chapter 6: theories of cognitive development. chapter 6: theories of cognitive development chapter 6...
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Chapter 6:
Theories of Cognitive Development
Chapter 6: Theories of Cognitive Development
Chapter 6 has three modules:
Module 6.1 Setting the Stage: Piaget’s Theory
Module 6.2 Modern Theories of Cognitive Development
Module 6.3 Understanding in Core Domains
Setting the Stage: Piaget’s Theory
Basic Principles of Piaget’s Theory
Metaphor of child as scientist• Children naturally curious and create
theories about how world works
• Theories are managed through assimilation and accommodation
Basic Principles of Piaget’s Theory
Equilibrium: balance between assimilation and accommodation
achieved
Equilibration: balance between assimilation and
accommodation upset and theories reorganized
Basic Principles of Piaget’s Theory
• When children’s theories are wrong most of the time, reorganization occurs
• Reorganization identified as stages of cognitive development
• All children pass through stages in same order
Stages of Cognitive Development: Sensorimotor
• Birth to approximately 2 years of age
• Begins with reflexive responding and ends with using symbolic processing
• Object permanence emerges
Stages of Cognitive Development: Preoperational
• 2 to 7 years
• Children use symbols to represent objects and events but there are many errors in thinking
Do you know what these errors are?
Three Mountains Problem
According to Piaget, egocentrism makes it difficult for this child to see the mountains from another’s viewpoint.
Stages of Cognitive Development: Concrete Operational
• 7 to 11 years
• Thinking and problem-solving based on reversible mental operations
• Focus on the real and concrete, not the abstract
Stages of Cognitive Development: Formal Operations
• 11 to adulthood
• Hypothetical thinking
• Deductive reasoning to draw appropriate conclusions from facts
Piaget’s Contributions to Child Development
Teaching Practices Influenced by Piagetian Theory
• Facilitate rather than teach directly• Recognize individual differences when
teaching• Provide sensitivity to children’s readiness to
learn• Emphasize exploration and interaction
Piaget’s Contributions to Child Development
Piaget’s contributions: • Study of cognitive development• New, constructivist view of children• Fascinating, often counterintuitive,
discoveries
Piaget’s Contributions to Child Development
Weaknesses of theory:• Underestimates cognitive competence in
infants; overestimates in adolescence• Components too vague to test• Stage model doesn’t account for variability• Undervalues influence of sociocultural forces
Modern Theories of Cognitive Development
The Sociocultural Perspective: Vygotsky’s Theory
Cognitive development is inseparable from social and cultural contexts
• Intersubjectivity• Guided participation through peer
tutoring and group learning
The Sociocultural Perspective: Vygotsky’s Theory
Other key concepts:• Zone of proximal development• Scaffolding• Private speech• Inner speech
Cultural Differences in Parental Scaffolding
Scaffolding: teaching style that matches amount of assistance to learner’s needs
Can you see the cultural differences in the above figure?
Information Processing
Information-processing theory: people and computers are both symbol processors
• Sensory, working, and long-term memory• Distinction between hardware and software• Central executive coordinates activities
Let’s walk through illustrations of this theory on the following slides!
Mental Hardware (a)
Mental Hardware (b)
How Information-Processing Changes with Development
Core-Knowledge Theories
Key Concepts:• Early acquired, distinctive domains of
knowledge• Learning-simplified forms of knowledge
related to survival• Rapid acquisition of language and
knowledge of objects, people, and living things
Core-Knowledge Theories
Theoretical Roots• Builds on Piaget’s metaphor of child as
scientist
• Research traces children’s knowledge of naïve physics, naïve psychology, and naïve biology
Understanding in Core Domains
True or False?
By 6 months, infants are accomplished naïve physicists.
Understanding Living Things
Key Concepts:• Infants and toddlers use motion to identify
animate objects• Preschoolers hold naïve theories of biology
Understanding Theories of Biology
Children’s naïve theories of biology include understanding of:
• movement• growth• internal parts• inheritance• illness• healing
What can infants learn about movement from the above?
Movement in Animate and Inanimate Objects
Understanding Living Things
Teleological explanations: children believe that livings things and parts of living things exist for a purpose
Essentialism: children believe all living things have essence that cannot be seen but provides identity
Understanding People: Naïve Psychology
Children use naïve psychology to predict how people will act
• 1-year-olds: understanding of intentionality• Between ages 2 and 5: development of theory
of mind • 3-year-olds: mental and physical world clearly
distinguished
Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind (TOM)• naïve understanding
of relations between mind and behavior and mental versus physical world
Understanding People: False Belief Tasks
• 31/2-year-olds: make false belief error
• 4-year-olds: fundamental change in understanding of centrality of beliefs
• 8-year-olds: understand mental states cause moods with external, observable causes
Understanding People: Children with Autism and False Belief Tasks
False belief understanding develops slowly
Theories•Mindblindness•Impaired social interaction skills•Focused processing skills
Treatment•Therapy, medication, supportive environment