Psychology 001Introduction to Psychology

Christopher Gade, PhDOffice: 621 Heafey

Office hours: F 3-6 and by apt. Email: gadecj@gmail.com

Class WF 7:00-8:30 Heafey 650

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) While earning his education, Piaget

worked under Carl Jung, and didwork with Alfred Binet in hisadministration of intelligence tests.

Became interested in the cognitive development of children.

Began observing the development of his children.

From these observations, Piaget was able to establish his own terminology and theories of how “normal” children develop cognitively.

Piaget’s Theories of Development

Schemas – a concept, or framework, that organizes and interprets information. Equilibrium – a cognitive state of mind that

comes from harmony between information being presented and the child’s present schemas

Disequilibrium – a cognitive state of mind caused when new information contradicts current schemas

Piaget believed that when we encountered disequilibrium, children had two choices: Assimilation – interpreting one’s new

experience in terms of one’s existing schema.

Accommodation – adapting one’s current schemas to incorporate new information.

DoggyDoggy??

?

Piaget’s Proposed Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor stage (birth to almost

2 years of age)

Preoperational stage (just before 2 years to 7 years of age)

Concrete operational stage (about 7 to 11 years of age)

Formal operational stage (11 years on)

The “Are You Smarter Than a ____ Year-Old” Game

Sensorimotor Stage Experience the world through the

senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing, and grasping).

Object permanence 11:50-14:00

Sense of self

Preoperational Stage Representing things with words and images

but lacking logical reasoning.

Distinguishing appearance from reality

Egocentrism

Symbolism 14:00-18:15

Language development

Concrete Operational Stage Analogies

Run Walk Fast ???

Slow, Heart, Run

Conservation Mathematical

transformations penny example

Formal Operational Stage Abstract reasoning

Moral reasoning begins to develop

Note: there’s a large amount of skepticism as to whether or not this stage actually exists, and if most people ever completely master this stage

If everyone in this class studies hard, everyone in this class will earn an A. Everyone in this class studied hard.

John and his sister Sally both want to go home from school, but they only have one bike. This means that one of them will get to ride the bike home, while the other will have to walk. John rode his bike home.

Tommy can run faster than Jenny. Jenny can run faster than Mark. Mark can run faster than Beth. Who can run faster, Tommy or Beth?

What other big figures are there in development?

Vygotsky and his theories of cognitive development

Kohlberg and his theories of moral development

Erikson’s theories of identity development

Reviewing Piaget’s Theory of

Development Children go

through different, set stages of development as they progress toward adulthood.

These stages are distinct, age specific, and cannot be sped up through adult help.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Researched the ideas of cognitivedevelopment that were describedby Jean Piaget

Agreed with the idea that a developmental process in cognitive skills does take place

Argued against Piaget’s idea that this cognitive development is set, and cannot be accelerated

Vygotsky’s Theories of Development

Cognitive development occurs through gradual and continual growth

Instead of being in different developmental stages, we progress through different “zones of proximal development” Scaffolding – the process of teaching a

child slightly above their current level of cognitive development in order to help that child learn cognitive concepts quicker

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987)

Worked under the tutelage of Piaget Chose to examine the concept of moral

based development Argued that, similar to cognitive development,

children also go through stages of moral development throughout their lives

Contended that children progress through these stages in a set order, but that people did not necessarily advance through all of these stages in their life

Example Test: The Story Of Heinz

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid 2000 for the radium and charged $20,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 10,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug-for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why, or why not?

Age Differences in Moral Development

Concerns about Kohlberg’s Theories of Moral Development

Cultural influence on progression Moral shift might merely represent a

shift of focus by the individual Pre-Conventional – self Conventional – others/roles Post-Conventional – combination

Gender differences in moral orientation? Carol Gilligan

Difference between responses and actual behavior

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Born in Germany. Abandoned byhis biological father, and adoptedby his Jewish step-father.

Was an outcast in both the Jewish community (for his Nordic appearance), and at school (for being Jewish).

As a result of this teasing, he became interested in the development of a sense of self identity that children go through.

Erikson’s Research Worked under Sigmund Freud, and

Sigmund’s daughter, Anna Freud Examined how self identity impacts the

social development of the individual throughout the life-span

Believed that cultures influenced the different dilemmas and developmental phases that children experience

Concluded that children seem to progress a series of 8 phases of development

That’s it for today… In the next class, we move onto our

next topic, behaviorism.

Come ready to learn… hopefully you’ll get the joke by the end of the next class.