PSYC 250 1st Edition Lecture 10 Outline of Last Lecture I. Motor developmentII. Sensory and perceptual development Outline of Current Lecture II. Piaget’s theory of cognitive developmentIII. Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive developmentCurrent LectureIII. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development- Theory is general, unifigying story of how biology and experience sculpt cognitive development- Piaget thought that just as our physical bodies have structures that enable us to adapt tothe world, we build mental structures that help us to adapt to the world- Adaptation: adjusting to new environment demands- Piaget stressed that children actively construct their own cognitive worlds- Info is not just poured into their minds from the environment- Piaget sought to discover how children, at different points in their development, think about the world and how systematic changes in their thinking occur - Schemes: these are actions or mental representations that organize knowledge- Assimilation: incorporating new info into existing schemes- Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit new info and experiences- To make sense of their world, children cognitively organize their experiences; organization- the grouping of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order system. Continual refinement of this organization is an inherent part of development- Equilibrium: mechanism to explain how children shift form one stage of thought to another; the shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict or disequilibrium in trying to understand the world - A different way of understanding the world makes one stage more advanced than another- Cognition is qualitatively different in one stage compared with another- Each of Piaget’s stages is age-related and consists of distinct ways of thinking - Four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operationalThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Sensorimotor: infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical, motoric actions - Preoperational: world of preschool child is creative, free, and fanciful; label preoperational emphasizes that the child does not yet perform operations, which are internalized actions that allow children to do mentally what before they could do only physical; operations are reversible mental actions- Concrete operational: logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning- Formal Operational: individuals move beyond concrete experiences and think in systematic, abstract and more logical ways IV. Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development- Emphasized that children actively construct their knowledge and understanding- In theory, children are more often described as social creatures than in Piaget’s theory- Children develop their ways of thinking and understanding primarily thru social interaction- Children’s cognitive development depends on the tools provided by society, and theirminds are shaped by the cultural context in which they live- Zone of Proximal Development: term for the range of tasks that is too difficult for children to master alone but that can be mastered with the guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled children; lower limit is the level of skill reached by child working independently; upper limit is the level of additional responsibility of the child can accept with the assistance of an able instructor- Scaffolding: means changing the level of support; over the course of a teaching session in which a more skilled individual adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the child’s current performance; dialogue= important tool for scaffolding- Concluded that young children use language to plan, guide, and monitor behavior- This use of language for self-regulation is called private speech- Private speech: important too of thought during childhood