Unit 3 Notes

UNIT 3
Cognitive Development- Piaget and Vygotsky
Cognitive processes are a series of chemical and electrical signals that

occur in the brain that allow you to comprehend your environment and
gain knowledge.
Piaget Concepts-
 Schemes-Mental representations that organize knowledge.
 Assimilation- Using existing schemes to deal with new info or
experiences.
 Accommodation- Adjusting schemes to fit new info
 Organization- Grouping isolated behaviours and thoughts into a
higher-order, more smoothly functioning cognitive system.
Equilibration- a Mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how

children shift from one stage of thought to the next
Piaget Stages and Achievements

SENSORIMOTOR (birth-2 years) Infants create an understanding
of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with actions.
Substages-
i. Simple Reflexes- rooting, sucking, grasping
ii. First habits and Primary circular reactions- repeating a body
sensation (thumb sucking)
iii. Secondary circular reactions- An infant becomes object
oriented.
iv. Coordination of Secondary circular reactions- coordination
of vision and touch
v. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity-infant
intrigued by properties of objects
vi. Internalization of schemes- use of symbols and form.
Achievement during this stage-
Object permanence- understanding that objects and events continue to
exist even when they cannot be directly seen/heard/touched.
A-not-b error- when infants make the mistake of selecting the familiar
hiding place (A) rather than the new hiding place (B) as they progress
into the 4th substage.
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE- (2-7 years) children represent the

world with words, images, drawings, symbols…
Operations:
i. Symbolic function- children gain the ability to mentally
represent an object that is not present.
ii. Egocentrism- inability to distinguish between one’s own
perspective and someone else’s
iii. Animism- belief that inanimate objects have life-like qualities
and are capable of action.
iv. Intuitive thought- children begin to use primitive reasoning
and want to know the answers to questions.
v. Centration- focusing of attention on one characteristic,
excluding others.
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7-11 years)

i. Seriation- ordering stimuli along a quantitating dimension
ii. Transitivity- logically combine relations to understand certain
conclusions.
iii. Critical thinking- thinking reflectively and productively and
evaluating the evidence.
iv. Creative thinking- think of novel and unusual ways for
solutions
v. Mindfulness- being alert, mentally present and cognitively
flexible with everyday activities.
vi. Thinking- convergent, divergent, brainstorming, metacognition
(cognition about cognition)
FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (7+)

i. Hypothetical-deductive reasoning- develop hypothesis, ways
to solve problems like algebraic equations.
ii. Adolescent egocentrism- heightened self-consciousness
iii. Imaginary audience- others are as interested in adolescent.
iv. Personal fable- sense of uniqueness/invincibility
v. Information processing
vi. Decision making and critical thinking.
LEV VYGOTSKY THEORY

Zone of proximal Development (ZPD)- tasks too difficult for children
to master alone but can be mastered with assistance of adults or more
skilled.
This theory has a lower limit (the range of tasks the child can perform
independently) and upper limit (additional responsibilities child can
accept with guidance) . As children experience verbal
instruction/demonstration, they organize the info into existing mental
structures to be able to perform the task.
Scaffolding- changing the level of support. A more skilled person

adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the child’s current performance.
Language and Thought- Children use speech to communicate socially
and solve tasks (Vygotsky) and they use it to plan, guide and monitor
their behavior. This self-regulation use of language is private speech.
OTHER TOPICS
Learning
- Attention focusing on selected information
- Habituation- decreased responsiveness to stimulus after repeated
presentations of it.
- Joint Attention- focus on object and ability to track anothers
behavior
Memory- implicit (unconscious skills and procedures), Explicit (facts
and experiences)
Deferred imitation is the ability to remember and copy an action or
sequence of actions that were previously seen, even when there are no
current visual cues to help guide the behavior.
Measures of Infant Development-

