Unit 1: Developmental

psychology and
primary education.
Implications for the
teaching-learning
process
Psicología del Desarrollo

SANDRA GARCIA DONOSO

Universidad de Oviedo
INTRODUCTION: Developmental psychology

1. History and developmental psychology theories

2. Psychoanalysis
3. Behaviorism and neo-behaviorism
4. Vigotsky
5. Piaget and the neo-piagetians
6. Cognitive information processing

INTRODUCTION: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

o Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies physical,

cognitive, and social change of humans throughout their life cycle.
o Three factors
• Life stage
• Cultural circumstances
• Personal experiences
 1 History and developmental
psychology theories
o Educational interests
- Plato, Aristotle: emphasis in educational aspect
- Renaissance (Luis Vives, Erasmus, Comenius, Rosseau or Pestalozzi): study of
children’s characteristics in order to improve education.
o Medical interests
- Children’s health and welfare
- XVI century: promote normal development
o Philosophical and scientific interests
- Causes and origin of thought, language…

ORIGIN OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. From ancient Greece to the end of the XIX century

2. Foundation of developmental psychology
3. Consolidation of developmental psychology

1. FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO THE END OF THE XIX CENTURY

o Sporadic observation of children, not systematic

o Aristotle worried about children’s educational problems. Advices to “promote the
formation of freemen”. Only education, not development.
o Middle Ages: childhood as an evolutionary moment that had to pass as fast as
possible
o Children seen as small adults, fragile and less intelligent
o Innate idea of mankind (children born with a genetic programming. Determinism)
o Development as inheritance unfolding

Changes since XVI and XVII centuries

o New ideas about the concept of man (Renaissance)

o Philosophical and cultural movements, like the Enlightenment (XVIII century)
o Scientific advances achieved by medicine and other sciences
o New vision of childhood, more dynamic and less predetermined. A stage different
from adulthood, with its own characteristics.
o Relevance of children’s education: it influences their development (XVI and XVII)
o Erasmus of Rotterdam, Vives: stages in children’s development. Individual differences
in children require differential treatment at school.
o Comenius (1592-1670): teach with kindness, in a clear and precise way
o Locke (1632-1704), one of the founders of empiricism and associationism
o Rousseau, (Émile ou de l’éducation) (1762).
o Naturalistic ideas about education
o Stages of individual development
o Forefather of the positivist and naturalistic paradigm in pedagogy and psychology
o Great influence in the movement for Pedagogical Renovation (Pestalozzi, Froebel,
Montessori, Claparéde)
o End of XVIII century, first systematic observations of children
o Pestalozzi (1746-1827), diary of development and education of his son
o Education focused on the child and worried about his development
o Tiedemann (1748-1803), systematic biography of his son’s development from birth to
two and a half years.
o Feral child Victor of Aveyron (1799)
o Itard (1774-1838) aimed for Victor to become a normal human being
o Biographical studies: one subject
- Advantage: depth of analysis
- Disadvantage: difficulties to generalize to the whole population, especially
normal children

2. FOUNDATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

o Social and historical changes (end of the XIX century) caused more interest for the
study of children (industrialization)
o Creation of the first psychological laboratory (Wundt, 1789)
- Two kinds of psychic elements
Þ Objective contents: sensations
Þ Subjective contents: sentiments
o Introspective study, but in an experimental context
o Birth of the Scientific Psychology
o Freud (psychoanalysis). Importance of the first experiences

3. CONSOLIDATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

o Two main approaches

- Behaviourism (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner)
- Organicism (Freud, Piaget, Gesell)
o 1913 birth of behaviourism (Watson, psychology as the behaviourist views it) Classical
conditioning
o Neo-behaviourism: Skinner (1938) operating conditioning, and Bandura (1963),
observational conditioning
o Gestalt: Wertheimer (1880-1943), Köhler (1887-1967) and Koffka (1886-1941)
o Lewin (1890-1947), field theory. Explains every theory talking into account the whole
situation, the context (field).
o Piaget’s psychogenetic theory: process of cognitive development
o Vygotsky’s social constructivism: cultural and historical development.
 2 Psychoanalysis
PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY (SIGMUND FREUD, 1856-1939)

