Psyc 4220 1st Edition Exam 3 Study Guide Lectures 19 27 1 Stages of Cognitive Development a Preoperational 2 7 years i Symbolic function improves and language becomes more complex ii Pretend symbolic play becomes more complex 1 Children with imaginary companions more social creative 2 Pretend play allows kids to practice a Language b Adult roles c Dealing with emotions and conflicts d Social skills iii More errors 1 Piaget focused on errors in thinking such as a Appearance reality distinction children concrete in thinking assume that if appearance changes so do underlying qualities i Put dog mask on cat etc 2 Lack of conservation a Don t understand that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement physical appearance of objects 3 Why do kids have these problems a Can t decenter i Decentration ability to focus on two aspects of reality or dimensions of a problem simultaneously ii Instead display centration focus on single aspect of reality problem b Haven t mastered reversibility process of mental undoing or reversing an action iv But even at four years children can be trained to conserve v Egocentrism tendency to view world solely from one s own perspective 1 Three mountains task a Children assume everyone sees what they see from their perspective 2 Also egocentric psychologically think everyone has same thoughts feelings desires as they do 3 Are children as egocentric as Piaget thought a No i Mountain task too complicated 1 on simpler tasks children appear less egocentric a example dog cat card experiment b What about psychological egocentrism i Gradual reduction over toddler preschool and early childhood era ii 14 mo old give researcher food child prefers iii By 18 mo give researcher food researcher prefers vi Theory of mind 1 Knowledge and beliefs about how the mind works and influences behavior a Gradual increase in understanding from infancy through the preschool years 2 At age 3 rudimentary ToM but don t understand that actions are based on individual perceptions of reality that can differ a Often studied using false belief tasks i 3 year olds fail 4 5 year olds pass 3 By age 4 start understanding that beliefs may not match reality but can still influence actions a Attempts at deception increase become more complex i But even before this some children lie 3 4 1 Theory of Mind a 4 year old theory of mind still incomplete i Don t understand that people are thinking even when it is not obvious b Factors that contribute to development of TOM i Language development ii Pretend play iii Social experience 2 Vygotsky s Sociocultural Perspective a Russian theorist working around the same time as Piaget b Main idea cognitive development highly influence by social interaction culture i Kids are seen as apprentices look up to older children adults and learning from their experience c Culture affects cognitive development i Tools of intellectual adaptation methods of thinking problem solving passed on in a culture ii Because tools values beliefs of cultures are different cognitive development not universal 1 Instead cognitive skills are context specific iii Culture determines speed AND content of skills of developed d Social interaction affects cognitive development i Most skills acquired through social interactions ii Zone of proximal development gap between what person can accomplish alone vs with assistance of skilled partner iii Best opportunity for cognitive growth tasks just beyond child s capabilities alone but possible with assistance iv More skilled person engages in scaffolding carefully tailoring help to level of learner e Vygotsky s Sociocultural perspective i Piaget and Vygotsky noticed that young children talk to themselves but interpreted it differently 1 Piaget a Egocentric speech young children s speech that is not directed to other people b Due to egocentric c Less egocentric at end of preoperational stage evidence d Implies that as child gets more cognitively advance language skills increase 2 Vygotsky a Private speech speech directed to self that guides thoughts and behaviors b Over time private speech is internalized c Eventually becomes inner speech 3 Research supports Vygotsky a Private speech starts as instructions given by more experienced person i More likely to use it when working on difficult tasks b Kids who use more private speech more attentive more competent at task c Private speech is internalized as kids develop i Children with behavioral learning problems use private speech longer 4 Evaluation of Vygotsky a Emphasized impact of social interaction culture on cognitive development b Useful in education c Focus on verbal interaction scaffolding as most important Western bias d Lack of attention to impact of basic cognitive perceptual motor development e Not very precise hard to test 3 Preschool language development a Vocab continues to grow rapidly i 10 15 000 words by 6 ii Fast mapping connecting a new word with its meaning after only a brief encounter iii Syntactical bootstrapping figure out meaning of words by observing how they re used in structure of sentence b Sentences slowly become more complex and less holographic i Around age 3 start using grammatical modifiers 1 Most common add s to make word plural 3 6 14 1 Preschool Language Development continued a Overregularization applying rules of grammar to exceptions where rules don t apply i Example saying Daddy goed instead of Daddy went goose instead of geese ii Relatively rare more likely with words used less often b Begin mastering pragmatics of language 2 Effects of the Environment on Language Development Poverty a Children living in poverty i Hear fewer words 1 Are spoken to and interacted with less often 2 Less likely to be read to ii Are more likely to hear simple sentences and prohibitions iii Have smaller vocabulary 1 Differences begin early slower verbal processing at 18 mo learn fewer words between 18 and 24 mo 2 Lower IQs by age 5 less ready for school which has long term applications 3 Erikson s Psychosocial Stages a Autonomy vs Shame and Self doubt 18 36 mo i Need to exercise will develop abilities to do things independently or doubt abilities b Initiative vs Guilt 3 6 years i Need to initiate carry out tasks successfully or will feel guilty because of their dependence ii Key to success careful balance between giving independence and controlling behavior 4 Self concept a A person s identity or set of beliefs about what one is like as an individual i Categorical self classifying oneself into