ASSIGNMENT I TRIMESTER III

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Cognitive psychology is an area that focuses on the science of how people think. This branch
of psychology explores a wide variety of mental processes including how people think, use
language, attend to information, and perceive their environments. Learning how people think
and how they process information not only identifies how the human brain works, but allows
psychologists to discover new ways to help people cope with a variety of psychological
problems. An example of a methods used to explain memory is the Modal Model of Memory
by Atkinson and Shiffrin.

The term cognition encompasses all processes by which sensory input is processed, stored,
reduced, transformed and used. Given this comprehensive definition, it is acceptable that
cognitive psychology is involved in everything a human does. The founder of the domain is
Jean Piaget, known for his work on the development of children. He elaborated on the work
of other psychologists such as Max Wertheimer, who proposed the Gestalt theory in the early
twentieth century. Related to cognition are topics such as social identity theory, chunking,
mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapy, cognitive restructuring and breathing techniques.

Cognitive psychology involves the study of the mind and how people think. Examples of
things studied in this field are attention span, memory, reasoning and other functions and
actions of the brain that are seen as a complex mental process. The concept of learning itself
is also an example of cognition. This is about the way in which the brain makes connections
while remembering what is learned. The ability to reason logically is an excellent example of
cognition, problem solving and making judgments about information. Metacognition is about
the knowledge and skills that enable someone to think about their own thinking.
Metacognition is knowing about knowing and thinking about thinking.

Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a

child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual
skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult brain and cognitive
psychology. Qualitative differences between how a child processes their waking experience
and how an adult processes their waking experience are acknowledged (such as object
permanence, the understanding of logical relations, and cause-effect reasoning in school-age
children). Cognitive development is defined as the emergence of the ability to consciously
cognize, understand, and articulate their understanding in adult terms. Cognitive development
is how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of their world through the
relations of genetic and learning factors.

PIAGET V/S VYGOTSKY

Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his
first scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual
development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore
Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test. Much of Piaget's interest in the
cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations of his own nephew and
daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that children's minds were
not merely smaller versions of adult minds.

Until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller versions of adults.
Piaget was one of the first to identify that the way that children think is different from the
way adults think. Piaget proposed that intelligence grows and develops through a series of
stages. Older children do not just think more quickly than younger children. Instead, there are
both qualitative and quantitative differences between the thinking of young children versus
older children. Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent
than adults—they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so
simple only a genius could have thought of it." stage theory describes the cognitive
development of children. Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive process and
abilities. In Piaget's view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions
and later progresses to changes in mental operations.

Over the course of his research, he discovered that essential ideas such as time, numbers, and
space emerged over time. He came to the conclusion that children are born with a fundamenta
l
genetic or inherited mental structure. Everything else we learn through social, environmental
and physical experiences is built on this basis.

Piaget was curious about the disparities in knowledge acquisition between children and adults
as
up to maturity, he developed the thesis that knowledge growth is a progressive construction o
f
logically embedded structures transcending one another by a process of incorporation of lowe
r,
less powerful logical means into higher, more powerful ones. As a result, children's logic and 
habits of thought are initially somewhat different from those of adults.

Piaget believed that children learned through experience. He believed that children are born
with schemas, or conceptions about how to act and respond to the world, and that they learn
them as they grow. Children form and modify ideas in their minds as they explore their
surroundings. The more actively youngsters participate, the more knowledge they absorb.
Because children generate their own knowledge, it is not completely developed and is
frequently quite different from that of an adult. As a result, the Piagetian view of literacy
acquisition emphasizes a child's developmental phases and reflects "concepts of reading and
writing as the child has built them."

Children's reading and writing concepts are shaped more by what they did in previous
developmental stages than by merely imitating adults' conduct or following adults'
commands.

Piaget argued that children are born with an innate need to arrange the way they think about
their world, in order to make sense of it. He felt that as humans age, they arrange information
about the environment in diverse ways.

These mental changes are caused by the combination between age and environment. Piaget
also felt that his theory was universal, and that the stages of development he described would
be found in all societies. He saw the cognitive development of a child as a four-stage process.
Children would progress through the phases in a predetermined order. He estimated ages for
each of the four stages but did not consider the process as being linked to specific ages.
Piaget's theory defines four developmental phases and the processes that children go through
to get to them.

