1. LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT6
A Topical Approach to
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
Cognitive Developmental Approaches
John W. Santrock

2. Piagetian Processes: Schemes
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piagetian Processes: Schemes
Actions or mental representations that organize knowledge

3. Piaget: Assimilation and Accommodation
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget: Assimilation and Accommodation
Assimilation—Incorporating new information into existing knowledge schemes
Accommodation—Adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences

4. Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
First of Piaget’s stages
Lasts from birth to about 2 years
Infants construct understanding of world by coordinating sensory experiences with motoric actions

5. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Object Permanence
Understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen, heard, or touched
One of infant’s most important accomplishments

6. Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
New research techniques suggest Piaget’s theory need to be modified:
Some abilities develop earlier
Transitions not as clear-cut as Piaget suggested
AB error
Can be more specific now than Piaget could

7. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Preoperational Stage
Second Piagetian developmental stage
Lasts from about 2 to 7 years of age
Children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings.
Operations—internalized sets of actions that allow children to do mentally what before they had done physically

8. The Three Mountains Task
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Three Mountains Task

9. The Symbolic Function Substage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Symbolic Function Substage
Symbolic function
First substage of preoperational thought; young child gains ability to represent mentally an object that is not present (2-4 years)
Egocentrism
Inability to distinguish between one’s own and someone else’s perspective
Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
Animism

10. The Intuitive Thought Substage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The Intuitive Thought Substage
Children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to all sorts of questions (4-7 years)
Centration—focusing attention on one characteristic to exclusion of others
Conservation—idea that an amount stays the same regardless of changes in its appearance. Lacking in preoperational stage

11. Piaget’s Conservation Task
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Conservation Task

12. Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
Piaget’s third stage (7-11 years)
Children can perform operations
Logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning as long as the reasoning can be applied to specific, concrete examples

13. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Horizontal Décalage
Piaget’s concept that similar abilities do not appear at the same time within a stage of development
Example: not all conservation abilities emerge at the same time

14. Classification Skills
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Classification Skills
Seriation—ordering stimuli along quantitative dimension
Transitivity—if relation holds between a first object and a second object, and holds between the second object and a third object, then it holds between first object and third object

15. Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
Individuals move beyond concrete experiences and think in more abstract and logical ways (11-15 years)
Abstract, Idealistic, and Logical Thinking
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning—adolescents have cognitive ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and can systematically deduce best path to follow in solving problem

16. Adolescent Egocentrism
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Adolescent Egocentrism
Heightened self-consciousness of adolescents
Imaginary audience—belief that others are as interested in them as they are. Involves attention-getting behavior motivated by desire to be noticed, visible, and “on stage”
Personal fable—adolescent’s sense of uniqueness and invincibility

17. Piaget and Education Take a constructivist approach
Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Piaget and Education
Take a constructivist approach
Facilitate, rather than direct, learning
Consider the child’s knowledge and level of thinking
Use ongoing assessment
Promote the student’s intellectual health
Turn the classroom into a setting of exploration and discovery

18. Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Criticisms
Some estimates of timing of children’s abilities inaccurate
Development not uniformly stagelike
Effects of training
Culture and education influence development
Contributions
New way of looking at children

19. Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Social constructivist approach—emphasis on social contexts of learning and construction of knowledge through social interaction

20. The ZPD and Scaffolding
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
The ZPD and Scaffolding
Zone of Proximal Development
Tasks too difficult for children to master alone but that can be mastered with assistance
Scaffolding
Changing support over course of a teaching session to fit child’s current performance level

21. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

22. Vygotsky’s Theory: Language and Thought
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky’s Theory: Language and Thought
Believed young children use language to plan, guide, and monitor behavior
Language & thought initially develop independently, then merge
Private speech
Self talk

23. Teaching Strategies based on Vygotsky’s Theory
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Teaching Strategies based on Vygotsky’s Theory
Assess and use child’s ZPD
Use more-skilled peers as teachers
Monitor and encourage private speech
Instruction in meaningful context
Transform classroom

24. Piaget’s View of Adult Cognition
Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
Piaget’s View of Adult Cognition
Thinking qualitatively same as adolescent’s - formal operational
Adults have more knowledge
Research shows:
Many don’t reach formal operations until adulthood
Many adults don’t use formal operational thinking

25. Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
Compared to adolescents, thinking of young adults is more:
Realistic - Idealism decreases in face of real world constraints
Pragmatic - Switch from acquiring knowledge to applying it
Reflective and Relativistic - Move away from absolutist thinking of adolescence

26. Post-Formal Thought Reflective, relativistic, and contextual
Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
Post-Formal Thought
Reflective, relativistic, and contextual
Provisional
Realistic
Open to emotions and subjective