tutorial 4: cognitive development

how does piaget define intelligence?

basic life function that helps us adapt to environment

what is “cognitive equilibrium”?

balance between out thought processes and the environment

• its the goal of intellectual activity

according to piaget how is cognitive growth stimulated?

by cognitive disequilibrium → mismatches in mental schemes

what does organization mean in PIagets theory?

combining existing schemes into more complex ones to better adapt knowledge base to the environment

what are the two component of adapatation/ gaining new knowledge?

assimilation and accommodation

what is assimilation?

making novel stimuli fit into the aöready existing schemes

what is accomodation?

modifying already existing schemes so it can accomodat for the new stimulus/experience

what are the four stages of cognitive development according to piaget?

• sensorimotor stage (birth-2)

• preoperational stage (2-7)

• concrete operational stage (7-11)

• formal operational stage (11 onwards)

what are the six substages of the sensorimotor stage?

1. reflex activity (0-1month)

2. primary circulatory reactions (1-4 months)

3. secondary circulatory reactions (4-8 months)

4. coordination of secondary circulatory reactions (8-12 months)

5. tertiary circular reacti(12-18 months)

6. symbolic problem solving (18-24 months)

what is deferred imitation and when is it developed?

imitating an absent models behaviour

develops in the sensorimotor stage , after 18-24 months

when does object permanence develop?

fully developed after 18-24 months

( the concept emerges already at 8-12 months though)

transition from sensorimotor to preoperational stage

what is the “A not B error”?

looking for the hidden object where you last foung it and not where you last saw it

(happens during development of object permanence)

• usually at 8-12 months

how far developed is the object permanence at 12-18 months?

look for objects where they were last seen but dont understand invisible displacement yet

what is Neo-Nativism?

suggests that babies are born with some innate knowledge (eg. language)

what are theory theories?

a combination of neo-nativism and constructivism

• children are born with some basic knowledge and then during development test and modify these theories

what is representational insight and when is it developed ?

• understanding that something can stand for something other than itself

• developed in the preoperational stage

what is dual representational insight?

understanding that something can be both an object in itself and also represent something else

what did Judy de Loache fidn out about symbolism?

• at 3 years old children could use the 3D model of a a room to find a snoopy in the real room

• children younger than 3 couldnt find the snoopy in the real room because they didnt have representational insight yet and didnt understand the model was a 3D room

• → 2 ½ could do it with a photo instead

• → 2 year olds couldnt even find it with the photo

what is animism?

thinking that inanimate objects are aliveand have feelings or intentions.

what is Egocentrism?

not being able to understand that people have a different perspective from yourself

what is dual encoding?

understanding that the same object can be represented in multiple ways at the same time and it still satys teh same object

which ttwo abilities do preoperational children lack that are required for conservation?

• dencentration = focusing on more than one aspect/dimension at a time

• reversability = mentally reverse an option

what is “identity training” ?

teaching children conservation by helping them understand that the object stays the same even if the appearance of it changes

what is the opposite of decentration?

perception-based-thought = making judgements on appearance of things and only one aspect

what are two aspects of relational logic?

• mental seriation

• transitivity

what is mental seriation?

ability to mentally ordering a set of stimuli along a quantifiable dimension

what is transitivity?

understanding neccessary relation between items in a serial order

hwat does the sequencing of concrete operations refer to ?

cognitive operations are formed gradually

→ easier ones are first consolidated, than reorganized and combine to form more complex operations

what is “horizontal decalage”?

uneven cognitive development of the child

what are formal operations (compared to concrete operations)?

formal operations= mental actions performed on ideas and propositions (instead of tangible objects and observations)

what are some negative aspects of the formal operational stage?

• resurging egocentrism => self-consciousness

• extreme fascination with ideals

• “imaginary audience” => feeling observed and judged

what is hypothetico deductive reasoning?

• deductive reasoning = going from general ideas to specific conclusions (top-down)

• ability to think hypothetically, not needing to know all facts to think about something

what is inductive reasoning?

• going from specific observations to broad generalizations

• → testing hypothesis systematically and isolating factors to come to sound conclusions

what are the four levels development occurs on according to Vygotsky?

• ontogenetic = changes happening during lifetime

• microgenetic = changes happening in brief periods of life

• phylogenetic = change shappening throughout evolution

• sociohistorical = changes in the history of a culture

what is the zone of proximal development?

range of things that are too difficult to master alone but can be learned with guidance

what is scaffolding?

tailoring support to the current situation of the child

what is shared remembering?

remembering things out of their context with guidance from parent (talking about the slide from the playground while being home)

what are “self-directed utterances”?

term used by piaget for the child talking to itself

→ piaget beliefs that this is simply a relfection of ongoing mental activity and a sign of immaturity

what is “private speech”?

term used by Vigotsky for the child talking to himself

= crucial for development and part of a self-guidance system that never truly disappears (it just gets internal speech)