Piaget and Vygotsky developmental and sociocultural theories Flashcards
1
Q
Why do we create developmental theories?
A
1) To provide a framework for understanding important phenomena
- ties things together, provides structure and coherence
2) To raise crucial questions about human nature
– predictions
3) To motivate new research studies that lead to a better understanding of children
1
Q
Why do we create developmental theories?
A
1) To provide a framework for understanding important phenomena
- ties things together, provides structure and coherence
2) To raise crucial questions about human nature
– predictions
3) To motivate new research studies that lead to a better understanding of children
2
Q
Why don’t we have just one theory in developmental psychology?
A
Because child development is a complex and varied process, no single theory accounts for all of it
Multiple theories allow a broader appreciation of cognitive development than any one theory does by itself
3
Q
Who in developmental psychology is considered a rationalist?
A
Plato (knowledge is innate; nativist)
4
Q
Who in developmental psychology is considered an empiricist?
A
Locke (knowledge is learned)
5
Q
Who in developmental psychology is considered a constructionist?
A
Piaget (neither nature or nurture, it’s an interaction between nature AND nurture)
6
Q
Who proposed the constructionist theory?
A
Piaget
7
Q
What does the constructionist theory suggest?
A
1) Children construct knowledge for themselves
- Children are like “little scientists” who create their own experiments to learn more about the world
2) Humans construct/build their knowledge through experiences rather than simply absorbing it
8
Q
What are the 4 characteristics of Piaget’s theory?
A
- Constructionist
- Stage Theory
- Invariant sequence
- Universal
9
Q
Development involves continuities and
discontinuities
What do continuities and discontinuities mean?
A
Continuities = Change during development is gradual and continuous
Discontinuities = Change during development is abrupt and involves stages of changes that produce different behaviours in different age-specific periods
10
Q
List the 3 processes that work together from birth to propel development forward
A
1) Assimilation
2) Accommodation
3) Equilibration
11
Q
What is the term used to describe the process by which people translate incoming information into a form they can understand?
A
Assimilation
12
Q
Define assimilation
A
The process by which people translate incoming information into a form they can understand
13
Q
What happens when infants assimilate?
A
They generalise a new object to another object that they already know of
e.g. Infant knowns what clowns look like (red hair, curly hair, big feet)
One day, infant sees a stranger with red curly hair and big feet
The infant thinks the stranger is a clown because they share similar characteristics to a clown
This suggests the infant has assimilated the stranger to his existing concept of a clown
14
Q
What is the term used to describe the process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences?
A
Accommodation
15
Q
Define accommodation
A
The process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences
16
Q
What happens when infants accommodate?
A
Infants improve their current understanding when they go through a new experience (kind of like updating their knowledge once they learn something new)
e.g. Infants discover that when they pull their teddy bear, the bear comes closer to them
The infant tries to apply this theory to their puppy. The puppy runs away
Baby updates their knowledge based on this experience; they realise that only inanimate objects come closer when pulled
17
Q
What is the term used to describe the process by which people balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding?
A
Equilibration
18
Q
Define equilibration
A
The process by which people balance assimilation and accommodation to create a stable understanding
19
Q
What happens when infants equilibrate?
A
They combine the process of translating new info into info that they already understand and the process of updating their knowledge once they’re experienced something
20
Q
Why is Piaget’s theory considered discontinuous?
A
- Hierarchical stages
- Central properties (qualitative change, broad applicability, brief transition and invariant sequence)
21
Q
What does “hierarchal stages” mean in Piaget’s discontinuous theory?
A
That there are many developmental stages which are in order of rank/importance
22
Q
What does “qualitative change” mean in Piaget’s discontinuous theory?
A
That children in different stages/ages think in qualitatively different ways
e.g. Children in different stages/ages view the concept of morality on an entirely different criteria
23
Q
What does “broad applicability” mean in Piaget’s discontinuous theory?
A
The type of thinking characteristic of each stage influences children’s thinking across diverse topics and contexts
24
What does "brief transitions" mean in Piaget's discontinuous theory?
Before moving on to a new developmental stage, children pass through a brief transition period
They switch between the new type of thinking from the new advanced stage and the old type of thinking from the old less-advanced stage
25
What are the 4 stages of Piaget's cognitive development theory?
1) Sensorimotor
2) Pre-operational
3) Concrete
4) Formal operational
26
When does the sensorimotor stage occur?
From birth to 2 years
27
What happens during the sensorimotor stage?
Infants get to know the world through
their senses and through their actions
28
At which stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory will a child do this?
Aimlessly sucking and grasping objects around them to explore the environment around them
Sensorimotor stage
29
At which stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory will a child develops object permanence?
Sensorimotor stage
30
What happens in the sensorimotor stage?