Piaget argued that children are born with an innate need to arrange the way they think about t
heirworld, in order to make sense of it. He felt that as humans age, they arrange information a
bout 
the environment in diverse ways. These mental changes are caused by the combination betwe
en age and environment. Piaget's first observations and ideas were based on his own three chi
ldren. 
He then put his theories to the test by devising experiments for children to carry out. Piaget al
so 
felt that his theory was universal, and that the stages of development he described would be
found in all societies. He saw the cognitive development of a child as a four-stage process.

Sensorimotor stage beginnings between the birth until two years of age. At this stage Piaget
suggested that children distinguished themselves from objects. Also, they experience their
environment through their senses. Further, children start to take initiative and be able to
reflex like kicking playing or grasping things. In addition, children start to realize that even
when the object is not visible but still exist, which is called object permanence.

The second stage Piaget called it as preoperational a stage between the ages of two and seven
years old. In preoperational stage children are able to use language to name objects animals
and group things into groups. But their abilities of thinking at this stage still egocentric
because hardily they can take the view point of others . Also, Piaget divided this stage into
two, the pre-conceptual and the intuitive. First, children in preconceptual cannot differentiate
colour or size at the same time a process which Piaget called centration. In contrast,
Vygotsky named it as complexive thinking meaning that when one is grouping things or
events according to their common features like shape or colour. Further, children at this sub
stage cannot recognize order or sequences. Second, intuitive stage takes place between the
ages of four to seven years. In this stage Piaget believed that children cannot understand
conservation that still the same when they change their form.

The third stage is the concrete operational stage which Piaget believed that children at ages of
seven to eleven they develop metal abilities of thinking logically. Further, children at this
stage understand compensation, reversibility and identity.

The fourth and finally Piaget stage is the formal operational at this stage the children have
ability to think abstract and logically. Thus, in this stage young people go through different
changes in their development meaning that they are aware of their decisions making and
taking other people’s opinions. According to Piaget this stage is between the ages of eleven
until the adolescent.
According to Piaget schemas are divided into three points the assimilation, accommodation
and equilibration. Actually, schemas are defined as mental and physical aspect of
understanding better children during their life span.

Assimilation is process when a child adds new information into the ones which are known to
her or to him. Instead, accommodation inquires adapting and be aware of new and old
information. The last one is the equilibration which Piaget believed that a child at this point
has the abilities to balance information back and forth in order to practice and get the
information restored. And the child does it by accommodation and assimilation.

Piaget believed that children who speak aloud in the presence of others will sometimes adapt
their speech to take into consideration the hearer(s) but at other times would direct their
remarks to no one in particular and there would be no evidence that the child was attempting
to take into account the knowledge or interests of a specific listener. Piaget called this
egocentric speech-the inability of the child to separate their own perspective from those of
other people. Piaget saw egocentric speech as being the reflection of thought processes of the
young child, and he investigated this in detail. He saw egocentric speech as having no
apparent function in the child's behaviour, so it would have no reason to survive, eventually
fading away as the child became more aware of the distinctions between themselves and
others.

Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, developed a theory that served as the foundation for
the theory of
constructivism. He held that social interaction preceded development and that consciousness 
was the end result of all social behaviour. Vygotsky focused his studies and observations on h
ow
social interactions and linkages affect his understandings. He discovered that people employ 
communication skills, such as speaking and writing, from an early age to develop high cognit
ive skills. While agreeing with Piaget that the child is an active learner, Vygotsky placed
more emphasis on the child's interaction with the social environment. Whereas Piaget
visualizes the young child as a natural scientist, experimenting with the environment,
Vygotsky sees the child as needing assistance at a critical point; he refers to the range of
skills that a child can exercise with assistance but cannot perform independently as the zone
of proximal development. With guidance or assistance from parents, adults, or even older
children, the child is able to master a more difficult task or concept. In contrast to Piaget,
Vygotsky believed that the child requires more socialization for cognitive development.
While recognizing that maturation is important in cognitive development, he placed less
emphasis on it.

Language and cognition emerge in development at about the same time and are intertwined.
Children build new concepts by interacting with others who either provide feedback for their
hypotheses or help them accomplish a task. Vygotsky suggested that learning is a matter of
internalizing the language and actions of others. Vygotsky believed that children need to be
able to talk about a new problem or a new concept in order to understand it and use it. As the
child discusses a problem or task with an adult, the adult supplies language to assist the child
in solving the problem; the child gradually internalizes the language until the task can be
completed independently. The instructional technique in which the teacher models the desired
learning strategy or task and then gradually shifts responsibility to the students is called
scaffolding.

