LECTURE 10
Preoperational Stage
(2-7 years):
- Child has language
- Develops ability to use symbols (such as words) and to treat objects as symbolic of things other than themselves
- Ability to use symbolic representations is the greatest cognitive strength of preoperational stage children
Symbolic Capacity:
- Ability to use one thing to represent something else, including:
- Actions
- Mental Images
- Objects
- Words
Symbolic Play:
- Also called pretend play
- Capacity to adopt roles other than that of the self
Children Who Engage in Lots of Pretend Play:
- Are more popular
- Are better perspective-takers and more empathetic
- Are generally more socially mature
- Perform better on tests of Piagetian cognitive development, language skills, and creativity
Contrasting Stages:
Preoperational stage
(2-7 years) contrasted with
Concrete operational stage
(7-11 years)
Preoperational vs. Concrete Operational:
- Thinkingat thepreoperational stage is egocentric
Egocentrism: tendency to view world from one's own perspective while failing to recognize that others may have different points of view
- What develops in concrete operational stage?
Perspective-taking: ability to know what another person sees, feels, or knows
Preoperational vs. Concrete Operational (Cont):
- Thinking at the preoperational stage centers on the dominant perceptual characteristic
Centration: tendency to focus on only one aspect of a situation or problem when two or more aspects or dimensions are relevant
- What develops in concrete operational stage?
Decentration: ability to focus on two or more aspects or dimensions of a situation or problem at one time
Preoperational vs. Concrete Operational (Cont):
- Thinking at the preoperational stage fails to conserve
- What develops in concrete operational stage?
Conservation : recognition that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is altered in some superficial way
Preoperational vs. Concrete Operational (Cont):
- Thinking at the preoperational stage is nonreversible
- What develops in concrete operational stage?
Reversibility : ability to reverse or negate an action by mentally performing opposite action
Preoperational vs. Concrete Operational (Cont):
- Thinking at the preoperational stage cannot reason simultaneously about part of the whole and the whole
- What develops in concrete operational stage?
Class Inclusion: logical understanding that parts or subclasses are included in the whole class & that the whole is greater than any of its parts
Preoperational vs. Concrete Operational (Cont):
- Thinking at the preoperational stage fails to seriate
- What develops in concrete operational stage?
Seriation: logical operation that allows one to mentally order a set of stimuli along a quantifiable dimension, such as height or weight
Transitivity: ability to recognize the necessary or logical relations among elements in a serial order (EX: if A > B, & B > C, then A must be > C)
Formal Operational Stage
(12+ years)
- Abstract thought
- Systematic problem-solving
- Hypothetical-deductive logic
- Separation and control of variables
- Metaphoric thinking
Formal Thought is Made More Likely By:
- Intelligence
- Training in scientific reasoning
- Expertise in a domain of knowledge
Beyond Formal Operations:
Factors that constitute post-formal thought:
- Dialectical thinking
- Relativism
- Systems thinking
Conceptions of Death:
- In our culture, "mature" conceptions of death include notions of finality, irreversibility, universality, and biological causality
- Understandings of death vary as a function of cognitive development
Conceptions of Death (Cont):
- Infants at least 6 mos old who lose an attachment figure will become depressed
- Preschool children think of death as a lessening (rather than cessation) of life processes
- Children aged 5-7 make considerable progress in acquiring a mature concept of death
The Information Processing View:
- Older children have a larger short-term (working) memory available for use than younger children
- Revision of Piaget: Preoperational children center, not because they lack certain cognitive structures
- They center because they don't have enough short-term, i.e., working, memory capacity to keep both pieces of information in mind at the same time
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
(Vygotsky):
- The difference between what a learner can accomplish independently & what he/she can accomplish with the guidance & encouragement of a skilled partner
- People learn best in the ZPD: it is the zone where sensitive instruction should be aimed
END
Your Notes