1. Psychology of Music Learning
Miksza
Cognitivism Part I
Foundational Theories, Developmental Perspectives

2. Foundational cognitive theories
Tolman
Gestalt Psychologists
Piaget
Bruner
Assumptions of ‘contemporary cognitivism’

3. Edward Tolman Transition figure… Objectivity/Measurable events
Equipotentiality
The study of behavior should not be oversimplified
Reinforcement not always necessary for learning to occur
Latent learning…
Intervening/organismic variable must be considered
Links between behaviors and results begin to set up ‘expectancies’
Learning is not a set of independent events - but results in a body of organized information, or ‘cognitive maps’

4. Gestalt Psychology Theoretical Elements Gestalt - ‘structured whole’
the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts…
Against studying experiences in isolation of eachother
Perception is different than reality
Max Wertheimer - ‘Phi Phenomenon’ - ‘Kit’ from Night Rider
Muller-Lyer illusion
Ponzo illusion
Law of Pragnanz
Preciseness, terseness
Mnemonic - ‘pregnant with meaning’

5. Wolfgang Kohler The Mentality of Apes (1925)
The role of internal mental processes in problem solving
Intuition
Apes solving problems without ‘trial and error’

6. Kurt Koffka …with Wertheimer and Kohler…
Helped formalize principles of Gestalt Psychology
Perception: An Introduction to the Gestalt Theory (1922)
Proximity
Similarity
Common Fate/Direction
Good Continuation
Closure

7. Cognitivism - Developmental Perspectives
Piaget
Genetic Epistemology
Case studies/clinical method, his own children
Schema and operations
Egocentric to allocentric
Processes of assimilation and accommodation
Equilibration - equilibrium/disequilibrium

8. Piaget’s stages of development
Sensorimotor
SYMBOLIC THOUGHT
Properational
CONSERVATION
Concrete Operational
METACOGNITION
Formal Operations
Neo-Piaget - Post-Formal
RELATIVISM/ACROSS FIELDS
Consider age trends, characteristics, salient differences between stages

9. Stages of Development Implications Environment should support activity
Interactions with peers are important
Make children aware of conceptual conflicts and inconsistencies

10. Jerome Bruner The Process of Education (1960) Cognitive constructivist
Influenced heavily by Piaget
Elements of ZPD also…
Readiness
Enactive - Iconic - Symbolic
Spiral Organization
Learner active, exploring, creating…

11. Summary of Cognitivist Assumptions
Equipotentiality not always necessary
A focus on mental events/processes rather than exclusively behavior
Inferences about mental events/processes must be based on observable behaviors
Individuals active participants in learning and may construct their own knowledge
Learning may not necessarily be observable
Knowledge is organized