Vygotsky perceived the process of cognitive development as less segmented and rigid than
Piaget had. He believed that children learned from in two ways: from tools and from more
capable peers and adults. Tools could be anything in the environment that children use to help
them advance intellectually (e.g., the internet, cultural artifacts). He advocated those children
be placed in learning contexts which were raised just slightly above their existing ability so
that they would step up to reach the next level. For Vygotsky, learning was a social process
from the beginning. Children learned only by interacting with adults, not with peers who
were at their level of cognition. The adult provides the child with assisted learning and
scaffolding until the zone of proximal development has been removed. An example of this
might involve a mother teaching her child how to drink from a cup. The mother could model
the action for the child; the mother could then hold the cup up to the child's mouth; following
that, the child could attempt to raise the cup to her own mouth; finally, the mother would help
the child coordinate the activity until the child she has acquired the skill.

But Piaget contradicts this theory by suggesting that children at this they cannot think
properly. Vygotsky's suggested that there are three processes which parents pass their
knowledge through their children; imitative learning, instructed learning and collaborative
fearing. Imitative is when children do or copy what their role models do. Further, the
instructed learning is when the child does what he or she was told by adults or puts it into
practice. Another point is the collaborative learning when a group of children work together
to learn or to achieve a goal.

Vygotsky believed that a child's use of private speech-talking to himself/herself-is not an

example of egocentrism but rather is pre-social conversation. Vygotsky placed a high value
on private speech because it enables the child not only to practice talking but also to plan
activities. Some modern investigators have suggested that private speech is a process of
planning out loud-for example, when you are going to a new place, you verbalize the
instructions for getting there aloud to yourself. It is an important developmental phenomenon,
which helps children to organize and regulate thinking.

Regarding the two cognitive theories, I would be more apt to apply Vygotskian principles to
my classroom. I believe that principles such as scaffolding, co-constructed knowledge,
dialogue, and cultural tools are all important components of a student's knowledge
acquisition. By helping students within their zone of proximal development, we offer them
useful learning strategies which they internalize and utilize later. Piaget proposed many
applicable educational strategies, such as discovery learning with an emphasis on activity and
play. However, Vygotsky incorporated the importance of social interactions and a co-
constructed knowledge base to the theory of cognitive development. In conclusion, a
teacher's focus should be to provide assistance to students in need, and provide cultural tools
as educational resources. Teachers should provide for group and peer learning, in order for
students to support each other through the discovery process. Especially in today's diverse
classroom, the teacher needs to be sensitive to her student's cultural background and
language, and be an active participant in his knowledge construction.

There are two cases of Piaget and Vygotsky's differences that stand out the most in their
world. First, Vygotsky was critical of Piaget's assumption that developmental growth was
independent of experience and based on a universal characteristic. Vygotsky asserted that
development is complex and is affected by social and cultural contexts. Biological and
cultural development are interrelated and do not develop in isolation. Vygotsky believed that
intellectual development was continually evolving without an end point. Second, the other
conflict between Vygotsky and Piaget was the latter's explanation of development as the
notion that concepts should not be taught until children are in the appropriate developmental
stage. This conflicts with Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) and
developmental theories. Vygotsky noted that instruction that is oriented toward development
is ineffective concerning the child's overall development.

Role of teacher: For both Vygotsky and Piaget, teacher has role as facilitator and guide. But
guidance of teacher is much more in Vygotsky than Piaget. According to Vygotskian
perspective teacher is one of the required factors for teaching as they are more capable than
students. For Vygotsky, teacher direct students while scaffolding process and try to provide
assistance about how the learner can achieve his goal even without the assistance. A
Vygotskian teacher’s aim is creating self-regulated learners. In Vygotsky’s theory, role of
teachers is to provide the guidance required for learners to bridge the distance between their
current skill level and a wanted skill level. But for Piaget, teacher is an organizer who guides
stimulating plan and research. Teacher encourages stimulate and support exploration and
invention and recognize and what provides disequilibrium and curiosity for children and how
to use it in an appropriate way.

Social interaction: Like Vygotsky, Piaget also believes that cognitive skills develop through
active interaction. Piaget emphasizes the importance of interaction which leads
disequilibrium among peers. He views social interactions as source of cognitive conflict,
equilibrium, and development. However, the basis of Vygotsky’s theory is social interaction
and culture. Vygotsky seems social interaction as only way of learning. According to
Vygotsky, people learn with social interaction from environment then construct knowledge
individually. Vygotsky’s theory emphasizes that every higher mental function was
interpersonal or social before, then it became an interpersonal mental function. However, for
Piaget social interaction is one of the tools that help to occur disequilibrium.

