Cognitive Development: Piaget's Theory and Vygotsky's Sociocultural Viewpoint — Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key Piagetian concepts and Vygotskian sociocultural ideas from the notes.

Genetic epistemology

Piaget's approach—the experimental study of the origin of knowledge, often using naturalistic observation

Intelligence (Piaget)

A basic life function that helps an organism adapt to the environment, linked to cognitive equilibrium and the constructivist view that knowledge is built by the child

Cognitive equilibrium

Balance between one’s thought processes and the environment

Constructivist approach

The idea that the child constructs knowledge through interaction with the world

Schemes

Mental patterns (patterns of thought and action) used to organize experiences

Organization (Piaget)

The process of combining existing schemes into more complex structures

Adaptation

Adjustment to the environment, including assimilation and accommodation

Assimilation

Incorporating new information into existing schemes

Accommodation

Modifying existing schemes to fit new information

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget’s first stage (0–2 years): knowledge develops through senses and motor actions

Object permanence

Understanding that objects continue to exist even when not visible

Symbolic representation

Use of internal symbols (images or words) to represent objects/events; includes deferred imitation

Deferred imitation

Imitating a behavior after a delay, showing symbolic representation

Reflexive substage

0–1 month; reflexes are modified by environmental demands

Primary circular reactions

1–4 months; repetitive actions centered on the infant’s body

Genetic epistemology

Piaget's approach—the experimental study of the origin of knowledge, often using naturalistic observation

Coordination of secondary circular schemes

8–12 months; coordinating actions to achieve simple goals; intentional behavior emerges.

Tertiary circular reactions

12–18 months; active experimentation and trial-and-error to solve problems.

Invention of new means through mental combinations

18–24 months; symbolic problem solving and deferred imitation indicating internal thought.

Preoperational period

2–7 years; emergence of symbolic function, language, and representational insight.

Conservation

Understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance.

Centration

Focusing on a single perceptual aspect of a situation, often leading to errors.

Egocentrism

Difficulty adopting others’ viewpoints; seeing the world from one’s own perspective.

Animism

Attributing life-like qualities to inanimate objects.

Transductive reasoning

Inferring a causal connection between two events based on appearance or proximity rather than logic.

Seriation

Ability to order objects by a quantitative dimension (e.g., length or size).

Transitivity

Understanding relationships among objects in a sequence (A > B and B > C ⇒ A > C).

Concrete operational stage

7–11 years; logical thinking about concrete objects; mastery of conservation, seriation, and transitivity.

Decentering

Ability to consider multiple aspects of a problem simultaneously.

Reversibility

Ability to mentally reverse or undo an action.

Horizontal decalage

Uneven development of conservation across tasks that require similar operations.

Appearance–reality distinction

Difficulty distinguishing how things look from how they actually are.

Dual encoding

Representing an object in more than one way at a time.

Formal operations

11 years or older; thinking becomes capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning and abstract thought.

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning

Forming and testing hypotheses to draw logical conclusions.

Deductive and inductive reasoning

Formal-operational ability to reason from general principles to specifics and from specifics to generalizations.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective

Cognitive development arises in a social context through dialogue with more knowledgeable others and culturally developed tools.

Tools of intellectual adaptation

Culture-specific tools (e.g., language, counting systems) that transform basic mental functions into higher mental processes.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Difference between what a learner can do alone and what can be done with guidance.

Scaffolding

Support tailored to the learner’s current level, gradually removed as competence increases.

Guided participation / Apprenticeship

Learning through active participation with more capable others; social context shapes development.

Cognitive apprenticeship

A form of apprenticeship where cognitive skills are learned through guided participation and modeling.

Social speech

External speech used to communicate with others during learning.

Private speech

Self-talk used to guide one’s own performance; often becomes inner speech.

Inner speech

Internalized private speech; thinking in words without vocalization.

Zone of cultural variation in development

Differences in developmental trajectories across cultures due to social and instructional practices.