Piaget

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

-The activity of knowing and the mental processes through which we acquire knowledge

Question 2

Cognitive development

Answer 2

-The age-related changes in perceiving, learning, thinking, attending, remembering

Question 3

Genetic epistemology

Answer 3

-Study of the origins and development of knowledge

Question 4

Intelligence

Answer 4

-Basic life function that helps the organism adapt.

Question 5

Equilibration

Answer 5

-Process of achieving balance between thought processes and environment

Question 6

constructivism

Answer 6

-Children construct their knowledge of reality; they are active agents.

Question 7

Cognitive schemas

Answer 7

-Structures that we construct to interpret experiences.

Question 8

Levels of cognitive schema

Answer 8

• Behavioral (sensorimotor): 0 to 2 years: learn know through direct (overt) actions.
• Symbolic: 3 to 7 years: Can think about objects and events without acting on them.
• Operational: l7+ years: Cognitive operations used e.g. mathematical symbols

Question 9

Organisation

Answer 9

-Combining existing schemes; promotes adaptation

Question 10

Adaptation

Answer 10

-Adjusting to the environment; consists of assimilation and accommodation

Question 11

Assimilation

Answer 11

-Adjusting to the environment; consists of assimilation and accommodation

Question 12

Piagets stages of cognitive development

Answer 12

• Progression may vary but the stages cannot be skipped
• Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
• Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
• Concrete operations (7-11 y)
• Formal operations (11+ y)

Question 13

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 13

Birth: reflex activity e.g. sucking and crying
1-4 months: Primary circular reactions e.g. repetitive thumb-sucking and cooing
4-8 months: Secondary circular reactions - unintentional repetitive actions on external objects, e.g. shaking a rattle.
8-12 months: Coordination of secondary schemes e.g. intentional integration of 2 or more responses (earliest goal-directed behavior).
12-18 months: Tertiary circular reactions, active experimentations with objects, e.g. try out several methods of throwing food).
18-24 months: Symbolic problem solving, involves inner experimentation and scheme internalization, e.g. look at tools than use them with insight rather than trial-and-error learning

Question 14

Neo-nativists critique

Answer 14

• Suggest that Infants are born with much more knowledge about the world than Piaget thought. Infants are unable to demonstrate their knowledge due to performance limitations as Piagets tests are too difficult.
• For example, a not b task demonstrates failure of inhibition as infants look to the right spot but grab the wrong object but are not surprised when they fail.

Question 15

Baillargeon and DeVos

Answer 15

-3-month-old babies: show scene of small and tall carrot passing behind a screen, this becomes habituated, so they look less over time. Then they are shown a novel event in which the carrot disappears, babies look longer at the impossible event. Suggests infants understand object permanence.

Question 16

Developmental stages

Answer 16

Preoperational:
Preconceptual period (2-4 years)
Intuitive period (4-7 years)
Concrete-operational stage (7-11 years)
Formal-operational stage (11-12 years +)

Question 17

preconception period (2-4 years)

Answer 17

-Representational insight: symbols stand for things (language, pictures, symbolic play). (lack dual representation: cant think about objects in 2 ways at once)
Deficits in reasoning e.g. Animism (all that moves is alive - no reality distinction) and egocentrism
Criticism:
Children are not always egocentric.
Depends on how tasks are presented. (Donaldson, 1978; Hughes, 1975)
Animalism also depends on context.

Question 18

Intuitive period (4-7 years)

Answer 18

-Lack of reversibility (cannot mentally “undo” actions).
Centration: focus on one salient feature, see things as they appear to be, not thinking logically. Therefore, show:
Conservation failures: for number, liquids, mass, volume.
Criticisms:
Children only assume that novel entities that move on their own are alive.
Conservation tasks are solved after training.
Identity training: children learn that objects can undergo transformations.

Question 19

Concrete-operational stage

Answer 19

-11-12 years and older
Formal operations are not solely based in concrete reality but are mental actions on ideas and propositions (e.g. hypothetico-deductive reasoning, higher maths).
Not all adults are proficient formal operators (or sciences would be easy to learn).
Formal schooling plays a major part in this stage of development.
Older children and adults always do best in familiar contexts.

Question 20

Criticisms

Answer 20

-Are developmental stages invariant? are there cultural differences, children are active agents of their cognitive growth so revise their views accordingly