Module 3 - Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Flashcards
what are Piaget’s core ideas?
- right from birth, children are little scientists/active learners
- children will learn without being taught
- children are intrinsically motivated to learn
what are the different kinds of learning that children can have?
continuos and discontinuos. The difference being a steady increase in growth or more like a star case in processes.
define assimilation
incorporating new information into concepts you already have
ex. they already have defined what a fish is, then get introduced to a dolphin and since it meets the same categories as a fish, they call it a fish aswell
define accommodation
adjusting understanding of the world in response to new information and experiences
ex. when they get introduced to a new category for a previously known item, and know they have to think about what they have put in that category before and see if it still fits
define equilibrium
balancing an assimilating with accomodation to create stable understanding of the world
define disequilibrium
when new information challenges old views and the child need to adjust their way of thinking to allow the new information to enter
what is Piaget’s stage theory?
- children at different stages don’t know less, they just think in qualitatively different ways
- characteristics of each stage influence thinking across diverse topics and contexts
- when transitioning between stages, you fluctuate between old and new ways of thinking
- every child follows the same stage pattern
define the sensorimotor stage
- birth to age 2
- learn about their bodies, the world, and the rules that govern their interaction
- sensorimotor intelligence
- object permanence
ex. they will learn how to effectively suck on things such as a nipple and a pacifier - deferred imitation
define object permenance
babies start searching for objects that disappear, knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view
define the A-not-B error
Tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than the new location where it was last hidden
- the object is repeatably hidden in location A
- Baby searched and found it
- object placed in location B
- 8 month old looks in location A, 1 year old looks in location B
define the preoperational stage
- age 2 to 7
- start to represent their experience in language, mental imagery, and symbolic thought
- centration
- egotistic view
- conservation concept
- inability to perform certain mental operations such as considering multiple dimensions simultaneously
define symbolic representation
using one thing to stand for another
- ex. pretend play, simple shapes to draw
- allows for rapid expansion of vocabulary
- children’s thinking is egocentric (can only consider their own point of view, 3 mountain task)
define centration
tendency to focus on only one prominent feature of an object or event
- conservation fo liquid quantity (pouring liquid into a bigger glass, same amount fo liquid but looks like it is more to children)
define conservation concept
idea that changing the appearance of an object does not necessarily change its other key properties
define the concrete operational stage
- age 7 to 12 years old
- children becoming increasingly able to reason logically about concrete objects and events (things they can see and touch)
- still struggle with hypothetical, abstract, and systematic thinking
- Piaget’s pendulum problem
describe Piaget’s pendulum problem
- kids needed to determine what factors are important in determining how long it would talk the pendulum to swing a complete arc
- piaget was more interested in how the children actually answered the question
- kids will try a few combos at random, fail to consider all the possibilities, draw faulty conclusions
define the formal operational stage
- age 12 and onwards
- can reason about hypothetical situations, entertain multiple perspectives, engage in careful systematic thinking
- not everyone reaches this stage
how would a child in the formal operational stage answer to the pendulum problem?
- systematically test hypothesis (ex. test all weights with one rope, move onto the next rope)
- land on a evidence based conclusion (length of the rope that matters)
why is Piaget so important and what were some of is faults?
- most significant person in the history of developmental psychology
- his stage theory doesn’t explain why the changes occur, more so explains the behaviour in detail
- focused on children’s individual exploration, overlooked social learning
- his descriptions of behaviour did not remain consistent
- young children were more competent than Piaget recognized
- he states that children’s thinking as being more consistent than it actually is
what did Piaget label children development as?
he called them constructivists, it shows how children construct knowledge for themselves in response to their experiences
define nature and nuture
nurture includes nurturing provided from parents and other caregivers but also every experience that the child encounters. Nature refers to the child’s maturing brain and body, ability to perceive, act, and learn from experience.
what are the sources that cause discontinuity in development?
- qualitative change: how children at different ages just think in different ways
- broad applicability: type of thinking characteristics at each stage influence thinking levels across topics and contexts
- brief transitions: before entering a new stage, children go through a period of where they fluctuate between types of thinking between the old and the new
- invariant sequence: everyone goes in the same order without skipping any
define deferred imitation
the repetition of other people’s behaviour a substantial time after it originally occurs
Explain how they did a study on children’s understanding of the concept of speed
- a child and experimenter were side by side and pushing a 7ft poll in 4 circle
- for two circle, the kid was on the inside and then swapped for the other two
- after each walk, they were asked if the inner or outer part of the bar moved faster
- the difference in speeds were so drastic, kids learn about problems involving circular motion
