PSY 220 Lecture 4: psy 220 chp 4
Document Summary
Theories of cognitive and social development, for example, focus on different capabilities: the several theories examined in this chapter allow a broader appreciation of cognitive development than any one of them does by itself. Jean piaget"s theory remains the standard against which all other theories are judged. Often labeled constructivist because it depicts children as constructing knowledge for themselves. Intrinsically motivated to learn: central developmental issues. Piaget believed that nature and nurture interact to yield cognitive development: adaptation: the tendency to respond to the demands of the environment to meet one"s goals, organization: the tendency to integrate particular observations into coherent knowledge. The discontinuous aspects of piaget"s theory are distinct, hierarchical stages. Central properties of piaget"s stage theory: qualitative change, broad applicability across topics and contexts, brief transitions, invariant sequence. Hypothesized that children progress through four stages of cognitive development, each building on the previous one: stages of development:
