Exam 2 Review Part 1 Chapter 6 Learning What Piaget s Theory of Cognitive Development and the concepts relating to his proposed Processes of Development Process of Development theory of how biology and experience sculpt cognitive development adapt to the world knowledge infancy childhood schemes Piaget thought that we build mental structures that help us to Adaptaton adjusting to new environmental demands children actively construct their own cognitive worlds Schemes actions or mental representations that organize behavioral schemes physical activities characterize mental schemes cognitive activities develop in two processes for how children use and adapt their their experiences assimilation incorporating new information into existing schemes accommodation adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences to make sense of their world children cognitively organize organization grouping of items into categories isolated behaviors into a higher order more smoothly functioning cognitive system equilibrium mechanism to explain how children shift from one stage of thought to the next shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict or disequilibrium in trying to understand the world Sensorimotor Stage from birth to about 2 years infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical motoric actions 6 substages simple reflexes correspond to the 1st month after birth sensation and action are coordinated primarily through reflexive behaviors infant initiates action and actively structures experiences in the 1st month of life 1st habits and primary circular reaction schemes develop between 1 4 months of age infant coordinates sensation and 2 types of actions habits and primary circular reaction habits scheme based on a reflex that has become completely separated from its eliciting stimulus circular reaction repetitive primary circular reaction scheme based on the attempt to reproduce an event that initially occurred by chance these are stereotyped infant repeats them the same way each time during this substage the infant s own body remains the infant s center of attention no outward pull by environmental events secondary circular reaction develop between 4 8 months of age infant becomes more object oriented moving beyond preoccupation with self infant also imitates some simple action although directed toward objects in the world the infants schemes are not intentional or goal directed coordination of secondary circular reactions develops between 8 12 months of age infant must coordinate vision and touch actions became more outwardly directed significant changes coordination of schemes and intentionality tertiary circular reactions novelty and curiosity develop between 12 18 months of age tertiary circular reactions schemes in which infant purposely explores new possibilities with objects continually doing new things to them and exploring the results Piaget says that this stage marks the starting point for human curiosity and interest in novelty develops between 18 24 months of age infant develops ability to use primitive internalization of schemes symbols that represents an event symbol internalized sensory image or word symbols allow the infant to manipulate and transform the represented events in simple ways Evaluation the data do not always support Piaget s claim that certain processes are crucial in stage transitions A not B error mistake made by infants of selecting a familiar hiding place A rather than a new hiding place B as they process into the 4th substage does not show up consistently Perceptual Development and Expectations theorists such as Eleanor Gibson and Elizabeth Spelke believe that infants perceptual abilities are highly developed very early in development research also suggests that infants develop the ability to understand how the world works at a very early age researchers believe that infants see objects as bounded solid and separate from their background by 3 4 months of age much earlier than Piaget envisioned many researchers conclude that Piaget wasn t specific enough about how infants learn about their world and that infants are more competent than Piaget thought Preoperational Stage the cognitive world of the preschool child is creative free and fanciful the child does not yet perform operations in this stage operations internalized actions that allow children to do mentally what before they could do only physically operations are reversible mental actions preoperational thought the beginning of the ability to reconstruct in thought what has been established in behavior lasts approx 2 7 years of age children begin to represent the world with words images and drawings symbolic thought goes beyond simple connections of sensory information and physical action stable concepts are formed mental reasoning emerges egocentrism is present and magical beliefs are constructed The Symbolic Function Substage 1st substage of pre operational thought occurs roughly between the ages 2 4 young child gains ability to mentally represent an object that is not present egocentrism the inability to distinguish between ones own perspective and someone else s perspective Piaget and Barbel Inhelder studied children s egocentrism by devising the three mountains task Animism belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action The Intuitive Thought Substage 2nd substage of pre operational thought occurs approx between 4 7 years of age children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to many types of questions this substage is called intuitive because young children seem so sure about their knowledge and understanding yet are unaware of how they know what they know Centration centering of attention on one characteristics to the exclusion of all others Conservation awareness that altering on objects or substances appearance does not change its basic properties Concrete Operational Stage lasts approx from 7 11 years of age logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning children at this stage can perform concrete operations which are reversible mental actions on real concrete objects Conservation conservation tasks demonstrate a child s ability to perform concrete operations involved recognizing that the length number mass quantity area weight and volume of objects and substances are not changes by transformations that merely alter their appearance Horizontal decalage Piaget s concept that
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