Flashcards
Week 3 - Cognitive Development
Cards in this deck (24)
- 1Jean Piaget (1896-1980)One of the most influential theorists on cognitive development
Many of his theories and findings came from observing and interviewing Swiss children
Applied his theories to a wide range of skills and abilities
Was one of the first to raise some of the ‘great’ questions about children’s thinking - 2ConstructivismPiaget placed the infant as ACTIVE in the acquiring of knowledge
Direct contrast to the BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH
In other words, children CONSTRUCT their knowledge
Piaget was particularly interested in how children come to understand properties of the world around us - e.g. physical properties like shape and size - 3What are cognitive structures in the brain known as?Schemas
- 4What is organisation?Organization of incoming knowledge is key – children must sort simple, singular concepts into broader structures
- 5Organization and AdaptationCognitive structures in the brain are known as SCHEMAS
ORGANIZATION of incoming knowledge is key – children must sort simple, singular concepts into broader structures
OPERATIONS are schemas based on internal mental activities – rather than overt interactions with the world
Children must ADAPT their schemas to fit new environmental demands
They can either ASSIMILATE information – this is applying an existing schema to a new experience
Or they can ACCOMMODATE information – this is changing an existing schema to fit the new information - 6What are operations?OPERATIONS are schemas based on internal mental activities – rather than overt interactions with the world
- 7What do children do to their schemas?Children must ADAPT their schemas to fit new environmental demands
- 8What is assimilate and accommodate?They can either ASSIMILATE information – this is applying an existing schema to a new experience.
Or they can ACCOMMODATE information – this is changing an existing schema to fit the new information - 9What are Piaget's strengths?Integrates a wide array of information
Led to new research with stimulating hypotheses.
Domain General Theory (apply to multiple theories)
Introduced the idea that infants were active in their environment – revolutionary at the time!
Generated a huge level of intrigue amongst developmental psychologists - 10What were Piaget's weaknesses?Did Piaget judge children’s abilities accurately?
Object Permanence (Baillargeon, 1986, 1993, 2004)
Does Cognitive Development proceed in stages?
This is a broader problem, but the issue is with rigidity of progression
Where is the environment? Where is the acknowledgement of culture and socio-emotional factors? - 11What are the 4 stages of Piaget'sSensorimotor Period 0 - 2 yrs
Pre-operational Representations (Concrete Operarational Period) 2 - 7 yrs
Concrete Operations (Concrete Operations Period) 7 - 11 yrs
Formal Operational Period
11+ yrs - 12Stage 1 Sensorimotor Period 0 - 2 yearsPiaget wrote about this in his 1952 and 54 works,
Children build on their basic reflexes,
EGOCENTRIC nature of actions (self-centered, objects in mouth, dropping etc)
Key concept that begins to develop is OBJECT PERMANENCE (child searches and finds objects easily even if hidden and displaced several times)
0-1 no knowledge,
1-4 objects are images linked to actions,
4-8 partially,
8-12 a not b error,
12-18 invisible displacement,
18-24 object permanence - 13Stage 2 Preoperational Representations 2 - 7 yearsKey development here is SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION (object doesn't need to be present, uses symbols to represent objects)
Rapid development of language and pretend play
Children suffer from EGOCENTRISM (still focused on self)
This also leads to ANIMISTIC THINKING (attribution of life to inanimate objects)
Other problems with logic involve - Class Inclusion and
Conservation (probs with CONSISTENCY of physical properties of objects eg. mass/amount) - 14Stage 3 Concrete Operations 7 - 11 yearsCharacterised by DECENTRATION (ability to consider multiple aspects of a situation)
Still centred in concrete reality
Cannot deal with abstract problems
If Miranda is taller than Zoe, and Zoe is taller than Georgina, is Miranda taller or shorter than Zoe? - 15Stage 4 Formal Operations 11+ yearsAt this stage, children can use PURELY MENTAL LOGIC
“If all blue people live in red houses, are all people who live in red houses blue?”
Can contrast real vs. ideal states of the World
Can think beyond obvious clues - Floating objects task - 16Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)Culture and Social interaction play a far more critical role than Piaget suggested.
Children develop the ability to use MEDIATORS better across childhood and adolescence – e.g. language, counting, symbols, and writing - 17Lev Vygotsky Mental FunctionsELEMENTARY MENTAL FUNCTIONS
Basic attention, perception, involuntary memory
These are biological and emerge naturally
HIGHER MENTAL FUNCTIONS
Voluntary attention and intentional memory
These involve the co-ordination of different skills and cognitive processes and represent a higher level of thinking - 18Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)Child has the potential for cognitive growth through SOCIAL EXPERIENCE
ZPD is the difference between the child’s ‘actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving’ and ‘potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with peers’ (Vygotsky, 1978, p.86) - 19Techniques based on the ZPDScaffolding - Adjusting the type and amount of support based on the needs of the student e.g. right now!
Reciprocal Instruction - Where the student and the teacher take turns as the person directing the task and teaching e.g. learning to read
Community of Learners - Where a group of people are approaching a task together, with an ‘expert’ guiding them e.g. a class project about the rainforest
Guided Participation - Where a teacher (adult) will direct a learner (child) towards a task for them to participate in e.g. Organised games
Intent Community Participation - When learners seek out a way to be involved in a task that involves learning e.g. baking a cake - 20Culture & LanguageCulture
Different cultures have different school systems
Different cultures value different skills (Rogoff, 2003)
The frequency that children have access to different learning opportunities within culture determines the level of that skill
Language
Vital to convey, understand and participate in learning
Egocentric Speech > Inner Speech - 21Vygotsky - StrengthsHelped to encourage psychologists to acknowledge the importance of the immediate environment in learning
Is applied in schools all the time
Still places child as active in learning
Accounts for Culture
Addresses how certain tools aid cognitive development – not just a product of this process - 22Vygotsky WeaknessesDoes not actually describe developmental change – is not Ontogenetic
Does account for how social, emotional or physical capabilities contribute to changes in children’s abilities – still not complete
Is a highly lingual theory - 23What is social cognition?Another important area is Social Cognition
This is cognitive processes that pertain to understanding others and social interaction
Commonly known as Theory of Mind (ToM)
We will cover this in Year 2! - 24SummaryPiaget and Vygotsky have proposed the most popular theories of cognitive development
Both place the child as active in the process
Piaget failed to account for environment and culture as Vygotsky did
Vygotsky failed to explain developmental change specifically
Both can be viewed together to give a good overall view of cognitive development and learning
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- MCQ Growing Up Flashcards on Week 3 - Cognitive Development, created by s.ubi on 25/04/2016.
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