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139 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Describe Piaget's method |
Flexible discovery oriented Observation in natural settings Clinical method Manipulation of objects by experimenter in lab setting Longitudinal infant work Cross-sectional work with older children |
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Describe the focus of Piaget's cognitive developmental theory |
Cognitive development as the result of the biologically maturing child interacting with their environment (caregiver less important) Active construction of knowledge vs. blank slate Intrinsic motivation to learn Maturation determines what the child seeks out and takes in from development |
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What are stages? |
Periods of time in which thinking and behaviour reflect a particular underlying mental structure |
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What are schemas? |
Patterns of action or thought that we construct to make sense of/organise our experiences Change over time via adaptation, equilibration, & organisation |
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How do schemas change through adaptation? |
They are built through direct interaction with the environment |
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What is assimilation? |
Current schemas are used to interpret the external world |
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What is accomodation? |
Adjusting old schemas and creating new ones to better fit new features of the environment |
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_____________ prompts accomodation. |
Disequilibrium |
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What is organisation? |
Internal rearranging and linking of schemas |
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What is equilibration? |
Process of searching for balance between schemas and environment - refers to final level of achievement within each stage - there is a period of disequilibrium around transitions |
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What is equilibrium? |
When your schemas are effective in dealing with the world |
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What is disequilibrium? |
When current understanding is inadequate to explain experiences |
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What are Piaget's four stages of cognitive development? |
1. Sensori-motor 2. Pre-operational 3. Concrete operations 4. Formal operations |
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What causes movement from one stage to the next? (3 points) |
1. maturation 2. experience interacting with environment 3. social interaction |
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When does the sensorimotor stage occur? |
Birth-2 years |
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What characterises the sensorimotor stage? (2 points) |
Knowledge based on organised patterns of sensory & motor action Schemas - a specific class of actions is applied to a particular class of events |
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What are the six substages of the sensorimotor stage? |
1. reflexive schemas 2. primary circular reactions 3. secondary circular reactions 4. co-ordination of secondary circular reactions 5. tertiary circular reactions 6. symbolic or representational thought |
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What characterises the reflexive schemes substage of the sensorimotor stage (0-1 month)? |
Exercising and adapting/integrating reflexes - the baby strengthens, generalises, and differentiates behaviours that began as reflexes |
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What characterises the primary circular reactions substage of the sensorimotor stage (1-4 months)? |
Accidentally engages in action with interesting outcome, repetition of actions (centred on infant's own body) e.g. thumsucking, squealing |
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What characterises the secondary circular reactions substage of the sensorimotor stage (4-8 months)? |
Secondary circular reactions oriented to the external world (repeated actions beyond own body) - learn they can make things happen outside their own body e.g. shaking rattle |
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What characterises the co-ordination of secondary circular reactions substage of the sensorimotor stage (8-12 months)? |
Goal-directed behaviour emerges, can combine several circular secondary reactions e.g. using stick to reach a toy |
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What characterises the tertiary circular reactions substage of the sensorimotor stage (12-18 months)? |
Actively seeking to find out how various actions will affect an object/outcome, begin to understand cause and effect e.g. squeeze, hit |
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What characterises the symbolic or representational thought substage of the sensorimotor stage (18-24 months) |
Mental manipulation of cause/effect relationships - internal mental exploration, use symbols to represent actions, objects, and experiences, solve problems in head rather than through trial and error |
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What capacity allows deferred imitation and make-believe play? |
Mental representations - one object can represent another |
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What are the four main outcomes of the sensorimotor stage? |
1. learning about properties of objects and relations among them 2. cognitive structures become more tightly organised 3. behaviour becomes more intentional 4. self differentiated from environment |
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What is object permanence? |
The understanding that objects don't cease to exist when they're out of sight |
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What method was used to study object permanence in infants? |
Naturalistic combined with experimentally elicited observations |
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What did Piaget focus on when studying object permanence in infants? |
Search behaviour |
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What happens from 0-4 months in developing object permanence? |
Out of sight = out of mind Responses depend on motor planning capacities Violation of expectancy paradigm (Baillargeon) Response habituation/dishabituation placed minimal motor demands on baby |
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What happens from 4-8 months in developing object permanence? |
Babies search for partially hidden objects as if they were doing something with it when it disappeared - extension of their actions on it |
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What happens from 8-12 months in developing object permanence? |
Babies search for completely hidden objects in place where they last found it (can't separate from their actions upon it - A not B error) |
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What happens from 12-18 months in developing object permanence? |