- Cultural revolution
- Increased knowledge and study of mankind

o One of the first theories to explain children’s development

o Genetic perspective in the study of the human psique
o Manifest behaviour depends on latent causes, unconscious for the subject
o Nature mainly sexual and aggressive
o Influenced by Charcot (hypnosis) and Breuer (catharsis)
o Free association: method whereby the patients are encouraged to talk freely about
wherever ideas or memories occurred to them, without needing to use a logical
discourse.
o Those ideas are used by the therapist to make conscious the repressed memories
which were causing the symptoms
o Main aim of psychoanalysis: the subject must admit the repressed content, making it
conscious, and accept what he had always rejected.
o Unconscious memories of sexual content in early childhood
o The unconscious and sexual nature of the conflict causes the psychiatric disorders
o Same explanation for the normal development
o 2 main concepts
- The libido (sexual and psychological energy)
- The unconscious (formed by repressed content, not conscious for the subject)
à dreams

2.1 BASIC CONCEPTS

o The libido: the psychological energy, in which sexual instinct manifest itself
Þ Mechanical model to explain the energy flux (tension-action-release-
relaxation)
o Drives, the expressions of that energy
Þ Self-preservation
Þ Aggressive or destructive (Thanatos)
Þ Sexual (Eros)
o The conflict appears when these drives, following the pleasure principle, crash
against reality, and are unable to satisfy their desires and release the energy
o Normal development: the energy is reoriented towards different objects, or is used as
a basis for different mental processes
o If the drive is too intense, uncontrollable or is seen as unacceptable: repression (it
blocks energy, moving it out for the consciousness and making the subject forget
about it)

DEFENCE MECHANISMS

o Repression: using this mechanism the ego keeps the disturbing or threatening content
out of the conscious mind, making them unconscious
o Denial: blocking external events from awareness
o Projection: the subjects attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and
motives to another person
o Sublimation: satisfying an impulse with another object in a socially acceptable way

STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE

o ID
Þ Source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our
sexual and aggressive drives
Þ Acts according to the pleasure principle (the psychic force that motivates
the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse)
Þ Filled with energy, but without organization (source of all the psychic energy)
Þ Contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth. From it the ego
and superego will develop
o EGO
Þ Organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive,
perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. It starts to form
during the first months, when the ID meets the reality, and appears around 2
years
Þ It’s composed by conscious and unconscious content, like the defence
mechanisms
Þ Takes the psychic energy from the ID to carry on its functions
Þ Acts according to the reality principle (it seeks to please the ID’s drives
realistic ways that will benefit in the long term)
Þ Tries to balance the ID’s demands, the impositions of reality and the norms
and morals of the super-ego.
o SUPER-EGO
Þ Represents the moral compass, the rules that establishes what is right and
wrong
Þ Ideal ego
 Þ Its formation takes place during the dissolution of the Oedipus complex,
around 5-6 years, and is formed by an identification with and internalisation
of the father figure
Þ Strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, controlling our sense of right
and wrong and guilt. It helps us fit into society by getting us to act in socially
acceptable ways
Þ Internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their
guidance and influence
Þ Functions: inhibit the ID’s drives, persuade the ID to be moral, and strive for
perfection.

Comparison of Freud’s Three Systems of Personality

ID EGO SUPEREGO

Represents biological Represents psychological Represents societal and

NATURE
aspect aspect parental aspect

Conscious, preconscious, and Conscious, preconscious,

LEVEL Unconscious
unconscious and unconscious

PRINCIPLE Pleasure Reality Moralistic and idealistic

Adapt to reality while

Seek pleasure and Represent right and
PURPOSE controlling the ID and super-
avoid pain wrong
ego

