Cognitive Development I

What is Cognition? Knowing It involves: attending remembering symbolizing categorizing planning reasoning problem solving creating fantasizing

Cognitive Development according to Piaget Cognitive Development according to Vygotsky

Piaget From the mouths of babes Lions and Mailmen

Piaget From the mouths of babes Lions and Mailmen Piaget’s sample size Basic drive to make sense of the world Passive vs Active

Key points in Piagetian Theory Scheme/schema- an internal framework that organizes information and provides structure for interpreting that information Adaptation- to make sense of the world, something in us must change Assimilation- world interpreted through existing schemes. Focus on similarities Examples- Daddy, kitty cat Accommodation- schemes changed or developed to fit new information. Focus on differences Examples- mail man, lion 2 Types

What is a tree?

Cognitive Change- What is the Source? Where does cognitive change come from? Internal process Purpose of adaptation is to preserve what we know and what we are experiencing

Cognitive Change- Who is the Agent of Change? Socially, peers are important agents of change Play (same age) helps develop problem solving skills- trial and error

Cognitive Change- Influence of Language Doesn’t really matter for cog dev Cog dev  language language is a form of

Cognitive Change- Influence of Culture Little to no influence Cog dev. occurs in stages ALL children go through same stages

4 primary stages of cog dev Sensorimotor Development (0-2 years) Begins with reflexive behavior and ends with planful or intentional actions and symbolic thought. Primarily focused on NOW Pre-operational (2-7 years) Pre-conceptual (2-4 years)- Distinguished by symbolic logic (language), egocentrism (can’t take another’s perspective), animism.- Magical beliefs Egocentrism video- QuickTimeQuickTime

4 primary stages of cog dev Pre-operational Intuitive (4-7 years)- Distinguished by categorization- limited to immediately relevant stimuli features. By the end can categorize into multiple features-Think “blocks” or Hobby collections Beginnings of perspective taking (theory of mind)- At the end you see the very beginnings of “conservation” with training, but “centration” occurs frequently without Mental manipulations on the HERE and NOW, but lack “reversibility”

Where would you put your third eye?

4 primary stages of cog dev Concrete operations (7-11 years) Mental manipulations- more complex. Has deductive reasoning about concrete events but not abstract thoughts and examples. Conservation video Can complete all other conservation tasks- number, length, mass, weight, volume… displacement (“which is more??”) Indicative of decentration and reversibility

Conservation (and lack of) in Action

4 primary stages of cog dev Formal Operations (11+)- Characterized by abstract thought, abstract reasoning, hypothetical- deductive reasoning. Pendulum problem Deductive Reasoning Mental manipulation of imaginary Propositional thought Object in my hand

Are either one, both, or none true? Either the clasp in my hand is green or it is not green. The clasp in my hand is green and it is not green

4 primary stages of cog dev Formal Operations (11+)- Characterized by abstract thought, abstract reasoning, hypothetical- deductive reasoning. Pendulum problem Deductive Reasoning Mental manipulation of imaginary Propositional thought Object in my hand Adolescent egocentrism- Imaginary Audience and the personal fable Pimples “you just don’t understand” Once formal operations always formal operations?

Sensorimotor Stages

Sensorimotor Reflexes (birth-1 month)- spontaneous, involuntary, respond to novelty with programmed response. For example, put something in the infants mouth, she will begin sucking Primary circular reactions (2-4 mo) Discovers behavior by chance. Accidental behavior; but if reinforced it’s repeated (hence, “circular”). Actions are centered on infants own body. i.e. Sucking a thumb when placed in his mouth.

Sensorimotor stages Secondary circular reactions (4-8 mo) Behaviors still discovered by chance. But, centered outside the body. Actions are on objects and intended to achieve goals. e.g. foot on the mobile. Does not understand object permanence by seeking out objectobject permanence

Sensorimotor Stages Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12 mo) characterized by intentional/purposeful behavior: anticipating/adapting to “get” Combines two previous behaviors into more complex behavior (crawling). Tool Use Early- Not consistent in understanding and searching out hidden objects. Though “Object Permanence” is beginning to form-“Peekaboo”. Late- Will search for fully hidden objects, Sometimes victim to the A not B error.

A-not-B error FailPass

Sensorimotor stages Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 mo) Characterized by the invention of new problem solving methods with objects. Will experiment or use trial & error. Doesn’t make the A not B error. But will make error if object displacement is not seen. Symbolic Problem Solving (18-21 mo) Can perform mental manipulations for simple problems. Can problem solve mentally. Object permanence is fully developed. NO A not B error, even if object displacement is implied.

See Website for Imitation According to Piagetian Stages Bring any questions about Piagetian Imitation to Review Session. Piagetian Imitation WILL be on the exam.

Sensorimotor Stages