Module 47

Infancy and Childhood - Cognitive Development

reasoned that children think/rationalize differently than a test because they all shared very similar incorrect answers. Minds develop in stages from simple reflexes to an adult’s abstract reasoning

Piaget

Piaget’s Core Idea: the driving force behind our intellectual progression is a constant struggle to

make sense of our experiences

the maturing brain builds these to make sense of our experiences

schemas

Concepts proposed by Piaget to explain how we use and adjust schemas

assimilate, accomodate

we interpret experiences in terms of our current schemas

assimilate

we incorporate information provided by new experiences and refine schemas

accomodate

Driving force behind intellectual development

biological development with environmental experiences

Cognitive developed is shaped by our

errors

from birth to age 2. Babies take in the world through senses and actions, lacking object permanence. The older they get, the longer they look for things.

Sensorimotor stage

infants stare longer at something violating

physics

if accustomed to seeing someone jump three times, babies are --- at only 2

surprised

2 to 6/7

Representing things with words and images. Use intuitive reasoning rather than logical reasoning. Pretend play, egocentrism, language development.

preoperational

7 to 11

Thinking logically about concrete events, grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetic. Conservation, mathematical transformations

Change in form does not equal change in quantity

Concrete operation

12 through adulthood

abstract reasoning and logic. Potential for mature moral reasoning

hypotheticals and consequence deductions; occurs earlier than Piaget thought

formal operational

underlying ASD symptoms is

poor communication between brain regions allowing us to take another’s viewpoint

Baren-Cohen believes that ASD is an extreme ___, as the other tends to be more empathetic

male mind

If exposed to abnormal levels of testosterone in the womb, babies become more

masculine and autistic

By 7, children use language to control behavior/emotion and master new skills through the social environment, rather than Piaget’s physical interaction. New words create a scaffold for children to think.

Vygotsky’s Scaffolding

between what a child can and cannot do, meaning what they can do with help

zone of proximal development

people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states

theory of mind

disorder appearing in childhood that is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive disorders

ASD

infants experiment with their own bodies

primary circular reactions

infants respond to other people or objects

secondary circular reactions

explore the outside world by causing events accidently, then intentionally

tertiary circular reactions

single words around the age of one

holographic speech

Today’s researchers believe

Development is continuous

Children express mental abilities earlier in life

Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition

In Scaffolding, Vygotsky believed children needed social interaction, and would not move to the next level of understanding without

role models