Psyc 240 Exam 2 Ch. 6: cognitive developmental approaches

schemes

actions or mental representations that organize knowledge

assimilation

Piagetian concept - use existing schemas to incorporate new information

accommodation

Piagetian concept - incorporating new experiences into existing schemes

organization

Piagetian concept of grouping isolated behaviors & thoughts into a higher order, more smoothly functioning cognitive system

equilibration

a mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children shift from each stage

Sensorimotor stage

the 1st of Piaget’s stages (birth-2 yrs.) during which infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical, motoric actions

preoperational stage

the 2nd of Piagetian developmental stage (2-7 yrs) children begin to represent the world with words, images, & drawings

operations

reversible mental actions that allow children to so mentally what they had done before physically

symbolic function substage

the 1st substage of preoperational thought (2-4 yrs.) young child gains the ability to represent mentally an object that is not present

egocentrism

the inability to distinguish between one’s own & someone else’s perspective

animism

the facet of preoperational thought - the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities & are capable of action

Intuitive thought substage

the second substage of preoperational thought (4→7 yrs) children begin to use primitive reasoning & want to know the answers to all sorts of questions

correlation

conservation

concrete operational stage

the 3rd Piagetian stage (7→11 yrs) children can perform concrete operations & logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning as long as the reasoning can be applied to concrete/ specific examples

seriation

the concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a qualitative dimension, like length

Transivity

the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions. Piaget argued that an understanding of this is a characteristic of concrete operational thought

Formal operational stage

the 4th & final Piagetian stage (11→15 yrs.) individuals move beyond concrete experiences & think in more abstract & logical ways

Hypothetical-deductive reasoning

Piaget’s formal operation concept that adolescents have the cognitive ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems & can systematically deduce which is the best path to follow in solving the problem

adolescent egocentrism

the heightened self-conscientiousness of adolescents, which is reflected in adolescents; belief that others as interested in them as they are in themselves, & in adolescents’ sense of personal uniqueness & invincibility

a criticism of Piaget

researchers found that some cognitive abilities appear sooner than Piaget claimed

a criticism of Piaget

the stages aren’t as concrete because cognitive abilities have been recorded earlier & later than claimed

a criticism of Piaget

training by caregivers to move up in stages early can affect the timeline’s accuracy

a criticism of Piaget

culture & education play a bigger role in development than Piaget thought

Neo-Piagetians

developmentalists who have elaborated on Piaget’s theory, emphasizing attention to children’s strategies: information processing speed, the task involved, & the division the problem into smaller steps

Zone of proximal development

Vygotsky’s term for tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but can be mastered with guidance & assistance from adults or more skilled children

scaffolding

in cognitive development, a term Vygotsky used to describe the changing level of a teaching session, with more-skilled person adjusting guidance to fit the child’s current performance level

Language & thought

Vygotsky argued that children use speech not only for social communication but also to help them solve tasks- planning, guiding, & monitoring behavior

social constructivist approach

an approach reflected in Vygotsky’s theory with an emphasis on the social contexts of learning & construction of knowledge through social interaction

realistic & pragmatic thinking

as people transition into adulthood their views & thinking changes

reflective & relativistic thinking

right & wrong becomes more flexible/nonexistent because of others opinions & perspectives

cognition & emotion

emotions are overwhelmingly negative in youth until they learn to be grateful

postformal thought

thinking that is reflective, relativistic, & contextual; provisional; realistic; & influenced by emotions (possible 5th stage)

reflective, relativistic, & contextual

postformal though holds that the correct answer to a problem requires reflective thinking & may vary from one situation to another. Some psychologists argue that reflective thinking continues to increase & become more internal & less contextual in middle age

Provisional

Many young adults grow skeptical of absolute truths and resist final answers, viewing the search for truth as an ongoing process.

gradual & quantitative changes

alternative to qualitative stage descriptions of cognitive changes

realistic

young adults understand that thinking can’t always be abstract, but that often times it must be realistic & pragmatic

emotional

Emerging and young adults are more aware that emotions influence their thinking than adolescents. However, negative emotions often lead to distorted and self-serving thoughts at this developmental stage.

fluid intelligence

the person’s ability to reason abstractly, has been theorized to decrease in middle & late adulthood

crystalized intelligence

the individual’s accumulated information & verbal skills, has been proposed to increase during middle & late adulthood

Cognitive mechanics

linked to biological foundations & brain development, have been hypothesized to decline in middle & late adulthood

• ex: processing speed, attention, some aspects of memory

cognitive pragmatics

are associated with experience & culture, have been proposed to increase during middle & late adulthood

• ex: reading 7 writing skills, language comprehension, professional skills, & wisdom

current theory & research on changes in adult cognitive development

focuses on specific aspects of information processing, such as attention, memory, & thinking, but not on stages of development