CHAPTER 7

COGNITION
 Learning Objectives
• How do organization,
adaptation, and
disequilibrium guide
development?
 Chapter 7: Cognition

• Cognition: The activity

of knowing
• Typical of humans
throughout lifespan
• Changes across the
lifespan
• Piaget and Vygotsky
 Piaget
• Genetic Epistemology
– How we come to know reality
• Clinical Method
– Question and answer
technique
– Used to discover how children
reason
• Intelligence: How well we adapt
– Schemes/cognitive structures
– Represent reality
 Piaget

• Assimilation
– Using existing schemes to
interpret new experiences
– E.g., Birds are things that fly
• Accommodation
– Modifying schemes to fit new
experience
– E.g., Butterflies are different
than birds even though they
both fly
 Piaget

• Adaptation
– Adjusting to the environment
– Using assimilation and accommodation
• Intelligence = Adaptation
• Constructivism
– Children construct own reality
– Use their experiences (schemes)
 Piaget
• Four stages/changes in ability to
reason
– Sensorimotor: birth to 2 years
– Preoperational: 2 to 7 years
– Concrete operations: 7 to 11
years
– Formal operations: 12+ years
• Invariant sequence
• Rates may vary
• Requires maturation and
experience
 Learning Objectives

• What are the major

achievements of the
sensorimotor stage ?
• How do infants progress
toward these
achievements?
 Piaget

• Sensorimotor Stage
– Newborn uses reflexes to understand world
(sensory & motoric intelligence)
• Outcome of Stage
– Mental representation
• Evidence: Object Permanence
– Symbolic Capacity
• Evidence: Language
• Some common tests of the child’s ability to conserve.
 Learning Objectives

• What are the characteristics and limitations of

preoperational thought?
 Preoperational Stage

• Egocentric Thinkers
• Problem Solving Limited
– Classification and seriation problems
• Ages 2–7: Preschool
– May have imaginary companions
• Lack Conservation
– Perceptual salience, Irreversible thinking
– Centration
Learning Objectives

• What are the major

characteristics and
limitations of concrete
operational thought?
• What are the main
features of concrete
operational thought?
 Concrete Operations
• Age 7-11
• Can Conserve
• Decentration
• Reversible thinking
• Logical thinking
(limited to reality)
– Seriation and
classification
– Transitive thinking:
• “ If J is taller than M,
and M is taller than
S, who is taller – J or
S?”
 Learning Objectives

• What are the main

features of formal
operational thought?
• In what ways might
adult thought be more
advanced than
adolescent thought?
 Formal Operations
• Adolescence/Puberty
• Logical Thinking About Ideas
– Hypothetical and abstract thinking
– Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
• Decontextual Thinking
– Ability to separate prior knowledge/beliefs
from new evidence to the contrary
 Formal Operations 2
• Adolescent Egocentrism
– Differentiating own
thoughts from others’
• Imaginary audience
– Also, learning to
present
themselves to a
real audience
• Personal fable
– “No one has ever
felt like this
before!”
– “I drive better
when I’m drunk!”
 Cognition in Adulthood

• Formal Operations Require

– Normal intelligence
– Higher education (scientific thinking)
• Lower Performance on Formal Operations
– Why? Use only in field of expertise
• Postformal Thought (Highest Level)
– Relativistic thinking: Labouvie-Vief
– No absolute answer in many situations
 Learning Objectives

• What are the limitations

and challenges to
Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development?
 Piaget

• Contributions
– Stimulated much research
– Correct about cognitive
development
• Challenges
– Underestimated competencies
– Focused on performance not
competence
– Domain growth rather than
stages
– Social influences left out
 Learning Objectives
• What is the main theme of
Vygotsky’s theory of
cognitive development?
• How does social
interaction contribute to
cognitive development
according to Vygotsky’s
theory?
• In what ways are
Vygotsky and Piaget
similar and different in
their ideas about
cognition?
 Vygotsky
• Emphasized the Sociocultural
Context
– Culture effects how and
what we think
• Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD)
– Accomplishment with
guidance
– Where lessons should be
aimed
• Guided Participation Learning
• Private Speech Guides
Behavior
– (3&4 yr olds)