PSYC 4220 1st Edition Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture I II III IV V VI Insecure Attachment Caregiver s Contributions to Attachment Infant s Contributions to Attachment Body Growth Brain development Motor Skill Development Outline of Current Lecture I Cognitive Development in Preschool II Errors in Thinking III Theory of Mind Current Lecture Cognitive Development in Preschool Piaget 2nd stage Preoperational 2 7 years Last sub stage of sensorimotor stage was all about development of symbolic structure this becomes more complex in the preoperational stage Symbolic function improves and language become more complex Pretend symbolic play becomes a lot more complex o i e pretend to be superheroes mimic their parents develop imaginary companions complex conversations more social and creative o Imaginary friends are nothing to worry about they are a good thing because pretend play allows kids to practice things that are important o It allows them to practice language syntax pragmatics etc o Pretend play also allows them to take on adult roles i e doctor mommy chef teacher etc gives them an idea of what those roles are like and gives them more empathy for what adults are going through o Role play allows them to deal with emotions and conflicts i e pretend to be married and pretend to get a divorce superhero plays help them learn to be confident and in charge o They learn how to share and collaborate on ideas while playing with one another o It teaches them social skills work in groups be in charge cooperate etc o People are concerned that our society today keeps kids so structured that they don t have much time to pretend play and develop the skills that come with being imaginative which can decrease creativity as well Piaget focused on errors in thinking such as Egocentrism tendency to view world solely from one s own perspective o He meant it more literally from a perception standpoint o He did something known as the three mountains task children assume everyone sees what they see from their perspective o Standing on one side you can only see one thing and you see different things on different sides of the mountain o But children always assume you will see what they see regardless of whether they know what is truly there or not o Also egocentric psychologically think everyone has same thoughts feelings desires as they do Are children really as egocentric as Piaget thought o NO o Mountain task is too complicated o Piaget confused comprehension for ability to do the task o Little kids have a really hard time with scale models o On simpler tasks children appear less egocentric o Example dog cat card experiment What about psychological egocentrism Gradual reduction over toddler and preschool years o Broccoli and cracker task o 14 month old will always give researcher what they like o 18 month old will give the researcher whatever the researcher prefers o They understand the other person likes something different and they want to please the other person by giving them what they like Theory of Mind Knowledge and beliefs about how the mind works and influences behaviors o Gradual increase in understanding from 18m 3 years o They have the understanding that you can imagine things imagine a zebra but it is not really there o By age 4 start understanding that beliefs influence behavior o If you think ice cream is good for you you will eat a lot of ice cream to be healthy o But at the age of 4 they realize that what you believe may not always be true o 3 year olds almost always fail the false belief task o 4 year olds will have developed a shift in thinking that allows them to start passing the task o Ex ask a 3 year old what is in the juice box and at first they say juice but once they see it is string they will say it is string and assume everyone else will think the box has string in it too o They toddlers before age 4 have the belief that thoughts in your head are public knowledge epitome of childhood innocence o Between ages of 3 and 4 they learn to understand how to deceive people o Parents notice deception and manipulation start to happen more at this age o Brain maturation and myelation of the frontal lobes have to do with this o But also having older siblings allows kids to learn theory of mind at an earlier age BACK TO PIAGET More Errors Inability to understand difference between appearance and reality Children concrete thinking assume if appearance changes so do underlying qualities o Ex show a child a cat they say it is a cat but put a dog mask on it and they think the cat has now transformed into a dog just because of the mask o Appearance is reality for little kids Lack of conservation don t understand that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement physical appearance of objects Children of this age are fooled by small changes in the appearance of something Ex show a kid 2 balls of clay of same size kid says it s same size roll one into a snake in front of them and they will think that the snake has more just because it is a different shape even though they just told you that they were the same size