Chapter 6 Learning What is Piaget s Theory of Cognitive Development and the concepts relating to his proposed Processes of Development Piaget thought that just as our physical bodies have structures that enable us to adapt to the world er build mental structures that help us adapt to the world Adaptation involves adjusting to new environmental demands He pointed out that children actively construct their own cognitive words info isnt just poured into their minds from the environment Schemes In Piaget s theory actions or mental representations that organize knowledge Assimilation Piagetian concept of the incorporation of new info into existing knowledge Accomodation Piagetian concept of adjusting schemes to fit new ino experiences Organization Piaget s concept of grouping isolated behaviors into a higher order more smoothly functioning cognitive system the grouping or arranging of items into categories Object Permanence The piagetian term for 1 of an infants most important accomplishments understanding that objects events continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen heard or touched Sensorimotor Stage Lasts from birth to ab 2 years old In this stage infants construct an underdtanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences seeing hearing w physical motor actions Simple Reflexes reflexive behaviors rooting sucking grasping reflexes etc birth to 1 month coordination of sensation action through 1 st habits primary circular reactions schemes habits primary circular reactions sucking thumb 1 4 months coordination w 2 2 nd circular reactions moving beyond self preoccupation infants coos to make someone stay near 4 8 months infants become more object oriented Coordination of secondary circular reactions 8 12 months Coordination of vision touch hand eye coordination Infant manipulates a stick in order to bring an attractive toy w in reach Tertiary circular reactions novelty curiosity intrigued by many properties of objects a block can be made to fall spin etc 12 18 months become Internalization of schemes form enduring mental representations throwing a temper tantrum after seeing a playmate do it the day before 18 24 months develop ability to use symbols Preoperational Stage The 2nd Piagetian developmental stage which lasts from about 2 7 years old when children begin to represent the world with words images and drawings Symbolic Function Stage roughly b w 2 4 Here the child gains the ability to represent mentally an object that is not present The 1st substage of preoperational thought occurring Egocentrism perspective The ability to distinguish b w one s own someone else s Another limitation of preoperational thought is the belief that Animism inanimate objects have lifelike qualities are capable of action The 2nd substage of preoperational thought Intuitive Thought Substage occurring b w appx 4 7 years old wgen children begin to use primitive reasoning children seem so sure about their knowledge yet are unaware of how they know what they know Centration attention on 1characteristic to the exclusion of others 1 limitation of preoperational thought is centration a centering of Centration is most clearly seen in young childrens lack of Conservation conservation which is the awareness that altering an object s or a substance s appearance doesnt change its basic properties Horizontal Decalage same time w in a stage of development Piaget s concept that similar abilities dont appear at the 1 important skill that characterizes children in the concrete Classification operational stage is the ability to classify things to consider their relationships They can understand 1 The interrelationships among sets subjects 2 seriation 3 Transitivity The concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a Seriation quantative dimension such as length Principle that says if a relation holds b w a 1st object a 2nd object Transitivity holds b w the 2nd object 3rd object then it holds b w the 1st 3rd object Piaget argued that an understanding of transitivity is characteristic of concrete operational thought Concrete Operational Stage Piaget s 3rd stage which lasts from appx 7 11 years old when children can perform concrete operations logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning as long as the reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples Formal Operational Stage Piaget s 4th final stage which occurs b w 11 15 years old when individuals move beyond concrete experiences think in more abstract logical ways Hypothetical Deductive Reasoning adolescnets have the cognitive ability to develop hypothesis about ways to solve problems can systematically deduce which is the best path to follow in solving the problem Piaget s formal operational concept that Language and Thought what were his views on langue importance Society and culture what were his views on society s influence on development Culture exerted much stronger influences on children s development than Piaget reasoned Know Vygotsky s Theory of Cognitive Development and how it differs from Piaget s model Unlike Piaget he didnt propose stages of cognitive development Vygotsky s view contrasts Piaget s in that young children s speech is immature egocentric The Zone of Proximal Development Vygotsky s term for tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but can be mastered w assistance from adults or more skilled children Scaffolding In cognitive development Vygotsky used this term to describe the practice of changing the level of support provided over the course of a teaching session w the more skilled person adjusting guidance to fit the child s current performance level Language and Thought what was is views on langue importance Vygotsky stressed that language plays a key role in cognition Language thought initially develop independently but then children internalize their egocentric speech in the form of inner speech which becomes their thoughts Society and culture what were his views on society s influence on development Like Piaget Vygotsky emphasized that children actively construct their understanding of the world He emphasized that children construct knowledge through social interaction they depend on tools provided by the culture which determines which skills they will develop Chapter 7 Informational processing Be familiar with aspects of the Informational processing theory of intelligence and factors relating to it An approach that focuses on the ways children process info about their world how
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