Chapter 7 Three Cognitive Theories: Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky

Chapter Outline

Modified: 2007-07-25

• I. This Chapter
• II. Cognitive Psychology: Pigeons have a concept of "peopleness"/How to explain data such as these?
  • A. A Comparison of Cognitivism and Behaviorism
    • Higher mental functions
    • Human research
    • Meaning
    • Restricted theories
  • B. The Main Metaphor of Cognitive Psychology
    • Information Processing
    • Mental Representations
• III. Bruner’s Learning Theory: Going Beyond the Information Given
  • A. Evolution of the Brain: It's the biggest adaptive advantage
    • 1. Advantages of Brains
      • Technology
      • Culture
      • Learning
    • 2. Maladaptive Brains
  • B. Evolution of Mental Representation: Planning impossible without mental representation
    • 1. Inventions and Mental Evolution
      • Tools that amplify motor capacity
      • Tools that amplify sensory capacity
      • Tools that amplify ratiocinative (thinking) capacity
    • 2. Evolution of Representation in Children
      • Enactive: muscles
      • Iconic: sensory
      • Symbolic: arbitrary
  • C. Representation and Cognitive Theory
  • D. Bruner’s Theory of Representation: Categorization
    • 1. What Is a Category?
      • percepts, concepts (like Hebb's cell assemblies)
      • Similarity
    • 2. Categories as Rules: Collection of rules that specify an object
    • 3. Attributes
      • characteristics of objects
      • criterial and irrevelant
    • 4. Rules for Categorizing
      • Possess an attribute
      • Combine in correct manner
      • Hierarchy of properties
      • Limits
    • 5. Summary of Categorization
      • All experience involves already existing categories
  • E. Decision Making
    • For Bruner, just another type of categorization
    • Selection of strategies (see below)
  • F. Coding Systems
    • Hierarchical arrangements of related categories
  • G. Concept Attainment: Discovering relationships between class members and non-class members
    • Divan, Sofa, Love Seat, Easy Chair = ?
    • Pants, Shirts, Dresses, Socks = ?
    • Broaches, Belts, Shoes, Ear Rings = ?
    • Types of Concepts
      • Conjuntive = use AND
      • Disjunctive = use OR
      • Relational = "higher" "wider" etc.
  • H. Strategies for Concept Attainment: Selection strategies
    • 1. Simultaneous Scanning: not usually seen, exceeds human cognitive abilities
    • 2. Successive Scanning: one after the other, works sometimes
    • 3. Conservative Focusing: like running an experiment-change one value at a time
    • 4. Focus Gambling: change two values simultaneously
    • Mastermind example
  • I. Concept Attainment in Real Life
    • His ideas do not translate well to real life
    • Used adults only
    • No identifiable strategies observed
• IV. More Recent Research on Concepts
  • A. Developmental Trends in Concept Learning
    • Children learn nouns before verbs
    • Children learn general concepts before particular ones
  • B. Category Boundaries
    • Not always well defined: thin, average, plump, fat?
  • C. The Neurobiology of Categories
    • Frontal lobe
  • D. Abstraction
    • Prototypes (Rosch): Recall our chair example
    • Exemplars: Memories of chairs
    • Prototypes are more abstract
• V. Bruner’s Position: An Appraisal
  • Abstract
  • Metaphorical
  • Non-behavioral
  • Cognitive Revolution
    • Not stimulus and response
    • Meaning
    • Computer Revolution altered Cognitive Revolution
• VI. Educational Implications of Bruner’s Theory
  • Discovery Learning
  • Constructivist Teaching: students as active, engaged learners
  • Conceptual Change Movement: puzzles, problem solving, challenging old ideas
• VII. Jean Piaget: A Developmental-Cognitive Position: language, reality, causality, time, intelligence...
  • A. The Méthode Clinique
    • Like unstructured interviewing
    • Hawthorne Effect
  • B. Theoretical Orientation
    • Biological, Evolutionary, and Cognitive orientation
    • C. Assimilation and Accommodation: The Processes of Adaptation
      • Assimilation and Accomodation
      • Schema
      • Equilibration
  • D. Play: Universal phenomenon
    • Rules
      • Before 3-no understanding/don't follow rules
      • 3-5-from higher authority/break and change rules
      • 5-12-cannot be changed/rigid adherence to rules
      • 12+-understand rules/change rules after discussion
  • E. Imitation
    • A kind of accomodation
    • Internalization
    • Object Permanence
    • Deferred Imitation
  • F. Intelligence
    • More active process than Gestaltists assumed
    • Adaptive
    • Schemas as learning
    • Cognitive Structures
  • G. A Stage Theory: Stages are qualitatively different, children must pass through stages
  • H. Sensorimotor Development: Birth to 2 Years
    • 1. The Object Concept: Object Permanence and age (~9 months)
    • 2. Exercising Reflexes: Sucking, Reaching, Grasping, Gazing
    • 3. Achievement by Age 2: Communication, Object Concept, Cause and Effect
  • I. Preoperational Thinking: 2 to 7 Years
    • 1. Preconceptual Thinking: 2 to 4 Years 2. Intuitive Thinking: 4 to 7 Years
      • Overgeneralization
      • Transductive Reasoning
    • 2. Intuitive Thinking
      • Conservations: volume, length, number
      • Egocentrism
      • Thinking Example
      • Video Examples
  • J. Operations: Internalized Activity
  • K. Concrete Operations: 7 to 11 or 12 Years
    • 1. The Conservations
      • substance, area, volume
      • reversibility, identity, compensation
    • 2. Can Conservation Be Taught?
      • No
    • 3. Classification
      • Improves
    • 4. Seriating
      • Rank objects
    • 5. Number
      • Also improves
  • L. Formal Operations: After 11 or 12 Years: Adult-like thought
    • 1. Combinatorial Analysis: Systematic investigation of ALL possible combinations
    • 2. Hypothetical Nature of Thought: Science Fiction, Alternative Worlds
  • M. Piaget’s Theory as a Theory of Learning: Genetic Epistemology
    • Gradual acquisition of knowledge
    • Stages are hierarchical
    • Learning = maturation, active experience, equilibration, and social interaction
• VIII. Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theory
  • Development comes from:
    • Equilibration
    • Maturation
    • Active Experience and Internalization
    • Social Interaction
    • Child actively constructs knowledge
• IX. Piaget’s Position: An Appraisal
  • Underestimated Young Children
  • Formal Operations not Universal
  • Too Complex
• X. Lev Vygotsky: A Cultural/Cognitive Theory: Unrequited critic of Piaget
  • Main Ideas
    • Culture: we are social animals, higher mental functions are cultural
    • Language: prerequisite to higher mental functions (change species)/social speech--egocentric speech--inner speech
    • Zone of Proximal Growth--region for potential change (think of coaching, teaching)
• XI. Vygotsky’s Theory: Educational Implications
  • Scaffolding-intellectual supports for learners, less necessary as development proceeds
• XII. Vygotsky’s Theory: An Appraisal
  • Not precise
  • Clear and Understandable
  • Spurred Research
• XIII. Summary

Back to Main Learning Page