Chapter 6: cognitive development part 2 Flashcards
The Sociocultural View of Cognitive Development
Lev Vygotsky
Cognitive development depends upon culture and social interactions
Vygotsky’s Theory
Children actively construct their knowledge
Social interaction and culture guide cognitive development
Learning is based upon inventions of society
Knowledge is created through interactions with other people and objects in the culture
Less skilled persons learn from the more skilled
Mediation
Process used by adults/more skilled peers to introduce concepts to children
Zone of Proximal Development
Distance between current maximum independent performance of a child and tasks child can perform if guided or helped by adults
Bottom boundary
Most difficult problem child can solve independently
Top boundary
Problem child cannot solve; lacks cognitive structures to do it
Piaget criticisms
Possible validity problems in early experiments
Stages are rigid, don’t allow for individual differences and aren’t always true for all individuals
What about emotional development?
What about developmental delays?
Vygotsky criticisms
Little scientific support
Why do some children not respond to teaching?
How do we account for learning in absence of teaching?
What about emotional development?
What about developmental delays?
