1. Chapter 7 Cognition

2. Chapter 7: Cognition
Cognition: the activity of knowing
Typical of humans throughout lifespan
Changes across the lifespan
Piaget and Vygotsky

3. Piaget
Genetic Epistemology
How we come to know reality
Clinical Method
Question and answer technique
Used to discover how children reason
Intelligence: How well we adapt
Schemes/cognitive structures
Represent reality

4. Piaget
Assimilation
Using existing schemes to interpret new experiences
E.g., Birds are things that fly
Accommodation
Modifying schemes to fit new experience
E.g., Butterflies are different than Birds even though they both fly

5. Piaget
Adaptation
Adjusting to the environment
Using assimilation and accommodation
Intelligence = Adaptation
Constructivism
Children construct own reality
use their experiences (schemes)

6. Piaget
Four stages/changes in ability to reason
Sensorimotor: birth to 2 years
Preoperational: 2 to 7 years
Concrete operations: 7 to 11 years
Formal operations: 12+ years
Invariant sequence
Rates may vary
Requires maturation and experience

7. Piaget
Sensorimotor Stage
Newborn uses reflexes to understand world
Eventually - mental representation
Object Permanence
Symbolic Capacity
Language

9. Figure 7.4 Some common tests of the child’s ability to conserve.

10. Preoperational Stage
Ages 2 – 7: preschool
May have imaginary companions
Egocentric thinkers
Problem solving limited
Classification and Seriation problems
Lack conservation
Perceptual salience
Irreversible thinking
Centration

11. Concrete Operations
Age 7-11
Can conserve
Decentration
Reversible thinking
Logical thinking (limited to reality)
Seriation and classification
Transitive thinking:
“ If J is taller than M, and M is taller than S, who is taller – J or S?”

12. Formal Operations
Adolescence/puberty
Logical thinking about ideas
Hypothetical and abstract thinking
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
Decontextual thinking
Ability to separate prior knowledge/beliefs from new evidence to the contrary

13. Formal Operations 2
Adolescent egocentrism
Differentiating own thoughts from others’
Imaginary audience
Also, learning to present themselves to a real audience
Personal fable
“No one has ever felt like this before!”
“I drive better when I’m drunk!”

14. Cognition in Adulthood
Formal operations requires
Normal intelligence
Higher education (scientific thinking)
Lower performance on formal operations
Use only in field of expertise
Postformal thought
Relativistic thinking: Labouvie-Vief
No absolute answer in many situations

15. Piaget
Contributions
Stimulated much research
Correct about cognitive development
Challenges
Underestimated competencies
Focused on performance not competence
Domain growth rather than stages
Social influences left out

16. Vygotsky
Emphasized the sociocultural context
Culture effects how and what we think
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Accomplishment with guidance
Where lessons should be aimed
Guided participation learning
Private speech/ guides behavior (3&4 yr olds)