Child Development Laura E. Berk 8th edition Chapter 6 Cognitive Development: Piagetian, Core Knowledge, and Vygotskian Perspectives This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part of any images; Any rental, lease, or lending of the program. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Goals of Cognitive Development Research Chart typical course of development Examine individual differences Uncover mechanisms of cognitive development DigitalVision Royalty Free Stock Photography Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Basics of Piaget’s Theory General theory Considers all aspects of cognition Constructivist approach Stages are invariant Stages are universal Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Schemes Are psychological structures Organized ways of making sense of experience Change with age Action-based (motor patterns) at first Later move to a mental (thinking) level Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Adaptation Assimilation Accommodation Using current schemes to interpret external world Used during equilibrium Accommodation Adjusting old schemes, creating new ones to better fit environment Prompted by disequilibrium Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Organization Internal rearranging and linking of schemes Royalty Free Stock CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage Birth to 2 years Building schemes through sensory and motor exploration Circular reactions Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Sensorimotor Substages Reflexive Schemes Birth –1 month Newborn reflexes Primary Circular Reactions 1 – 4 months Simple motor habits centered around own body Secondary Circular Reactions 4 – 8 months Repeat interesting effects in soundings Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions 8 – 12 months Intentional, goal-directed behavior; object permanence Tertiary Circular Reactions 12 – 18 months Explore properties of objects through novel actions Mental Representations 18 months – 2 years Internal depictions of objects or events; deferred imitation Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Intentional Behavior Object Permanence: understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight According to Piaget, develops in Substage 4 Incomplete at first: A-not-B search error Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Testing Understanding of Object Permanence Using the Violation-of-Expectation Method Figure 6.1 Testing young infants for understanding of object permanence using the violation-of-expectation method. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Testing Infant Understanding of Object Permanence Using Predictive Eye Tracking Figure 6.2 Testing 5- to 9- month olds for understanding of object permanence using predictive eye tracking. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Progress in Finding Objects Hidden in Two Ways Figure 6.3 - Performance of 10- to 14-month-olds on two types of object-hiding tasks Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Mental Representation Internal, mental depictions of information Images: objects, people, places Concepts: categories Can manipulate with mind Allow: Deferred imitation Make-believe play Freephotos.com Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Deferred Imitation Piaget: Develops at about 18 months Newer research: 6 weeks – facial imitation 6 – 9 months – copy actions with objects 12 – 18 months – imitate skillfully Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Development of Categorization Perceptual Based on similar overall appearance or prominent part Conceptual Based on common function or behavior Later add event categories Figure 6.5 - Categorical distinction made by 9- to 11-month-olds. Adapted from Mandler & McDonough, 1993. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Infant Categorization Using Operant Conditioning Figure 6.4 Investigating infant categorization using operant conditioning. Bhatt, Rove-collier & Weiner, 1994; Hayne, Rove-Collier & Perris, 1987. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Analogical Problem Solving Figure 6.6 Analogical problem solving by 10- to 12- month olds. Adapted with permission of the American Psychological Association. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Evaluation of the Sensorimotor Stage How Piaget was right Timing of: Object search A-not-B Make-believe play How Piaget might have been wrong Timing of object permanence, deferred imitation, categorization, problem-solving by analogy All occur sooner than Piaget thought Some suggest infants are born with core knowledge in several domains of thought Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

The Preoperational Stage Mental Representation 2 to 7 years Language Piaget believed it developed from sensorimotor experiences Make-believe play Dual representation Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Development of Make-Believe Play With age, make-believe gradually becomes: More detached from real-life conditions Less self-centered More complex Sociodramatic play Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Benefits of Make-Believe Play Practice representational schemes Emotional integration Social, language skills Attention, memory, logical reasoning Imagination, creativity DigitalVision Royalty Free Stock Photography Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Progression of Drawing Skills Scribbles: during 2nd year First Representational Forms Label already-made drawings: around age 3 Draw boundaries and people: 3–4 years More Realistic Drawings: preschool to school age Figure 6.7 - Examples of young children’s drawings Used by permission of the author. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Dual Representation Viewing a symbolic object as both an object and a symbol Mastered around age 3 Adult teaching can help Provide lots of maps, photos, drawings, make-believe playthings, etc. Point out similarities to real world Artville Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Limitations of Preoperational Thought Cannot perform mental operations Egocentrism and animistic thinking Cannot conserve Lack hierarchical classification Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Failure to distinguish others’ views from one’s own Egocentrism Failure to distinguish others’ views from one’s own Figure 6.9 - Piaget’s three-mountains problem. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities Animistic Thinking Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities Freephotos.com Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Limits on Conservation Centration Focus on one aspect and neglect others Irreversibility Cannot mentally reverse a set of steps Figure 6.10 - Some Piagetian conservation tasks. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Hierarchical Classification Figure 6.11 - A Piagetian class inclusion problem. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Follow-Up Research on Preoperational Thought Egocentric Thought Can adjust language to others and take others’ perspectives in simple situations Animistic and Magical Thinking Animistic thinking comes from incomplete knowledge of objects Illogical Thought Can do simplified conservation Can reason by analogy Use causal expressions Categorization Everyday knowledge is categorized Appearance versus Reality Can solve appearance-reality tasks in nonverbal ways Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Example of Categorization © The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Figure 6.12 Categories of imaginary animals shown to preschoolers. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Evaluation of the Preoperational Stage How Piaget was right Preschoolers do develop beginnings of logical thinking. How Piaget might have been wrong Logical thinking develops more gradually than Piaget thought. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Achievements of the Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years) Conservation Decentration Reversibility Classification Seriation Transitive inference Spatial Reasoning Directions Maps Artville Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Use of Maps Figure 6.13 - Five-year-olds’ use of a rotated map to find objects hidden in a room. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Cultural Interpretations of Maps Figure 6.14 Maps drawn by 12-year olds from India and the United States. Copyright © 2003, with permission from Elsevier. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought Operations work best with objects that are concrete Problems with abstract ideas Continuum of Acquisition Master concrete operational tasks gradually Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Follow-up Research on Concrete Operational Thought Culture and schooling affect performance on tasks Going to school gives experience on Piagetian tasks Relevant non-school experiences of some cultures can help too Artville Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Piaget’s Theory: Formal Operational Stage 11 and Older Hypothetico-deductive reasoning Deducing hypotheses from a general theory Pendulum problem Propositional Thought Evaluating the logic of verbal propositions Corbis Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Piaget’s Pendulum Problem Figure 6.15 - Piaget’s pendulum problem Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Consequences of Abstract Thought Self-Consciousness & Self-Focusing Imaginary audience Sensitivity to criticism Personal fable Idealism and Criticism Problems with Decision Making Inexperience Overwhelming options Corbis Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Follow-up Research on Formal Operational Thought School-age children start developing abstract thinking skills Problems with propositional thinking Logical necessity Careful thinking about major premise Formal operations may not be universal Training, context contribute Often fall back on easier thinking Image Source Royalty Free Stock Photography Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Educational Principles Derived from Piaget’s Theory Discovery learning Sensitivity to children’s readiness to learn Developmentally appropriate practices Acceptance of individual differences Artville Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Overall Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory Piaget’s change processes — assimilation, accommodation, and organization — can’t account for patterns of children’s changes observed today Cognitive development not always self-generating Cognition not as broadly stagelike as Piaget believed Piaget’s theory still inspires research Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Core Knowledge Perspective Evolutionary perspective: infants start life with innate, special-purpose knowledge systems Core domains of thought Core domains prepare us to rapidly develop key aspects of cognition Development is domain-specific Children as naïve theorists Freephotos.com Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Suggested Domains of Core Knowledge Physical Numerical Linguistic Psychological Biological RubberBall Productions Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Violation of Expectation Method Figure 6.16 - Testing young infants for understanding of object solidity using the violation-of-expectation method. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Development of Infants’ Physical Knowledge One solid object cannot move through another 2 - 3 months Size comparisons - notice when objects are: • Too wide for openings 5-6 months • Too tall for containers 7-8 months Gravity, object support 4- 8 months Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Infants’ Numerical Knowledge Findings are mixed and controversial Infants may be able to: Discriminate quantities and do simple arithmetic up to 3 Approximate large-number values RubberBall Productions Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Testing Infants for Basic Number Concepts Figure 6.17 Testing infants for basic number concepts. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Children as Naïve Theorists (Theory Theory) Observe an event Explain, or theorize about its cause Draw on innate concepts Test theory against experience Revise theory if needed Image Source Royalty Free Stock Photography Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Is Biology a Core Domain? Develops later than other domains Psychological explanations for biological events Late development is common around the world More evidence is needed Freephotos.com Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Children’s Understanding of Death Development of the death concept Cultural influences Enhancing children’s understanding Use direct explanations Teach preschoolers about human biology Be culturally sensitive Freephotos.com Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Evaluation of Core Knowledge Perspective Most serious consideration of beginnings of thinking Amount and nature of inborn knowledge hotly debated Suggests environment and experience work together, but does not clarify how Suggests cognitive development is independent; little attention to learning with others Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Cognition is based on: Social interactions Language Family Life Royalty Free CD Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Children’s Private Speech Piaget called this “egocentric speech” Vygotsky viewed it as foundation for all higher cognitive processes Helps guide behavior Used more when tasks are difficult, after errors, or when confused Gradually becomes more silent Children with learning and behavior problems use longer Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Children’s Use of Private Speech Figure 6.18 Relationship of private speech to task difficulty among 5- and 6-year olds. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Zone of Proximal Development Tasks child cannot do alone but can learn to do with help Royalty Free Stock Photography Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Social Interactions that Promote Cognitive Development Intersubjectivity Scaffolding Guided participation Corbis Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Vygotsky and Make-Believe Play Provides Zone of Proximal Development Imaginary substitutions help children separate thinking from objects Rules strengthen capacity to think before acting DigitalVision Royalty Free Stock Photography Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Social Origins of Make-Believe Play Make-believe play is a major means by which children grow cognitively and learn about important activities in their culture. Toddlers need encouragement to participate in imaginative make-believe play. Mothers and siblings play an important role in modeling make-believe play. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Vygotsky and Education Assisted Discovery Teacher: Guides learning Tailors help to Zone of Proximal Development Peer Collaboration Corbis Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Reciprocal Teaching Teacher and students take turns leading dialogue Ask Summarize Clarify Predict Corbis Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Cooperative Learning Small groups of classmates work toward common goals Cultural variations in ability to learn cooperatively Corbis Royalty Free Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.

Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Theory Helps explain cultural diversity in cognition Emphasizes importance of teaching Focus on language deemphasizes observation, other learning methods Says little about biological contributions to cognition Vague in explanation of change Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Allyn & Bacon.