Babies look for the object where it was last seen (connected to last visual image of it) - problems with invisible displacements e.g. hiding object under a cup and moving the cup |
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What happens from 18-24 months in developing object permanence? |
Can mentally represent objects and its movements - fully master concept of object permanence |
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What does more research research suggest about object permanence (4 points)? |
1. babies can visually predict where a rolling ball will reappear 2. A not B error: babies look but can't yet act/search appropriately 3. babies as young as 3 and a half look longer at impossible/magical event- understand that object continues to exist, movement, basic principles of physics 4. A not B error could be reflecting repeated activity |
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What are the clinical applications of Piaget's theory? |
Children with sensorimotor problems - impact on cognitive development - knowledge of world initially interwoven with sensory and motor experiences - faulty pathways |
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What characterises Piaget's pre operational stage (2-6) (5 points)? |
- gains in mental representation - limitations in thinking (pre-logical) - centration - egocentrism - conservation - hierarchical classification |
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What is egocentrism? |
A form of centration characterised by the inability to distinguish between someone else's perspective and your own (incomplete differentiation of self from world) e.g. 'my sister doesn't have a sister' |
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What is spatial egocentrism? |
Failure to distinguish others' views from one's own |
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What are potential limitations of the spatial egocentrism study? |
- camera - experimenter being suggestive - could be testing working memory - order of the cards |
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What is conservation? |
Understanding that physical properties of an object/substance don't change when outward appearance is altered (similar to object permanence - children understand invariants) tasks measure perception of volume, length, number, area, weight e.g. conservation of liquids task |
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What are some potential problems with conservation tasks? |
"more" - longer/wider? confusion by question repetition accidental or intentional transformations naive faith in adult rationality |
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Why do children aged 2-6 fail to conserve? (4 points) |
1. unable to engage in decentration - focus on one dimension of problem e.g. height of glass 2. focus on what is perceptually salient 3. static thought - focus on states rather than transformations between states 4. lack reversibility (mentally undoing action) |
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What are the three concepts used to solve conservation problems? |
1. identity - transformations don't alter fundamental nature of object 2. reversibility - thing that has changed can return to original state 3. reciprocity - 2 objects can be mutually related - change in one compensated for by change in another e.g. loss of height compensated for by gain in width/breadth |
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What are some applications of Piaget's pre operational stage in preschool education? |
- using concrete props and visual aids - make instructions short, using actions - give physical practice e.g. walk through letter shape - encourage manipulation of physical objects - avoid long lectures on sharing - learn about spatial relationships using computers |
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What is classification? |
Grouping objects into categories, dividing sets into subsets e.g. a dad is a parent and a man - requires more than one dimensional thinking |
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What are three distinct ways that children in the pre operational stage might reason about the inner world? |
1. animism - non living things are alive 2. realism - attribute tangible qualities to events of the mind 3. artificialism - all natural phenomena are products of human engineering |
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What characterises the concrete operations stage (7-11)? |
- Formal reasoning - children can perform mental actions, only on objects belonging to their immediate concrete experience - conservation - logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning (only in concrete circumstances) - not abstract e.g. can add up in head, can't do algebra - classification skills |
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What is a mental operation? |
an internalised mental action that is part of an organised structure e.g. adding up in your head vs. finger counting |
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What are applications of the concrete operational stage to teaching? |
- use concrete props - provide opportunities to manipulate and test objects - use familiar examples to explain complex ideas - provide opportunities to classify/group objects - extend by providing problems that require analytical thinking |
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What characterises the formal operations stage (12+ years)? |
- logical mental actions performed on thought/ symbols - abstract, idealistic, logical thinking - hypothetical deductive reasoning - meta-cognition (thinking about thinking) - reflection and questioning |
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How does logical thinking transition from year 7-11, demonstrated by different debating arguments? |
Year 7 - internet promotes tolerance because wait for slow internet Year 9 - exposed to violence etc. and learn to tolerate it Year 11 - see opinions of educators who spread tolerance |
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What are some critiques of the formal operations stage? |
- 70% USA adults fail Piaget's formal operations task & 40-60% uni students - inconsistency of domains - may only apply to areas of interest, familiarity, & expertise - cultural differences - more context-driven - more related to environment than intelligence |
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What characterises adolescent egocentrism? |
Belief that others are as interested in them as they are in themselves Sense of personal uniqueness & invincibility e.g. imaginary audience, personal fable, invincibility |
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What separates adult cognitive functioning from that of adolescents? |
- see knowledge as relative rather than absolute - flexible thinking - more than one solution - adaptation to contradictions & inconsistencies |
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What characterises post-formal thought? |
