Cognitive Change

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

Concrete Operational Stage (7 - 11 years)

The child begins to reason logically, and organize thoughts coherently, however, they can only think about actual physical objects; they cannot handle abstract reasoning; its also characterized by a loss of egocentric thinking.

A child has the ability to master most types of conservation experiments, and begins to understand reversibility.

The concrete operational stage is also characterized by the child's ability to coordinate two dimensions of an object simultaneously, arrange structures in sequence, and transpose differences between items in a series.

Seriation

The concrete operations that involves ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension, such as length or height.

Transitivity

The ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.

Neo-Plagetians

Argue that Piaget got some things right but others need considerable revision

Give more emphasis to how children use attention, memory, and strategies to process information.

Believe that a more accurate portrayal of children’s thinking requires attention to strategies, speed at which information is processed, the task involved, & the division of problems into smaller, more precise steps.

Lev Vygotsky had an alternative view to Piaget.

Information Processing Examines how children

handle information during middle and late childhood.

During these years children dramatically improve their ability to sustain and control attention.

Children pay more attention to task relevant stimuli than to salient stimuli.

Changes in Information Processing

These information processes

change during middle and

late childhood. Memory,

Thinking, and Metacognition

Memory Long Term Memory increases Which Reflects Increased Knowledge Knowledge & Expertise influences what is

noticed, how information is organized, interpreted & represented. Experts have acquired knowledge in a particular area.

Strategies consist of deliberate mental activities to improve the processing of information.

Memory cont’d

Fuzzy Trace Theory states that memory is best understood by considering two types of memory representations: (1) verbatim memory trace, and (2) gist. In this theory, older children’s better memory is attributed to the fuzzy traces created by

extracting the gist of information.

Thinking Three important aspects of thinking are being able to

think critically, creatively, and scientifically. Critical thinking is thinking with reflectively and

productively, as well as evaluating the evidence. Creative thinking is the ability to think in novel ways & to come up with unique solutions to problems Scientific Thinking is when a child asks fundamental questions about reality and seeks answers to problems that seem utterly trivial or answerable to others.

Metacognition

Defined it is the cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.

It is referring to one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes or anything related to them, e.g., the learning-relevant properties of information or data. For example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A than B; if it strikes me that I should double check C before accepting it as fact.—J. H. Flavell

Chapter 10

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developmental Changes(Middle & Late Childhood)

Developmental Changes Include:• Improved emotional

understanding• Increased understanding that

more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation

• Increased awareness of the events leading to emotional reactions

• Ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions

• Use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings

• A capacity for genuine empathy

Emotional Development

Older children utilize more coping strategies to stressful conditions and use more cognitive coping strategies (Saarni & others, 2006).

COPING WITH STRESS

Emotional Development

• Most children are able to use cognitive strategies to cope with stress by age 10.

• However, children that

lack supportive families and have been through turmoil or trauma may become overwhelmed with stress and not be able to utilize such strategies.

Emotional Development

Recommendations for helping children coping with stressful events:

• Reassure children of their safety and security.

• Allow children to retell events and be patient with them.

• Encourage children to talk about feelings, and reassure them that those feelings are normal after a stressful event.

• Protect children from re-exposure, by limiting discussion of the event in front of children.

• Help children make sense of what happened

Chapter 10

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Moral Development • Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of

moral development constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived of by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget.

• The theory holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor.

• Kohlberg relied for his studies on stories such as the Heinz dilemma, and was interested in how individuals would justify their actions if placed in similar moral dilemmas. He then analyzed the form of moral reasoning displayed, rather than its conclusion, and classified it as belonging to one of six distinct stages.

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. the drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

The Heinz Dilemma

1. Should Heinz steal the drug? 1a. Why or why not?

2. Is it actually right or wrong for him to steal the drug? 2a. Why is it right or wrong?

3. Does Heinz have a duty or obligation to steal the drug? 3a. Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilema The children were asked the following questions regarding the Heinz dilemma: (read slide)

These questions were formulated by Kohlberg, but Gilligan’s response is that males and females understand the question differently. According to Gilligan: The boy thinks of it as “should Heinz steal the drug?” The girl asks herself “should Heinz steal the drug?” – hoping to find another solution. Males and females understand the question differently.

Moral Development

Moral Development