Lecture 03 - Theories of Cognitive Develop

What did Piaget believe about children?

‘child is active in his/her cognitive development’

metaphor of child scientist

Children are naturally curious and create theories about how the world works

What are children schemas?

mental structures or concepts in the child’s mind

How do schemas influence our world and perception of it?

schemas:

influence what we pay attention to

impact how quickly people learn

simplify the world

allow us to think quickly

change how we interpret incoming info

Can schemas be difficult to change?

yes!

What are 4 types of schemas that we have give an example.

for people (behaviours, preferences)

social schemas (‘be respectful’)

self-schemas (how you see yourself)

event schemas (handshake, professionalism)

What is the schema triple A?

adaptation

assimilation

accommodation

What is schema adaptation?

building schemas through direct interaction with environment

What is schemas assimilation?

using current schemas to interpret the external world

What is schema accommodation?

adjusting old schemas and creating new ones to better fit environment

Give schema example of child liking to bang things on table:

babies have favourite scheme of banging things on table to explore objects (adaptation)

baby tries banging new item: a cup (assimilation)

baby tries banging new item: egg and it breaks (accommodation)

What are Piaget’s four stages of Cognitive Development? With ages:

sensorimotor → birth-2 years

pre-operational → 2-7 years

concrete operational → 7-11 years

formal operational → 11-15 years

What is sensorimotor stage?

infant progresses from reflexive instinctual action at birth to beginning of symbolic thought

infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions

What is pre-operational stage?

child begins to represent world with words and images

words/images reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond sensory info and physical action

e.g. child can navigate miniature model of spaces

What is the concrete operational stage?

child can now reason logically about concrete event (not hypothetical)

can classify objects into sets

• e.g. these are all vegetables

What is formal operational stage?

adolescent reasons in more abstract and logical ways 

thought is more idealistic 

How many substages are there of sensorimotor stage?

6 substages

What is substage 1: Simple reflexes

Simple reflexes

first month

reflexes that determine infant’s interactions with the world are at centre of cognitive life

e.g. sucking reflex causes infant to suck on anything placed at lips

What is substage 2: First habits and primary circular reactions?

from 1-4 months

infants begin to coordinate what were separate actions into single, integrated activities

e.g. combine grasping an object with sucking on it

What is substage 3: Secondary circular reactions?

from 4-8 months

infants might take major strides in shifting cognitive functions beyond themselves and begin acting on outside world

e.g. child picks up rattle and shakes it in different ways to see how sound changes

• modifying cognitive scheme about shaking rattles

What is substage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions?

from 8-12 months

infants begin to use more calculated approaches

coordinate several schemes to generate single act

achieve object performance

e.g. infant will push one toy out of way to reach another toy that is lying partially exposed under it

What is substage 5: Tertiary circular reactions

from 12-18 months

infants develop deliberate variations of action that bring desirable consequences

infants carry out miniature experiments to observe consequences

e.g. child drops toy repeatedly, varying position to observe where it falls each time

What is substage 6: Beginnings of thought?

from 18 months-2 years

capacity for mental representation or symbolic thought

infants can imagine where objects that they cannot see might be

e.g. if ball rolls under couch, infants can figure out where it is likely to emerge

What do infants believe about object permanence at 1-4 months?

infants believe that objects no longer exist when they disappear from view

What is object permanence?

• understanding that objects exist independently of oneself and one’s actions

  • aka start to know that objects still exist even if they disappear from view

  • this is why before this age, children love peak-a-boo

What is the A-not-B experiment in child development, and what does the A-not-B error show?

• Task: Toy is repeatedly hidden at A, then hidden at B while infant watches.

• Infants often still reach to A → A-not-B error.

• Shows developing object permanence

What is a key criticism of Piaget’s account of sensorimotor thought (object permanence)?

Object permanence may develop earlier than Piaget proposed, and performance depends on task design

In Piaget’s hidden object task, what factors improve infant success?

Shorter delay between hiding and searching, and containers that are easy to distinguish

What did Baillargeon’s possible vs. impossible event studies show?

