Child Psychology 560 Cognitive Development 4 02 27 2014 Cognitive Change in Childhood Piaget Preoperational stage 2 7 years 1 Egocentrism Own view others 2 Focus on 1 aspect of a problem at a time o Centration Misled by appearances 1 Egocentrism Piaget Inhelder spatial egocentrism o o Younger child had difficulty taking the other person s perspective Children have hard time understanding theory of mind Egocentric speech o Caveats language choice volume deafness Other times they do seem to understand that someone else knows Volume raise their voice to someone far away taking perspective of someone who is listening to them Language choice children will address the parent in the appropriate language Babies with a deaf parent tend not to cry aloud only when deaf parent is around 2 One Aspect of Problem at a Time Deloache Scale models as symbols Symbol something that stands for something else o Examples Experiments Red stop light represents a symbol for stop o o Can kids use scale models to find objects Find Snoopy Judy Deloache experiment o Small Snoopy hidden in a replica of a room hide a big Snoopy in the same spot o Have them go and find it Results 3 year old can use the model to find toy model REPRESENTS room for them 2 year old cannot Model doesn t represent room Lack of symbolic thought Follow Up study o The incredible shrinking machine video o 2 year old can now succeed 2 year olds lack dual representations Can t think about an object 2 ways at once Model is interesting 2 5 year olds don t recognize that its also a symbol When shrunk not a symbol thus easier model room 3 Misled by appearances Conservation Piaget Success Hallmark of next stage Concrete operations What s required to conserver o o o Logic same amount despite change Not misled by appearances Concrete operations age 7 12 Thinking and logical o Anyone try conservation task yet Can younger kids conserve o o Gelman Simplified task 3 year olds Training phase o Right wrong length density vs Right length wrong and density o Where s the winner Contrary to P 3 year olds conserved o o The winner and The loser Knew how to make loser winner Criticism some kids counted Partial knowledge of numbering during preop stage What is changing in cognitive development Piaget o o Info processing theorists o Maturation Learning assimilation accommodation Memory attention executive function Sociocultural theorists o Child in context Sociocultural Approach to Cognitive Development Not just what child is doing but what child is capable of doing given suitable partners focus on culturally valued behaviors Lev Vygotsky o o Unit of analysis not individual child but child in context Social context integral to development Part of mechanism of change Not simply a source of information for individual development social context Ex Rio street venders Mechanisms of Change o o o o Importance of social world Internalization of external socially shared processes Examples Guided participation in cultural activities Scaffolding within the Zone of Proximal Development ZPD Guided Participation Behavior guided by experienced others o Children participate in activities valued in their culture Scaffolding Transition of responsibility from adult to child Occurs within the Zone of Proximal Development ZPD Observation explicit instruction Distance between what child can do alone vs with adult or peer ZPD created by learning Education Applications of Sociocultural Approach o o Instruction Assessment 02 27 2014 02 27 2014