Sensorimotor period: Birth -2

• Schemas / stranger anxiety• Assimilation/Accommodation

– Categorization/Classification

• Object Permanence• Rooting Reflex• Circular reaction reflexivity

non reflexive motions• The infant interacts with the

world thru sensory and motor activities.

Infancy: Cognitive Development

• Preferences for faces

• Visual Cliff experiments-– Depth perception

Preoperational Stage (ages 2-7)

• Egocentrism• Symbol Acquisition-

language• Pretend Play/Social

Learning Theory• The child represents

objects with words and mental images

Concrete Operational (ages 7-11)

• Reversibility- puppy lab, lab puppy

• Conservation- matter doesn’t increase/decrease because it changes form.

• The child shows more logical thinking.

• Mathematical transformations

• Child can think logically about concrete events.

Formal Operational (ages 11 & up)• Abstract thinking emerges• Hypothetical thinking emerges

– Concrete objects no longer need to be present• Readiness for adult intellectual tasks.• Metacognition (thinking about our own thinking)• Can take others’ perspectives• Thinking through hypotheses• Not all adolescents/adults achieve formal

operational thinking.

Six Sensorimotor Substages

• Exercising reflexes – 0-1 month

• Developing schemes – 1-4 months

• Discovering procedures – 4-8 months

• Intentional behavior – 8-12 months

• Novelty and exploration – 12-18 months

• Mental representation – 18-24 months

Preoperational Thought• Appearances overwhelm preschoolers

– 2-3-year-olds do not easily discriminate what things look like from what things are

• Centration • Lacks reversibility • Learning becomes strategic• Language becomes instrumental • Misconceptions about Causality

– Artificialism (sun) natural phenomena created by peeps

– Animism (dolls) inanimate objects have human attributes

Concrete Operational Thought

• Reversibility: Hallmark move to Concrete Thinking

– Compensation, Reciprocity, Inversion, Negation

• Classification and class inclusion

• Number skills and knowledge

• Understanding of conservation

Children’s cognitive development from 4-10 years reveals:

• Better conceptual relations

• More controlled strategies

• Greater awareness of thinking

• Better causal reasoning

• Better understanding of other people

Thought in Childhood and Adolescence

Child Adolescent• Limited to what is Considers possibilities

• Limited to present Considers abstract concepts and ideas

• Haphazard testing Planned testing

• Own view Perspective of others

Formal Operational Thought

• Thinking about possibilities

• Thinking abstractly

• Thinking through hypotheses

• Thinking about thinking

• Considering the perspective of others

– Imaginary audience – Personal fable