- Children explore the world through their senses and action
- Object permanence
- A-Not-B error
- Deferred imitation
31
What term is used when a child has the knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view?
Object permanence
32
When does object permanence typically emerge?
About 8 months
33
Define object permanence
When a child has the knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view
(If I can't see the object, does not mean it doesn't exist. It just means that it's being blocked by something)
34
What happens when a child has obtained object permanence?
They make the A-Not-B error
35
What is the A-Not-B error?
The tendency to reach to where objects were found before, rather than where they were last hidden
36
How long does the A-Not-B error typically last for?
Until the infant reaches about 12 months
37
Describe Piaget's A-Not-B task
1) Infant had object permanence so when the experimenter hides a toy under a cup (cup A), the child lifts up the cup (cup A) to find the toy
2) The experimenter continues to hide the toy under cup A
3) The experimenter now hides the toy under cup B but the infant continues to search under cup A
38
What do the results of Piaget's A-Not-B task suggest?
That the child mentally represents the object after it has disappeared from view
(They imagine that the toy is still hidden under cup A when they clearly saw that the toy has been hidden in cup B)
39
What is the term used to describe the repetition of other people’s behaviour a substantial time after it occurred?
Deferred imitation
40
Define deferred imitation
The repetition of other people’s behaviour a substantial time after it occurred
41
At what stage and age do children perform deferred imitation?
Sensorimotor stage
Between 18-24 months
42
What happens when children perform deferred imitation?
They see an adult perform a certain action but they imitate the action at a later time rather than immediately
43
What is the 3rd stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?
Concrete
44
What is the 2nd stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?
Pre-operational
45
What is the 1st stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?
Sensorimotor
46
What is the 4th stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?
Formal operational
47
When does the pre operational stage occur?
From 2 years - 7 years
48
What happens during the pre operational stage?
- Toddlers and young children start to rely on internal representations of the world based on language and mental imagery
- Symbolic representation
- Egocentrism
- Conservation errors
49
A child draws a line and dots surrounding the tip of the line represent a flower.
At what stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory does this occur?
Pre-operational
50
At what stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory do children start developing symbolic representation?
Pre-operational
51
Define symbolic representation
When toddlers use personal symbols to physically resemble the objects they represent
e.g. Toddler uses a playing card to represent an iPhone because they have the same shape/are the same size
52
What is the term used when toddlers use personal symbols to physically resemble the objects they represent?
Symbolic representation
53
Define egocentrism
When toddlers only perceive the world from their point of view and do not consider others' perspectives
54
What term is used to describe when toddlers only perceive the world from their point of view and do not consider others' perspectives?
Egocentrism
55
What experiment tested for egocentrism?
Piaget and Inhelder’s Three Mountains Task
56
Describe Piaget and Inhelder’s Three Mountains Task
1) Experimenter sits opposite the toddler and on the table, there is a model of mountains, a stream, grass etc.
2) The experimenter asks the toddler to describe what they see
3) The experimenter then asks the toddler to describe what they think the experimenter can see but the toddler continues to describe what they personally see
57
What did the results of Piaget and Inhelder’s Three Mountains Task suggest?
Toddlers in the pre-operational stage only think/perceive in their own pov and do not consider others' perspective
58
What is the term used to describe when children incorrectly believe that merely changing the appearance of objects can
change their quantity?
Conservation error
59
Define conservation errors
When children incorrectly believe that merely changing the appearance of objects can change their quantity
60
What are the procedures used to test conservation?
1) Conservation of liquid quantity (using liquid and changing the glass height)
2) Conservation of solid-liquid (using playdough and changing the length)
3) Conservation of number (using marbles and spreading them out to change the length)
61
Why do children make conservation errors?
Because of “centration”
Children only focus on one perceptually salient aspect of the stimulus and ignore the other stimulus dimensions
Simply = children cannot understand relational terms (larger than, darker than, etc.) and reversible thinking is not yet developed so they only focus on appearance and ignore dimensions
62
When does the concrete stage occur?
Between 7 years - 12 years
63
What happens during the concrete stage?
- Children begin to reason logically about the world
- They can solve conservation problems, but their successful reasoning is largely limited to concrete situations
- Thinking systematically remains difficult
64
What was the study/experiment used to test for systematic thinking?
Inhelder and Piaget’s pendulum problem
65
Describe Inhelder and Piaget’s pendulum problem
1) The task is to compare the motions of longer and shorter strings, with lighter and heavier weights attached, in order to determine the influence of weight, string length, and dropping point on the time it takes for the pendulum to swing back and forth
2) Children below the age of 12 usually perform unsystematic experiments and draw incorrect conclusions
66
When does the formal operational stage occur?
12+ years
67
What happens during the formal operational stage?