Immediate Safety, compromise, and

ALM Perfection
gratification delayed gratification

2.2 PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

o Development determined by inner factors, following a biological programming, and

influenced by ambient factors (conflicts and resolutions)
o Human beings, from birth, possess an instinctual libido that develops in 5 stages
o The libido is preserved throughout the whole process moving and fixating in different
places and objects
o This change is produced by a dynamic interaction between the passions and the
reality
o Evolution in stages, biologically programmed, that follows a corporal topography
and a universal chronology. (Oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital)
o Characteristics of the stages
Þ A primary erogenous zone
Þ An object of satisfaction
Þ A conflict between passions and reality
Þ A specific organization of the personality
ORAL STAGE (BIRTH – 1 YEAR)

o The primary erogenous zone is the mouth of the infant, and, in a broad sense, the
upper digestive tract and the phonatory and sensorial system.
o The mouth is the main source of pleasure and knowledge of the world.
o The objects used to satisfy the libido are the food, the suction objects (specially the
mother’s breast), caresses, hugs, and ludic sensorial stimulation.
o The conflict that must be resolved in this stage is satisfaction vs. frustration (the
environment has to provide food, care and love. If those needs are not met, if the
passions aren’t satisfied, the infant will suffer frustration)

ANAL STAGE (1 – 3 YEARS)

o The primary erogenous zones of this stage are the anus and the lower digestive tract.
The satisfaction is achieved throughout defecation and urination.
o The main conflict is authority vs. rebellion: adults demand compliance, and control
of the anal sphincter (toilet training). The child can comply, and learn, or not comply
and rebel.

PHALLIC STAGE (3 – 6 YEARS)

o The primary erogenous zone is the child’s genitalia.

o The object of gratification is exterior (parent of the opposite gender)
o Conflict: Oedipus complex (boys) and Electra complex (girls)
o The Oedipus complex is resolved when the child internalizes the paternal figures, and
with a change in the parent-children relationship (non-sexual)
o If this doesn't happen, the child might develop a pathology

LATENCY STAGE (6 YEARS – PUBERTY)

o Consolidation of the character habits developed in the three earlier stages

o The drives become latent (hidden) and the gratification is delayed
o This will change with the psycho-physiological changes of puberty

GENITAL STAGE (PUBERTY – ADULT LIFE)

o Sexual drives are reactivated, but the object of satisfaction is outside the family
context
o The libido focuses on the sexual organs
o The conflicts of the past stages are reactivated, but now they refer to different
contents and objects.
o Fixation: stagnation in a stage that doesn’t match the chronological age. The
development program is paralyzed, and the libido remains anchored
o Regression: temporary or long-term reversion to an earlier stage of development
rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way

2.3. OTHER PSYCHOANALITIC AUTHORS

- Anna Freud: children

- C.G. Jung: emotional state

- Alfred Adler: social determinants

 3. Behaviourism and Neo-
behaviourism
§ Watson (1912). First scientific paradigm in Psychology, opposed to mentalism
o only public events (behaviours of an individual) can be objectively observed,
and therefore private events (thoughts and emotions) should be ignored
§ Behaviourism became the dominant paradigm in Psychology until the late 50s

Subject of study in psychology:

§ Observable behaviour
§ Ambient stimuli associated to that behaviour

Objective: describe every behaviour in terms of stimulus-response

CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT

o Person as a passive organism that react to the external stimuli

o Based on empiricism (Locke, mind as tabula rasa)
o Development: sequence of interactions between behaviour and environment
o Main process that explains the behavioural changes: learning
o Development as addition of experiences (quantitative)
o Development = learning
o Universal learning laws
o Main paradigm to explain changes until the 60s and 70s (first evolutionary theories of
psychological change)

BASIC LEARNING PROCESSES IN BEHAVIOURISM

a. Habituation
b. Classical conditioning
c. Operant conditioning
d. Observational conditioning

HABITUATION

Form of learning in which an organism decreases or ceases to respond to a stimulus after

repeated presentations.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Discovered by Ivan Pavlov, who studied the salivation and digestive processes in dogs

Learning processes in which an innate response to a biologically potent stimulus comes

to be elicited in response to a previously neutral stimulus; this is achieved by repeated
pairings of the neutral stimulus with the potent stimulus.

ELEMENTS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

o The UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (US). A stimulus that reflexively elicits a response. In

Pavlov’s experiments the US typically was meat powder
o The UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UR). The response to the unconditioned stimulus
that the experimenter measures. In Pavlov’s experiments the UR was salivation.
o The NEUTRAL STIMULUS. A stimulus that initially doesn’t elicit the response to be
conditionate
o The CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS). The neutral stimulus after it has acquired the
ability, through conditioning, to elicit a response
o The CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR). The response conditioned to the CS. In Pavlov’s
experiment, the CR was salivation.

