• University of California, Irvine

• PSYCH 120

Evolutionary theory has selection and adaptation

b) Piaget’s theory has

(1) Assimilation: People fit information into their existing knowledge structures. (E.g., LOITERING)

(2) Accommodation: People adapt their current knowledge structures in light of new information.

(E.g., PEER REVIEW)

(3) Equilibration: Process of give and take between assimilation and accommodation to create stable

understanding

(4) Equilibrium: My theory is adequate, it explains the data

(5) Disequilibrium: My theory doesn’t explain the data. (E.g., ALIVE)

c) Piaget saw children as little scientists

(1) Active learners

(2) Discovering things on their own

(3) Naturally motivated to learn

(4) Children construct knowledge by

(a) Generating hypotheses

(b) Performing experiments

(c) Drawing conclusions

d) Piaget’s theory is most famous for its stages

(1) Qualitative changes

(2) Broad applicability across topics and contexts

(3) Brief transitions

(4) Invariant sequences

e) Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to Age 2 Years)

(1) Learning starts with organizing reflexes (schemas) into separate behaviors

(a) Different kinds of grasping

(b) Sucking thumb vs. bottle vs. breast

(2) They first become aware of their own bodies, then become interested in the world

(a) Banging a spoon on a metal bowl

(b) Squeezing a rubber duck

(3) Piaget was interested in their mental representations

(4) Object permanence: Piaget noticed that a baby under 8 months old won’t look for an object that

is out of sight. He theorized that the baby does not know that the object continues to exist when

out of sight

(a) Even though older babies search for an object, Piaget still thought they still didn’t really have

object permanence until they passed the A-not-B task

(5) Deferred imitation

f) Preoperational (ages 2-7 years)

g) Achievement of Symbolic representation: Using one thing to stand for something else

h) In Piaget’s theory, a major limitation of the Preoperational stage is Egocentrism.(Inability to take the

perspective of others.)

(1) Piaget demonstrated egocentrism using the Three Mountains task.

(2) Piaget’s “Mountains” task, demonstrating egocentrism and the inability of young children to take

another person’s perspective

i) Children at the pre-operational stage also fail conservation tasks

Lecture 10: Information-processing theories and socio-cultural theories of development

I. Information Processing

A. The brain as a limited-capacity processing system

B. See development as continuous (no stages)

C. Often focused on memory and problem-solving

D. Detailed descriptions of how a child solves particular problems