Cognitive Development

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Cognitive Development

• This field is Dominated by a man named Jean
  Piaget.
• He was developing IQ tests and noticed that many
  children got the same answers wrong.
• Thought to himself, maybe these kids are not
  stupid, but instead think differently than
  adults.

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Piagets important concepts

• Children are active thinkers, always trying to
  make sense of the world.
• To make sense of the world, they develop schemas.
• Schema- a concept or framework that organizes and
  interprets information.

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Piagets important concepts

• Assimilation- interpreting ones new experiences
  into ones existing schemas.

• Accommodation- adapting ones current
  understandings (schemas) to incorporate new
  information.

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Assimilation/Accommodation
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Assimilation/Accommodation
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Assimilation/Accommodation
As children assimilate new information and
experiences, they eventually change their way of
thinking to accommodate new knowledge
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Dum Dums

• Lollipops elicit the most basic schema
  sucking!!
• This innate, reflexive behavior is modified
  through assimilation of an object.

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Cognition

• All mental activities associated with thinking,
  knowing and remembering.

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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor (birth to age 2)
• Preoperational (age 2 to age 7)
• Concrete Operational (age 7 to age 11)
• Formal Operational (through adulthood)
• Each new stage represents a fundamental shift in
  how the child thinks and understands the world

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Sensorimotor Stage

• The Sensorimotor Stage is from approximately
  birth to 2 years of age.
• Babies take in the world purely through their
  senses- looking, hearing, touching, tasting and
  grasping.

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Sensorimotor Stage

• At 4 to 8 months of age, your child will learn
  that she can make things move by banging them and
  shaking them. (Example--shaking a rattle, banging
  on toys, banging on tray of high chair)

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Sensorimotor Stage

• Between 12 and 18 months your child will be able
  to represent hidden objects in her mind (Object
  Permanence). In other words, she will be able to
  see objects even when they are out of sight.
• Before Object Permanence- what is out of sight,
  is gone from the universe forever. PEEK-A-BOO

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Object Permanence
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Sensorimotor Stage

• At 18 to 24 months of age, a child will begin to
  use images to stand for objects. In other words,
  a physical object can represent something else.
  Symbols represent objects or events in ones own
  environment.
• Schema

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Sensorimotor Stage

• This ability is called mediation and is very
  important in a childs development because it
  means the child can think about more than just
  the objects that are around her she can think
  about the whole world.
• Stranger Anxiety remember this?

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Preoperational Stage

• The Preoperational Stage is from approximately 2
  to 7 years of age.

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Preoperational Stage

• At the early part of this stage, a child will
  develop the ability to use symbols.

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Preoperational Stage

• Between the ages of 3 and 4, your child will be
  able to apply this ability to symbolize with
  objects, to people (names represent people).

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Preoperational Stage

• By the end of this stage, the child will
  understand the concept of conservation.

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Conservation

• An understanding that certain properties remain
  constant despite changes in their form
• The properties can include mass, volume, and
  numbers.

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Conservation

• Number

In conservation of number tests, two equivalent
rows of coins are placed side by side and the
child says that there is the same number in each
row. Then one row is spread apart and the child
is again asked if there is the same number in
each.
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Conservation

• Length

In conservation of length tests, two same-length
sticks are placed side by side and the child says
that they are the same length. Then one is moved
and the child is again asked if they are the
same length.
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Conservation

• Substance

In conservation of substance tests, two identical
amounts of clay are rolled into similar-appearing
balls and the child says that they both have the
same amount of clay. Then one ball is rolled out
and the child is again asked if they have the
same amount.
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Conservation
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Conservation
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Conservation
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Types of Conservation Tasks
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Preoperational Stage

• Children in the preoperational stage are
  egocentric (the inability to take on anothers
  point of view).

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Egocentrism

• The childs inability to take another persons
  point of view
• Child on the phone says, See the picture I drew
  for you Grandpa! and shows the picture to the
  phone.
• Includes a childs inability to understand that
  symbols can represent other objects

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Concrete Operational Stage

• 7-11 years old
• Understand concept of conservation.
• Can think logically, use analogies, and perform
  mathematical transformations (59 is the same as
  95) also known as reversibility.

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Formal Operational Stage

• We can reason abstractly.

If John is in school, then Mary is in school.
John is in school. What can you say about Mary?
Stevie Wonder is god.
God is love.
Love is Blind
Stevie Wonder is Blind.
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Assessing Piagets Theory

• Scientific research has supported Piagets most
  fundamental idea that infants, young children,
  and older children use distinct cognitive
  abilities to construct their understanding of the
  world
• BUT
• Piaget underestimated the childs ability at
  various ages.
• Piaget confused motor skill limitations with
  cognitive limitations in assessing object
  permanence during infancy.
• Piagets theory doesnt take into account culture
  and social differences.

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Monopoly a la Piaget

• Sensorimotor stage
• The child puts houses, hotels, and dice in mouth
  and plays with chance cards.
• Preoperational stage
• The child plays Monopoly, but makes up own rules
  and cannot understand instructions.

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Monopoly a la Piaget

• Concrete Operational stage
• The child understands the basic instructions and
  will play by the rules, but is not capable of
  hypothetical transactions dealing with mortgages,
  loans, and special pacts with other players.
• Formal Operations stage
• The child no longer plays the game mechanically
  complex and hypothetical transactions unique to
  each game are now possible.

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Vygotskys Sociocultural Perspective

• Emphasized the childs interaction with the
  social world (other people) as a cause of
  development
• Vygotsky believed language to be the foundation
  for social interaction and thought
• Piaget believed language was a byproduct of
  thought

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Vygotsky

• Believed that cognitive development is strongly
  influenced by social and cultural factors, such
  as the support and guidance that children receive
  from parents, other adults, and older children
• Children learn from interactions with other
  people
• Zone of proximal developmentwhat a child can do
  by interacting with another person, but cant do
  alone.
• Critical thinking based on dialogue with others
  who challenge ideas
• Piagetfocused on childrens interaction with the
  physical world

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Cross-Cultural Viewpoint

• Cross-cultural studies show that cognitive
  development is strongly influenced by the skills
  that are valued and encouraged in a particular
  environment

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Play-doh (if time)

• Conservation
• Object Permanence
• Egocentric