Slide 1PiagetCognitive StructuresEquilibrium and DisequilibriumSensorimotor Stage: 0-2 yearsObject PermanenceEvaluating and Modifying Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage Behaviorist ApproachLearning, Remembering, and ConceptualizingLearning, Remembering, & ConceptualizingLearning, Remembering, and ConceptualizingInfant Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget•Schemes•actions or mental representations that organize knowledge •Framework representing an aspect of the world•Organization•the grouping of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order system- Stages are qualitatively differentCognitive Structures•Adaptation•Attempts to adapt to the world•Assimilation•Interpretation of events in terms of existing cognitive structures• AKA: Fitting new information into existing schemes•Accommodation•Changing cognitive structures to make sense of the environment• AKA: Changing/modifying schemes to take into account new informationEquilibrium and Disequilibrium•Equilibrium •Assimilation is occurring more than accommodation •Disequilibrium •Cognitive conflict•Accommodation is occurring more than assimilation •Equilibration•The changing between equilibrium and disequilibriumSensorimotor Stage: 0-2 years•Intelligence takes the form of motor actions•Goals of this stage are sensory and sensory-motor integration•Sensory-motor integration achieved by relationship of sensory inputs to motor actsObject Permanence•Object exists even when out of sight•Prior to 8 months•If I drop my toy and I can’t see it….it is gone!•8-12 months•You hid my toy…I’m looking for it the last place I saw it!•After a year•You hid my toy…I’m looking for it!Evaluating and Modifying Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage$$ •A-not-B error •the tendency of infants to reach where an object was located earlier rather than where the object was last hidden•Room for debate•Infants’ perceptual abilities are highly developed very early in development (Baillergeon)Behaviorist Approach•Babies are born with the ability to learn•Classical Conditioning•Operant Conditioning •If an infant’s behavior is followed by a rewarding stimulus, the behavior is likely to recur•Rovee-CollierLearning, Remembering, and Conceptualizing•Attention •focusing of mental resources on select information •Habituation & Dishabituation •Joint attention•individuals focusing on the same object or event and involves:•The ability to track another’s behavior•One person directing another’s attention•Reciprocal interactionLearning, Remembering, & Conceptualizing•Imitation •Infants can imitate a facial expression within the first few days after birth •Meltzoff - at birth there is an interplay between learning by observing and learning by doing•Creative errors •Deferred imitation•Imitation of behavior after a delay of hours or days•Occurs by 9 mos.Learning, Remembering, and Conceptualizing•Memory•Involves retention of information over time•Implicit memory: Without conscious recollection•Explicit memory: Conscious remembering of facts and experiences•Childhood amnesia - Most adults can remember little, if anything, from the first 3 years of their