3.4 Cognitive Development

Schemas

Mental frameworks or organized patterns of thought that help people interpret new information, remember experiences, and understand the world.

Assimilation

The process of fitting new information into an existing schema without changing that schema much.

Accommodation

The process of changing an existing schema or creating a new one when new information does not fit.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget’s first stage of development, when infants learn through their senses, reflexes, and physical actions, from birth to about age 2.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight, which develops during infancy.

Separation Anxiety

Distress or fear shown by infants or young children when a caregiver leaves or is no longer present.

Stranger Anxiety

Fear or caution shown by infants when they encounter unfamiliar people.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget’s stage from about ages 2 to 7, marked by symbolic thinking, imagination, and limited logical reasoning.

Conservation

The understanding that quantity stays the same even when shape, size, or appearance changes.

Reversibility

The ability to mentally reverse an action or thought process and understand that a change can be undone.

Animism

The belief that inanimate objects have human feelings, intentions, or lifelike qualities.

Egocentrism

Difficulty seeing things from another person’s point of view; children tend to understand the world mainly from their own perspective.

Theory of Mind

The understanding that other people have thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and perspectives that may differ from one’s own.

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget’s stage from about ages 7 to 11, when children begin thinking logically about concrete events and real situations.

Two-dimensional thinking

A type of thinking in which a person focuses on only one aspect of a problem or object at a time.

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget’s final stage, beginning around age 12, when abstract, logical, and systematic reasoning become possible.

Abstract Thinking

The ability to think about ideas, concepts, and possibilities that are not tied to physical objects or immediate experience.

Hypothetical Thinking

The ability to consider “what if” situations and reason about possibilities that have not actually happened.

Vygotsky

A psychologist who argued that cognitive development is shaped through social interaction, language, and cultural experience.

Sociocultural perspective

The view that learning and thinking develop through interaction with other people, language, and the surrounding culture.

Scaffolding

Temporary guidance or support from a more knowledgeable person that helps a learner complete a task and gradually become independent.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The range between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with help from someone more skilled.