PSYC 315: Week 2 ~ Theories of Cognitive Development

Who was Jean Piaget?

The first theorist to develop a broad theory of development from infancy → adulthood.

What is Piaget’s view of children’s nature?

Children are active learners who construct knowledge by trying to make sense of their environment.

What does constructivism mean in Piaget’s theory?

Children construct knowledge in response to their experiences rather than simply receiving knowledge from others.

What is empiricism?

The idea that knowledge is built from experience.

How does Piaget’s theory combine experience and development?

Thinking is constrained by both experiences and the child’s current developmental stage.

What is the “active child” in Piaget’s theory?

Children actively try to understand and make sense of their environment.

What did Piaget believe about children learning from others?

Children learn many important lessons by themselves rather than primarily through others’ instructions.

What motivates children to learn according to Piaget?

Children are intrinsically motivated to learn and do not require rewards from others.

What is Piaget’s view of nature vs. nurture?

Nature = maturation of brain/body; nurture = parents/caregivers and every experience the child encounters.

What are Piaget’s three learning mechanisms?

Assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.

What is assimilation?

Incorporating new information into an existing concept or form of knowledge.

What happens during assimilation?

A child encounters something new and fits it into existing knowledge/beliefs.

What is accommodation?

Revising existing knowledge or beliefs when a new experience challenges them.

What happens during accommodation?

The child changes their prior understanding to accommodate the new experience.

What is equilibration?

The process of balancing assimilation and accommodation.

How do assimilation and accommodation relate to continuity?

They are the main processes through which children continuously build and improve knowledge.

What are Piaget’s four stages?

Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.

What is distinctive about Piaget’s stages?

They are non-overlapping and involve qualitative differences in what children can do.

What characterizes many of Piaget’s stages?

They are often defined by what children are unable to do.

Why can’t children simply be instructed into the next Piagetian stage?

Stage differences reflect developmental limits that are not overcome through instruction alone.

What is the Sensorimotor stage and its age range?

Birth–2 years; reasoning is based on directly accessible sensory information and the “here and now.”

What supports cognition during the sensorimotor stage?

Reflexes and motor systems.

What is the major sensorimotor failure Piaget identified?

Object permanence.

What does “out of sight, out of mind” describe?

The failure to understand object permanence during the sensorimotor period.

What is the Preoperational stage and its age range?

2–7 years; children can reason symbolically but struggle with several forms of reasoning.

What new ability develops during the preoperational stage?

Symbolic reasoning, including using language and symbols to represent concepts.

What limits preoperational children’s reasoning?

They struggle to shift attention away from perceptually salient information.

What is egocentrism in Piaget’s theory?

Difficulty appreciating that other people can have perspectives different from one’s own.

What is the mountain problem?

A task showing preoperational children’s difficulty understanding another person’s visual perspective.

What is a false-belief problem?

A task testing whether children understand that another person can hold a belief that is false.

What did Piaget think preoperational children struggle with in false-belief tasks?

They struggle to understand that someone can maintain a false belief when the child knows the true state.

What is conservation?

Understanding that changing an object’s form does not necessarily change how much of it exists.

What are the three types of conservation noted in class?

Liquid quantity, solid quantity, and number.

What is transitivity?

Understanding relationships between objects through logical comparison.

Preoperational failures of transitivity

e.g. if Object A is longer than Object B, and Object B is longer than Object C, a preoperational child cannot mentally deduce that Object A must also be longer than Object C without seeing them directly compared next to each other.

What is appearance vs. reality?

Understanding that an object’s appearance may differ from its actual properties.

Preoperational failures of appearance vs. reality

Piaget suggests that children at the preoperational stage exhibit centration => can’t separate visual appearance with underlying reality

e.g. Maynard the cat - a dog mask was put on a polite cat’s face → children thought the cat would now bark and eat dog food

What is the Concrete Operational stage and its age range?

7–12 years; children become capable of more logical reasoning about concrete information.

What type of reasoning was associated with the concrete operational stage?

Deductive reasoning involving “if, then” statements.

What difficulty did children show with systematic testing?

They tended to choose randomly rather than using results from previous trials to guide later choices.

What is the Formal Operational stage and its age range?

Around 12 years and beyond.

What example was discussed for formal operational thinking?

Discussing possible consequences of risky behaviours - kids more likely to engage in these convos

What are major problems with Piaget’s constructivist stage theory?

Timing/utility of stages, poverty of experience, competence-performance distinction, and inconsistent timelines.

What is the competence-performance distinction?

A child’s failure on a task may not mean they lack the underlying knowledge or ability.

Why can’t children’s performance always show what they understand?

Task demands, framing, or external circumstances can interfere with how their understanding is demonstrated.

What did Piaget fail to consider about task performance?

That the way a question/task is framed or evaluated can affect observed performance.

What is the poverty of experience argument?

Children may possess knowledge before having enough experience to learn it through experience alone.

How does the poverty of experience argument relate to nativism?

