Hoofdstuk 4
Piagets theory: best known cognitive development theory. Piaget focuses on the way
children think at different ages. He sees the child as a researcher: the child acquires
knowledge through experiences. Children are motivated to learn without instructions or
rewards from others. Piaget is therefore seen as a constructivist.
Assimilation: a process in which incoming information is processed on basis of the knowledge
the child already has.
Accomodation: a process in which new incoming information is processed on the basis of
knowledge the child did not have before.
Balance: a process in which a balance is created between the first two processes in order to
understand new information.
Non-equilibrium: a phase when a child does not understand something.
Sensorimotor phase:
o Occurs between the birth and the child’s second year of life.
o The development of intelligence happens through sensory perceptions and motor
actions.
o Important concepts:
Object permanence
A-not-B-error
Deffered imitation
o Object persistence: the child understands that an object does not disappear and still
exists when covered by a cloth. Children are only able to understand this from the
age of 8 months.
o A-not-B-error: a process in which an object is hidden under a cloth (cloth A). Then
the object is clogged under another cloth (canvas B). Then the child must search for
the object. Children up to and including 12 months do not understand this process
and will search at location A.
o Deffered imitation: children in the last six months of the sensorimotor phase are able
to imitate certain behaviors of other people.
Preoperational phase:
o 2-7 years
o What they experienced in language and pictures is expressed and processed.
o Important concepts:
Symbolic representation: children from an age of 3 years use an object for a
purpose other than the one it is intended for.
Egocentrism: a limitation of thinking, children are only perceiving the world
from their own point of view and are not able to imagine the perspectives of
others.
o Children have difficulty with centration in this phase;
Centration: the focusing on a single observable object or event.
o Conservation concept: you’re able to estimate quantities.
Children do not yet have the conservation concept in this phase.
Concrete operational phase:
o 7-12 years.
o It is taught to reason logically about concrete (non-abstract) things.
Formal operational phase:
o 12 years and older.
o During this phase abstract and hypothetical situations/objects are deliberated and
understood.
, Information processing theories: focus on the structure of the cognitive system and mental
activities used to solve problems by using attention and memory.
Task analysis: the identification of goals, relevant information in the environment and
potential problem solving strategies.
Computer simulation: mathematical model that forms precise ideas about mental processes.
Problemsolving: a process of reaching a goal by using a strategy to overcome
obstacles/problems.
Working memory: a memory system responsible for actively paying attention, collecting,
retaining, storing and processing information.
o Is limited in capacity and in duration of storing information without updating.
Long-term memory: consists of remaining knowledge that people gather during their lives.
This is factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, attitudes, reasoning
strategies and so on.
Basic processes: the simple and most used mental activities, such as recognizing objects.
Encoding: a basic process in which specific and important characteristics of objects are
represented in the memory.
Rehearsal: the repeating of information to remember.
Selective attention: the focusing on the most relevant information for the current goal.
Overlapping wave approach: an information processing approach that emphasizes the
variation in the children’s way of thinking. With age and experience the strategies that turn
out to be more successful are used more often.
Core-knowledge theories: state that children have innate knowledge in areas with special
evolutionary importance and domain-specific learning mechanisms for quickly and
effortlessly acquiring information.
o Two important characteristics of these theories:
They focus on areas of knowledge that have proved important through
evolutionary history, such as understanding and manipulating the thinking of
others.
The theories assume that in certain areas children and babies think in more
developed ways than Piaget thought.
Domain-specific: limited to a certain area.
Nativism: the theory that babies have a substantial amount of innate knowledge of
evolutionary relevant domains. Spelke stated that babies start their lives with four
knowledge systems:
o A system for lifeless objects and their interactions
o A system for the mind of people and other animals able to generate purposeful
actions.
o A system for numbers
o A system for spatial divisions and geometrical relations
Constructivism: the theory that babies develop an increasingly advanced understanding by
combining basic, inborn knowledge and experience. This theory shares three important
characteristics with formal scientific theories:
o Basic units are identified to distribute relevant objects and events into basic
categories.
o They explain many phenomena in terms of a few fundamental principles.
o They explain events in terms of non-observable causes.
Sociocultural theories: in this theory, other people and the cultural environment are seen as
an important contribution to the development of a child. Often the parents help to obtain
knowledge.
Controlled participation: a process in which more informed individuals organizes activities to
teach a less informed individual.
Voordelen van het kopen van samenvattingen bij Stuvia op een rij:
Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews
Stuvia-klanten hebben meer dan 700.000 samenvattingen beoordeeld. Zo weet je zeker dat je de beste documenten koopt!
Snel en makkelijk kopen
Je betaalt supersnel en eenmalig met iDeal, creditcard of Stuvia-tegoed voor de samenvatting. Zonder lidmaatschap.
Focus op de essentie
Samenvattingen worden geschreven voor en door anderen. Daarom zijn de samenvattingen altijd betrouwbaar en actueel. Zo kom je snel tot de kern!
Veelgestelde vragen
Wat krijg ik als ik dit document koop?
Je krijgt een PDF, die direct beschikbaar is na je aankoop. Het gekochte document is altijd, overal en oneindig toegankelijk via je profiel.
Tevredenheidsgarantie: hoe werkt dat?
Onze tevredenheidsgarantie zorgt ervoor dat je altijd een studiedocument vindt dat goed bij je past. Je vult een formulier in en onze klantenservice regelt de rest.
Van wie koop ik deze samenvatting?
Stuvia is een marktplaats, je koop dit document dus niet van ons, maar van verkoper natasja818nk. Stuvia faciliteert de betaling aan de verkoper.
Zit ik meteen vast aan een abonnement?
Nee, je koopt alleen deze samenvatting voor €2,99. Je zit daarna nergens aan vast.