Chapter 6: cognitive development part 1

Question 1

Constructivism

Answer 1

People construct knowledge and understanding of the world by using what they already know to interpret new experiences

Cognitive development is guided by biological maturation, but interaction with environment is essential for learning and complex thought

Question 2

Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism

Answer 2

Humans are surrounded by information (environmental stimuli)

Must find a way to filter, organize, and understand the information in the world around you

Schemas

Question 3

Schemes

Answer 3

Children begin to form schemes at birth

As child interacts with environment, new info is incorporated into scheme to increase understanding of the world

Schemes are individual and based upon each person’s unique interpretation of the environment

Question 4

Learning

Answer 4

Learning is ACTIVE process

Question 5

Essential processes in cognitive
development

Answer 5

Organization: tendency to form increasingly coherent and integrated structures

Adaptation: process of changing or adapting a cognitive structure and/or the environment in order to understand the environment better

Question 6

Adaptation and Equilibration

Answer 6

Assimilation: incorporate new experiences into existing schemes using recognizable features
- cognitive disequilibrium– confusion

Accommodation: modify old schemes and create new ones
- cog. equilibrium: understanding

Reflective Abstraction: noticing and reflecting upon environment
- the spark of learning

Question 7

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development

Answer 7

Adaptation (disequilibrium-equilibrium) leads to cognitive maturation and increasingly higher order/complex thinking

Occurs in four identifiable stages

Question 8

Stage 1: Sensorimotor Thought (Birth to 2 Years)

Answer 8

Understanding of the world based upon SENSORY INPUT and PHYSICAL/MOTOR ACTION

In the beginning:
- No intentionality
- No symbolic/representational thought
- No object permanence

Question 9

Stage 2: Preoperational Thought (2 to 7 years)

Answer 9

Use of representational thought and beginnings of logic
- Symbolic language
- Symbolic play
- Symbolic thought (art)
- Intuitive thought

Question 10

Conservation Problems

Answer 10

Conservation: understanding that some basic properties of objects remain the same, even when a
transformation changes physical appearance (number, liquid quantity (volume), mass)

Centration: tendency of preop. children to fixate on one characteristic

Question 11

Stage 3: Concrete Operational
Thought (7 to 11 years)

Answer 11

Child has achieved basic operational thought

Thinking is decentered and reversible

Focus on dynamic transformations

Class Inclusion: objects can be classified in different ways

Transitive Inference: process of drawing inferences by comparing relations among objects

Thinking is still CONCRETE

Question 12

Stage 4: Formal Operational Thought
(Age 12 and Above)

Answer 12

Characterized by higher-order thinking/abilities

• Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
• Abstract thought (freedom, justice, etc)
• Separating reality from possibilities
• Imagination and idealism
• Combinational logic
• Reflective Thinking: thinking about thinking

Question 13

Adolescent egocentrism

Answer 13

Adolescents continue to show some immature thought processes and egocentrism

• Can’t distinguish between their own abstract thought and thoughts of others
• Imaginary audience
• Personal fable
• Invulnerability

Question 14

Criticisms of Piaget

Answer 14

Underestimated young children

Babies show some object permanence

Children can be taught conservation

Overestimated adults