Development of thinking
I. How do developmental changes occur? The Great Debate
II. Cognitive development
Cognitive Development:
The development of thinking
I. How do developmental changes occur?
II. Cognitive development I. Describe: General sequence II. Explanations: Natural biases, innate expectations, socio-cultural input, language
Describe: General Sequence
1. Infants have primary concepts.
-Object concepts
-Number concepts
-Person concepts
Object Permanence
Objects exist even when not in view
For Piaget, conceptual understanding emerges from sensorimotor development
For 2 substages, infants actions involve their own body.
--Reflexes
--Primary circular reactions: repeating actions that are pleasurable (i.e., thumb sucking)
Substages 3, 4, 5 and then substage 6 (18-24 mod):
--Representational thought
---Object permanence, language, pretend play
Baillargeon's Procedure
Habituate to passing car
View block on track
Stare at passing car?
Why?
Conservation
Number or amount stays the same despite changes in appearance
Conservation of number
…
In conservation tasks…
younger children focus exclusively on one dimension ( the height of liquid or length of chips).
Older children coordinate the vertical dimension and the circumference of the container (or length of the row and 1:1 correspondence.)
Wynn (1992)
…
Results:
Infants in both groups looked longer at the incorrect outcome:
--Infants in the 1+1 group looked longer at 1
--Infants in the 2-1 group looked longer at 2
--In control 1+1 condition, infants also looked longer at 3
Wynn concludes:
--> Infants possess numerical concepts.
Implications
Contra piaget, it is unlikely that basic number concepts develop late.
Although actions on objects do become progressively coordinated, infants understand much about the solidity, permanence and number of