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

o ACQUISITION: After a number of CS-US pairings, the CS elicits a conditioned

response (CR) that increases in magnitude and frequency
o INTERSTIMULUS INTERVAL: Conditioning is optimal if the US precedes the CS. Usually
the best interstimulus interval is 0.5 seconds.
o EXTINCTION: once the conditioned response is established, if the unconditioned
stimulus is omitted repeatedly the conditioned response gradually diminishes.
o GENERALIZATION: the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar
responses after the response has been conditioned. For example, if a child has been
conditioned to fear a stuffed white rabbit, the child will exhibit fear of objects like the
conditioned stimulus.
o DISCRIMINATION: differentiation between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli
that haven’t been paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if a bell tone
were the conditioned stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell the
difference between the bell tone and other similar sounds.
o SECOND ORDER AND HIGHER ORDER CONDITIONING: This form of conditioning
follows a 2-step procedure. First neutral stimulus (CS1) comes to signal a US through
conditioning. Then a second neutral stimulus (CS2) is paired with the first (CS1) and
comes to yield its own conditioned response. à writing

CONCLUSIONS

Þ One of the basic learning mechanisms

Þ Fundamental for survival
Þ It appears very early (new-borns)

OPERANT CONDITIONING

o Formulated by B.F. Skinner (“The Behaviour of Organisms”, 1938) à Walden II

o The subjects learn to associate his behaviour with a stimulus or the consequences of
that behaviour
o Study of the observable behaviour and its equally observable consequences
o Laboratory studies (Skinner box: subjects such as pigeons and rats were isolated and
could be exposed to carefully controlled stimuli)
o The animals learned that their behaviour (operational response) has a consequence
(reinforcer)
o To be most effective, reinforcement should occur consistently after responses and not
at other times (contingency).
o The discriminative stimulus: a stimulus in the presence of which a particular response
will be reinforced
§ A-B-C
o The reinforcer can be appetitive or aversive, depending on the motivational value
o The behavior can have as consequence the addition or the removal of a
consequence

o Positive: presence of a stimulus (add a consequence)

o Negative: absence or removal or a stimulus (take something away)
o Reinforcement: Increases the probability of the behavior (most likely to happen
again)
o Punishment: decreases the probability of the behavior (make people feel bad) (most
likely not to happen again)
 Motivational Value
Appetitive Aversive
Addition of a Positive Positive
Consequence of consequence Reinforcement Punishment
the behavior Removal of a Negative Negative
consequence Punishment Reinforcement

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

o Continuous reinforcement. The reinforcer occurs after each response.

o Intermittent reinforcement. The reinforcer appears following only some instances of
the same response
o Learning may be slower if reinforcement is intermittent, but responses reinforced
intermittently are usually much slower to extinguish

INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT

o Ratio: depending on the number of responses

o Interval: depending on the amount of time
o Fixed: the criteria are constant
o Variable: the criteria can change
o Fixed ratio schedule: reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of responses have
been emitted since the previous reinforcement.
o Variable ratio schedule: Reinforcement occurs after a variable of number have been
emitted since the previous reinforcement.

SHAPING

o Used in animal training and in teaching non-verbal humans

o Phases
® Identifying the desired final behavior (target)
® Choosing a behavior that the animal or person already emits some probability
® The form of this behavior is then gradually changed across successive trials by
rewarding behaviors that approximate the target behavior more and more
closely.

OBSERVATIONAL CONDITIONING

o Alternative to the classic and operational conditioning to explain the acquisition of

new responses
o One of the bridges from behaviorism to cognitive models for learning
o Also called OBSERVATIONAL LERNING
o Formulated by Bandura
o Learning by observing a model and then duplicating a skill, process, strategy, or task
that is demonstrated by the model
o Learning can occur without direct reinforcement or motor reproduction. We can
learn without behavior, for example with observation
o Bobo doll experiment: kids copy the acts they see
o Vicarious reinforcement: a change in the behavior of observers as a function of
witnessing the consequences accompanying the performance of others (Bandura,
1971)

PROCESSES IN OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

o Attention: the individual notices something in the environment

o Retention: the individual remembers what was noticed
o Reproduction: the individual produces an action that is a copy of what was noticed
o Motivation: the environment delivers a consequence that changes the probability
the behavior will be emitted again (reinforcement or punishment)

