems approaches

Answer 12

Dynamic-systems theories: a class of theories that focus on how change occurs over time in complex systems.

Esther Thelen and colleagues (1993) conducted a classic study that illustrates what dynamic-systems theorists mean by dynamic and systems. Thelen, who along with Linda Smith founded the dynamic-systems approach to cognitive development, repeatedly observed the reaching efforts of four infants during their first year. Her team found that because of individual differences in the infants’ physiology, activity level, arousal, motivation, and experience, each child faced different challenges in mastering the skill of reaching.

One discovery was that the onset of adept reaching varies greatly among infants. For example, Nathan began to reach skillfully at 12 weeks, but Hannah and Justin did not accomplish this goal until 20 weeks. Another discovery was that, for each infant, the development of reaching showed periods of rapid change, periods without much change, and even regressions in performance. Some infants showed abrupt, discontinuous improvements in reaching; other infants’ improvements were gradual and continuous.

The types of changes required for each infant to reach skillfully also varied; some infants needed to damp down overly vigorous movements; others needed to reach more vigorously.

Question 13

What are the similarities of core-knowledge theories to Piaget?

Answer 13

Core-knowledge theories depict children as active learners. For example, research from the core-knowledge perspective shows that 3-year-olds understand deception much better when they are actively involved in perpetrating the deceit than when they merely witness the same deception being perpetrated by others (Carlson, Moses, & Hix, 1998; Sullivan & Winner, 1993). In this respect, the core-knowledge perspective on children’s nature resembles that of Piagetian and information-processing theories.

Question 14

What are the differences of core-knowledge theories to Piaget?

Answer 14

Core-knowledge theories differ dramatically from Piagetian and information-processing theories in their view of children’s innate capabilities.

Piagetian and information-processing theorists propose that children enter the world equipped with only general learning abilities that allow them to gradually increase their understanding of all types of content.

Core-knowledge theorists view children as entering the world equipped not only with general learning abilities but also with specialized learning mechanisms, or mental structures, that allow them to quickly and effortlessly acquire information of evolutionary importance.

Where the central metaphors within Piagetian and information-processing theories are, respectively, the child as scientist and the child as general-purpose problem solver, the central metaphor in the core-knowledge approach is the child as well-adapted product of evolution.

Question 15

What are the similarities of socio-cultural theories and Piaget?

Question 16

What are the differences of socio-cultural theories and Piaget?

Answer 16

ygotsky’s view of children’s nature was very different from Piaget’s. Whereas Piaget’s theory emphasizes children’s efforts to understand the world on their own, Vygotsky and subsequent sociocultural theorists portray children as social learners, intertwined with other people who help them gain skills and understanding.

Whereas Piaget viewed children as intent on mastering physical, mathematical, and logical concepts that are the same in all times and places, Vygotsky viewed children as intent on participating in activities that are prevalent in the specific time and place in which they live. Whereas Piaget emphasized abrupt qualitative changes in children’s thinking, Vygotsky emphasized gradual continuous changes.

These Vygotskian views gave rise to the central metaphor of sociocultural theories: children as social learners, who gradually become full participants in their culture through interactions with other people and with the broader social environment of institutions, skills, attitudes, and values

Question 17

How does dynamic systems theory link to socio-cultural theories and Piaget?

Answer 17

Like sociocultural approaches, dynamic-systems theories also emphasize infants’ interest in the social world as a crucial motivator of development.

Similar to Piaget:

Dynamic-systems theorists have emphasized that observing other people, imitating their actions, and attracting their attention are all potent motivators of development (Fischer & Bidell, 2006).

Dynamic-systems theories are the newest of the five types of theories discussed in this chapter, and their view of children’s nature incorporates influences from each of the other types.

Like Piaget’s theory, dynamic-systems theories emphasize children’s innate motivation to explore the environment; like information-processing theories, they emphasize precise analyses of problem-solving activity; like core-knowledge theories, they focus on infants’ and toddlers’ surprising early competence; and like sociocultural theories, they emphasize the formative influence of other people. These similarities to other theories, as well as some notable differences from them, are evident in dynamic-systems theories’ emphasis on motivation and action.

Question 18

How does dynamic systems theory differ to Piaget?

Answer 18

Piaget hypothesized that development entails long periods of relatively stable stages separated by relatively brief transition periods.