Prior knowledge: for both Vygotsky and Piaget’s give importance prior knowledge form
different aspects. In Piaget’s theory children acquire new knowledge with accommodation
and assimilation of existing knowledge. So, prior knowledge is an important term in learning
for Piagetian perspective. Prior knowledge also important for Vysotskyian view in terms of
scaffolding. Because, teacher need to give less assistance if there is more prior
knowledgeable person.

Role of the learner: for Piaget and Vygotsky learner are active in learning processes.
According to Piaget, learner acquires his own form of existing knowledge through their
personal construction of knowledge. For Vygotsky, children learn in a social interaction in a
social environment, while for Piaget learning is made by the learner individually. Vygotsky
claims that in learning process learner requires assistance of teacher or more capable peers.
The guide of the others is not seen as much as in Piaget’s theory as in Vygotsky’s theory.

Thus, one can conclude that both Vygotsky and Piaget were exceptional men with theories
that have helped shaped the world of psychology. Piaget believed the universal acquisition of
knowledge occurs within a four-stage process. The Vygotskian perspective of cognitive
development emphasizes social interaction but places less emphasis on stages of behaviour.
Although both theories had conflicted with one another, it is true to believe that Vygotsky
had built his educational theories on the strengths of Piaget's.

OBSERVATIONS (Piaget’s stages of Cognitive Development)

 Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)

The child observed was a neighbour of mine and 3 years old. She thus fell in the earlier
subtage of this, known as the Symbolic Function Substage, which occurs between 2 and 4
years of age and is characterized by the child being able to mentally represent an object
that is not present and a dependence on perception in problem solving. She displayed a
variety of behaviours and actions that were in congruence with the landmarks mentioned
under Piaget’s preoperational stage of cognitive development. Some of them were,

1. She displayed a sense of egocentrism, which refers to the tendency of young children
not to be able to take the perspective of others, and instead the child thinks that
everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do. An egocentric child is not able to infer
the perspective of other people and instead attributes his own perspective to
situations. When she asked for a toy and was told that the room with the toy in it was
occupied and locked from the inside, she repeatedly asked for the toy despite the
room being locked.
2. Upon receiving the toy, she engaged in pretend play, wherein any object or toy has
qualities beyond the way it was designed to function and can be used to stand for a
character or object unlike anything originally intended. Piaget believed that children’s
pretend play helped children solidify new schemata they were developing cognitively.
This play, then, reflected changes in their conceptions or thoughts. The child
pretended that she was a teacher and the toy was her student.
3. With reference to the aforementioned point, the child displayed the quality of
animism, which refers to attributing life-like qualities to objects. Here, she talked the
 chalk and board she was using and asked me to scold the chair when it bumped into
her knee for being rude and hurting her.
4. Lastly, she displayed conservation errors or conservation, which refers to the
ability to recognize that moving or rearranging matter does not change the quantity. I
took two balls of clay of the same size; kept one intact and cut one into five pieces.
When I asked her to choose one, she chose the latter and when I asked the reason for
her choice she stated that it had more clay.

 Concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11)

The child observed for this stage was a cousin of mine and aged 11 years. The concrete
operational stage is the third stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This period
lasts around seven to eleven years of age, and is characterized by the development of
organized and rational thinking. Some observations are as follows,

1. The child displayed an understanding of ability to classify objects or to put them

together on the basis of their colour, shape etc. Classification is the ability to identify
the properties of categories, to relate categories or classes to one another, and to use
categorical information to solve problems. I showed him two white marbles and three
white ones, when asked if there were more white marbles or marbles in total, he
confirmed the latter to be true.
2. He displayed inductive logic, which involves going from a specific experience to a
general principle. This can also be called logical reasoning as he could understand that
the reason behind me posing questions was for an activity or assignment.
3. He could also engage in what is known as decentration. Which means that he was
able to concentrate on many aspects of a situation at the same time, which plays a
critical role in the understanding of conservation. He could understand that nobody
was keen on going out with him as it was hot.
4. He also displayed a sense of seriation. This cognitive operation of logical order
involves the ability to mentally arrange items along a quantifiable dimension, such as
height or weight. When presented a set of Russian dolls, he could easily arrange them
in order of size.