Developmental Psychology PDF

Introduction to Psychology **Developmental psychology** **Cognitive development** (Jean Piaget) Classical Theory: Jean Piaget Observed his own children to form this theory Piaget focused on cognitive stuctures that children acquire by interacting with their environment: - Schemata = mental r...

Introduction to Psychology **Developmental psychology** **Cognitive development** (Jean Piaget) Classical Theory: Jean Piaget Observed his own children to form this theory Piaget focused on cognitive stuctures that children acquire by interacting with their environment: - Schemata = mental representations that define a particular category/ behaviour - Concepts = rules that describe properties of environmental events and their relations to other concepts Processes to adapt to environment: - Assimilation = new information is modified to fit into existing schema - Accommodation = new schema produced or old schemata changed by new information e.g. child grows up around dogs, thus has a dog schema. Then she sees a cat If the cat is then called a dog: Assimilation If the cat is treated as its own category (cats): Accommodation Piagets 4 stages of cognitive developmental 4 stages of cognitive development always occur in same sequence Dependant on physical maturation of brain, but may also be influenced by environment/ experience (e.g. school speeds progress) - Up to age 2: Sensorimotor (children learn by using their senses and motor activities) - 2-7: Pre-operational period - 7-11: Concrete operational period - 11+: Formal operational period 1. **Sensorimotor (0-2)** - **Object permanence:** out of sight does not mean out of existence (learned after first year) e.g. putting ball under bucket and out of view does not mean its gone - **Deferred imitation**: forming mental representation of actions that are recalled later e.g. child found shaving in bathroom after watching dad - **Rudimentary symbolic thinking**: words to represent objects e.g. start to use words such as 'dog' or 'man' to represent actual objects - **Search and investigate** e.g. develop understanding of their world through trial and error -- mostly involving touch 2. Pre-operational (2-7) - Language ability develops rapidly - Counting/ working with numbers - Increased ability to think symbolically and logically - Still have difficulties mastering conservation problems - Start to develop theory of mind: ability to imagine what other people are thinking -- to predict their intentions/ behaviour - Still have egocentrism, but start to lose it by the end: belief that others see the world exactly like oneself e.g. nodding head (without saying anything) on phone 3. Concrete Operational period (7-11) - Development of organised and rational thinking - Logical analyses -- but only applied to physical objects or specific things (hence 'concrete') - Inductive reasoning: if child's three friends are rude, then she concludes that all childrens friends are rude - Abstract or hypothetical thinking is not yet developed - Complex cause and effect relations Child in earlier stage may believe that she got sick because she misbehaved Child in this stage may understand that she is sick because she played with her sick friend - Classification of objects e.g. show picture of two black cows and one white cow and ask if there are more black cows or more cows Pre operational stage: 'black' Concrete operational: 'cows' - Empathise with others Loss of egocentrism and development of theory of mind - Mastery of conservation problems 4. Formal Operational Period (11+ years) Adolescence - Abstract reasoning: according to Piaget, not everyone reaches this stage - Ability to hypothesise, test and re-evaluate hypotheses - Begin thinking in a formal systematic way - Logical thinking - Ability to work through abstract problems and use logic without presence of concrete manipulation - E.g. if person A is taller than person B, and person B is taller than person C, who is the tallest? (example of inferential reasoning) Overview A white and black list with black text Description automatically generated  **Classical Theoretical Views: Vygotsky** Sociocultural environment vital for cognitive development Language drives cognitive by internalising social interactions (and other's mental states) Children learn from more competent others presenting alternative perspectives - **Zone of proximal development**: range of tasks/ skills that a child is unable to master alone but can perform with the assistance of peers/ adults **Scaffolding**: appropriate assistance given by the teacher to assist the learner to accomplish a task Requires examples on how to solve a problem while controlling the environment so that learner can gradually expand knowledge without excessive frustration Course/ content of intellectual growth not universal but is a product of culture