Week 3 - Chapter 3 Flashcards
What is cognitive development?
Changes over time in how people think, how they solve problems, and how their capacities for memory and attention change
Who is Jean Piaget?
Influential Swiss developmental psychologist, best known for his theories of cognitive and moral development
What are cognitive stages?
Periods in which abilities are organized in a coherent, interrelated way
What is a mental structure?
The organization of cognitive abilities into a single pattern, such that thinking in all aspects of life is a reflection of that structure
What is the cognitive-developmental approach?
Approach to understanding cognition that emphasizes the changes that take place at different ages
What is maturation?
Process by which abilities develop through genetically based development with limited influence from the environment
What are schemes?
A structure for organizing and interpreting information
What is assimilation?
The cognitive process that occurs when new information is altered to fit an existing scheme
What is accomodation?
The cognitive process that occurs when a scheme is changed to adapt new information
What are Piaget’s stages of development?
The sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operations, and formal operations
Explain the sensorimotor stage
The cognitive stage in the first 2 years of life that involves learning how to coordinate the activities of the senses with motor activities
Explain the preoperational stage
Cognitive stage from ages 2 to 7 during which the child becomes capable of representing the world symbolically (through the use of language) but is still limited in ability to use mental operations
Explain the concrete operations stage
Cognitive stage from ages 7 to 11 in which children learn to use mental operations but are limited to applying them to concrete, observable situations, rather than hypothetical situations
Explain the formal operations stage
Cognitive stage from age 11 and up in which people learn to think systematically about possibilities and hypotheses
What are mental operations?
Cognitive activity involving manipulating and reasoning about objects
What is the pendulum problem?
Piaget’s classic test of formal operations, in which people are asked to figure out what determines the speed at which a pendulum sways from side to side
What is hypothetical-deductive reasoning?
Piaget’s term for the process by which the formal operational thinking systematically tests possible solutions to a problem and arrives at an answer that can be defended and explained
What is abstract thinking?
Thinking in terms of symbols, ideas and concepts
What is metacognition?
The capacity for “thinking about thinking” that allows adolescents and adults to reason about their thought processes and monitor them
What is complex thinking?
Thinking that takes into account multiple connections and interpretations, such as the use of metaphors, satire, and sarcasm
What are individual differences?
Approach to research that focuses on how individuals differ within a group, for example, in performance of IQ tests
What is postformal thinking?
Type of thinking beyond formal operations, involving greater awareness of the complexity of real-life situations, such as in the use of pragmatism and reflective judgement
What is pragmatism?
Type of thinking that involves adapting logical thinking to the practical constraints of real-life situations
What is dialectical thought?
Type of thinking that develops in emerging adulthood, involving a growing awareness that most problems do not have a single solution and that problems must often be addressed with crucial pieces of information missing
What is reflective judgement?
The capacity to evaluate the accuracy and logical coherence of evidence and arguments
What is dualistic thinking?
Cognitive tendency to see situations and issues in polarized, absolute, black-and-white terms
What is multiple thinking?
Cognitive approach entailing recognition that there is more than one legitimate view of things and that it can be difficult to justify one position as the true or accurate one
What is relativism?
The cognitive ability to recognize the legitimacy of competing points of view but also compare the relative merits of competing views
What is committment?
Cognitive status in which people commit themselves to certain points of view they believe to be the most valid while at the same time being open to reevaluating their views if new evidence is presented to them
What is the information-processing approach?
An approach to understanding cognition that seeks to delineate the steps involved in the thinking process and how each step is connected to the next
What is discontinuous?
A view of development as taking place in stages that are distinct from one another rather than one gradual, continuous process
What is continuous?
A view of development as a gradual, steady process, rather than as taking place in distinct stages
What is short-term memory?
Memory for information that is the current focus of attention
What is long-term memory?
Memory for information that is committed to longer-term storage, so that it can be drawn upon after a period when attention has not been focused on it
What is working memory?
An aspect of short-term memory that refers to where information is stored as it is comprehended and analyzed
What are mnemonic devices?
Memory strategies
What is automaticity?
Degree of cognitive effort a person needs to devote to processing a given set of information
What is executive functioning?
The ability to control and manage one’s cognitive processes
What is reductionism?
Breaking up a phenomenon into seperate parts to such an extent that the meaning and coherence of the phenomenon as a whole becomes lost
What is critical thinking?
Thinking that involves not merely memorizing information but analyzing it, making judgments about what it means, relating it to other information, and considering ways in which it might be valid or invalid.
What is organizational core?
Term applied especially to cognitive development, meaning that cognitive development affects all areas of thinking, no matter what the topic
What is social cognition?
How people think about other people, social relationships, and social institutions
What is perspective taking?
The ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others
What is mutual perspective taking?
Stage of perspective taking, often found in early adolescence, in which persons understand that their perspective taking interactions with others are mutual, in the sense that each side realizes that the other can take their perspective
What is social and conventional system perspective taking?
Realizing that the social perspectives of self and others are influenced not just by their interaction with each other but by their roles in the larger society
What does it mean to be prosocial?
Promoting the well-being of others
What is theory of mind?
The ability to attribute mental states to one’s self and others, including beliefs, thoughts, and feelings
What is adolescent egocentrism?
Type of egocentrism in which adolescents have difficulty distinguishing their thinking about their own thoughts from their thinking about the thoughts of others.
What is an imaginary audience?
Belief that others are acutely aware of and attentive to one’s appearance and behavior.
What is a personal fable?
A belief in one’s personal uniqueness, often including a sense of invulnerability to the consequences of taking risks.
What is the optimistic bias?
The tendency to assume that accidents, diseases, and other misfortunes are more likely to happen to other people than to one’s self.
What is the psychometric approach?
Attempt to understand human cognition by evaluating cognitive abilities using intelligence tests
What is fluid intelligence?
Mental abilities that involve speed of analyzing, processing, and reacting to information
What is crystalized intelligence?
Accumulated knowledge and enhanced judgement based on experience
Who is Vygotsky?
Russian psychologist who emphasized the cultural basis of cognitive development
What is the zone of proximal development?
The gap between how competently a person performs a task alone and when guided by an adult or more competent peer
What is scaffolding?
The degree of assistance provided to the learner in the zone of proximal development, gradually decreasing as the learner’s skills develop
What is guided participation?
The teaching interaction between two people (often an adult and a child or adolescent) as they participate in a culturally valued activity.
