Slide 1Early ChildhoodPiaget’s Preoperational StageCognitive Development: PiagetCognitive Development: PiagetCognitive Development: VygotskyCognitive Development: VygotskyCognitive Development: VygotskyInformation Processing TheoryInformation Processing TheoryMemoryBasic Types of Childhood MemoryTheory of MindFalse BeliefsLanguage DevelopmentLanguage DevelopmentMiddle/Late ChildhoodPiaget’s Concrete Operational StageCognitive Development: PiagetCognitive Development: PiagetLimitations of concrete operational thoughtIntelligenceThe Wechsler ScalesSternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Successful IntelligenceCognitive DevelopmentChildhoodEarly ChildhoodPiaget’s Preoperational Stage•2 to 5-7 years•Children begin to represent the world with words, images, & drawings• Egocentrism •The inability to distinguish ones’ own perspective from othersCognitive Development: Piaget•Preoperational thought•Symbolic Function substage •The ability to mentally represent an object that is not present •Intuitive Thought substage •Inquisitive about how the world works “Why?”-stageCognitive Development: Piaget•Limits of preoperational thought• Animism• Inanimate objects have feelings•Centration•Tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect others•Conservation Tasks: things stay the same even if they don’t look the same (cups of juice)Cognitive Development: Vygotsky•Social constructivist approach •emphasizes the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction•Zone of Proximal Development •range of tasks that are too difficult for the child to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and assistance of adults or more skilled childrenCognitive Development: VygotskyCognitive Development: Vygotsky•Scaffolding -- changing the level of support•A teacher or advanced peer adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the child’s current performanceInformation Processing Theory•Attention -- the focusing of cognitive resources •Executive attention involves planning actions, monitoring progress on tasks, dealing with novel or difficult circumstances•Sustained attention is focused and extended engagement with an object, task, event, or other aspect of the environmentInformation Processing Theory•Deficient of attention •Salient versus relevant dimensions•Pay attention to stimuli that stand out •Planfulness •Do not examine all details before making a judgmentMemory•Memory•The retention of information over time•Development of memory strategies•Rehearsal: repeating to self•Organization: grouping related items together•Elaboration: creating mental associations•External ‘helps’Basic Types of Childhood Memory• Episodic Remembering a specific event at a specific time• Autobiographical•Memories that form a person’s life history•Specific and long-lastingTheory of Mind•Awareness of one’s own mental processes and those of others•Develops around 4 to 5 years old •Predict and control behavior: •Empathize•Comfort•Deceive?False Beliefs•Around 4 years, children begin to understand that a person may misrepresent a situation•They come to appreciate that people’s beliefs depend on their own perceptions, which may not be direct copies of the environmentLanguage DevelopmentLanguage irregularities overextensions–Overuse word to describe categories  overregularities–Overuse grammar ruleLanguage Development•Syntax: sentence structure•Semantics: meaning of words•Pragmatics: how to use language in social settings•Morphology rules… •plurals & possessive nouns•Verb endings “ing”•prepositions & various verb formsMiddle/Late ChildhoodPiaget’s Concrete Operational Stage5-7 to 12 yearsChildren can reason logically as long as reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples Less egocentricCause and effect relationshipsCognitive Development: Piaget•Concrete Operational Thinking•Thought process is more logical, flexible, and organized than in early childhood• Decentration•Focus on several aspects of a problem at once • Reversibility •The ability to mentally go a series of steps and then reverse the stepsCognitive Development: Piaget•Seriation•Arranging objects in a series, based on a dimension•Example: Lightest to darkest•Transitive inference•Knowing the relationship between two objects, based on the relationship to a third• Class inclusion•Ability to see relationship between a whole and its partsLimitations of concrete operational thought•Children still need concrete information •Abstract concepts are still difficultIntelligence •Ability to solve problems and to adapt and learn from experiencesBinet Tests•Mental age (MA)•Individuals level of mental development relative to others•Intelligence Quotient (IQ)•Mental age/Chronological Age X 100•Normal distribution: Symmetrical distributionThe Wechsler Scales•Widely used tests developed by David Wechsler•Scales yield scores for verbal and non-verbal (performance) IQsSternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Successful Intelligence•Analytical Intelligence•Ability to analyze, judge•Creative intelligence•Ability to create and design•Practical intelligence •Ability to use,