cognitive-developmental theories
developmental theories that emphasize children's actions on the environment and suggest that age-related changes in reasoning precede and explain changes in other domains
scaffolding
term used by Bruner to describe the process by which a teacher (or parent, older child, or other person in the role of teacher) structures a learning encounter with a child, so as to lead the child from step to step - a process consistent with Vygotsky's
zone of proximal development
Vygotsky's theory, the range of tasks that are slightly too difficult for a child to do alone but that can be accomplished successfully with guidance from an adult or more experienced child
information-processing theories
a set of theories based on the idea that humans process information in ways that are similar to those used in computers
scheme
Piaget's word for the basic actions of knowing, including both physical actions (sensorimotor schemes, such as looking or reaching) and mental actions (such as classifying, comparing, and reversing). An experience is assimilated into a scheme, and the sch
organization
the process of deriving generalizable schemes from specific experiences
figurative schemes
mental representations of the basic properties of objects in the world
operative schemes
mental representations of the logical connections among objects in the world
adaption
the processes through which schemes change
assimilation
that part of the adaption process proposed by Piaget that involves absorbing new experiences or information into existing schemes. Experience is not take in "as is" however, but is modified (or interpreted somewhat so as to fit the preexisting schemes
accommodation
that part of the adaption process proposed by Piaget by which a person modifies existing schemes as a result of new experiences or creates new schemes when old ones no longer handle the data
equilibration
the third part of the adaption process proposed by Piaget, involving a periodic restructuring of schemes to create a balance between assimilation and accommodation
operation
term used by Piaget for a complex, internal, abstract scheme, first seen at about age 6
sensorimotor stage
Piaget's term for the first major stage of cognitive development, from birth to about 24 months, when the child uses sensory and motor skills to act on the environment
peroperational stage
Piaget's term for the second major stage of cognitive development, from 24 months to about age 6, marked by the ability to use symbols
concrete operations stage
Piaget's term for the stage of development between ages 6 and 12, during which children become able to think logically
formal operations stage
Piaget's name for the fourth and final major sage of cognitive development, occurring during adolescence, when the child becomes able to manipulate and organize ideas or hypothetical situations as well as objects
primary circular reactions
Piaget's phrase to describe a baby's simple repetitive actions in substage 2 of the sensorimotor stage, organized around the baby's own body; the baby repeats some action in order to have some desired outcome occur again, such as putting his thumb in his
secondary circular reactions
repetitive actions in substage 3 of the sensorimotor period, oriented around external objects; the infant repeats some action in order to have some outside event recur, such as hitting a mobile repeatedly so that it moves
object permanence
the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be directly perceived
tertiary circular reactions
the deliberate experimentation with variations of previous actions, characteristic of substage 5 of the sensorimotor period according to Piaget
egocentrism
a cognitive state in which the individual (typically a child) sees the world only from his own perspective, without awareness that there are other perspectives
conservation
the understanding that the quantity or amount of a substance remains the same even when there are external changes in its shape or arrangement
centration
the young child's tendency to think of the world in terms of one variable at a time
decentration
thinking that takes multiple variables into account
false belief principle
the understanding that another person might have a false belief and the ability to determine what information might cause the false belief. A child's understanding of the false belief principle is one key sign of the emergence of a representational theory
neo-Piagetian theory
a theory of cognitive development that assumes that Piaget's basic ideas are correct but that uses concepts from information-processing theory to explain children's movement from one stage to the next
short-term storage space (STSS)
a neo-Piagetian term for working memory capacity
operational efficiency
a neo-Piagetian term for the number of schemes an individual can place into working memory at one time
reversibility
one of the most critical of the operations Piaget identified as part of the concrete operations period: the understanding that actions and mental operations can be reversed
class inclusion
the principle that subordinate classes of objects are included in superordinate classes
inductive logic
reasoning from the particular to the general, from experience to broad rules, characteristic of concrete operational thinking
deductive logic
reasoning from the general to the particular, from a rule to an expected instance or from a theory to a hypothesis, characteristic of formal operational thinking
horizontal decalage
Piaget's term for school-aged children's inconsistent performance on concrete operations tasks
relational complexity
the number of elements in a problem and the complexity of the relationships among the elements
transitivity
the ability to make inferences about logical relationships in an ordered set of stimuli
seriation
the ability to use a rule to put an array of objects in order
hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Piaget's term for the form of reasoning that is part of formal operational thought and involves not just deductive logic but also the ability to consider hypotheses and hypothetical possibilities
automaticity
the ability to recall information from long-term memory without effort
memory strategies
ways of manipulating information that increase the chances that it will be remembered
production deficiency
a pattern whereby an individual can use some mental strategy if reminded to do so but fails to use the strategy spontaneously
utilization deficiency
using some specific mental strategy without deriving benefit from it
metamemory
knowledge about one's own memory process
metacognition
general and rather loosely used term describing knowledge of one's own thinking processes: knowing what one knows, and how one learns
executive processes
cognitive skills that allow a person to devise and carry out alternative strategies for remembering and solving problems
response inhibition
the ability to control responses to stimuli