CHILD DEV EXAM 3

Piaget's 5 Processes

Schemas, assimilation, accommodation, organization, equilibration

Schemas (Piaget)

mental representations that organize knowledge

Schema example (babies)

simple motor actions like looking or sucking

Schema example (children)

more complex tasks like sorting objects or resolving conflict

Assimilation (Piaget)

incorporating new information into existing schemas

Accommodation (Piaget)

adjusting schemas to fit new information

Organization (Piaget)

isolated behaviors and thoughts grouped into higher order system (theory)

equilibration (Piaget)

resolution of a cognitive conflict in understanding of the worlds that results in a shift from one stage to another

Four stages of cognitive development (piaget)

sensorimotor
preoperational
concrete operational
formal operational

Operations

internalized actions that can be done mentally rather than physically

First stage of Piaget's theory

Sensorimotor - birth to 2 years
begins with reflexes and ends with delayed imitation and purposeful actions. 6 substages, coordinating motor activity with resulting sensations

Substages of Sensorimotor stage

Simple reflexes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, curiosity, internalization of schemes

Primary Circular Reactions

begins with habits, noticeable repeating of accidental events like thumb sucking or leg kicking

Secondary circular reactions

focusing on external objects and noticing/repeating actions that bring results like cooing at parent

Coordination of secondary circular reactions

coordination of multiple schemas, like looking and touch, to repeat behaviors that bring results from the world

tertiary circular reactions, curiosity

experimenting with new behaviors that operate on the same object, like that a block can be made to spin, fall, slide, etc

internalization of schemes

infant can represent and event long enough to imitate after a delay, like throwing a tantrum after seeing someone else do it

object permanence

Piaget: thought babies don't have this until later in life
Looking-time-studies: show babies have some object permanence by 3.5 months

A not B error

tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden. Infants typically make this error

Objections to initial conclusions from A not B error studies

1. may be due to limitations of body motions
2. may be an artifact of memory, because the delay between seeing obj, hidden and being allowed to search
3. may be due to the fact that infants tend to repeat a previous motor behvaior in general

Strengths of Piaget's theory

he provided grand theory with easily tested empirical hypotheses that have resulted in a wealth of information, even if he underestimated infant and child cognitive sophistication

Criticisms of Looking Time Studies

Interpreted as showing 'cognitive expectations', but some results may be artifacts of infant's visual system

core knowledge approach

infants are born with domain-specific innate knowledge systems that have developed through evolution

Piaget's second stage of cognitive development

preoperational, 2-7 years, ability to have mental representations of the world

Substages of preoperational stage

symbolic function and intutive thought

animism and egocentrism

two limitations of the preoperational symbolic substage.

animism

belief that inanimate objects are capable of intentional thought

egocentrism

difficulty distinguishing perspectives of others and self

centration

tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects.
characteristic of preoperational thought
reason children fail conservation tasks

conservation

the principle that properties such as mass, volume and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Piaget's third stage of cognitive development

concrete operational, logical reasoning replaces intuitive thinking

horizontal decalage

idea that similar abilities appear consecutively, not simultaneously

classificiation

important skill in the concrete operational stage. ability to consider relationships between sets and subsets (family relations understanding, he is your grandma but my mother, etc)

Piaget's fourth stage of cognitive development

formal operational. age 11+, can solve problems mentally through considering them after verbal presentation. consider hypotheticals, compare reality to an ideal version of events, etc

Piaget

founder of the field of cognitive development

Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development

proposed children understand the world based on social interactions within their culture, with a focus on language

ZPD

zone of proximal development, what a child can do with proper scaffolding

Piaget saw private speech as....

egocentric and immature, talking to oneself

vygotsky saw private speech as...

an important tool of thought

Correlations of private speech use for preschoolers

better self-regulation, higher motivation to master challenging tasks, better social competence

Ways to apply Piaget to the classroom

1. constructivist approach
2. facilitate, don't direct
3. consider children's stage or level of thinking
4. promote intellectual health, respect natural progression of development
5. turn classroom into a setting for exploration and discovery

Ways to apply Vygotsky to the classroom

1. Assess the ZPD
2. Scaffold
3. Use more skilled students as teachers
4. Monitor and encourage private speech
5. Place instruction on meaningful context
6. Team problem solving

