Cognitive Developmental Approaches

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Chapter 6

• Cognitive Developmental Approaches Piaget
  (Overview Sensorimotor Stage)

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Piagets Cognitive Developmental Theory

• Schemes
• organized ways of making sense of experience
• Assimilation
• using current schemes to interpret the external
  world
• Accommodation
• adjusting schemes or creating new ones when
  current ways of thinking do not fit the
  environment

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Motivation for Learning

• Cognitive equilibrium a steady, comfortable
  condition (more assimilation)
• Cognitive disequilibrium a state of discomfort
  which creates a shift toward accommodation

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Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor Birth 2 years
• Pre-Operational 2-7 years
• Concrete Operational 7-11 years
• Formal Operational 11 years onward

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Sensorimotor Stage

• Reflexes
• Circular reactions stumbling onto a new
  experience caused by the babys motor activity
• circular because the infant tries to repeat the
  event again and again

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Sensorimotor Stage Repeating Chance Behavior

• Newborn reflexes are the building blocks of
  sensorimotor intelligence
• By repeating chance behaviors (primary circular
  reactions), reflexes come under voluntary control
  and become simple motor habits

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Sensorimotor Stage

• Primary Circular Reactions (Substages 1-2)
• Centers around the infants own bodily sensations
• Secondary Circular Reactions (Substages 3-4)
• Manipulation of objects and people
• Tertiary Circular Reactions (Substages 5-6)
• Producing novel effects, experimental

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Sensorimotor Substages

• 1) simple reflexes
• 2) 1st habits primary circular reactions
• 3) secondary circular reactions
• 4) coordination of secondary circular reactions
• 5) tertiary circular reactions curiosity
• 6) internalization of schemes

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The Sensorimotor Stage

• Primary Circular Reactions
• 1 (birth to 1 mo.) reflexes
• 2 ( 1-4 mos.) simple motor habits
• Secondary Circular Reactions
• 3 (4-8 mos.) repeating, imitation
• 4 (8-12 mos.) intention
• Tertiary Circular Reactions
• 5 (12-18 mos.) exploration
• 6 (18-24 mos.) mental depictions

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Sensorimotor Stage Intentional Behavior

• Substage 4 (8-12 months)
• Deliberately coordinating schemes to reach a goal
  or solve a problem
• Object permanence infants retrieve hidden toys
• Anticipate and try to change events

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Sensorimotor Stage Gaining Object Permanence

• Overall, search strategies improve during the
  first year.
• Awareness of toys disappearance
  (violation-of-expectations research methods)
• Looks for toy by 8 months (Piaget)
• A-not-B search error
• Invisible displacement (finds toy moved
  while out of sight)

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Sensorimotor Stage More Recent Research

• Violation-of-expectation method infants look
  longer at an impossible than at a possible event
• May reflect only infants perceptual preferences
  or limited awareness
• Led to conclusions that infants understand,
  explore earlier than Piaget believed, possibly
  from birth
• Renee Baillargeon possible events
• Carrot and screen study
• Train through the box study

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End of Sensorimotor Stage Mental
Representations

• Internal depictions of information that the mind
  can manipulate
• Images
• Concepts (categories, groups)
• Sudden solutions rather than trial and error
• Invisible displacement finding a toy moved
  while out of sight
• Deferred imitation

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Mental Representations (Memory)More Recent
Research

• Piaget says 18 months others say 8-month olds
  recall object locations.
• Deferred imitation, present at 6 weeks (adult
  facial expression).
• 24-hour memory for activity board objects among
  6-9-month olds.

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Sensorimotor Stage - Evaluation

• Piagets perspective Skills acquired through
  learning, motor behavior
• Vs.
• Core knowledge perspective babies are born with
  innate knowledge systems or prewired
  understandings
• Physical numerical
• Linguistic psychological