- less abstract - less absolute - more contextual - more flexible - more dialectical - integrate beliefs & experience with inevitable contradictions |
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What characterises Piaget's position of developmental issues? |
Development is intrinsically motivated Development is qualitative rather than quantitative Interactionist view - maturation combined with experience |
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What are applications of Piaget's stages of cognitive development to teaching? |
- consider readiness - constructivist - let children actively discover - teach concepts sequentially - master concepts - facilitate rather than direct - assessment should look at reasoning - meaningful mistakes - classrooms as settings for exploration and discovery |
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What are six strengths of Piaget's stages of cognitive development? |
1. recognises central role of cognition in development 2. modes of thinking underlying overt behaviour 3. learning as active process 4. children different in kind rather than degree 5. wide scope of theory 6. ecological validity |
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What are the limitations of Piaget's theory? |
- evidence doesn't all support strong structural version of stage across al content areas - stages less coherent than suggested - children can be trained to reason at higher levels, shouldn't be held back - children might not demonstrate what they understand - underestimation of abilities of infants & preschoolers - over-estimation of adolescent cognitive capacities - insufficient attention to social & emotional aspects of development - Western-based |
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What are some critiques of Piaget's methodology? |
Small sample size Clinical method leading questions? Generalisability Tasks too complex Qualitative methods might capture richness of children's thinking Western based |
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In the information processing model of cognition, what would the human 'hardware' refer to? |
Brain, neural connections, working memory, input through sensory organs/receptors |
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In the information processing model of cognition, what would the human 'software' refer to? |
Mental programs for how information is received, interpreted, stored, and analysed |
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What does the information processing model emphasise? |
Basic mental processes - memory - attention - perception - decision making |
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What were the four focuses of Siegler's approach to children's thinking? |
1. encoding - encode relevant, ignore irrelevant 2. automaticity - process info with little/no effort 3. strategy construction - discover new procedure for processing information (multiple at 4-5) 4. generalize - apply info to other problems |
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By how old can an infant selectively attend to an object? |
4 months |
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By how old can an infant effectively scan novel stimuli? |
Newborn |
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Can toddlers rapidly shift attention from one activity to another? |
Yes |
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True or false: preschoolers attend more to relevant information than irrelevant information |
False |
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By what age can children demonstrate cognitive control by efficiently attending to relevant dimensions of a task? |
6-7 |
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At what age does the processing of irrelevant information begin to decrease? |
around 11 |
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What is incidental learning? |
Processing irrelevant information |
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True or false: in adolescence, incidental learning decreases quickly, and the capacity to shift attention from one cognitive task to another increases (declining again in older adulthood) |
True |
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In infancy, deferred imitation of novel behaviour shows ________ _________. |
rudimentary memory |
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What does habituation in infants demonstrate? |
a storage of memory from birth. infants demonstrate habituation across several perceptual stimuli. |
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What does operant conditioning in infants demonstrate? |
- at three months babies recover a conditioned response after a 28 day gap when given an appropriate cue - less able to recall without cue - encoding specificity - better if external environment similar to time of encoding |
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By what age can children form complex and durable memories? |
2 years |
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What is implicit memory? |
memory that is unconscious, we are unaware of it e.g. - skills - conditioned learning/associative memory - priming which can affect behaviour, and doesn't improve with age after 2-3 - often strong in kids with learning problems |
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What is explicit memory? |
the ability to consciously recall the past, which emerges at 8-11 months and develops until adulthood |
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What are four reasons that memory capacity increases with age? |
1. processing time gets shorter - older child can manipulate more info at once 2. memory strategies change 3. knowledge base changes - metamemory 4. knowledge about the world - familiar |
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What are four types of memory strategies? |
1. rehearsal - repeat until remember 2. script (2-3) 3. organisation (9-10) - chunking, categorising 4. elaboration (12+) - creating meaningful links |
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What are schemas? |
Mental frameworks about some facet of experience, which involves - knowledge - emotions - memories related to experience - action tendencies and scripts - guiding expectations and actions automatically can demonstrate attributional biases |
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How might neural networks explain how schemas develop? |
Experience > nodes (clusters of neurons) set aside to recognise it again Experience again > node activated Nodes activated together wired together - more activate together > stronger links Activating one node activates linked nodes Schemas so strong that when activated by one thing, whole knowledge structure comes to life |
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How might schemas and scripts lead to the development of stereotypes? |
We tend to encode schema-consisted information and not to encode schema-discrepant information. |
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True or false: a 5 year old knows that you have to work at remembering, salient events are easier to remember, noise distracts memory, and it is easier to recognise more recent events than distant events. |
