Chapter 13 - Cognitive Development in Childhood

Chutes and Ladders

A numerical board game that seems to be useful for building numerical knowledge.

Concrete operations stage

Piagetian stage between ages 7 and 12 when children can think logically about concrete situations but not engage in systematic scientific reasoning.

Conservation problems

Problems pioneered by Piaget in which physical transformation of an object or set of objects changes a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity that is being asked about.

Continuous development

Ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather than through sudden jumps.

Depth perception

The ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself of objects in the environment.

Discontinuous development

Discontinuous development

Formal operations stage

Piagetian stage starting at age 12 years and continuing for the rest of life, in which adolescents may gain the reasoning powers of educated adults.

Information processing theories

Theories that focus on describing the cognitive processes that underlie thinking at any one age and cognitive growth over time.

Nature

The genes that children bring with them to life and that influence all aspects of their development.

Numerical magnitudes

The sizes of numbers.

Nurture

The environments, starting with the womb, that influence all aspects of children’s development.

Object permanence task

The Piagetian task in which infants below about 9 months of age fail to search for an object that is removed from their sight and, if not allowed to search immediately for the object, act as if they do not know that it continues to exist.

Phonemic awareness

Awareness of the component sounds within words.

Piaget’s theory

Theory that development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Preoperational reasoning stage

Period within Piagetian theory from age 2 to 7 years, in which children can represent objects through drawing and language but cannot solve logical reasoning problems, such as the conservation problems.

Qualitative changes

Large, fundamental change, as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly; stage theories such as Piaget’s posit that each stage reflects qualitative change relative to previous stages.

Quantitative changes

Gradual, incremental change, as in the growth of a pine tree’s girth.

Sensorimotor stage

Period within Piagetian theory from birth to age 2 years, during which children come to represent the enduring reality of objects.

Sociocultural theories

Theory founded in large part by Lev Vygotsky that emphasizes how other people and the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture influence children’s development.

nature

Ultimate causes of behavior: influenced by genes, evolution, and adaptation

Nurture

Proximal causes of behavior: influenced by learning, experiences, and socialization

Stage theories

❖ development unfolds in a
particular order
➢specific characteristics
and patterns of
behavior are
demonstrated during a
particular period of
development
❖ progression is strongly
related to age
❖ behavior changes
qualitatively across
stage

Piaget’s Stage Theory

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
❖ believed skills are
domain-general
❖ attempted to identify the
stages that children pass
through as they move
towards adult-like
cognitive abilities
❖ children aren’t
miniature adults
➢ interaction with the
environment and
maturation gradually
alter the way
children think

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
❖ Believed cognitive development
was based on:
➢ Social interactions
■ intellectual development
is a social process that
occurs through
interaction
➢ Language
■ main means by which
adults transmit
information to children
■ tool for intellectual
adaptation
❖ Theory: the attitudes, values, &
beliefs of a surrounding culture
influence children’s development

Information Processing Theory

David Klah
❖ Compared humans to a computer
processing system
➢ saw the child as a problem
solver with a limited
processing system capacity
❖ Theory focuses on the structure of
the cognitive system and the
mental activities used to solve
problems
➢ aging = more experiences =
better planning/problem
solving

Knowledge theory

children have innate
knowledge in areas with
special evolutionary
importance and domain-
specific learning
mechanisms for quickly and
effortlessly acquiring
information

Dynamic Systems Theory

focuses on how change takes
place over time in complex
physical and biological systems
❖ continuous change is occurring
across development
❖ children are internally motivated
to learn about the world around
them, which is also the motivation
for development
❖ development is a self-organizing
process
➢ adaptation occurs to a
continuously changing
environment

Sensorimotor Stage

birth-2 yo

Intelligence in action:
child interacts with
environment by
manipulating objects;
object permanence

Preoperational Reasoning

2-6/7 yo

Thinking dominated by
perception & is egocentric, but
child becomes more capable of
symbolic functioning;
conservation problem; language
development occurs

Concrete Operational

6/7-11/12 yo

Logical reasoning
only applied to
objects that are real
or can be seen

Formal Operational

11/12-lifetime

Individual can think
logically about
potential events or
abstract ideas;
advanced reasoning