Cognitive Developmental Approaches (PSY 213)

Piaget’s Constructivist Approach 

• Children pass through discontinuous stages at different rates 

• Focuses on experience and mistakes 

• Schema: action of mental representation to organize knowledge (mind map) 

• Viewed intelligence as the processes through which we adapt to our environment 

• Assimilation 

  • Fitting the new information into an existing schema (comes before accommodation); when it becomes clear that information doesn't fit into existing schema accommodation occurs 

• Accommodation 

  • Expanding the framework of knowledge to accommodate the new situation and thus learning a new concept 

Four Stages:

• Sensorimotor

• Preoperational

• Formal Operational

• Concrete Operational

Sensorimotor (Birth-~2)

• Understand world by coordinating sensory experience with physical & motor actions 

• Learn through experiences! 

• Depth perception is a good example 

• Move from reflexes to intelligent actions informed by experiences 

• By the end of stage, have some symbolic thought, and can therefore solve some problems mentally 

• Still don't have object permanence

Preoperational Stage (~2-7) 

• Use symbols (schemas) 

• Operations = Logical manipulations of information (ex. Math); in the pre stage 

Symbolic Function Substage: mentally represent an object that is not present (ex. Playing pretend, drawing without reference)  

Common Errors: 

• Egocentrism: tendency of young children not to be able to take the perspective of others, and instead the child thinks that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do 

• Animism: refers to attributing life-like qualities to objects; perceiving inanimate objects as alive/personifying things 

Intuitive Thought (preoperational substage)

Intuitive Thought Substage: marked by greater dependence on intuitive thinking rather than just perception  

• Why stage; kids are naturally curious 

Common Errors: 

• Conservation: the ability to recognize that aspects like quantity remain the same, even when over transformations in appearance 

• Centration: only focus on one element of an object 

• Classification/ Transductive making faulty inferences from one specific example to another 

• Reversibly: can’t see how things can be put back to the way they originally were when changed 

Concrete Observational (~7-~11) 

• Perform concrete operations 

• Intuitive-> logical/inductive reasoning (with concrete examples) 

• Can consider several aspects of an object or situation (ex. height & width) 

• More awareness of multiple perspectives & able to classify things in more complicated ways 

• Less egocentrism, conservation, centration, classification, seriation, transitivity, & reversibility errors 

Formal Operational Stage (~11+) 

• Can mentally juggle and think about ideas, which cannot be sensed 

• Formal-operational though is hypothetical and abstract 

• Permits systematic and scientific thinking about problems (School is important!) 

• Opens doors to other developmental tasks, like complexities of language (lying, snark, sarcasm, ex.) 

• Imaginary audience: thinking about what others are thinking/ thinking about how they are being perceived 

• Personal fable: think they are the only one that's had this experience 

Accommodation 

Expanding the framework of knowledge to accommodate the new situation and thus learning a new concept 

Assimilation 

Fitting the new information into an existing schema (comes before accommodation); when it becomes clear that information doesn't fit into existing schema accommodation occurs 

Postformal Thought 

Adults learn to base decisions on what is realistic and practical, not idealistic, and can make adaptive choices. Adults are also not as influenced by what others think 

Relativistic thinking  

the appreciation of multiple perspectives, and the understanding that knowledge depends on the perspective of the knower 

Dialectical thought

To appreciate essential paradox and to bring together salient aspects of two opposing viewpoints or positions

Systemic thinking  

the capacity to think about entire systems of knowledge or ideas 

Egocentrism

tendency of young children not to be able to take the perspective of others, and instead the child thinks that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do 

Animism

refers to attributing life-like qualities to objects; perceiving inanimate objects as alive/personifying things

Conservation

the ability to recognize that aspects like quantity remain the same, even when over transformations in appearance 

Centration

only focus on one element of an object

Classification/ Transductive

making faulty inferences from one specific example to another 

Reversibly

can’t see how things can be put back to the way they originally were when changed

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective 

• Emphasizes the importance of culture and social interaction in the development of cognitive abilities 

• Development occurs in a sociocultural context & evolves via social interactions 

• Acquire society’s mental tools by interacting with experienced members of the culture 

• Language is how we learn 

• Zone of proximal development: a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range 

• Scaffolding: assessing students on what they can do with proper guidance 

Zone of proximal development

Zone of proximal development: a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range 

Scaffolding

assessing students on what they can do with proper guidance 

Private Speech 

• Spoken Language is an important tool that children learn 

• Kids don’t know to think in their heads, the just say it out loud  

• Helps them guide themselves, solve problems, and emotion regulation 

• Steps between guidance from adults (spoken out loud) and internal self-guidance 

• Private speech increases when facing an obstacle 

• Early reliance on private speech effected later problem-solving abilities 

Piaget’s Theory Limitations 

• Description not explanation (has the what but not the why) 

• Underestimated young minds (preoperational minds) and overestimated some older minds 

• Ignores inconsistent performance & continuous change 

Vygotsky’s Theory Limitations 

• Over emphasis on language (what about the domains of development?) 

• No age specifications 

• What if facilitators are too helpful? (kids don't learn for themselves) 

• Lazy kids aren't as motivated to learn