ATTENTIONAL PROCESSES

o The individual must pay attention to

Þ The model
Þ The behavior
o The attention processes regulate exploration and perception
o Influenced by …

- CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OBSERVER

o Perceptual capabilities
o Perceptual set (“si tienes una amiga embarazada, las ves por todos lados”)
o Cognitive capability (understand the behavior)
o Arousal level
o Acquired preferences

- CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MODEL AND THE BEHAVIOR

o Functional value
o Complexity (if something is very easy or very difficult, they won’t pay attention)
o Prevalence (we pain attention to different situations or strange)
o Distinctiveness (something that isn’t new but is a little bit different)
o Affective valence
o Attraction to the model (we pay attention when we are attracted to)
o Similarity (identify) (is it like me, or not?)

RETENTION PROCESSES

o Symbolic coding (coin example)

o Cognitive organization (something that is not external
o Symbolic rehearsal (imagine ourselves doing it)
o Motor rehearsal
o Latent learning

MOTOR REPRODUCTION PROCCESES

o Physical capabilities
o Availability of component responses
 o Self-observation of reproduction
o Accuracy of feedback

MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES

o External reinforcement
o Vicarious reinforcement
o Self - reinforcement

MOTIVATIONAL VARIABLES

o Perception of control (behavior)

o Self-efficacy
o Expectatives

CONCLUSIONS

o Mechanism involved in the acquisition of several abilities and behaviors

Þ Moral development
Þ Pro-social and interpersonal behavior
Þ Affective behavior
Þ Linguistic development
o It requires
Þ A certain level of development (cognitive and madurative processes)
Þ Symbolic representation

LEARNING THEORIES IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

o These theories assume that every acquisition can be explained by stimulus-response

associations, and by modelling processes
o According to them, any behavior can be learned at any moment
o The behavioral principles explain certain acquisitions
o They are not enough, on their own, to explain the whole developmental process (we
can’t explain everything)

NEW THEORIES

o Relevance of different factors, not directly observable

o New principles to explain development (not only learning)
o New variables, apart from behavior:
Þ Maturation
Þ Cultural factors
Þ Intra-individual factors
o Temporal limitations of development
o Qualitative and quantitative acquisitions
4. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory
THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS: SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT THEORY

o The symbolic nature of the thought can’t be explained because of individual

psychological processes
o Higher mental processes in the individual have their origin in social processes, the
social interaction
o The development of reasoning is mediated by sings and symbols, built during social
interaction (communicating demands)
o Used for sharing a common way of describing interpreting and reasoning about
reality
o The sings:
Þ Are tools of the thought
Þ Have a function of cultural mediation
Þ Are built throughout social interaction
o Double-formation law:
Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social
level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (inter-psychological)
and then inside the child (intra-psychological)
o This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation
of concepts
o All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals
o Internalization: the internal reconstruction of an external operation
o Origin of all the higher psychological processes
Þ An operation that initially represents an external activity is reconstructed and
begins to occur internally
Þ An interpersonal process is transformed into an intrapersonal one
Þ The transformation of an interpersonal process into an intrapersonal one is the
result of a long series of developmental events.
o Development: process of adaptation to the environment’s demands
à communication

TWO DIFFERENT MENTAL FUNCTIONS

o Lower mental functions

o Higher mental functions

LOWER MENTAL FUNCTIONS (NATURAL)

o Common for animals and humans

o Created by adaptation to physical environment

HIGHER MENTAL FUNCTIONS (CULTURAL)

o Specifically human
o Product of adapting to the social and cultural environment
o Development: phylogenesis + cultural history
o Process of interactive construction
® Maturation
® Cultural development (mastering the mediation tools given by the cultural
environment)
o Children are born with basic biological functions
o Each culture provides what as tools of intellectual adaptation. These tools allow
children to use their basic mental abilities in a way that is adaptive to the culture in
which they live

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THOUGHT

o Acquisition of word meaning

o Communicative origins

ACQUISITION OF WORD MEANING

o First words not symbolic (communicative function)

o From two years: communicative and symbolic function
o Abstraction will develop later

