THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT Flashcards
PIAGET
A constructivist theory of cognitive development
Children are like little scientists - they construct their own knowledge through interacting with their environment.
A stage theory: children can’t progress from one stage to the next unless they’ve mastered certain milestones.
Who’s theory of cognitive development was ‘constructivist’
Piaget
How do schemas develop?
Through the dual process of assimilation and accommodation.
Accommodation
The adjustment of schemas to new input, leading to growing and changing knowledge (changing schema to accommodate new knowledge)
Assimilation
The integration of new input into existing schemas, leading to more consolidated knowledge.
What is a schema
Mental representations/sets of rules that enable children to interact with their world in a meaningful way.
- they make up our frames of reference through which we filter new information.
Examples of how schemas are developed
Develop through experience and become more complex with development.
Stage 1 of the four stages of Piaget’s theory
The SENSORIMOTOR stage (birth - 2 years)
= infants trying to conquer their sensory motor system
= able to interact more with their environment
Key milestones:
> Object permanence (@ end of first year)
> Mental Representation (final substage -> 18 - 24 months)
> Self-awareness/Recognition (18 months plus)
What is object permanence
The idea that things (objects or people) continue to exist even when they’re out of sight.
What is mental representations
The ability to hold information in their heads without it being immediately present.
The building blocks of pretend play and memory
What is self-awareness/Recognition
The ROUGE test
Knowing their legs and arms are theirs
Making a connection between the self and the person in the mirror.
Stage 2 of the four stages of Piaget’s theory
The PRE-OPERATIONAL stage (2 - 7 years)
Subdivides into:
> Preconceptual/symbolic function substage (2-4 years)
- mentally representing an object that isn’t physically present
- expands childs’ mental world - evidence of this in pretend play
- egocentrism reduces
- understanding that other people’s mental states may differ from their own.
> Intuitive thought substage (4-7 years)
- a shift in children’s reasoning
- children begin to classify, order and quantify in a more systematic manner.
- ALTHOUGH, they do remain unaware of the underlying principles and what they know.
t/f children’s reasoning based largely on perception + intuition rather than rational thinking.
- children develop symbolic thought
- yet to be able to conserve for liquids and solids but can for mass and number.
Stage 3 of the four stages of Piaget’s theory
The CONCRETE OPERATIONS stage (7 - 12 years)
- children become more flexible and are able to focus on more than one thing at a time
- their thinking is h/e still v concrete, not abstract.
- towards the end of this stage, children develop the ability for metacognition - thinking about thinking.
- children can conserve, classify and categorise in multiple domains inc. liquids + solids.
> using strategies like: compensation, reversibility.
- also now start grasping cause and effect relations rather than using their egocentrism
- their thinking is still concrete, not abstract
Stage 4 of the four stages of Piaget’s theory
The FORMAL OPERATIONAL stage (12+ years)
- when children become able to reason hypothetically (without objects present) ie. not concrete thinking
- they can reason with verbal hypotheses + deduce conclusions from abstract statements.
- hypothetic reasoning - ie. if i do X, Y will happen.
Evaluate Piaget’s work - limitations of his work
- Often worked with just children
- Problems with replicating his findings because he quite often didn’t write down the exact methods he was using
- Development isn’t as fixed as Piaget thought - it’s a lot more fluid + lots of influences.
- Experimental setup - not child friendly
- Underestimated children’s ability for object permanence and mental representations - these may actually be available from a much younger age.
- Children emerge as more competent than Piaget’s work would suggest.
Evaluate Piaget’s work - influence/implications
- Set the groundwork for developmental psychology as a sub-discipline
- Gave some of the first insights into children’s minds
> developing new research
> spurning research into cognitive development - Huge impact on education
> supported child-centred learning
> focus on play and active learners - Many of his findings have been replicated with new methods
How does socio-culture influence development?
Vygotsky theorised that through interacting with other people and the environment (socio-culture) and language that functions infants are born with/have basic skills in become higher mental functions (advanced, more complex skills).
The basis of Vygotsky’s theory
Marxist theories - no clear separation between social and individual development.
The belief that we can’t separate the child’s development from the context (culture, social world) in which they grow up (NURTURE).
Implications of sociocultural theory to children
Sociocultural theory made a huge contribution to developmental psychology and education.
Developed/inspired techniques to help children learn much better.
Limitation of the sociocultural theory in contrast to Piaget’s
Not as well developed as Piaget’s theory b/c Vygotzky died early.
Basis of Vygotsky’s theory in relation to infant elementary functions and Nature Vs Nurture
There are some elementary functions that children are born with: Attention Sensation Perception Memory
He focused on the role that society and culture has in nurturing these very basic functions.
Through interacting with other people and the environment (socio-culture) and language that they become higher mental functions (advanced, more complex skills).
The importance of socio-culture in V’s theory
Children’s cognitive skills will be developed to handle the tasks and problems for their surroundings.
How was V’s theory most unlike P’s?
Lots of different processes at play influencing a child’s development whereas P’s was more of a step-by-step system.
Vygotsky specified the distinction between self-speech and inner speech, what was this?
A really important transition that occurs between the ages of 5 and 8 is when children go from speaking out loud to speaking internally (Self speech –> inner speech).
Children are not shy about self-speech (Talking out loud ie. talking when playing, talking to imaginary friends etc.)
V regarded self-speech as a transition from using language as a tool for communication to using language as a tool for thought
- t/f, self-speech = essential for children’s cognitive development.
Around what age does the child start to use inner speech rather than self- or -private-speech?
At around the age of 7, V proposed that these monologues become internalised to become inner speech (which becomes thought)
- important transition - using language as a tool for thought and communication.
Berk (1992) findings that was evidence that V was right about self-speech
Found that children engage in more self-speech if a task is challenging, if they are making mistakes or if they are confused about what to do…
(shows that self-speech = a function in helping child to think well)
What is the zone of proximal development?
the increase in development that a child can reach through assistance by a more competent person compared to the development without this help.
Children learn best when in this zone - targeting teaching in this zone facilitates cognitive growth.
What is scaffolding in children’s development?
Children’s learning is enhanced when more competent people provide a framework (climbing frame) that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than they could manage by themselves.
- this can be adjusted when children become more competent and capable.
There is a lot of evidence that scaffolding is helpful for children (especially when done regularly).
Who proposed the idea of scaffolding?
BRUNER (1983)
The 5 important aspects of scaffolding proposed by Wood et al (1976)
- Recruitment: engage a child’s interest
- Reduction of degrees of freedom: reduce the number of acts that are needed to arrive at a solution
- Direction (of attention) maintenance: maintain a child’s motivation.
- Marking critical features (of a particular task): older children/adults might understand more about the task.
- Demonstration: model the actions/solutions so that the learner (child) can try to imitate this to solve the problem.
Application to education
Peers as tutors
Tutees benefit if the tutor is slightly ahead (within the zone of proximal development)
The jigsaw method - group work (scaffolding each others’ behaviour)
Technology is beneficial - computers can be useful ‘partners’
Similarities between P and V
Agreed that children are active learners (although active for different reasons)
and that interaction with the world is important for children’s development
They are both constructivists - children construct their understanding of the world through experience and interaction).
Differences between P and V in terms of the importance of other people in child development
The importance of the child v other people
- piaget - childern as little scientists - they explore in their own efforts
- V - children as social learners - focuses on the interaction with their social world
Differences between P and V in terms of Cognitive Development
Cognitive development
- P - distinct, discontinuous, step-like stages, qualitative shifts
- V - more flexible, continuous, quantitative improvements, not universal - influenced by various factors.
Differences between P and V in terms of Nature V Nurture
Nature V Nurture
- P - focus on nature, maturation, development = predetermined.
- V - focus on nurture, the social environment + culture is important.
Differences between P and V in terms of Social Environment
Social environment
- P - no interaction necessary, child determines development
- V - interaction necessary for development
Differences between P and V in terms of Culture
Culture
- P - Nope
- V - Important role
Differences between P and V in terms of Self-speech
Self-Speech
- P - egocentric
- V - a transition
