Cognitive development pt2

lecture 2

what is cognition?

Cognitive development basically means intellectual growth. These by which we get to know ourselves and our world

memory, learning, attention (actively listening), perception (perceive, process information), thought (thinking), problem solving (planning, finding solutions)

Jean Piaget

• observed children

• proposed a sequence of development that all normal children follow

• four stages of C.D (systematic process of analysing child development)

Piaget’s stages

• sensorimotor stage

• pre-operational stage

• concrete operations stage

• formal operations stage

Sensorimotor stage

• birth —> 2 years old

• cognition tied closely to external stimulation

• “thinking is doing” (cognition consists of entirely behaviour)

• object permanence

Object permanence

• the idea that objects do not cease to exist when they are out of sight

• problem for babies to move up a stage

Birth —> 3months (look at the visual stimuli - turn head towards noise)

3months —> follow moving objects with eyes, stares at place of missing object, but won’t search for the object.

5months —> grasp, manipulate objects —> anticipate future position of objects.

8months —> searches for hidden objects, “A not B” effect/error

12 months —> will search in the last place they saw the object (successful searching)

schema formation

a schema is a mental representation or set of rules that defines a particular behaviour category. Helps us understand current and future experiences. "(e.g what happens at a lecture, general blueprint)

assimilation

the process by which new information is modified to fit in with an exisiting schema (e.g sees rabbit as a dog, schema of only dog and cat)

accomodation

the process by which an existing schema is modified or changed by a new experience (e.g next time sees rabbit again, understands it as a rabbit not a dog)

representational thought

ability to form mental representations of others’ behaviour

• occurs towards the end of the sensorimotor period (18months—>2yo)

imitation (mental representation is instrumental in=)

replicating behaviour in the moment (e.g clapping hands)

deferred imitation (mental representation is instrumental in=)

child’s ability to imitate the actions observed by others performed in the past

symbolic play (mental representation is instrumental in=)

using something to represent other things (the use of words to represent objects)

pre-operational stage

2-7 years old

• ability to think logically as well as symbolically (“this happens because of this”)

• rapid development of language ability

• counting

• object manipulation

• conservation

• egocentrism

conservation

the understanding that specific properties of objects (heights, weight, volume, number) remain the same despite apparent changes or arrangement of those objects

egocentrism

a child’s belief that others see the world in precisely the same way that he/she does

Concrete operations stage

7-12 years old

• ability to perform logical analysis

• ability to empathise with the thoughts/feelings of others

• understanding of complex cause-effect relations

• (overcame egocentrism and conservation problems)

formal operations stage

12 years upward

• abstract reasoning (able to assume what’s on the moon)

• metacognition (thinking about own thought processes)

• (reaching this stage is) dependant on exposure to principles of scientific thinking (not all kids reach this stage)

who was Jean Piaget? what did his observations of children lead him to believe about the course of development (both his own children and those he encountered)

Is Piaget’s theory best aligned with continuities or discontinuities in development?

How many stages of development did Piaget think there were? What are they called?

What are the characteristics of each of Piaget’s stages? At roughly what ages do they occur?

What are the major challenges that Piaget said children face in each stage? How do those abilities develop?

Think about the abilities that develop at each of Piaget’s stages. What kinds of things do they allow children to do in “real world” situation?

Did Piaget think that children necessarily progressed through all of the stages?