COMMUNICATIVE ORIGINS

o Language starts as a tool external to the child used for social interaction (inter-
psychological, external speech)
o Internalization (private speech)
o Intra-psychological (language)

STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

o Natural or primitive stage (0-2). Lack of speech (no verbal thought)

® Experiments with sound production
® Acquisition of the first words
® No relation between language and thought
o Naive psychology (2-7)
® Grammar and syntax become integral parts of the child’s speech
® The child uses language to communicate needs an ideas
® Practical intelligence, experimenting with the physical properties
® Language represents things, not ideas
o Third stage: egocentric speech (7-12). External signs
® Close interaction between thought and language
® Children talk to themselves constantly
® Helps to solve internal problems
® Appears when children use language to
§ Guide their activity
§ Solve problems
§ Personal adaptation
o Fourth stage: internalization of the external operations, egocentric language stops
being audible, and it transforms
o Language becomes verbal thought
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT AND SCAFFOLDING

o Two levels in a child’s development

Þ Actual development level (the things you can do on your own without help)
Þ Potential development level (things I can do with help) Eventually they will be
done on their own.
o Zone of proximal development (ZPD): The difference between the actual
development level as determined by individual problem solving and the level of
potential development as determined through problem solving under adult
guidance or collaboration with knowledgeable peers.

o Bruner: scaffolding. When an adult provides support for a child, they will adjust the
amount of help they give defending on their progress
o This progression of different levels of help is scaffolding. It draws parallels from real
scaffolding for buildings; it’s used as a support for construction of new material (the
skill/information to be learnt) and them removed once the building is complete (the
skill/information has been learnt)
 5. Piaget's psychogenic theory
He was a biologist, studied the animals. Then, he became a father, and he did
experiments with his children. The experiments always had the same results and he
wanted to explain why.

o Most widely known theory of cognitive development

o First psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development
o Constructivism author: learning as an active process of construction rather than a
passive assimilation of information
Þ Active learning as opposed to simply absorbing information
Þ The child is seen as a “little scientist” constructing understandings of the world
largely alone
o Two aspects of the theory
Þ Structure (schemata, stages)
Þ Function (adaptation though assimilation and accommodation)

STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE

o Knowledge comes from the interaction between subject and object

o That interaction happens through actions.
o Actions: ways to act that imply a transformation of reality
o Include
Þ Elementary sensorimotor actions (push, pull…)
Þ Intellectual operations (order, compare…)

To Piaget, Intelligence comes from the coordination of actions

o Object
Þ Physical elements
Þ People, animals

What is relevant is the interaction between subject and object

o Schemata (sing. Schema): mental operations and cognitive structures that can be
transferred and generalized, created as children interact with their physical and
social environments
o It’s not observable, but it can be inferred from the actions
o The reflexes (innate and involuntary behaviors, rigid and stereotyped)
o Are applied to different objects, and become behavioral schemata, that coordinate
between themselves
o Those behavioral schemata are interiorized, and mentally represented, becoming
symbolic schemata

REFLEXES à ACTIONS à COORD BEHAVIONAL SCH

INTERN ACTIONS. SYMBOLIC SCH (they can do it in their mind)

coordinate
Operational sch
o The first structures are formed from the coordination of behavioral schemata
o In what coordinates are interiorized actions, (7 years), the result are operational
schemata
o Behavioral schemata: organized patterns of behavior that are used to represent and
respond to objects and experiences
o Symbolic schemata: internal mental symbols (such as images or verbal codes) that
one uses to represent aspects of experience
o Operational schemata: internal mental activity that one performs on objects of
thought
o The structures
Þ Aren’t observable, they can be inferred from the performance
Þ Envolve
o Development = structural changes
o Evolution in stages, qualitatively different
o Four stages in cognitive development
Þ Stage 1: Sensorimotor (birth – 2 yrs)
Þ Stage 2: Preoperational (2 – 7 yrs)
Þ Stage 3: Concrete Operations (7 – 11 yrs)
Þ Stage 4: Formal Operations (11 – on)

THE STAGES

o Are universal
o Appear in the same order (can be before or after, but always in the same order)
o Had a characteristic structure
o Are integrated in the following ones
o Have a preparation time

o The structure of the 1st stage of cognitive development:

