Chapter 5: Thinking in Symbols:
The Development of Representation
I.
Learning to use symbols – symbol can refer to mental or
external representation
a.
Young children’s interpretation of pictures and models
1.
DeLoache found that 3 year olds but not 2.5 year olds
could use a scale model to represent a larger room; she suggests that the
younger children were not capable of dual-representation needed to view the
model as both a symbol and an object in and of itself (See Fig. 5-1)
2.
When pictures used instead of scale model, 2.5 but not 2
year olds were able to perform the task, possibly because they pictures didn’t
require dual representation
3.
Making the model more or less salient required more or
less dual representation
4. When children saw toy hidden in room then were convinced the room had shrunk down into the model_____________________________________________________________________________.
b.
The appearance/reality distinction
1. Maynard the cat and his dog mask demonstrated that 3-year-olds did not demonstrate _____________, but 5- and 6-yr olds did.
II.
Some assumptions of Piaget’s theory – although a stage
theorist, believed the mechanisms of cognitive development are domain-general
and operate across stages
a.
Stages involve qualitative changes in thinking, and are
discontinuous; underlying functions, however are continuous
b.
Intrinsic activity
1.
Children are motivated to learn and satisfy their
curiosity
2.
Discovery learning is better than instruction
c.
The constructive nature of cognition
1.
Children build their own representation of reality
2.
Because children of different ages are different kinds
of thinkers, different ages have different representations of reality
d.
Functional invariants – processes that operate across
the life span
1.
Organization – mental structures and functions are
inter-related
2.
Adaptation
a.
assimilation – incorporate new incoming information into
existing schemas as well as the active representation of stimuli to make them
fit existing schemas
b.
accommodation – the scheme changes in order to
accommodate new incoming information
3.
Equilibration
a.
altering schemas in light of new information
b.
when disequilibrium occurs the child is motivated to
restore equilibrium, and may do so by
1.
accommodation – modifying current schema
2.
ignoring the new information
3.
assimilation – incorporate new information into existing
schema, even if it is necessary to distort the new information to do so
III.
Stages of development
a.
The sensorimotor stage (approx. birth to 2 years)
1.
move from action-based to symbol-based cognition
2.
Six substages
b.
The development of operations
1.
Once children become symbolic thinkers, they move
through 3 stages defined by their ability to use operations:
preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
2.
Operations are mental and symbolic, derive from action,
exist in an organized system, follow a system of rules
c.
Transition from preoperational to concrete operational:
preoperational children demonstrate characteristic errors in cognition
1. Base thinking on perception
rather than logic
a.
evidenced by lack of conservation
1.
conservation is the realization that something stays the same despite
changes in appearance
2.
Piaget explained the finding that conservation does not develop
simultaneously for all properties as horizontal decalage
3.
apparent cultural differences in attaining conservation may be explained
as differences in familiarity with tasks or in the way the tasks are presented
rather than cultural difference in competence
b. demonstrate perceptual centration – made decisions based on _____________________.
c. are egocentric; assume everyone else’s perceptions and thoughts are the same as theirs; Piaget used the three-mountain task
2. Development of class
inclusion
a.
preoperational children have difficulty understanding that a category
must be smaller than a more inclusive category
(e.g., apples and fruit)
b.
success on class inclusion problems may vary as a function of complexity,
familiarity, category typicality
d.
Transition from concrete to formal operations –
characteristics of formal operational thinking
1. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning – the ability to mentally move from _______________________________________.
2.
Inductive reasoning – the ability to make specific
observations, hypothesize, test, and draw general conclusions
3.
Can think about their own thought processes and arrive
at new insights
4. Adolescent egocentricity – they are aware of others’ perspectives, but ________________.
5.
Adolescents demonstrate type of egocentricity as
evidenced by imaginary audience effect and the personal fable
IV.
The state of Piaget’s theory today
a.
Piaget’s contributions
1.
Founded the field of cognitive development
2.
Applied to concept of constructivism to cognitive
development
3.
equilibration was an attempt to move beyond description
of development to an explanation of how development took place
4.
Introduced new terminology and methodology
5.
Detailed description of characteristics of cognitive
development that are frequently found; ecological validity
6.
Influenced other areas of development and education
7.
prolific researcher
8.
Raised important questions about cognitive development
b.
Competence or performance - Piaget believed he was
measuring competence; his difficult methods measured performance under difficult
conditions but not necessarily absolute competence
1.
More recent studies have demonstrated young children can
be trained to be more competent under some circumstances
2.
Piaget may have over-estimated adult competence; formal
operational thinking may not characterize all adult thinking in all
circumstances
c.
Questioning the mechanisms of development
1.
Training studies suggest other mechanisms of development
such as memory limitations rather than stage-linked errors
2.
The concept of stages has been challenged – development
may be more continuous and heterogeneous than proposed by Piaget
V.
Everyday expressions of the symbolic function
a.
Symbolic play (fantasy, make-believe)
1.
First seen 15-18 months – substitution of objects (e.g.
banana used as telephone)
2.
Around 3-- symbolic play becomes social (sociodramatic
play – children take role and follow a storyline
3.
Peaks around 5-7 years
4.
Gender differences in content; girls’ play is more
complicated, verbal
5.
Influenced by culture; children in traditional culture
more likely to play with toy tools and imitate adult role
b.
Distinguishing between imagined and real events
1.
Improves gradually over preschool and elementary years;
by 4 can distinguish between real and imagined; source monitoring is still a
challenge to 6/7-year olds
2.
Ability to differentiate between real and imagined is
tenuous in children as old as 6; even though they can tell the difference, they
may not be absolutely certain that imagining can’t make it happen
3.
Many children have imaginary friend
4.
Fantasy requires sophisticated cognition; in some cases
only older children accept “magical” explanation for event
5.
Superstitions in adults may imply lingering “fuzziness”
between real and imagined