module 2 & 3 Flashcards
What is Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development?
- “construct” knowledge on basis of experiences w/ world
- proceed thru stages of development
- basic learning mechanisms that help acquire info
- characterise what children can & cannot do during specific periods in terms of cognitive reasoning
- once reach new stage, don’t “go back”
What are learning mechanisms?
- assimilation: translate info into form they can understand
- accommodation: revise current knowledge structures in response to new experiences
- equilibration: balance assimilation & accommodation to create stable understanding
What is the 1st stage in Piaget’s stage theory?
Sensorimotor: birth to 2 yrs
- live in the here-and-now: ability to think & reason constrained by what they have access to thru senses
- have basic motor systems (reflexes), sensory/perceptual systems, learning mechanisms
- sensorimotor failures of object permanence
- out of sight outof mind: cover object & don’t act like they think object is still there
What is the 2nd stage in Piaget’s stage theory?
Preoperational: 2-7 yrs
- begin to represent experiences in language, imagery & symbolic thought
- cannot perform reversible mental activities (“operations”)
- focus on single, perceptually-salient aspect of event (centration)
- preoperational failures of conservation, transitivity, egocentricity & appearance vs. reality
What are preoperational failures of conservation?
- 2 identical containers w/ same amount of water
- pour one into 3rd taller container, height of water looks taller
- say 3rd has more water
What are preoperational failures of transitivity?
- can’t perform transitive inferences:
if A is greater than B & B is greater than C, can’t deduce that A is also greater than C - important for logical reasoning
What are preoperational failures of egocentricity?
- struggle w/ taking another’s perspective
- failure of theory of mind
What are preoperational failures of apperance vs. reality?
- appearance drives responses
- even when told what it is, still respond as if guided by what it looks like
- surface level changes affect how children reason abt individual
What is the 3rd stage in Piaget’s stage theory?
concrete operational: 7-12 yrs
- reason logically abt concrete objects & events
- difficulty thinking in purely abstract terms in combining info systematically
- concrete operational failures systematic testing: don’t systematically test hypotheses
What is the 4th stage in Piaget’s stage theory?
formal operational: 12 yrs & beyond
- not all typically developing children reach stage
- think abt abstractions & hypotheticals
- perform systematic “experiments” to draw conclusions abt world
What are the problems with Piaget’s theory? (1)
competence/perform distinction abt how researchers interpret child’s failure on given task:
- task may be too difficult/confusing
What are the problems with Piaget’s theory? (2)
problems w/ constructivism: poverty of experience
- evidence of children showing knowledge before having relevant experiences for Piaget to credit them w/ understanding
What are the problems with Piaget’s theory? (3)
problems w/ stages: inconsistency of timeline
- succeed on tasks Piaget says they shouldn’t given stage of dvpm
- preoperational stage children pass some tests when use motivating stimuli
preoperational failures of egocentricity:
- behave in non-egocentric ways depending on complexity of question asked
- show better success when measures don’t require verbal responses
adult errors of egocentricity
What are the pros of Piaget’s theory?
- good overview of children’s thinking at different points
- appealing due to its breadth
- fascinating observations
What are the cons of Piaget’s theory?
- stage model depicts children’s thinking as being more consistent than it is
- children more cognitively competent than Piaget recognised
- understates contribution of social world
- vague abt cognitive processes/mechanisms that produce cognitive growth
What are information processing theories?
focus on structure of cognitive system & mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems
- undergo continuous cognitive change
- w/ development, cognitive flexibility helps them pursue goals
What are assumptions in information processing theories?
