Cog lifespan 5 cognitive (1)

Lifespan DevelopmentLifespan DevelopmentCognitive development

Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who devised ingenious procedures for examining the cognitive development of young children

Piaget studied when and how children gained insights into the world

Piaget focused on how people think instead of what they think

Cognitive changeCognitive change

Schemes – psychological structure of making sense of experience

Adaptation – process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environmentAssimilation: using current schemes to interpret

external worldAccommodation: create or modify schemes to

handle the environment that is not completely captured

Organisation – internal process of rearranging and linking schemes to create strongly interconnected cognitive system

Central conceptsCentral concepts

A schema is an organized way of interacting with the environment and experiencing the world

Schemata guide thoughts based on prior experiences


Schemas can change through adaptation, assimilation, and accommodation

Accommodation is when a child discovers that actions bring results, and those results affect future behaviour

Schemata are organized into more complex mental representations


In assimilation, new ideas and experiences are incorporated into existing mental structures and behaviours

In accommodation, previously developed mental structures and behaviours (schemata) are modified to adapt them to new experiences

Sensorimotor 0 – 2 years Imitation, permanence (a)

Preoperational 2 – 7 years Egocentrism (f), centration (f), irreversibility (f)

Concrete Op 7 – 11 years Decentration (a), conservation (a)

Formal Op 11+ Abstract reasoning

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

a = accommodation/assimilation; f = flaw

Piaget proposed four invariant stages of development

Newborns are dependent, reflexive organisms

At 2 to 3 months, infants develop memory for past events

The sensorimotor stage extends from birth to age 2

I: Sensorimotor StageI: Sensorimotor Stage

The first stage, comprising six sub-stagesReflexive schemesPrimary circular reactionsSecondary circular reactionsCoordination of secondary circular reactionsTertiary circular reactionsMental representations

i) Reflexive schemesi) Reflexive schemes

Birth – 1 monthInfant activity are largely reflexiveUnderstanding of environment is based

on reflex action- Sucking- Looking around- Startle

ii) Primary circular reactionsii) Primary circular reactions

1 – 4 monthsCoordinating sensation and new schemas

- Accidental action- Sensation of pleasure- Intentional repetition of the action

- Coordination of sensation and two types of schemes: habits (reflex) and primary circular reactions (reproduction of an event that initially occurred by chance)

- Main focus is on infant's body.

iii) Secondary circular iii) Secondary circular reactionsreactions

4 – 8 monthsInfant becomes more focused on the world

and begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger a response in the environment.

Development of habits. Infants are more object-oriented, moving

beyond self-preoccupation; repeat actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results

iv) Coordination of iv) Coordination of secondary circular reactionssecondary circular reactions

8 – 12 monthCombine schemas in order to achieve a

desired effectExploration and imitation Understanding of objects – children begin to

recognise certain objects as having specific qualities

Coordination of vision and touch – hand-eye coordination;

Responses become coordinated into more complex sequences. Actions take on an "intentional" character

v) Tertiary circular reactionsv) Tertiary circular reactions

12 – 18 monthsTrial-and-error experimentation Infants become intrigued by the many

properties of objects and by the many things they can make happen to objects; they experiment with new behaviour.

vi) Mental representationsvi) Mental representations

18 – 24 monthsEarly Representational Thought through

Mental Combination Develop symbols to represent events or

objects in the worldEvidence of an internal representational

system. Symbolising the problem-solving sequence before actually responding. Deferred imitation.

Cognitive achievementsCognitive achievements

Object permanence Intentionality of actionsAwareness of properties of objectsImitation

Attainment of these four cognitive skills will mark the end of the sensorimotor stage, whereby the child will then move into the next stage

Object permanenceObject permanence

Ability of the brain to retain and utilise visual images.

Object permanence is the understanding that objects exist even when out of sight, whereby the child recognises that although the person or object is not within sight, it still exists

Often handled approximately eight (8) months

In the second half of the sensorimotor stage, children begin to use language to represent the world

The preoperational child The preoperational child

The preoperational stage lasts from about age 2 to age 6 or 7

In this stage, children represent reality through symbolic thought

Limitations of preoperational Limitations of preoperational thought thought

Egocentricism: failure to distinguish the symbolic viewpoints of others from own view

Centration: focusing on only one attributeAnimistic thinking: belief that inanimate

objects have lifelike qualities

Conservation: certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same even when their outward appearance changes

The turning point!

