Cognitive Development in Infancy & Childhood: Nature vs. Nurture & Piaget's Theory, Lecture notes of Nutrition

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Infancy & Childhood:

Cognitive Development

Nature vs. Nurture Today

• Maturation (motor dev): Pattern is the same for everyone (NATURE)
• Supported by care, nutrition, exercise (NURTURE)
  1. Operate to make all humans similar
• Genetic abilities: intelligence, athletic ability, personality (NATURE)
• Environmental influences: family, random events, society (NURTURE)
  2. Operate to make all humans unique
• Height vs. Personality Degree of influence is dependant on the characteristic

Early Neurological Development

At Birth All brain cells have been formed Networks are weak & immature The neurological foundations of cognitive abilities have been established Early Infancy Cerebellum is the most complex part of the brain Allows babies to make associations See Mom=Sucking Reflex

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

 Swiss psychologist 1

st

to study child

development.

 laid the ground work for dev. psych

 Proposed development occurs in stages.

 Proposed that children are not “mini-

adults” or less intelligent. Different

thinkers

 Children are active thinkers & always

trying to make sense of the world.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

• Used to help children progress in their cognitive development.
• Schemas form and are modified through experience.

Schemas

• Take info about new objects by trying to fit them into existing

schemas.

Assimilation

• Children find that a familiar schema cannot be made to fit a

new object they CHANGE the schema.

Accommodation

A M E C H E M A Ball Ball Bal l Ball S H A N G E H E M A Face Basketball Baseball Wheel

• 2 - 7 yrs.
• Understand/create/use symbolic representations (Pretend Play)
• Begin to make intuitive guesses
• Animism is evident in thinking
• Egocentrism is evident in thinking Stage 2: Preoperational

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• 7 - 11 yrs.
• Develop conservation abilities.
• Thinking is no longer dominated by appearance of objects.
• Perform simple mental manipulations
• Think logically about concrete objects Stage 3: Concrete Operational

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Mnemonic:

Stinking Pigs Can’t Fly

Into which stage of Piaget’s developmental

theory do each of the following fit:

1. A child sees a box of crayons that contains candles. He believes his mother, who has never seen the box before will also believe there are candles in the box. ____________________
2. A child does not understand that just because a blanket covers his favorite toy, the toy is still present. ________________________
3. The ability to do a liquid conservation test.

   ---

4. The ability to pretend. _______________________
5. The ability to add, subtract, and do multiplication tables.

   ---

6. A child understands the abstract thinking and reasoning.

   ---

What new research suggests…

 Changes from one stage to the next are less consistent & less

global.

3 year olds can differentiate real & pretend Children are not always egocentric Preoperational children can do conservation tasks

Issues with Sensorimotor