Dynamic-systems theories propose that at all points in development, thought and action change from moment to moment in response to the current situation, the child’s immediate past history, and the child’s longer-term history in similar situations.

Question 19

How is dynamic systems theory unique?

Answer 19

To a greater extent than any of the other theories except Piaget’s, dynamic-systems theories emphasize that from infancy onward, children are internally motivated to learn about the world around them and to explore and expand their own capabilities (von Hofsten, 2007).

This motivation to explore and learn is apparent in the fact that children persist in practicing new skills even when they possess well-practiced skills that are initially more efficient

Question 20

What is intersubjectivity? What approach does this relate to?

Answer 20

Sociocultural theorists believe that the foundation of human cognitive development is our ability to establish intersubjectivity, the mutual understanding that people share during communication (Rochat, 2009)

Roots of intersubjectivity are evident early in infancy. By 6 months, infants can learn novel behaviors by attending to another person’s behavior (Collie & Hayne, 1999). This and related developments in early infancy set the stage for the emergence of a process that is at the heart of intersubjectivity — joint attention. In this process, infants and their social partners intentionally focus on a common referent in the external environment

Intersubjectivity continues to develop well beyond infancy, as children become increasingly able to take the perspectives of other people.

Question 21

What is object permanence? What approach does this relate to?

Answer 21

Object permanence: the knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view

Along with this increasing interest in other people and objects, infants late in their first year begin to search for objects of interest that have disappeared from sight.

In the sensorimotor stage. Piaget hypothesized that this searching reflects the development of mental representations of objects that endure even when the objects are not visible. .

Question 22

What is habituation? What approach does this relate to?

Answer 22

Find a def for this and reference. Relates to spelke.

Question 23

What is social scaffolding? What is it a form of? What approach does this relate to?

Answer 23

Guided participation: a process emphasized in sociocultural research in which more knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to perform the activity at a higher level than they could manage on their own (Rogoff, 2003).

A particularly important type of guided participation, social scaffolding is a process through which adults and others with greater expertise organize the physical and social environment to help children learn.

Question 24

What is the drawbridge phenomenon? What approach does this relate to?

Answer 24

The study was designed to investigate whether infants have a basic understanding of object permanence — the concept that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight — and also whether they understand the physical properties of objects.

The Drawbridge Study (1985)
In the classic version of the experiment, infants were shown a simple scene involving a drawbridge-like apparatus (a hinged screen that could rotate 180 degrees). The study had two phases:

Familiarization Phase:

The screen would rotate back and forth in a 180-degree arc, like a drawbridge, with no obstacles in its path. Infants watched this until they became habituated (i.e., they lost interest).
Test Phase:

A solid box was placed behind the screen, which partially blocked its movement.
Two different scenarios were shown to the infants:
Possible Event: The screen would rotate but stop when it hit the box, behaving as expected according to the laws of physics.
Impossible Event: The screen would continue to rotate through the box as if the box had disappeared, violating the principles of object permanence and physical continuity.
Results:
Infants showed more surprise (as measured by longer looking times) when they witnessed the impossible event (when the screen passed through the box) than the possible one. The longer looking times suggested that the infants were surprised or found the impossible event novel or unexpected.

Conclusion:
The study suggested that infants as young as 4 to 6 months old have some understanding of object permanence and expect objects to behave according to certain physical principles, even if the objects are temporarily hidden from view.

Contrast to Piaget who says no object permanence before 9 months, there is now some evidence this might be earlier but there are some reasons why they might not be acting on it

Question 25

Piaget’s theory has been prominent for almost 100 years. Do you think it will continue to be prominent in the coming years as well? Why or why not?

Question 26

Information-processing analyses tend to be more specific about cognitive processes than are analyses generated by other theories. Do you see this specificity as an advantage or a disadvantage? Why?

Question 27

Imagine that you are trying to help a 6-year-old learn a skill that you possess. Using the sociocultural ideas of guided participation and social scaffolding, describe how you might go about this task.

Question 28

Of the two types of core-knowledge theories, nativist and constructivist, which do you think better explains children’s early-developing capabilities? Why?

Question 29

Dynamic-systems theories have application beyond child development and have been used to enhance physical therapy and rehabilitation. How would the concepts of dynamic-systems apply to retraining an adult to walk after serious injury?