At 4.5 months, infants look longer at impossible events, suggesting surprise and earlier object knowledge

What did the Violation of Expectancy (carrot) experiment demonstrate?

Infants looked longer when the tall carrot did not appear in the window (unexpected event), showing early understanding of object permanence

What are ‘children’s theories’?

children have naive theories about things

these develop in order for them to understand the world

What is children’s naive physics (3-4 months) theory?

object cannot go through walls

objects move along continuous paths

What is children’s naive physics (6 month) theory?

objects move when collided with

What is children’s naive biology theory? BUT what might they believe about computer virus?

only animate objects eat and drink (dolls can’t!)

But they still may think a computer is sick with virus, until they understand difference between biological virus and computer virus

What was Vygotsky’s Theory?

children’s development is a result of social interaction and cultural context

• these are inseperable

What is the zone of proximal development?

the difference between what someone can do alone and with help from someone else

What is scaffoling?

teaching style that matches assistance to learner’s needs

What is private speech?

Out-loud self-talk used to regulate one’s own behaviour

What is inner speech?

The internalized form of private speech

Vygotsky’s term for thought

What are the basic features of info-processing theory?

• people and computers are both symbol processors

• mental hardware = sensory, working, long-term memory

• BRAIN AS COMPUTER

What is the general flow of information through the memory system (according to the information processing model)?

Stimulus input → Sensory register → Attention → Short-term memory → Storage → Long-term memory → Response output

What is the sensory register, and how long does it last?

Sensory memory that lasts only a few seconds; we select certain info to attend to

What are some types of sensory memory?

echoic (sound), iconic (visual - sparklers), haptic (touch)

What is working memory?

Memory that lets us hold and use information while doing something else

• limited time and info

What is the role of the central executive in memory?

It is the conscious part of memory; decides what to remember and directs attention

How is the brain compared to a computer in information processing models?

• Input devices = sensory input

• RAM = working memory

• CPU = central executive (directs and manipulates info)

• Storage = long-term memory

What are the core knowledge theories?

much knowledge is general

there are distinctive domains of knowledge and some acquired early in life

some forms of knowledge are so important to survival that learning them is simplified

children rapidly acquire language and knowledge of objects, living things, peopel

Do babies understand objects earlier than Piaget proposed?

yes

• infants rapidly create reasonably accurate theories of some basic properties of objects

• they form categories to organize objects by properties and function

What was Baillargeon’s experiment with showing possible /impossible events with a physical object?

testing objects permanence in young infants 

What do infants and toddlers use to discriminate/identify animate objects?

motion

In preschool years (age 4), what naive biology theories do children understand?

movement

growth

internal parts

inheritance

illness

healing

What is their understanding of inheritance?

they learn that kids look like their parents

What are two key concepts in children's understanding of living things?

1. Teleological Explanations – Children believe living things and their parts exist for a purpose (e.g., "Birds have wings to fly")

• "Teleological" means purpose-driven

2. Essentialism – Children believe that all living things have an underlying essence that makes them what they are (e.g., a dog has a "dog-ness" that defines it)

Why does it take children longer to realize that plants are living?

They think about characteristics of living things but plants don't always fit in so obviously

What is folk pscyhology?

informal beliefs about other people and their behaviour

• 'Why is he doing this? Because he is this way'

When do children show increasing theory of mind? What is theory of mind?

• Understanding that people have different desires

• Understanding that behaviour is based on a person's beliefs even when those beliefs are wrong

• Understanding that people may feel one emotion but show another

develops between 2-5

Who helps with development of children’s theory of mind?

parents

• Parents say: "I can see you're thinking about it"

• Parents say "I can see that you're very sad" (Oh! That’s what feeling sad is)

What is metacognition?

thinking about your own cognition/thinking

What is the Sally Anne task and what does it show?

demonstrates if the child has achieved theory of mind

• If child has achieved theory of mind they will say in the basket

  • You have to put yourself in the mind of a child

  • Take a perspective of Sally

• Children start doing this at about 4-5 years old

• Precursor to empathy later on

At what age do children have a naive understanding of math?

at 5 years old

children are surprised when screen drops and there’s only one mouse