- Children have the ability to think abstractly and to reason hypothetically
- Individuals can imagine alternative worlds and reason systematically about all possible outcomes of a situation
68
What does Piaget believe about the formal operational stage in terms of reaching this stage?
Piaget believed that not all adolescents or adults reach this stage, in contrast to the other stages (not universal)
69
What affects children's ability to move on to the formal operational stage?
Depends on:
1) The environment
2) The quality of education
3) More common in industrialised societies
70
What are the 4 main problems with Piaget's cognitive development theory?
1) The theory is vague; does not explain the mechanisms behind children's thinking and cognitive growth
2) Infants and young children are more cognitively competent than Piaget recognized
3) Piaget underestimates how the contribution of the social world and interactions can affect cognitive development
4) The stage model depicts children’s thinking as being more consistent than it is
71
How did children in the concrete operational stage end up successfully passing the conservation of liquid test?
Adult intentions vs Naughty teddy accident
More children did not show conservation errors if a naughty teddy accidentally moved the marbles
Children experienced conservation errors if adult intentionally moves marbles
Children often believe conservation has changed if the adults deliberately/intentionally moved something
72
Who debunked Piaget's finding that children in the concrete operational stage make conservation errors in liquids?
Light, Buckingham & Robbins (1979)
73
Who debunked Piaget's finding that children in the concrete operational stage make conservation errors in numbers?
McGarrigle & Donaldson (1974)
74
What did McGarrigle & Donaldson (1974) do to help children in the pre operational stage to pass the conservation of numbers test?
They had 2 conditions:
1) Adult moving the marbles
2) Teddy bear accidentally moving the marbles
Results:
72% in the teddy condition did not make the conservation error where transformations occurred ‘accidentally’ (a naughty teddy bear spoils the game)
34% in the control condition (adult moving the marbles intentionally) did not make the conservation error
75
Why do the manipulations in McGarrigle & Donaldson's (1974)' naughty teddy bear study work?
Because the child assumes if an adult does something it must mean something has changed
So more children in the accidental condition believed nothing had changed in terms of the number of marbles between the 2 rows compared to the intentional condition
76
Who proposed the sociocultural approach to child development?
Vygotsky
77
What theory of child development involved presenting children as social beings, intertwined with other people who are eager to help them gain skills and understanding?
Vygotsky's sociocultural approach
78
Describe Vygotsky's sociocultural approach
When children are presented as social beings, intertwined with other people who are eager to help them gain skills and understanding
The approach focused on the contribution of other people and the surrounding culture to children’s development
79
What is the term used to describe a process in which more knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to engage in them at a higher level than they could manage on their own?
Guided participation
80
Define Guided participation
A process in which more knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to engage in them at a higher level than they could manage on their own
81
What is the term used when children learn based on systems, artefacts, skills and values from culture?
Cultural tools
82
Define cultural tools
When children learn based on systems, artefacts, skills and values from culture
83
What does Vygotsky's sociocultural approach view children as?
- Children are viewed as social beings, shaped by and shaping their cultural contexts
-Children develop and learn by interacting with other members of their society
84
Does Vygotsky's sociocultural approach view cognitive development as continuous or discontinuous?
Continuous
Developmental change is quantitative rather than qualitative
85
According to Vygotsky, what are the 2 levels of mental functioning?
1. Lower mental functions
2. Higher mental functions
86
What are Lower Mental Functions?
Basic, low-level functions which are genetically inherited, innate and depend on maturation to develop
Mental functions that children don't need to be taught and are beyond anyone's control
e.g. Sensation, hunger, memory
87
What are Higher Mental Functions?
High-level functions which are consciously controlled and developed through cultural experiences and interactions
e.g. Focused attention, deliberate memory, logical thinking
88
Deliberate memory is an example of what type of mental function?
Higher Mental Funtion
89
Hunger is an example of what type of mental function?
Lower Mental Function
90
Define cultural mediation
The transfer of knowledge through social interactions with other people
91
The transfer of knowledge through social interactions with other people is known as?
Cultural mediation
92
What is internalisation?
When a child understands cultural tools and how to use them independently after going through cultural mediation
Simply = When a child knows how to speak a language used in their culture/ other cultural tools independently after they were taught through interactions with people of the same culture
93
What is the term used when a child understands cultural tools and how to use them independently after going through cultural mediation?
Internalisation
94
What is private speech?
When children talk to themselves, either implicitly or explicitly, to help them figure out how to do something
95
List the 6 benefits of children's private speech
1) Helps guide behaviour
2) Used more when tasks are difficult, after errors, or when confused
3) Gradually becomes more silent
4) Children with learning and behavioural
problems use it for longer
5) External-to-internal develops with age, but also experience
96
List 3 things that regulate children's behaviour
1) Children’s behaviour is controlled by other people’s statements
e.g. Parent's instructions
2) Children’s behaviour is controlled by their own private speech
3) Children’s behaviour is controlled by internalised private speech
97
When is private speech most prominent?
