cognitive development 1

Piaget believed

children actively construct new understandings of the world based on experiences

schemas, assimilation, accomodation

equilibrium - person’s thinking becoming more stable and adapted to environment

seriation

can arrange items along quantifiable dimension

transivity

understand relationships between objects when those relationships are connected through third element

symbolic thought

mental imagery, language, symbolic play

play

pretend play starts around 2 years, increasingly sophisticated from 2-5 before peaking around 5-7 and decreasing

sociodramatic play

social pretend play - starts around 3-4 years and mediates social referencing, decentration, reading intentionality in others

Object permanence

4-8 months out of sight, out off mind, 8-12 make A not B error, 12-18 months trouble with invisible displacement, 18 months object permanence achieved

invisible displacement

understanding object continues to exist when it’s hidden and moved

sensorimotor 0-2

world is understood through senses and actions

intentionality - seeing oneself and others as intentional agents

6 substages of the sensorimotor phase

reflexes (0-1), primary circular reactions (1-4 months), secondary circular reactions (4-8 months,) coordination of secondary schemas (8-12 months), tertiary secondary reactions (12-18) beginning of thought (18+)

preoperational phase 2-7 years

symbolic representation, object permanence, focus on perceptual salience means difficulties with conservation

egocentrism

3 mountains task

seriation

ability to organise objects along quantifiable dimension

Vygotsky - cognitive development approach

cultural nature of human development, social constructivism, zone of proximal development

theory of mind

ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others

develops around 3-5

9 months - infants gaze in direction people point

12 months - infants point to inform others

18 months - infants can tell difference between intentional/unintentional actions

False belief tasks

3-4 year olds develop understanding that another person can have a false belief

Sally Anne/Smarties task

Concrete operations 7-11

conservation abilities improve in horizontal decalage, transivity and seriation, reversibility of thought, transformational thought, less egocentrism, can perform mental operations to solve concrete problems

formal operations (12+)

mental actions on ideas - abstract hypothetic-deductive thinking is achieved

Piaget pendulum task

Postformal thought

proposed 5th stage of cognitive development, decisions made from situations and circumstances, logic integrated with emotion