PSYC2010 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Jean Piaget, Mental Representation, Object Permanence
14 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Cognition: all the mental activity and thought processes through which we attain knowledge. Not directly observable or measured directly but inferred from the behaviors we can observe. Had the greatest impact on developmental psychology. Emphasized the role of children in development. Organized ways of making sense of experience. Internal rearranging and linking of schemes: adaptation. Building schemes through direct interaction with environment. Inborn tendency to adjust to the changing conditions of the environment. Using current schemes to interpret new (external) experiences: accommodation. Adjusting old schemes, creating new ones to fit a new experience. When not changing much-assimilate more than accommodate (called cognitive equilibrium) During rapid cognitive change, accommodation dominates. (kids are in a stage of disequilibrium (cognitive development-new info does not match currect schemes) Organization: once children form new schemes, they rearrange them, linking them with other schemes. What a child can learn/understand depends heavily upon what they already know.
