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psychology question
Any psychology buffs on here? I've been doing a lot of reading for Psych 362 (Interpersonal Relations) and I constantly keep coming across the term "cognitive development." What do they mean by this? Is it our level of intelligence as we grow? What is the frame of reference used to refer to this? I have a general concept of what it is but need more specific thoughts if anyone has some to spare. Thanks :)
Comments
Piaget basically says that cognitive development happens in fixed stages and all children will go through the stages in the same order and at roughly the same time. Change in the way a child thinks happens because of experiences that cause an imbalance in the equilibrium of their thinking. So when a young child who has a pet dog at home sees a cat for the first time, he will probably call it "dog" as the cat does not fit into his current way of thinking, so he attempts to 'assimilate' it in. He will learn that the cat is very unlike the dog, however, and requires 'accommodation' and therefore a new word. In accommodation and assimilation, the child can again create the balance in his thinking. Piagets four stages of cognitive development are online here, if you want to read more!
Vygotsky's Sociocultural theory is quite different as it is extremely based on language and social interaction. The child learns through his interactions with more experience peers, parents and teachers. Though these people may not necessarily be directly teaching the child, through learning the language and internalizing it, he develops cognitively. Vygotsky has something called the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD), which is where the more experienced person acts as a kind of 'scaffold' for the learning child. The distance between where the child is cognitively at any time and where they CAN be with someone helping and guiding them is the ZPD. You can see this ALL the time in real life with children. Watch a kid being coached at a sport, or a little sister helping an older sibling with a task, the child becomes more proficient and the help of their peer is required less and less. Language is also really important in that it is through knowing the words that we can comprehend things. If you've never been around horses, for example, being told to "bring me the gelding in from the field" you may not be able to pick out that horse from the others. Just try telling a grandparent that you are going to install more RAM in their computer and you can see that they are thinking you will bring a goat into their office! There are many many more examples of speech being pivotal to cognitive development. And more info on Vygotsky's theories here.
Personally, I think Piaget was amazingly influential, but Vygotsky's theory makes so much more sense to me because I love language and I spend a lot of time with children. Additionally, Piaget has no explanation for gifted or disabled children! While Vygotsky was able to help some deaf, dumb and blind kids learn to communicate via touched sign-language and some of them graduated with doctorates! Piaget would've written them off as they didn't get through his stages. Vygotsky also explains for the knowledge differences between cultures, which is amazingly important, instead of just focusing on developed countries.
Anyway, I probably gave you more info than you needed, but it's a good review for me anyway since I will be tested on this in a few weeks!
I've learned cognitive development in a few classes now: Psyc 101, 102, 250 and I'm taking Educ 220 (Educational Psychology) right now, which is basically 250 all over again! I'm doing a Psych minor. And I'm still considering becoming an Educational Psychologist... it's just so interesting!
If anyone has psych questions, I'd love to help. It's really good practice for me too!