It suggests some knowledge may be innate rather than entirely learned from experience.

How was Piaget’s object permanence task reframed?

An object was hidden and then removed; infants showed surprise, suggesting they knew it had existed.

What does evidence from object permanence tasks suggest?

Infants may understand that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.

What three aspects of object cognition were discussed?

Continuity, coherence, and contact.

What does object continuity involve?

Understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is not directly visible.

What does object coherence involve?

Having expectations about how objects behave and maintain their properties.

What does object contact involve?

Understanding events involving objects coming into contact and transfer of energy/movement.

How can preoperational egocentrism be challenged?

When measures do not require a verbal response, children may demonstrate understanding more successfully.

Do adults show egocentric errors?

Yes; adults can also make egocentric judgments.

What is the false consensus effect?

Underestimating or overestimating others’ knowledge based on how much knowledge we ourselves have.

What does evidence of adult egocentricity suggest about Piaget’s stages?

Some abilities may not fit neatly into fixed developmental stages.

What is one challenge to Piaget’s developmental timeline?

Evidence suggests children may demonstrate abilities earlier than Piaget proposed.

Why is the timing of Piaget’s stages questioned?

Children’s abilities can vary, making fixed age boundaries less consistent.

What was one strength of Piaget’s theory?

It provided explanations for children’s abilities and inabilities at different ages.

What was one weakness concerning culture?

Piaget assumed children across cultures would develop and think similarly.

What did Piaget underestimate?

Children’s capabilities.

What did Piaget underemphasize?

The social world and its influence on development.

Challenges to Piaget

1. cognitive performance distinction

2. poverty of experience

3. evidence for inconsistency of timeline

ethology

Evolution has shaped not only physical development but also psychology and behaviour.

What does an evolutionary perspective suggest about children’s knowledge?

Some knowledge may be innate rather than learned entirely through experience.

How does ethology contrast with Piaget?

Ethology emphasizes innate/evolved influences, whereas Piaget emphasizes constructing knowledge through experience.

Parental Investment Theory

Parents are more likely to invest in individuals they believe are their own children.

core-knowledge theory

The view that children possess innate knowledge in domains important to survival → **related to nature!!!!

How does core-knowledge theory differ from Piaget?

It proposes knowledge exists before relevant experience rather than being entirely constructed through experience.

What does core knowledge focus on?

Domains that were important throughout evolutionary history and survival.

What is the modularity approach to cognition?

The idea that different areas/domains of cognition perform different functions.

What did phrenology incorrectly attempt to show?

That personality and behaviour could be determined from areas of the scalp.

What useful idea does the phrenology example capture?

Different areas of the brain perform different functions.

What are the core-knowledge domains discussed in class?

1. Physics

2. Number

3. People/agency

4. Biology

5. Language

What is object cognition?

Knowledge/expectations about how objects behave that help us understand the environment.

What are the three components of object cognition?

Continuity, coherence, and contact.

What is the core-knowledge view of object cognition?

Innate knowledge provides a foundation for more advanced concepts learned later.

Bandura’s social learning theories

1. Learning through experience

2. Observation-imitation

What is the key mechanism of Bandura’s social learning theory?

Observation imitation.

What happens through observation and imitation?

Children observe people around them and imitate their behaviour.

When are children especially likely to model others?

In unfamiliar or novel situations.

What example illustrates observational learning in class?

A student may be more likely to raise their hand after seeing many others do so.

Vygotsky’s social learning theories

1. Zone of proximal development

2. Social scaffolding/Guided participation

3. Joint attention

4. Intersubjectivity

5. Social referencing

What did Vygotsky believe about Piaget’s theory?

Piaget underestimated how social influence can affect and advance development.

What does Vygotsky emphasize about human development?

Humans are social beings whose development occurs within relationships and social contexts.

Why is interpersonal context important to Vygotsky?

Relationships with others are a crucial part of understanding development.

What role does play have in Vygotsky’s theory?

Play is an important context for children’s development.

How does Vygotsky view culture?

Children are products of their culture, including its values and relationships.

What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?

The range between what a child can do independently and what they can do with optimal support.

What does the ZPD show about children’s abilities?

Abilities are not static; support can greatly increase what children can accomplish.

What is social scaffolding/guided participation?

A more competent person provides temporary support that helps a child reach higher-order thinking.

What can social scaffolding involve?

Examples, alternative explanations, and temporary frameworks for understanding.

What is modeling in the sociocultural approach?

A more passive form of learning where behaviour is observed and replicated → modeller doesn’t think they’re intentionally modelling any behaviour

What is joint attention?

Intentional focus by two people on a common referent.

Why is joint attention important for scaffolding?

Social scaffolding is effective when learner and teacher share attention toward the same referent.

What is intersubjectivity?

The learner shares the understanding that the person providing scaffolding wants them to develop.

What does successful intersubjectivity mean?

The learner grasps the concept being taught.

What is social referencing?

Looking to others to determine how to respond to an unfamiliar or uncertain event.