Piaget's Stage Theory: Understanding Cognitive Development in Infancy, Study notes of Cognitive Development

Download Piaget's Stage Theory: Understanding Cognitive Development in Infancy and more Study notes Cognitive Development in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Infancy: Cognitive Development Chapter 6 Child Psychology Make sure you understand these concepts : Piaget’s Stage Theory  Schemas: assimilation & accommodation  Developments in Sensorimotor Stage  Sub-stages  Object Permanence  Mental Representation  Criticisms of Piaget Issues in Measuring Infant Intelligence  Developmental Quotient  Bayley Scales Make sure you understand these concepts from the reading: Infant Language Development  Characteristics of linguistic composition  Linguistic comprehension v. production  Prelinguistic communication  Infant directed speech 2 Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development  Carefully observed children-especially his own young son-and used this information to form the theory that human cognition develops not so much through traditional learning processes as through changes in the way children approach problems (believed that infants learn by doing!) Who was Piaget? one of the most influential developmental theorists of the 20th century  Believed that knowledge is the product of direct motor behavior in infants  Both quantity and quality of knowledge increase  Believed that cognitive development occurs in an orderly and gradual fashion  His theory is thus based on a stage approach to development Transitions… Infants do not suddenly shift between stages of cognitive development. Instead Piaget argues that there is a transition period in which some behaviors reflect one stage, some the next stage (GRADUAL change!) 5 (Piaget’s SENSORIMOTOR STAGE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT continued)  Substage 3: secondary circular reactions  4-8 months of age  begins to act on world (e.g., rattles rattle)  secondary circular reactions are repeated actions meant to bring about a desirable consequence on the outside world.  vocalization increases and imitation begins (Piaget’s SENSORIMOTOR STAGE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT continued)  Substage 4: coordination of secondary circular reactions  8-12 months of age  Employs GOAL-DIRECTED BEHAVIOR, where several schemes are combined and coordinated to generate a single act to solve a problem.  development of OBJECT PERMANENCE, the realization that people and objects exist even when they cannot be seen. (Piaget’s SENSORIMOTOR STAGE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT continued)  Substage 5: tertiary circular reactions  12-18 months of age  tertiary circular reactions involve the deliberate variation of actions to bring desirable consequences  Miniature “experiments” to observe consequences  Interest in understanding the unexpected 6 Piaget’s SENSORIMOTOR STAGE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT continued)  Substage 6: beginning of thought  18-24 months of age  capacity for MENTAL REPRESENTATION, an internal image of a past event or object.  permits child to understand causality  child gains ability to pretend and DEFERRED IMITATION, in which a person who is no longer present is imitated by children who have witnessed a similar act. Sensorimotor Stage Substage 1: Simple Reflexes birth to 1 month Reflexes at the center of cognitive life Substage 2: First habits and Primary circular reactions 1-4 months Coordinate separate actions into single, integrated actions Substage 3: Secondary circular reactions 4-8 months Begin to act on outside world Substage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions 8-12 months Calculated approaches. Object permanence begins Substage 5: Tertiary circular reactions 12-18 months Carry out miniature experiments to observe consequences Substage 6: Beginnings of thought 18-24 months Capacity for mental representation or symbolic thought. Imagine where objects might be that they cannot see. Developmentalist’s thoughts on Piaget…  Most developmentalists agree that Piaget's descriptions of how cognitive development proceeds during infancy are accurate.  Piaget considered a master observer.  Studies show that children do learn about the world by acting on objects in their environment. 7 However, specific aspects of Piaget's theory have been criticized. 1) Some developmentalists question the stage concept, thinking development is more continuous. 2) Piaget's notion that development is grounded in activity ignores the importance of infant's sensory and perceptual abilities. 3) Imitation and object permanence may occur earlier than Piaget suggested 4) Some development is universal, and some appears to be subject to cultural variations. Approaches used to detect differences in intelligence during infancy… 1) the DEVELOPMENTAL QUOTIENT 2) BAYLEY SCALES OF INFANT DEVELOPMENT 3) VISUAL-RECOGNITION MEMORY measurement (Approaches used to detect differences in intelligence during infancy, continued)  Arnold Gesell formulated the   DEVELOPMENTAL QUOTIENT,  an overall developmental score that relates to performance in four domains and is the earliest measure of infant development based on hundreds of babies; it compared their performance at different ages to learn what behaviors were common to a certain age.  Assesses performance in 4 domains 10 Formal characteristics of language mastery…  Phonology refers to the basic sounds of language, called phonemes, that can be combined to produce words and sentences.  Morphemes are the smallest language unit that has meaning.  Semantics are the rules that govern the meaning of words and sentences.  Language is closely tied to the way infants think and how they understand the world A. Linguistic comprehension is the understanding of speech. B. Linguistic production is the use of language to communicate. C. Comprehension of language precedes production of language Infants show PRELINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION through sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitations, and other non-linguistic means.  BABBLING is when infants make speech-like but meaningless sounds at about 2-3 months continuing to about 1 year.  Babbling is a universal phenomenon.  Babbling begins with easy sounds (b - p) and proceeds to more complex sounds (d - t).  By age 6 months, babbling differs according to the language to which the infant is exposed. 11 First words are generally spoken between 10-14 months.  First words are typically HOLOPHRASES, one-word utterances that depend on the particular context in which they are used to determine meaning. Some more things to know about language development in infants…  By 15 months the average child has a vocabulary of 15 words.  Between 16 and 24 months a child's vocabulary increases to 100 words.  by 18 months, infants are linking words in sentences using TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH where words not critical to the message are left out.  UNDEREXTENSION, using words too restrictively, is common.  OVEREXTENSION, using words too broadly, is also common. Linguists are divided on the origins of language  LEARNING THEORY APPROACH posits that language acquisition follows the basic laws of reinforcement and conditioning.  Through the process of shaping, language becomes more and more similar to adult speech.  This theory does not explain how children learn grammar.  It does not explain how children produce novel phrases, sentences, and constructions, such as nonsense words using correct grammar. 12 An alternative theory of the origins of language has been proposed by Noam Chomsky  Chomsky argues that there is a genetically determined, innate mechanism that directs the development of language.  Chomsky argues that all the world's languages share a similar underlying structure called UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR.  The brain is wired with a LANGUAGE- ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD), a neural system of the brain hypothesized to permit the understanding of language. Speaking to children: The language of infant- directed speech  INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH, a type of speech directed towards infants, characterized by short, simple sentences.  This type was previously called motherese.  Pitch of voice becomes higher.  Intonation may be singsong.  Typically only used during first year.  Infants seem more receptive to this type of speech.  Use of this type of speech is related to the early appearance of words Gender differences… Research shows that parents use different language for boys than for girls!  They use diminutives more with girls (kitty/dolly vs. cat/doll) , warmer phrases and more emotional referents and tend to hear firmer, clearer language.