Lecture #4

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

the activity of ‘knowing’ & the
processes through which knowledge is acquired
& problems are solved.

Question 2

Jean Piaget

Answer 2

Cognitive Development

- Chartered the development of how we come to construct meaning out of everyday experiences (constructivist)

Question 3

Neuroconstructivism

Answer 3

New knowledge is constructed through changes in the neural structures of the brain in response to experiences

Question 4

Active Process

Answer 4

• Child construct virtually all their knowledge about the world through their own activity

Question 5

Equilibration

Answer 5

The effort by the organism to exist in harmony with it’s environment
(reduce cognitive conflict–> disequilibrium)

Question 6

Schema

Answer 6

• organised pattern of action or thought that people construct to interpret their experiences
• rules or procedures that structure cognition
• the nature of these schemes change as we mature; they become more sophisticated

Question 7

Organisation

Answer 7

Children systematically combine existing schemes into new and more complex ones

Question 8

Assimilation

Answer 8

The process by which we interpret new experiences in terms of existing schemata

Question 9

Accomodation

Answer 9

The process of modifying an existing schemata to better fit new experiences
–> limited by cognitive capacity

Children are most fascinated by experiences that
can be assimilated into existing schemes, but
not too easily so that some accommodation is
required

Question 10

4 stages of cognitive development features

Answer 10

• discontinuous
• qualitatively distinct
• sequential
• universal

Question 11

4 stages of cognitive development

Answer 11

• Sensorimotor stage (0-2)
• Preoperational Stage (2-7)
• Concrete operational Period (7-11)
• Formal operational period (12+)

Question 12

Sensorimotor stage (0-2)

Answer 12

Characteristics
• infant uses senses & motor
abilities to understand the
world
• object is known in terms of
what s/he can do to it

Major Gains
• learns object permanence:
the understanding that an
object continues to exist
even when it is out of view

Question 13

Object permanence ***

Answer 13

• from 4-8 months, “out of sight, out of mind”
• by 8-12 months, make the A-not-B error
– infants will search for an object in the place they
last found it (A), rather than in a new place (B)
• by 1 year, trouble with invisible displacement
• by 18 months, object permanence is mastered
– the infant can mentally represent an invisible
action (a toy is being hidden) & conceive of the
object in its final location

Question 14

Baillargeon (1987; 1995; 1999; 2000; 2002)

Answer 14

• Possible Vs impossible test
events
– research suggests that infants
develop at least some
understanding of object
permanence earlier than
Piaget believed (3 mths)

Question 15

Preoperational (2-7) **

Answer 15

Characteristics
• the child uses symbolic thinking (including
language) to understand the world
– pretend play flourishes
• unable to understand certain properties of
objects
– focus on perceptual salience: the most obvious
features of an object or a situation
– difficulty with tasks that require logic
• Lack conservation: idea that certain properties of an object/
substance do not change when its appearance is altered
– unable to engage in decentration - the ability to focus on 2
or more dimensions of a problem at once
– lack reversibility - the process of mentally undoing or
reversing an action
– engage in static thought - thought that is fixed on end
states rather than the changes that transform one state
into another
• sometimes the child’s thinking is egocentric: the tendency to
perceive, understand, interpret the world in terms of self
• difficulty with number concepts & classification

Question 16

Concrete Operational Period (7-11)

Answer 16

Characteristics
• the child understands logical principals
• able to interpret experiences objectively
& rationally rather than intuitively

Major Gains
• children learn to understand basic
concepts such as number, classification,
& conservation

Question 17

Formal Operational Period (12+)

Answer 17

Characteristics
• able to think about abstractions & hypothetical
concepts; scientific reasoning

• Adolescent egocentrism can take two forms:
– imaginary audience
– personal fable
—> associated with risky behaviour

Major Gains:
ethics, politics, social & moral issues become more
involving as the adolescent becomes able to take a
broader & more theoretical approach to experience

Question 18

Cognition in Adult

Answer 18

Postformal thought
• relativistic thinking: understanding that knowledge
depends upon its context & the subjective perspective
of the knower
• dialectical thinking: detecting paradoxes &
inconsistencies among ideas & trying to reconcile
them

Question 19

Limitation of Piaget’s Theory

Answer 19

underestimated children’s cognitive abilities
• did not distinguish between competence &
performance
• problems with broad stages of development
• did not adequately explain development
• gave inadequate attention to social influences

Question 20

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
“The Mozart of Psychology”

Answer 20

Zone of Proximal Development
• the difference between what a child can do
independently & what the child can do with
assistance from a more competent other
• scaffolding: the social support provided by a
guide

• all higher cognitive
processes have their
origins in social
interaction
• the child as an
apprentice