Cognitive Development How do we learn to think & reason????

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss psychologist who became leading theorist in 1930’s

Development of Schemas ASSIMILATION Schema- Framework that organizes information process of taking new information or a new experience and fitting it into an already existing schema n

Accommodation Accommodation - process by which existing schemas are changed or new schemas are created in order to fit new information

Sensorimotor Stage (birth – 2 yrs old) Info is gained through the senses and motor actions Child perceives and manipulates but does not reason

Object Permanence Objects exist independent of one’s actions or perceptions of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjBh9ld_yIo

Preoperational Stage (2-7 years) Emergence of symbolic thought Egocentrism- “ Does your sister have a sister” http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/psychsim5/Cognitive%20Development/PsychSim_Shell.html Lack the concept of conservation These are speaker notes

Conservation Tasks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fO7U5qGAac&feature=youtu.be ( south kids)

Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 years) Can Conserve Mass, Weight and Numbers Less egocentric Inability to reason abstractly or hypothetically http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw36PpYPPZM

Formal Operational Stage (age 12 - adulthood) Hypothetical-deductive reasoning Pendulum Problem Adolescent egocentrism

Critique of Piaget’s Theory Underestimates children’s abilities Underestimates the role of the social environment Lack of evidence for qualitatively different stages

Heinz Dilemma Just Kidding… this has nothing to do with Ketchup….

Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Development Level 1 (Pre-Conventional) 1.Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?) 2. Self-interest orientation (What's in it for me?)

Levels cont… Level 2 (Conventional) 3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms) (The good boy/good girl attitude) 4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality)

Levels Cont… Level 3 (Post-Conventional) 5. Social contract orientation 6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience)

Wrap up & review In what stage of cognitive development do infant’s learn object permanence? 1) preoperational 2) formal operational 3) sensorimotor 4) conventional

Continues… The ability to generate alternate hypotheses in order to explain a phenomenon demonstrates cognition in which of following Piagetian stages? 1) operational 2)abstract reasoning 3)formal operations 4) hypothetical operations

And… Which of the following is the correct term for mental rule Piaget said we use to interpret our environment? 1)schema 2)assimilation 3)accommodation 4) hypothesis