Lecture 8 - Piaget's Approach

Question 1

Jean Piaget

Answer 1

• swiss biologist and psychologist
• studies the development in children
• 4 stages to his theory

Question 2

Constructivism

Answer 2

• actively constructing their view of the world based on experiences

Question 3

Stage theory

Answer 3

• discontinuous, qualitative change
• assume periods of equilibrium interrupted by large changes
• domain general change - understanding in one area will generalize in all areas

Question 4

Schemes

Answer 4

organized patterns that people use to interpret their experiences
- become more complicated w experience

Question 5

Equilibration

Answer 5

beliefs are equal with experiences

Question 6

Assimilation

Answer 6

modify scheme to fit new experience

Question 7

Accommodation

Answer 7

• modifying or constructing new scheme

Question 8

Two YO Molly sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To her father’s horror, Molly loudly shouts, “Clown, Clown!”
Is this assimilation or accommodation?

Answer 8

assimilation, she’s moving the man into her scheme

Question 9

Molly’s father explained that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, Molly was able to change her mind about what makes someone a “clown”.
Is this assimilation or accommodation?

Answer 9

accommodation, she is changing and modifying her original scheme

Question 10

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 10

• ~birth - 2 years
• experience through senses and automatic motor responses
• trial and error learning
• 6 sub-stages

Question 11

Simple Reflexes

Answer 11

• 1st substage of sensorimotor stage
• 1st month of life
• various inborn reflexes, some begin to accommodate infant’s experiences (EX: how they feed from bottle vs. how they feed from breast)
• ## how they begin to explore the world

Question 12

Primary Circular Reactions

Answer 12

• 2nd substage of sensorimotor stage
• 1-4 months of age
• coordination of separate actions into integrated activities
• gaining voluntary control
• addidental motor behavior (sucking thumb) -> repeated for pleasure

Question 13

Secondary Circular Reactions

Answer 13

• 3rd substage of sensorimotor stage
• 4-8 months of age
• begins to act upon outside world by repeating behaviors due to external stimuli
• chance behavior (baby coos) -> repeated for pleasure (baby sees smiling face)

Question 14

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions

Answer 14

• 4th substage of sensorimotor stage
• 8-12 months
• goal directed behavior
• no object permanence
• A-not-B error - doing the same thing over and over w/ the same result

Question 15

Tertiary Circular Reactions

Answer 15

• 5th substage of sensorimotor stage
• 12-18 months
• variation of actions that brings desirable consequences (changing the means to get the same response)

Question 16

Beginning of Thought

Answer 16

• 6th substage of sensorimotor stage
• 18 months - 2 yrs
• mental representation of symbolic thought
  
  • causality
  • language
  • ability to pretend
  • imitation

Question 17

Preoperational Period

Answer 17

• 2-7 yrs
• no longer driven by own action
• symbolic representation - use of one obj for another, personal and conventional symbols

Question 18

Egocentrism

Answer 18

• tendency to perceive the world solely from your own point of view
• spatial egocentrism
• egocentric communication

Question 19

Conservation

Answer 19

• lack critical mental operators like compensation, reversibility, and identity

Question 20

Centration

Answer 20

• excessive focus on one dimension, ignoring others

Question 21

Concrete operational period

Answer 21

• ages 7-12
• no longer egocentric
• limited to things that are easy to imagine - not good at scientific method
• counter factual reasoning

Question 22

Pendulum task

Answer 22

• children in the concrete operational period struggle with this
• systematic testing of each variable of a pendulum to see what works
• will test via trial and error w/o forming a hypothesis

Question 23

In order to get from the concrete operational period to the formal operations period, what must occur?

Answer 23

education

Question 24

Formal operations

Answer 24

• 12 and up
• hypothetical-deductive reasoning - capable of asking what if and become better at arguing
• indecisiveness
• questioning parents/authority figures

Question 25

Does Piaget say that the formal operations period is the highest level of sophistication?

Answer 25

no

Question 26

What was proposed by Piaget’s followers after his death?

Answer 26

• Post formal thought period
• characterizes adulthood and draws upon past experiences to solve problems
• deal with moral and emotional complexities - problematic for formal operations period

Question 27

Labouvie-Vief

Answer 27

• post formal thought
• nature of thinking changes qualitatively during adulthood
• cognitive development continues past 12 y.o.
• adults are able to accept contradictions

Question 28

Perry

Answer 28

• post formal thought
• understanding the feasibility of multiple perspectives
• teens struggle with this
• much more nuanced, able to consider the grey btwn the black and white

Question 29

Summary of Piaget’s legacy

Answer 29

• discontinuous qualitative change
• domain general development
• constructivist

Question 30

What were the issues with Piaget’s approach?

Answer 30

• modern studies contradict his results regarding ages
• didn’t do any cross-cultural studies, believed that white western teens and adults were more sophisticated