Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology of 97 but do not yet understand basic mental operations or rules. Symbolic thinking enables the child to engage in pretend play. Thinking displays egocentrism (difficulty in viewing the world from someone else’s perspective), irreversibility, and concentration. The child at this stage does not understand conversation, the principle that the basic properties of objects, such as their volume, mass, or quantity, stay the same even though their outward appearance may change. 3. Concrete Operational Stage - From about the ages seven to twelve, children in the concrete operational stage can perform basic mental operations concerning problems that involve tangible objects and situations. The child can think logically about concrete events and grasp concepts of conversation and serial ordering. 4. Formal Operational Stage - Piaget’s model ends with the formal operational stage, in which individuals can think logically about concrete and abstract problems, form hypotheses, and systematically test them. Current Views of Cognitive Development- 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 brain development and cognitive psychology, compared to an adult's point of view. A large portion of research has gone into understanding how a child imagines the world. Jean Piaget was a major force in the establishment of this field, forming his "theory of cognitive development". In recent years, however, alternativemodels have been advanced, including information-processing theory, neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, which aim to integrate Piaget's ideas with more recent models and concepts in developmental and cognitive science, theoretical cognitive neuroscience, and social-constructivist approaches. A major controversy in cognitive development has been "nature and nurture", that is, the question of whether cognitive development is mainly determined by an individual's innate qualities (nature), or by their personal experiences (nurture). However, it is now recognized by most experts that this is a false dichotomy: there is overwhelming evidence from biological and behavioral sciences that, from the earliest points in development, gene activity interacts with events and experiences in the environment. Vygotsky’s Theory of Sociocultural Influences Vygotsky’s Theory of Sociocultural Influences- Sociocultural theory is emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development. This theory stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live. Sociocultural theory grew from the work of seminal psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who believed that parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large were responsible for the development of higher order functions. According to Vygotsky, "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: © 2015 Achieve Page 59