Piaget’s Mountains StudyPiaget’s Mountains Study

To investigate egocentrism

Three 3-D mountains

Ask child to indicate which view he thought E saw from E position

Plaster model make-up

E

C

Younger child answer

Older child answer

The preoperational childThe preoperational child

Centration is the tendency for preoperational children to become focused on one salient dimension at the expense of others

e.g. show them five black and three white marbles and ask them “Are there more marbles or more black marbles?” they will respond “More black ones!” – evidencing they centred on colour

The preoperational childThe preoperational child

Animistic Thinking is the attribution of intentions to objects or events

e.g. “the chair was afraid of me so it moved away”

Preoperational stagePreoperational stage

Dramatic increase in use of symbols, representations

Children had many internal experiences which were labelled with words by the child

By observing children’s make believe play, able to get an idea of child’s inner world

Make believe play in preschool Make believe play in preschool yearsyears

Detaches from real life conditions associated with it

Play becomes less self centred Play includes more complex

combinations of schemesSociodramatic play indicates awareness

that make believe play is representational activity

Symbol-real world relationsSymbol-real world relations

Preschoolers realise that each symbol corresponds with a specific state of affairs in daily life.

When does this happen?2½ - 3year olds before children start to

realise that a symbolic object is both an object and a symbol (dual representation)

Limitations Limitations

Centration: focusing on only one aspect of a situation, neglecting other important features

Irreversibility: inability to mentally go through a series of steps in a problem then reverse direction, returning to starting point

Lacking hierarchical classification: difficulty to organise objects into classes and subclasses based on similarities and differences

Mastering these three is the point at which the child will learn to conserve

The concrete operational childThe concrete operational child

The concrete operational stage lasts from the age of about 6 / 7 to 11 / 12

In this stage, the child develops the ability to understand constant factors in the environment

The concrete operational child understands rules and the reasons for them

The concrete operational childThe concrete operational child

A hallmark of the concrete stage is understanding conservation

Conservation is recognising that objects can be transformed visually or physically, yet still be the same in number, weight, substance, or volume

Figure 11.7 Development of ConservationFigure 11.7 Development of Conservation

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive DevelopmentDevelopment

The formal operational stage begins at about age 12

In this stage, the individual can think hypothetically, consider future possibilities, and use deductive logic

An adolescent can engage in abstract thought in the formal operational stage

Characteristics of Characteristics of formal operational stageformal operational stage

Hypothetico-deductive reasoningPropositional thought

Hypothetico-deductive Hypothetico-deductive reasoningreasoning

The hypothesis is the starting pointDeduce logicallyMake testable inferences,

systematically isolating and combining variables to see which are confirmed for the real world

Propositional thoughtPropositional thought

Ability to evaluate the logic of prepositions without referring to real-world circumstances

Reflects the ability to hold the thought in the head – required a symbolic system for representation, to aid the logical manipulation of thought and concept

Follow-up research Follow-up research

Are children/adolescents really capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning?- Shades of it- Not as capable as adults- Capability improves with age

HDR contradicts with real-world factsEven some adults fail to be capable in

formal operations

Beyond Piaget:Beyond Piaget:Educational principles derivedEducational principles derived

Understanding of Piaget’s theory allows educational plans take into account the child’s stage of readiness Discovery learning

Sensitivity to children’s readiness to learning

Acceptance of individual differences

Vygotsky’s Vygotsky’s sociocultural sociocultural

approachapproach

Central conceptCentral concept

Development applies mainly to mental development, such as thought, language and reasoning process

These abilities were understood to develop through social interactions with others (especially parents) and therefore represented the shared knowledge of the culture

Role of culture in mental Role of culture in mental processesprocesses

Intellectual abilities is specific to the culture in which the child was reared 1) Children acquire much of their thinking

(knowledge) from it. 2) Children acquire the processes or means of

their thinking (tools of intellectual adaptation) from the surrounding culture.

Culture provides the children with the means to think, what to think and how to think.

Learning and cognitive Learning and cognitive thoughtthought

Is a dialectical process where the child learns through shared problem solving experiences with someone else (parents, teacher, siblings or peer)

Language dialogue - shares and stimulates thinking- is primary tool of intellectual transformation

Development consists of gradual internalization, primarily through language, to form cultural adaptation

Zone if Proximal Zone if Proximal DevelopmentDevelopment

Potential for cognitive development is limited to a certain time span

The gap between what a given child can achieve alone, their potential development as determined by independent problem solving, and what they can achieve through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers

The full development during the ZPD depends upon full social interaction and the more the child takes advantages of an adult’s assistance, the broader is its ‘Zone of Proximal Development’.

