PSYC 2500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Object Permanence, Deductive Reasoning, Egocentrism
19 Feb 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Children are naturally curious and create theories about how the world works. Schemas are mental structures or concepts in the child"s mind. Changes and re-structuring of schemas occur through: In assimilation, new experiences are readily incorporated into existing theories. In accommodation, existing theories are modified based on experience: ex: child and dog example. Child changes definition of dog with new experience of vicious white dog. Assimilation and accommodation are usually in balance, or equilibrium. When balance is upset, children reorganize their theories to restore equilibrium, a process. Process results in qualitatively different and more advanced theories. Children periodically reach a point where their theories are wrong most of the time and so they must reorganize thinking about the social and physical worlds. Three reorganizations of theories lead to four stages of cognitive development. Piaget believed all children pass through stages in same order. The sensorimotor stage spans from birth to approximately 2 years of age.
