Theory of Cognitive Development Flashcards
Who made the theory of cognitive development?
Piaget
What are schemas?
Concepts of understanding. Ideas about what something is and specific details about it.
What is assimilation?
The process of taking in new information and fitting it into an existing schema about objects or the world.
What is accomadation?
Accommodation involves creating new schemas, or modifying existing schemas so new info can be incorporated and fit in the new idea or experience.
What is equilibrium?
When a child learns something that assimilates into their existing schemas, their mind is in equilibrium.
What is disequilibrium?
When a child finds something that doesn’t assimilate into one of their existing schemas, they have to accommodate for this new information and they’re in disequilibrium.
What are the 4 stages of cognitive development?
- Sensory motor stage
- Preoperational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Formal operational stage
What is the age range for the sensory motor stage?
0-2
What occurs in the sensory motor stage?
Children develop their motor skills and make sense of the world through their senses/ interaction with it. Object permanence is developed (around 8 months), the understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen or touched
What was Piagets test for object permenance?
Invisible displacement: hide object and see if child will look for it.
What is the age range for the preoperational stage?
2-7
What occurs in the sensory preoperational stage?
Kids develop:
- Animism
- Seriation
- Symbolic thinking
Kids outgrow:
- Centration
- Egocentrism
What is animism?
The ability to treat inanimate objects as if they were alive. This is developed in the preoperational stage
What is seriation?
Ordering using common properties. Developed in the preoperational stage
What is symbolic thinking?
Children learn to mentally represent an object that is not present. Developed in the preoperational stage.
What is centration?
The tendency to attend to one aspect of a situation while ignoring seemingly obvious issues/ problems. Children grow out of this in the preoperational stage.
What is egocentrism?
A child’s inability to see a situation from another person’s point of view, out grown in the preoperational stage.
What is the age range for the concrete operational stage?
7-11
What occurs in the concrete operational stage?
Children can think logically and carry out mental operations if using concrete materials. eg. Counting on their fingers
What is piaget’s test to see if childeren are in the concrete operational stage?
Conservation: Understanding hat an object doesnt change mass because it changes shape.
What is the age range for the formal operational stage?
11+
What occurs in the formal operational stage?
Capable of both abstract (hypothetical) and logical thinking.
What is abstract thinking?
Thinking in your head, does not require concrete materials to reason.
What is logicalthinking?
Working through problems systematically, developing a hypothesis and testing
What is piagets tests to se if childeren are in the formal operational stage?
The pendulum task, kids are asked what whanges the speed of swinging
What are 4 criticisms of piaget’s theory or methods?
- Use of unfamiliar tasks: Kids failed due to a lack of familiarity rather than a lack of cognitive ability
- Use of language that breaks conversational rules: Experimenters asking questions over and over resulting in kids changing their answers
- Failing to distinguish between competence and performance: The tasks require verbal responses meaning the kids may know the answer and not be able to explain it
- Limiting development to stages: Current researches deiw development as a continuous process