3 ways children overcome information processing limitations

1. execute basic operations
2. expand information processing capacity
3. acquiring new knowledge and strategies

cognitive development results in physical brain changes such as

myelination
blooming and pruning neuronal connections
changes in brain structure

capacity and speed of processing

increase when myelination and changes in neuron connections occur

mechanisms of change that effect children's cognitive skills

encoding, automaticity, strategy construction

encoding

how information gets into memory, remembering relevant information and disregarding irrelevant information

automaticity

information processing that does not require conscious effort

strategy construction

creation of new procedures for accomplishing tasks, like 'counting on' to add numbers

attention

focusing of mental resources, capacity increases with age

what happens when the limits of our atention are exceeded by environmental stimuli?

overwhelmed, systems shut down

types of attention

selective, divided, sustained, executive, joint attention

selective attention

focusing on one aspect of experience while ignoring others (listening to a friend's story in a crowded restaurant)

divided attention

focusing on multiple tasks simultaneously (listening to a podcast while working)

sustained attention

ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time (working on a math problem set for 30 mins)

executive attention

monitoring progress on tasks, attending to goals, evaluating work for errors, planning

two types of attention in infancy

sustained and joint

joint attention

when individuals focus on the same object or event together (infant follows adult pointing, words, etc). (emerges at 7-8mo, stable by 1 yr)

habituation/dishabitutation

experimental technique that allows researchers to measure recognition of differences of change between stimuli in infants

habituation

get used to something and decrease looking time

two types of attention characteristic of childhood

executive and sustained

memory

retention of information or experience over time

three main activities of memory

encoding events
storing mental representations of events
retrieving memory of said event later

three types of memory

short-term, long-term, working

importance of working memory for children

1. predicts literacy skills in low-income families
2. predicts ability to learn a new language
3. correlated with reading performance
4. predicts math achievement and cognitive flexibility

youngest age documented for infants that have perceptual memories

2.5 months

memory in infants is typically

perceptual-motor memory

explicit memory is demonstrated by __ months

6

At 6 months, infants can access explicit memories for only __ hours

24

by 20 months, infants can access explict memories up to ___ later

1 year

things that improve children's ability to remember

1. having knowledge of context
2. switching from verbatim memory to gist based
3. memory span increases
4. strategy use

strategies for memory development at any age

organization, elaboration, imagery

eye-witness testimony strategies to apply to child interviews

maintain neutral tone
avoid misleading questions
eliminate motivation for people to make false reports

thinking

involves manipulating and transforming information in memory

two basic information processing tasks that leads towards the higher-level processing task of thinking

memory and attention

concepts

cognitive groupings of similar objects, events, people, or ideas

perceptual categories

groupings based on similar physical features, used by infants as young as 3-4 months

conceptual categories

groupings based on function, meaning, as opposed to just visual similarity, used by infants beginning around 7-9 months

gains in the first two years of life that drive advances in information processing

attention, memory, imitation, abilities, concept, formation/categorization

four important types of thinking in childhood

executive function
critical thinking
scientific thinking
problem solving

important executive function changes between 4-11 that are important for school success

increases in
self control/inhibition
working memory
flexibility

critical thinking

thinking reflectively and productively, as well as evaluating the evidence (as how and why not just what)

how can schools promote critical thinking

dont push one correct answer
ask students to infer, connect, create
promote mindfulness

benefits of mindfulness

improve cognitive and socioemotional skills
create new ideas and different perspectives

scientific thinking

cognitive reasoning required to generate, test, and revise theories with a focus on causal mechanisms

types of approaches children use to solve problems

rules, anaoliges, strategies

analogical thinking

using knowledge or experiences with similar features or structures to help solve the problem at hand

Judy DeLoache study

children as young as 3 demonstrate analogical thinking. used a scale model of a room to find a toy in the real world

strategies

young children can be taught to use these tools for problem solving for specific tasks, older children and adolescents use these naturally and in many tasks

metacognition

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, learning, memory, or strategies. involves executive function

key components of intelligence

problem solving, capacity to adapt, creativity, interpersonal skills

two main IQ test

Stanford-Binet and Wechsler

formula for Stanford-Binet IQ

mental age/chronological age x100

Why did Binet develop the IQ test?

to determine which children in France would benefit from public education

Stanford-Binet Test

test intelligence in ages 2-adult, verbal and nonverbal responses required

Wechsler Test

test intelligence in ages 6-16, adult. contains subtests and overall scores to identify areas of strength and weakness

Values of IQ testing

- predictions of school/work success
- correlation to long term achievement

Cons of IQ testing

- generalizations can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
- inequities in learning opportunities perpetuate generalizations
- does not account for motivation, health, social skills
- culturally biased

IQ testing is only effective if used in conjunction with which information?

developmental history, medical background, school performance, social competency, family experiences

Triarchic theory of intelligence

Robert Sternberg - describes intelligence as having analytic, creative, and practical dimensions