Language is used by children - additional device in solving problems- to overcome impulsive action- to plan a solution before trying it out,

and- to control their own behaviour

Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky

Both viewed pre-school children in problem solving situations talking to themselves

Piaget labelled the self directed behaviour as egocentric and believed it only minimum relevant to children’s cognitive growth

Vygotsky referred to it as a private speech and essential to cognitive growth

Cognitive development in Cognitive development in adulthoodadulthood

Changes in the structure of thought- Epistemic cognition- Pragmatic thought, cognitive-emotional

complexity

Expertise and creativityAttending College Vocational choice

LaBouvie-Vief: Pragmatic LaBouvie-Vief: Pragmatic thought and cognitive-thought and cognitive-emotional complexityemotional complexity

Changes in structure of Changes in structure of thoughtthought

Pragmatic thought and Cognitive-emotional complexity: LaBouvie-Vief

- Adolescents work within a world of possibilities

- Adulthood involves a shift from hypothetical to pragmatic thought

- Logic is a tool for solving real-world problems

Children face limitless opportunities, while adults move from hypothetical to pragmatic as they face real-world problems and make conscious commitments to a single path

Adults select one path out of many alternatives, they become more aware of the constraints of everyday life

The need to specialize motivates this change

As young adults gain reflective capacity, they are better able to integrate cognition and emotion, allowing them to make sense of discrepancies.

Adults become more aware of positive and negative feelings, and are better able to coordinate those feelings into a complex, organized structure

Cognitive-affective Cognitive-affective complexitycomplexity

Allows mature people to demonstrate increased awareness of the perspectives and motivations of themselves and others

Vital aspect of emotional intelligenceAs young adults mature, they become

aware of multiple perspectives, integrate logic with reality, and develop cognitive-emotional complexity that allows them to become increasingly specialized and context-bound in action and thought that opens higher levels of competence.

Individuals who demonstrate high cognitive-affect complexity tend to

- Be more tolerant toward events and people

- Be more open-minded toward events and people

- Make sense of conflicting emotions, regulate emotions

- Think rationally about real-world dilemmas

In summaryIn summary

There are no right or wrong thoughts Qualitative transformations in thinking

Awareness of multiple truthsIntegration of logic with realityCognitive-emotional complexity

Adult thinking must be flexible and adaptive in order to cope in a complex, specialised society

Experts have domain specific knowledge

Plan aheadRemember and reasonSystematically analyseCategorise elementsConceptualise

possibilities

Novices have superficial understanding

Lacking reasoning ability

Tend to solve challenges by way of trial and error

Expertise = acquisition of extensive knowledge in a field or endeavour

Vocation and choiceVocation and choice

Unavoidable decision in the stage of early adulthood

Vocational development in three stages1) Fantasy period – early and middle

childhood, gaining insight2) Tentative period – between 11 – 16,

consideration of interests3) Realistic period – late teens and early

adulthood: exploration and crystallisation phases

Factors influencing vocation Factors influencing vocation choicechoice

Personality – complement their personalityInvestigative: enjoy working with ideas → scientific Social: likes interacting, human issues → social workArtistic: emotional, individual expressionRealistic: real-world problems → mechanicalConventional: well-structured tasks, values material

and social status → businessEnterprising: adventurous, persuasive → sales,

supervisory, politics


Family influenceParent-child vocational similarity is partly a

function of similarity in personality, intellectual abilities, and educational attainment

Parenting practices - High SES promote curiosity, self-direction →

high-status careers- Lower SES emphasise conformity & obedience


TeachersCloser teacher-student relations Offering encouragement Role models


Gender stereotypesTraditionally male jobs see women

entering, but at slow paceWomen tended to seek less demanding

careers because of the need to combine work and child rearingAbility – unresolved Interests Training – math and science majors

Changes in mental ability Changes in mental ability in middle adulthoodin middle adulthood

Decline in short term memory abilityCrystallised intelligence increases

steadily through middle adulthood whereas fluid intelligence begins to decline in the twenties

Reaction time slows down

Technology

Cog lifespan 5 cognitive (1)