- child as limited-capacity processing system: thru learning & maturation of brain structures
- expand amount of info processed at one time
- process info faster
- acquire new strategies & knowledge
- child as problem solver: active problem solvers
- problem solving: attain goal by using strategy to overcome obstacle
What are memory system components?
differ w/ regard to how much info stored, length of time retained, neural mechanisms thru which operate & course of dvpm
- sensory
- working
- long-term
What is sensory memory?
sights, sounds & other sensations just entering cognitive system & briefly held in raw form until identified
- hold moderate amount of info for fraction of a second
- capacity relatively constant over dvpm
What is working memory?
info from environment & relevant knowledge brought together, attended to & actively processed
- limited in capacity & duration
- capacity & speed of operation increases over childhood & into adolescence
What is long-term memory?
info retained on enduring basis
- retain unlimited amount of info indefinitely
- contents increase greatly over dvpm
What are mental strategies in information processing theories?
- emerge between ages 5-8
- emerge as children begin formal schooling & have learned to practice them in school
- rehearsal: repeating info over & over to aid memory
- selective attention: intentionally focusing on info most relevant to current goal
What are basic processes in information processing theories?
simplest & most frequently used mental activities:
- associating events w/ one another
- recognising objects as familiar
- recalling facts & procedures
- generalising from one instance to another
- encoding: representing in memory info specific features of objects & events
How does processing change across development?
- speed of executing basic processes increases over childhood
- biological maturation & experience contribute to increased processing speed: myelination & increased connectivity among brain regions
- domain-general ability: increases on variety of different tasks similarly across dvpm
What are core-knowledge theories?
- children have innate cognitive capabilities
- focus on areas important thruout our evolutionary history
- core knowledge domains: broad range of areas
- depict children as active learners
What are sociocultural theories?
- Vygotsky
- cognitive dvpm occurs in interpersonal contact: emphasise importance of play
- children are products of cultures: emphasise aspects of cognitive dvpm that involve use of cultural tools
What is social scaffolding?
more competent ppl provide temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at higher level than they could manage on their own
What are cultural tools?
innumerable products of human ingenuity that enhance thinking
What is Vygotsky’s theory?
- children as social learners: become participants in culture thru interactions w/ others and social environment of institutions, skills, attitudes & values
- 3 phases in growth of ability to regulate behaviour
What are the 3 phases in Vygotsky’s theory?
- behaviour controlled by other’s statements
- behaviour controlled by private speech: develop self-regulation & problem-solving abilities by telling themselves what to do aloud
- behaviour controlled by internalised private speech: silently tell themselves what to do
What is the bioecological model?
Brofenbrenner: child’s environment is composed of multiple layers, extending from child at centre, outward to society
- microsystem
- mesosystem
- exosystem
- macrosystem
- chronosystem
What is the microsystem?
child is present & focuses on child’s activities/roles/relationships w/ immediate caregivers, family, etc.
What is the mesosystem?
- connections b/w microsystems
- supportive connections lead to positive outcomes
What is the exosystem?
environmental settings not directly experienced but can affect child indirectly
What is the macrosystem?
- cultural values & beliefs
- larger cultural & social context within which other systems are embedded
What is the chronosystem?
- temporal dimension affecting experiences/values/etc.
- historical changes that influence other systems
What did Liz Spelke and Renee Baillargeon suggest?
- argued that:
- Piaget was wrong abt what children could & couldn’t reason about, esp. during sensorimotor period
- children had innate knowledge
- object permanence in infants:
- surprised when object removed
- evidence shortly after birth
- infants know a lot abt physical world before capable of operating on it
- coherence: 2 objects cannot occupy same physical space at same time
- continuity: objects persist even when out of sight
- contact: objects cannot move on their own unless acted upon by another object/agent
What is the zone of proximal development?
range b/w what children can do unsupported & w/ optimal social support (social scaffolding)
What is guided participation?
more knowledgeable individuals organise activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable ppl to learn
What is joint attention?
intentional focus on common referent
What is intersubjectivity?
mutual understanding established during communication
What is social referencing?
children look to social partners for guidance abt how to respond to unfamiliar events
What is content knowledge?
w/ age & experience, children’s long-term memories of experiences becomes increasingly detailed & accessible