Between 4-6 years, though also common in older children and adults during complex tasks
98
What was the experiment conducted to test for cultural influence on problem solving?
Chen et al.'s Chinese vs American problem-solving task
99
What did Chen et al. do in their Chinese vs American problem-solving experiment?
1) American and Chinese students were
given two problems to solve
Problem 1 = could be solved by making an analogy to the Hansel and Gretel fairytale
- American students far outperformed Chinese students
Problem 2 = could be solved by making an analogy to a Chinese fairytale
- Chinese students far outperformed American students
100
Who thought of the Brick-counting experiment?
Miura et al. (1994)
101
Although cultural content varies, the processes that produce development are the same in all societies.
What are the processes that remain the same in all societies (List 4)
- Intersubjectivity
- Zone of Proximal Development
- Social Scaffolding
- Guided participation
102
Define intersubjectivity
The mutual understanding that people share during communication
Simply = The interchange of thoughts and feelings between 2 or more people
103
The mutual understanding that people share during communication is defined as...?
Intersubjectivity
104
Define joint attention
When one person purposefully coordinates their focus of attention with that of another person
Infants between 9-15 months can increasingly follow the gaze of their social partners and adjust where they look if their partner’s gaze turns towards a new object (Adamson et al)
105
When one person purposefully coordinates their focus of attention with that of another person can be defined as...?
Joint attention
106
What does joint attention help with?
Language development
107
Define social referencing
The tendency to look to social partners for guidance about how to respond to
unfamiliar or threatening events
108
The tendency to look to social partners for guidance about how to respond to
unfamiliar or threatening events can be defined as...?
Social referencing
109
Define the Zone of proximal development
The space between what children can do without help and what they can do with the help of an adult or peer collaboration
110
The space between what children can do without help and what they can do with the help of an adult or peer collaboration is know as...?
Zone of proximal development
111
Define social scaffolding
A process in which more experienced people provide a temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own (into
the ZPD)
Simply = when a more informed individual provides a foundation for children/ less informed individuals to help them with tasks they wouldn't be able to do on their own
112
What term is used to describe when a more informed individual provides a foundation for children/ less informed individuals to help them with tasks they wouldn't be able to do on their own?
Social scaffolding
113
Define guided participation
More knowledgeable individuals can organize activities in ways that allow children to engage in them in a kind of cultural apprenticeship
Cultural apprenticeship = tasks that are personally and socially meaningful in everyday life
114
Mayan girls are taught to weave by their mothers with increasing responsibility and complexity as they get older
This is an example of...
a. Intersubjectivity
b. Zone of Proximal Development
c. Social scaffolding
d. Guided participation
d. Guided participation
115
Name one way children can stretch their
performance into the Zone of Proximal Development
Play
116
How does play allow children to stretch their performance into the Zone of Proximal Development?
Playing games involves rules and roles, allowing the child to learn how to:
1) Separate ideas from objects (conceptual development)
2) Self-regulate behaviour (social
development)
117
Which of the following statement about Piaget‘s theory of cognitive development is false?
A. The sensorimotor stage lasts about two years
B. Children in the pre-operational stage make conservation errors
C. Symbolic representation is acquired during the concrete operational stage
D. Attaining the formal operational stage depends on education and culture
C. Symbolic representation is acquired during the concrete operational stage
Symbolic representation is acquired during the formal operational stage
118
In sociocultural theories of development, what is intersubjectivity?
A. The mutual understanding people share during communication
B. The use of instruction to facilitate a deep understanding
C. The support that more competent people can offer to children's thinking
D. The shaping of children by their social context
A. The mutual understanding people share during communication
119
Which of the following statements about
Vygotskian theories of development is true?
A. Children learn best through peer interactions
B. Children should be taught according to where they are in their individual development
C. Children should be given tasks that extend beyond their current competencies
D. Children learn best when allowed to explore the world on their own
C. Children should be given tasks that extend beyond their current competencies
Not A because children learn best through adult interactions
120
Which of the following statements is true?
A. Piaget believed social factors made no difference to development while Vygotsky believed they were central
B. Both Piaget and Vygotsky believed teaching should be aimed above a child’s current level of competency
C. Both Piaget and Vygotsky believed that children were intrinsically motivated to explore the world
D. None of the above
D. None of the above
Not A because they both believed social factors are important
Not B because only Vygotsky believed teaching content should aim above the child’s current level with the help of adults
Not C because only Piaget believed children are like little scientists who are intrinsically motivated to explore
Vygotsky believed children are more reliant on parents and other adults to teach them about the world