True |
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What is meant by 'meta memory'? |
The capacity to understand one's own memory limitations, which may lead to developing adaptive strategies. Older children have this capacity |
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What are five reasons for not being able to pass a test? |
- failure to attend to relevant aspects of problem - inability to hold all the relevant pieces of information in working memory - lack of strategies for transferring info to LTM - unable to retrieve relevant info from LTM - inadequate executive control to manage steps in problem solving |
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True or false: the majority of 40-80 year olds say they have had some decline in memory in the past 12 months |
True |
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True or false: on average older adults learn new material more slowly & remember it less well |
True |
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True or false: experts in a field remember the same amount as novices |
False - they remember more |
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True or false: all older people experience learning difficulties |
False |
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True or false: all aspects of memory are equally affected by ageing |
False |
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Which declines more with age: implicit or explicit memory? |
Explicit |
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How do younger adults demonstrate better memory than older adults (2 points) |
Better recall for episodic memory Faster at semantic memory retrieval |
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True or false: older people still use memory strategies as much as younger adults, but demonstrate worse memory |
False - they use less memory strategies |
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How might contextual variables influence memory in older adults? |
1. education - less educated, out of workforce longer 2. health - chronic/degenerative diseases 3. lifestyle - less active, fewer cognitively demanding tasks 4. negative stereotypes of ageing |
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What does Vygotsky's eco-cultural approach to cognition emphasise? |
The importance of context and peer interaction |
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In Vygotsky's eco-cultural approach to cognition, what leads to cognitive activeness in children? |
Interaction with others, making them aware of others' responses and providing clues/cues, causing disequilibrium, resulting in cognitive activeness - Questioning! |
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According to Vygotsky, cognitive growth is a process of _________ __________. |
Individual discovery! |
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How does Vygotsky's eco-cultural approach to cognition differ from Piaget's approach? |
Vygotsky believed that social interaction and cultural origins of physical objects aided cognitive development (path from object-child child-object through another person), while Piaget emphasised interactions with objects and materials. |
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How do socioculturalists believe that culture is central to cognitive development? |
It defines what knowledge and skills children need to acquire, defines how we think |
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What did Vygotsky question about existing knowledge on cognitive development? |
1. egocentric thought unaffected by experience? 2. development can't be accelerated through instruction? 3. development universal and independent of culture? 4. children shouldn't be taught until in appropriate developmental age? |
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What is meant by Vygotsky's 'social scaffolding'? |
Guided participation aiding the child through learning and cognitive development - adult provides means for child to find solution - makes possible tasks normally beyond cognitive capacities Level of support changes as tasks progress and child learns (scaffolding removed bit by bit) |
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What is the zone of proximal development? |
what learner could grasp with guidance - challenge skills within zone are ripe for development parent/teacher instruction most fruitful when pitched to this zone |
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What are the limitations of scaffolding and the zone of proximal development? |
1. responsive adults are not always available 2. adults vary in capacity to scaffold (perspective taking, older/more experience are better) |
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What are four applications of the zone of proximal development and scaffolding? |
- supportive interventions for parents - enhancing motor skill development - parent education programs - language enrichment - reading to children (give child time to respond and ask questions) |
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How does language mediate thought? |
- makes thinking social (shared mental interlaced interaction) - children internalise the mode of problem solving that was supported socially - external dialogues become internal dialogues - structure of conversations becomes structure of thought - children grow into intellectual life of those around them |
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How do Vygotsky and Piaget differ in their approaches to language and thought? |
Vygotsky: language shapes thought Piaget: cognitive development influences language development |
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Around what age do children begin to use private speech? |
3 years |
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How did Piaget and Vygotsky differ in their view of private speech? |
Piaget saw it as egocentric - cognitive immaturity Vygotsky saw it as a sign of social competence (evidence supports this) |
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Social speech > private speech > inner speech... what age does private speech become inner speech? |
7 years |
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Why would private speech increase? |
As tasks become more difficult |
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How did Vygotsky assess a child's developmental level? |
- dynamic assessment of potential developmental level - what child can do with assistance - provide a problem with tools and clues - look at change in skills during experimental session - focus on process of problem solving - culturally appropriate ways |
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What are some educational applications of Vygotsky's principles? |
- offer just enough assistance - use more skilled peers as teachers - use vertical grouping e.g. composite classes - monitor and encourage private speech - assess ZPD (learning potential) - place instruction in meaningful real world context |
