Cognitive Development across the Lifespan of Human Development

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Cognitive Development across the Lifespan of
Human Development

• By Shadra Tomei Sparling
• CEPD 8102
• Dr. Hayes

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Jean Piaget

• Born in 1896, died in 1980.
• He was an epistemologist who studied childrens
  intellectual development.
• Developed a theory of cognitive development. He
  posited that children progress through 4 stages
  and that they all do so in the same order
  (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2010). It
  consists of four stages of intellectual
  development Sensorimotor stage, Preoperational
  stage, Concrete Operational stage, and the Formal
  Operational stage.

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Intelligence changes throughout our lifespanhere
are the stages and the theories

• Infancy Sensory and Perceptual Development,
  Sensorimotor stage.
• Early Childhood Preoperational stage.
• Middle/Late Childhood Concrete Operational
  stage.
• Adolescence Formal Operational stage.
• Early Adulthood Postformal Thought.
• Middle Adulthood Crystallized and Fluid
  intelligence.
• Late Adulthood Sensory/Motor and
  Speed-of-Processing dimensions of cognition.

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Maturation

• The term maturation refers to a uniform
  progression
• of changes in brain organization and function in
• infants growing in any reasonably natural
  environment (Kagan, 2008).

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Processes of Development

• Schemes actions or representations that organize
  knowledge.
• Assimilation use of existing schemes to deal
  with new information.
• Accommodation adjustment of schemes to take in
  new information.
• Organization groupings of behaviors and thoughts
  into a higher-order system.
• Equilibration moving from one stage of cognitive
  development to the next.

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Cognitive Development in Infancy (Birth to age
two)

• Sensorimotor Stage.
• Object Permanence Is an object there?
• Sensory Input Touching a toy.
• Motoric Action protruding the tongue.

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Cognitive Development in Early Childhood (Ages
2-7)

• Preoperational Stage.
• Egocentrism Is that you or me?
• Intuitive Thought Substage Lets play 20
  questions.
• Centration Piagets Conservation Task.

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Cognitive Development in Middle/Late Childhood
(Ages 7-11)

• Concrete Operational Stage.
• Classification putting things into groups.
• Seriation ordering stimuli by dimension.
• Transitivity Logically combine relations to
  understand conclusions.

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Cognitive Development in Adolescence (Ages10-22)

• Formal Operational Stage.
• Abstract Thinking Thinking about thought itself.
• Logical Thinking Does this make sense?
• Idealistic Thinking The world is perfect.
• Hypothetical-deductive reasoning creating a
  hypotheis, and deducing implications (testing
  it).

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Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood (Ages
18-25)

• Postformal thought.
• Pragmatic thinking Applying knowledge in their
  work.
• Reflective/Relativistic thinking Being able to
  view other perspectives and opinions (mutual
  respect).
• Creativity What can I invent?

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Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood (Ages
40-65)

• Fluid Intelligence Abstract reasoning declines.
• Crystalized Intelligence a persons accumulated
  information and verbal skills increases.

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Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood (Ages
60-death)

• Sensory/Motor Declines with age.
• Speed-of-Processing Declines due to a decline in
  brain functioning.
• Attention Selected, Divided, or Sustained.
• Memory Health, education, and socioeconomic
  status affect this.
• Wisdom Expert knowledge about practical aspects
  of life.

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References

• Kagan, J. (2008). In Defense of Qualitative
  Changes in Development. Child Development, 79(6),
  1606-1624. doi10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01211.x.
• Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2010, October).
  Stage Theory of Cognitive Development (Piaget) at
  Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved October 20th,
  2010 from http//www.learning-theories.com/piagets
  -stage-theory-of-cognitive-development.html
• Newkirk, Ella. (2008). Piagets Cognitive
  Development Theory. Retrieved from
  http//www.slideshare.net/newkirker/Piagets-Cognit
  ive-Development-Theory
• Psaltis, C., Duveen, G., Perret-Clermont, A.
  (2009). The Social and the Psychological
  Structure and Context in Intellectual
  Development. Human Development (0018716X), 52(5),
  291-312. doi10.1159/000233261.
• Santrock, John W. (2008). Essentials of Life-Span
  Development. New York, NY McGraw-Hill Companies,
  Inc.