Þ Is composed by coordinations of behavioral schemata
Þ Knowledge is achieved through activity
o The preoperational stage (2nd) stage involves
Þ The symbolic function (2 years)
Þ The knowledge is amplified to the internalized actions, the symbolic
schemata, and the conceptual development starts
o Concrete operations, determined by the development of
Þ The operational schemata, a system of coordination of interiorized schemata
that are reversible
o Formal operations stage
Þ The operations are applied not only to real objects and transformations, but
to all the possible ones, to hypothesis, formulated in propositions

FACTORS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT

o Maturation
o Physical environment (experience)
o Social environment (necessary, but not enough)
o Equilibration
FUNCTIONAL ASPECT

o Intelligence as a form of adaptation

o The organism changes depending on the environment, and that change creates
more changes in the environment and in the organism
o Two biological mechanisms (functional invariants):
- Assimilation – The process of interpreting new experiences by incorporating
them into existing schemes
- Accommodation – The process of modifying existing schemes in order to
incorporate or adapt to new experiences

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND THOUGHT

o Language acquisition linked to cognitive development

o Cognitive determinism
o Language as an expression of the cognitive abilities

o Until 3 years, egocentric language

® No social function
® Echolalia (verbal repetitions, vocal exercises)
® Monologue that accompanies the actions and reinforces them
® Collective monologue, the child talks next to others, not to them
o Two characteristics of the egocentric language
® The child speaks without interaction, without expecting answers
® Doesn’t distinguish his own point of view from the others’
o End of sensorimotor stage
® Deferred imitation
® Pretend play
® Mental images (object permanence)
® Language

COGNITIVE PREREQUISTIES TO ACQUIRE LANGUAGE

o Object permanence
o Spatial and temporal comprehension
o Ability to relate objects and actions
 6. Cognitive prerequisites to
acquire language
o Study of the complex mental processes
o Mental activities not directly observable

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COGNITIVE PROCESSION THEORIES

o Humans process the information they receive, rather than merely responding to
stimuli
o Compare the mind to a mind to a computer, responsible for analysing information
from the environment
o Processing as a manipulation of symbols
o Human cognition
- Is composed by individual processes
- That operate sequentially in order to produce an output
o The information had to be codified and stored, using a symbolic representation
o The structural models describe the processes the information goes through
- Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

o Sensory memory holds information associated with the senses just long enough for
the information to be processed further (mere seconds)
o Short-term memory (STM) functions as a temporary working memory (further
processing)
o Long-term memory (LTM) is the permanent storehouse of information (unlimited
capacity)
o Craik and Lockhart (1972)
o In order for the information to pass to the LMT, it should be understood and must have
gained meaning. This way it will last longer.
o Levels of processing

o The structural level focuses on the appearance of the word

o The phonetic level refers to the sound processing of information
o The semantic level refers to the meaning of the word
o Baddeley and Hitch (1974): working memory
o An alternative model of STM called working memory
o Working memory is not a unitary store, there are different systems for different types
of information
o Central executive
- Drives the whole system
- Allocates data to the subsystems
- Deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving
o Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
- Stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form
- Used for navigation
o Articulatory control process
- Linked to speech production
- Used to rehearse and store verbal information from the phonological store
o Newell and Simon: problem space theory
o Interaction between
- A task
- A subject
- An environment
o Building a problem space
- Initial state of the problem
- Goal state
- Possible mental operations that can be applied
- All the intermediate states

On one side of a river are three hobbits and three orcs. They have a boat on their side
that is capable of carrying two creatures at a time across the river. The goal is to transport
all six creatures across to the other side of the river. At no point on either side of the river
can orcs outnumber hobbits (or the orcs would eat the outnumbered hobbits). The
problem, then, is to find a method of transporting all six creatures across the river without
the hobbits ever being outnumbered.

EXPLANATION OF DEVELOPMENT

o It’s not an objective of these theories

o Source of hypothesis about
o Children’s performance in different tasks
o Mechanisms to explain the performance differences in different ages

GENERAL MECHANISMS OF DEVELOPMENT

o Reject structural changes in the processing ability

o Extension and amplification of strategies
o Specific knowledge of a subject
o Metacognition¡Error! Marcador no definido.