The School Years: Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Third Stage
nConcrete operational thought is the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions.
Logical Principles
nClassification: organization into groups according to common property
Essence and Change
nIdentity: certain characteristics of an object remain the same even if other characteristics change
Essence and Change (cont.)
nReversibility: reversing the process by which something was changed brings the original conditions
Essence and Change (cont.)
nReciprocity is the principle that things may change in opposite ways, and thus balance each other out.
Practical Applications
nThe logical principles of concrete operational thought make learning easier and more fun.
Logic and Culture
nLev Vygotsky believed that culture shapes cognition more than Piaget believed.
Logic and Culture: An Example
n
Moral Development
nDevelops
along with cognitive advances
nIs shaped by culture and social influences
nMiddle childhood is a key time for learning moral lessons
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
nKohlberg presented moral dilemmas and scored responses as:
¨Preconventional:
rewards and punishment
¨Conventional: emphasis
on social rules
¨Postconventional:
moral principles “beyond” societal standards
Evaluating Kohlberg’s Theory
nMoral reasoning does seem to advance with advances in cognitive development.
nMost children are preconventional before age 8, and conventional by age 9 years.
Information Processing
nAnalyzes how the mind analyzes,
nstores, and
nretrieves information.
The Three “Parts” of Memory
nSensory register: registers incoming stimuli for a split second
nWorking memory (short term): where current, conscious mental activity occurs
nLong-term memory = stores information for minutes, hours, days, months, years
Speed of Processing
nSpeed of processing increases during middle childhood.
Automatization
nCertain skills become automatic during middle childhood (e.g., reading, writing).
Language: New Vocabulary
nSchool-age kids learn up to 20 new words a day.
nThey understand metaphors and various uses of words.
Two “Codes” of Language
nFormal Code: used in school and other “formal” situations
¨Extensive vocabulary
¨Complex syntax
¨Lengthy sentences
Code Switching: A Life Saver
nKids in middle childhood learn that certain words and phrases are okay with friends (informal code), but NOT with teachers, pastors, or other adults.
Socioeconomics and Language
nLower-income children tend to have smaller vocabularies, simpler grammar, and more difficulty in reading
Tones and Tricks
nBy 10 years of age, children learn to understand the nuances of language (tone, sarcasm, puns).