cog. dev. & sociocultural approaches

Question 1

learning and Piaget & Vygotsky

Answer 1

• learning: changes in the amount/type of knowledge
• learning triangle: learning process, context, person
• Piaget: learning process & person
• Vygotsky: person within the context of

Question 2

Piaget & schemes

Answer 2

• early influences from biology: how mollusks adapt to a new environment
• we’re born with 3 basic schemes: sucking, looking, grasping, these adapt & evolve
• learning: equilibrium-assimilation/adaption-equilibrium

Question 3

Piaget’s stage theory

Answer 3

• universal, maturation is developing more sophisticated ways of thinking
• sensorimotor period: infants, understand object permanence
• preoperational 2-7years: egocentrism (inability to decentre), difficulty w/conservation, semi logical reasoning
• concrete operational: difficulty w/purely verbal logical statements
• formal operational: apply purely verbal/logical statements

Question 4

Piaget’s stages of moral development

Answer 4

• stage 1: moral realism judgements made in view of act’s consequences
• stage 2: moral relativism judgements made in view of actor’s intentions

Question 5

building on Piaget’s model of moral development: KOHLBERG

Answer 5

• pre-conventional level: avoid punishment, get rewards
• conventional level: conform to majority norms
• post-conventional level: individual principles of consciousness

Question 6

VYGOTSKY & mediated mind

Answer 6

• society has an important influence on the development of a child’s mind
• mediated mind: humans rely on tools e.g. language to navigate physical world
• language as a tool of thought

Question 7

Vygotsky & the zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Answer 7

• child is an active seeker of knowledge
• child’s knowledge is developed through the guidance of a more knowledgeable other
• construction of knowledge is a fundamentally social activity

Question 8

Vygotsky & the importance of culture

Answer 8

• thinking is always social
• cultures have difference tools (languages)