• Developmental Quotient (DQ) An overall score that combines
sub scores in motor, language, adaptive, and personal-social
domains in the Gesell assessment of infants.
• The Gesell Assessment System is research validated and kid-
reported “fun” set of screening and assessment tools for educators,
parents, pediatricians and other early childhood professionals.
- Bayley Scales of Infant Development developed by Nancy
Bayley that are widely used in the assessment of infant
development. The current version has three components: a mental
scale, a motor scale, and an infant behavior profile
Educational Implications
a) Constructivist Approach- Children learn best when allowed to be
active and seek solutions for themselves. They shouldn't just be
passive receptacles of knowledge.
b) Facilitating rather than direct teaching- Teachers should promote
students’ thinking and design situations in which they are
encouraged to learn by doing.
c) Consideration of Child’s Level of Thinking and Knowledge -
Teachers should adapt to their students level of thought and
respond in ways that are easily understandable.
d) Promotion of Intellectual Health- Children’s learning happens
naturally, so it is important that they are not forced into
achieving too much at an early age.
e) Exploration and Discovery- If Piaget’s version of classrooms were
to be implemented in today's world, they would not be as
structured. Predetermined assignments would not exist, and
teaching would be according to each student’s interests and
natural activities in order to determine an apt course of teaching.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Language is ordered and organized. Infinite generativity- ability to
produce endless number of meaningful sentences. 5 major rules-
I. Phonology- sound system of lang, how they used + combined.
II. Morphology- units of meaning involved in word formation.
III. Syntax- words are combined to form phrases and sentences.
IV. Semantics- meaning of words and sentences.
V. Pragmatics- appropriate use of lang in different contexts.
Language Development
- Crying
- Cooing
- Babbling
- Gestures
- 2 word utterances by 18-24 months
Telegraphic Speech- the use of short and precise words without

grammatical markers like articles, auxiliary verbs etc.
 Biological Influences
Boca’s area- left frontal lobe of brain- producing words
Wernicke’s area- left hemisphere- language comprehension
Aphasia- loss/impairment of language processing
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)- biological endowment that
enables the child to detect certain features and rules of language
like syntax, semantics, phonology.
Interactions view
Most language researchers now believe that children have inherent
social and linguistic abilities that enable them to acquire language
naturally. Both biological and social interactions influence learning.
Language- MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD

Metalinguistic Awareness- knowledge about language…. Like knowing
what preposition to use.
Whole-language approach- approach based on the idea that instruction
should parallel children’s natural language learning.
METHODS OF STUDYING DEVELOPMENT

 Descriptive Methods - Approaches that primarily involve the observation and
description of behavior
 Experimental Methods
Approaches that attempt to determine what causes what in development and behavior
(based on cause-effect relationship) Emotional based, community, individual
Research can be- Quantitative research (to do with numbers and statistics- survey) , Qualitative
research (like direct field result)
Longitudinal Studies-
This studies the participants over a long period of time and the research usually takes periodic
samples of behavior
The advantage of this is that it allows us to track development and enables us to monitor changes
over time. Eg- Freud's study on Little Hans (from age 3 to 5)
This design allows for a reduction in participants variables as the same people are studied over a
relatively long period of time.
Cross-sectional-
It’s a type of observational study design. Here, the investigator measures the outcome and the
exposures in the study participants at the same time. (study of people from different
sectors/classes like comparative studies on intelligence, work ethic etc)
Cross-cultural- taking a similar set of people (same class/same age) across cultures
Sequential research design- Similar to longitudinal designs, sequential research features

participants who are followed over time- similar to cross sectional designs, sequential research
includes participants of different ages.

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UNIT 3

Cognitive Development- Piaget and Vygotsky

Cognitive processes are a series of chemical and electrical signals that

Equilibration- a Mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how

Piaget Stages and Achievements

PREOPERATIONAL STAGE- (2-7 years) children represent the

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7-11 years)

FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (7+)

LEV VYGOTSKY THEORY

Scaffolding- changing the level of support. A more skilled person

Measures of Infant Development-

Telegraphic Speech- the use of short and precise words without

Language- MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD

METHODS OF STUDYING DEVELOPMENT

Sequential research design- Similar to longitudinal designs, sequential research features

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