Psych 3.4

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Jean Piaget

Swiss psychologist (1896-1980) who proposed theories of children's cognitive stage development

Schema

A concept, developed through experience and learning, that helps to organize and interpret unfamiliar information

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas; tying new knowledge into our current understandings

Accommodation

Adapting our current schemas to incorporate new knowledge

Sensorimotor stage

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Object permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Preoperational stage

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

Conservation

The principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Reversibility

A mental operation that reverses a sequence of events or restores a changed state of affairs to the original condition

Theory of mind

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states – about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

Concrete operational stage

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

Formal operational stage

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Lev Vygotsky

Russian psychologist (1896-1934) who emphasized how cognitive development happens through interaction with the surrounding social-cultural environment

Scaffold

In Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of learning

Zone of proximal development

Vygotsky’s concept that describes the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable person

Fluid intelligence (Gf)

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly with new information; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood

Crystallized intelligence (Gc)

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Dementia

A chronic and persistent disorder that deteriorates parts of the brain responsible for thinking, memory, and behavior