Theories of Cognitive Development Flashcards
Piaget’s theory focus
the active child
Piaget’s theory view of children’s nature
constructivist, children play an active role in their development, intrinsically motivated to learn!
assimilation
process in which people incorporate incoming information into concepts they already understand
ex. a new breed of dog
accomodation
process in which people improve their current understanding in response to new experiences
ex. a cow not a dog
schema
category of knowledge, mental expectation about the world
equilibration
process in which people balance assimilation and accommodation to create a stable understanding
properties of stage theory
- qualitative change: different age = different thinking
- broad applicability: applied to all children in many areas
- brief transitions: not long transition, quick jump to next stage
- invariant sequence: everyone progresses through stages in the same order w/o skipping
sensorimotor stage
birth-2 years, intelligence expressed through sensory/motor abilities (ex. infant reflexes), generally bound to immediate perceptions/actions
object permanence
- knowledge that objects continue to exist even when out of view, develops late in the first year
- may actually be close to 3.5 momths
A-not-B error
tendency to reach for object where it was last found rather than the new location where it was hidden
circular reactions
experiencing actions and their consequences
- primary - repeat pleasurable actions
- secondary - repetition with variation
- tertiary - trial and error representation
deferred imitation
repetition of other people’s behaviors a substantial time after it originally occurred
- pre-operational stage
2-7 years, able to represent experience in language/mental imagery, but cannot perform certain mental operations (ex. water volume)
symbolic representation
the use of one object to stand for another (ex. using a playing card as an iPhone)
egocentrism
tendency to perceive the world soley from one’s own point of view (ex. spatial perspectives)
conservation concept
idea that merely changing the appearance of objects does not change key properties (ex. conservation of liquids, solids, quantity
- concrete operational stage
7-12 years, more logical reason (now understand conservation), but cannot think in purely abstract terms (ex. pendullm problem)
- formal operational stage
12-beyond, think deeply about both concrete and abstract events, perform systematic scientific experiments and draw conclusions (ex. can conduct a proper scientific experiment)
- not universal, not all children/adults reach this stage
Piaget’s theory weaknesses
- vague abt mechanisms of change
- underestimates competency of infants and children
- underestimates the social world on cognitive development
- stage model depicts thinking as more consistent than it is
information processing theories
a class of theories that focus on the structure of cognitive system and the mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems, evolved out of cognitive and computer studies
information processing theories focus
how change occurs
- development through an increase in cognitive capabilities
task analysis
research technique of specifying the goals, obstacles, and potential solution strategies in problem solving
computer simulation
mathematical model that expresses ideas about mental processes in precise ways
problem solving
process of attaining a goal by using a strategy to overcome an obstacle
working memory
involves actively attending to, maintaining, and processing information, increases greatly during childhood development
long-term memory
information retained on an enduring basis, unlimited info for an unlimited time
executive functioning
- control behavior/thought processes
- basic processes, inhibition, enhanced working memory, cognitive flexibility
- prefrontal cortex!
basic processes
simplest and most frequently used mental activities
ex. associating, recognizing, recalling, generalizing
encoding
representing in memory, information that draws attention or is considered important
planning
difficult for children b/c it requires inhibiting the desire to solve the problem
rehersal
the process of repeating information multiple times to aid memory of it
selective attention
process of intentionally focusing on the information most relevant to the current goal
content knowledge
makes learning new info even easier, prior knowledge on a subject
overlapping waves theory
emphasizes the variability or children’s thinking, with age and experience, children rely on more advanced strategies
core knowledge theory
approaches that view children as having some innate knowledge of special evolutionary importance and specific learning mechanisms for aquring additional information
core knowledge view of children’s nature
children are active learners!
both with general learning capabilities and mechanisms to acquire certain info of evolutionary importance
domain specific
info about a particular content area, different learning mechanisms for different domains, ex. language, indentifying facial expressions
nativism
belief that infants are born w/ substantial knowledge of evolutionary info and can quickly/easily acquire more knowledge
constructivism
theorizes that infants possess specialized learning abilities to understand evolutionary info, but more advanced knowledge developed through experience
how are core knowledge theories organized
biology - plants/animals
physics - other objects
psychology - about people
sociocultural theories
approaches that emphasize that other people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children’s development
guided participation
a process in which more knowledgeable individuals organize activities for less knowledgeable people to learn
social scaffolding
more competent people provide framework that supports thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own
cultural tools
the innumerable products of human ingenuity that enhance thinking
phases of internalized speech
- controlled by other’s statements
- private speech: internalization of thought process children develop self-regulation by telling themselves aloud what to do
- silent inner speech (thought)
zone of proximal development
given your current maturation, what can you do with help
intersubjectivity
the mutual understanding that people share during communication
joint attention
social partners intentionally focus on a common referent in the external environment
- responding to joint attention (1 year)
- initiaiting joint attention (2 years)
dynamic systems theory
a class of theories that focus on how change occurs over time in complex systems
ex. how motor skills provoke development, maybe one is inhibiting another, etc.
