Chapter 7 Cognition

Life-Span Human Development, Fifth Edition, Carol K. Sigelman and Elizabeth A. RiderChapter 7

Chapter 7

Cognition


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


Piaget

• Sensorimotor Stage

– Newborn uses reflexes to understand world

– Eventually - mental representation

• Object Permanence

– Symbolic Capacity

• Language


Figure 7.4


Preoperational Stage

• Ages 2 – 7: preschool– May have imaginary companions

• Egocentric thinkers

• Problem solving limited– Classification and Seriation problems

• Lack conservation– Perceptual salience– Irreversible thinking– Centration


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?”


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 requires

– Normal intelligence

– Higher education (scientific thinking)

• Lower performance on formal operations

• Use only in field of expertise

• Postformal thought

– Relativistic thinking: Labouvie-Vief

– No absolute answer in many situations


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


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)

Chapter 7 Cognition

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