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Describe Rogoff's apprenticeship concept |
Learning through guided participation Children participate in cultural activities that socialised them into skilled activities Learning is a process of changing participation Learning can be informal |
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According to Rogoff, how do cultures vary in their approach to cognitive development? |
1. in goals 2. in activities for communication with children |
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What are some examples of developmental research that has been conducted cross-culturally? |
Infant sleeping Infant holding Class sizes Support for participation in non-academic subjects Placid babies vs. robust babies |
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What are three strengths of Vygotsky's theory? |
1. attention to social-cultural context 2. integration of learning and development (change and dynamic assessment) 3. sensitivity to diversity in environment (corrects Western middle class bias) |
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What are three limitations of Vygotsky's theory? |
1. vague measurement of ZPD 2. more explanation of developmental variability in different contexts needed 3. practical difficulties in studying links between broad contacts and specific parent-child interactions |
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What are the six main differences between Piaget and Vygotsky's approaches to cognitive development? |
1. Piaget universal, Vygotsky contextual 2. Piaget growth through internal drive, Vygotsky growth through social interaction 3. Piaget child constructs knowledge by interaction with environment, Vygotsky children & partners co-construct by coordinating behaviour 4. Piaget individual processes become social, Vygotsky social processes become individual 5. Piaget emphasis on peers, Vygotsky emphasis on adults (interactions) 6. Piaget development precedes learning, Vygotsky learning precedes development |
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What is meant by realism, according to Piaget's approach to children's understanding of mental states? |
Not distinguishing between things and thoughts about things (before 6-7? children may understand mental states earlier though) |
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What is meant by animism, according to Piaget's approach to children's understanding of mental states? |
Belief that inanimate things are alive and have thoughts, feelings, and intentions |
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What do preschoolers believe about thinking? |
- only people do it - brain necessary, brain inside our head - person thinking if strong & clear cues given - don't attribute mental activity to person sitting quietly, waiting, or person who is talking, reading, listening to stories |
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What is theory of mind? |
- a coherent understanding of others as mental beings - understanding that others' thoughts, feelings, and mental states guide behaviour |
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What does theory of mind allow children to do? |
1. understand mental processes like guessing/remembering, phenomena like tricking/deception/ secrets 2. predict what other people will do, how people will feel |
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What do newborns demonstrate about learning about other people? |
Understanding that there's something special about people - primed to interact |
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What do infants demonstrate about learning about other people at 8-12 months? |
Joint attention (monitor parents' gaze, attend to objects that parents gaze at), rudimentary understanding of intentionality Social referencing (visual cliff paradigm) Imitate what adults do with objects |
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When do children begin to understand that others may have different desires and wants? |
18-24 months |
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When might children test dimensions on which their desires conflict with parents' desires? |
2 years |
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True or false: children at 2 years old don't demonstrate empathy |
False - they comfort other children, nurse toys that have had an accident. BUT no representation of other people's belief states |
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What is desire psychology and when does it come about? |
Talking about what you want and explaining behaviour in terms of wants and desires. Begins about 2 |
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What is belief psychology and when does it come about? |
Understanding that behaviour is guided by what people believe and think rather than reality itself. Begins about 4 |
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What is reality psychology and when does it come about? |
Understanding the representational nature of beliefs but can't yet understand misrepresentations of reality. Begins about 3 |
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How can belief psychology be tested? |
False beliefs tasks such as the unexpected transfer task - present scenario in which character believes something that isn't true (4 year olds can't predict behaviour of character with false belief - still egocentric) |
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What three things does having a theory of mind imply? |
1. understand links between beliefs and behaviour 2. understand the logic of mental state language 3. understand that beliefs can be false |
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What is the nativist explanation of how a theory of mind develops? |
Neurological maturation - there are specialised mind reading processors in the brain (studies with autistic children cited to support this position) |
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What are two possible explanations for lack of theory of mind in autistic children |
1. abnormal brain development 2. lack of social interaction/conversation retards normal development of theory of mind |
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How does learning and experience aid the development of a theory of mind? |
- more advanced language development - older siblings - regular contact with extended family - parents talk about others' feelings in disciplinary situations - parents use language about feelings, intentions - mothers highly educated - secure attachment |
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Why do social factors influence theory of mind? |
- provide context in which children confronted with conflicting views - informal apprenticeship about the mind from older kin - provide contexts for internalising dialogue relating to differences in perspective |
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What are some issues with theory of mind to be clarified? |
1. what are the precise mechanisms? 2. what is the influence of the child's existing level of mental understanding? |
