Overzicht theorieën: Development & Mental Health 1
Learning and intelligence theories
Stage Theory: Piaget
A constructive approach
- Children are mentally active from birth
- Own mental and physical activity contributes to development
- Construct knowledge as a response to children’s own experiences
Sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years
Infants use senses to gather information. Object permanence not yet developed
Preoperational stage: 2-7 years
Children slowly understand symbolic representation. Limits are centration and
egocentrism.
Concrete operational stage: 7-12 years
Children can now reason logically, but not in abstract situations. Classification,
reversibility and ordering objects goes well in this stage.
Formal operational stage: 12+ years
Abstract thinking and hypothetical reasoning forms. This stage is not universal,
and some do not reach it due to brain damage or disability.
Criticism:
Piaget has underestimated what children ca do, and downplayed social influences on
cognitive development. He also depicted children’s thinking as more consistent than it
is.
Information Processing Theory: Miller
This theory compares human thinking to the way computers process information.
Children are seen as processing systems with limited capacity. Development is gradual.
- Task analysis identify goals, relevant information and strategies
- Computer simulation a model of hypothesized mental processes and steps
- Information-processing identify mental operations, their order, and speed of steps.
Overlapping waves theory: Siegler
In children’s thinking, di erent processing strategies can be used at the same time, and
as a child ages, strategies vary based on what is most e ective.
, Core Knowledge theory: Spelke
A Nativist approach: infants have substantial innate knowledge.
A Constructivist approach: infants build increasingly advanced understanding by
combining innate knowledge with experiences.
Children enter the world as active learning with specialized learning mechanisms.
Certain structures allow children to acquire important information for survival. Di erent
mechanisms produce development in each domain.
The Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky
Other people and the surrounding culture a ects a child’s development. Children are
seen as social learners, connected to others that help them develop.
Example is private speech in children
Cultural Transmission Theory: Tomasello
The tendency to teach others and to attend to and learn from others makes for the
spread and communication of cultural beliefs, values and practices. Cognitive
development takes place in social interaction.
- Intersubjectivity: the mutual understanding on an external object
- Joint action: focus on the same external object.
Dynamic Systems Theory: Thelen & Smith
Change occurs over varying time periods in complex systems. Development is seen as a
process of constant change. The child is seen as having an integrated set of subsystems
that work together to determine behavior. They are innately motivated to explore the
environment and practice new skills, and they have a precise way of problem solving.
Development is a process of self-organization, where attention, memory, emotions and
actions can help to adapt to a changing environment.
Mechanisms of change
- Variation: the use of di erent behaviors to get to the same goal
- Selection: increasing behaviors that are successful to reach a goal
Learning and intelligence theories
Stage Theory: Piaget
A constructive approach
- Children are mentally active from birth
- Own mental and physical activity contributes to development
- Construct knowledge as a response to children’s own experiences
Sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years
Infants use senses to gather information. Object permanence not yet developed
Preoperational stage: 2-7 years
Children slowly understand symbolic representation. Limits are centration and
egocentrism.
Concrete operational stage: 7-12 years
Children can now reason logically, but not in abstract situations. Classification,
reversibility and ordering objects goes well in this stage.
Formal operational stage: 12+ years
Abstract thinking and hypothetical reasoning forms. This stage is not universal,
and some do not reach it due to brain damage or disability.
Criticism:
Piaget has underestimated what children ca do, and downplayed social influences on
cognitive development. He also depicted children’s thinking as more consistent than it
is.
Information Processing Theory: Miller
This theory compares human thinking to the way computers process information.
Children are seen as processing systems with limited capacity. Development is gradual.
- Task analysis identify goals, relevant information and strategies
- Computer simulation a model of hypothesized mental processes and steps
- Information-processing identify mental operations, their order, and speed of steps.
Overlapping waves theory: Siegler
In children’s thinking, di erent processing strategies can be used at the same time, and
as a child ages, strategies vary based on what is most e ective.
, Core Knowledge theory: Spelke
A Nativist approach: infants have substantial innate knowledge.
A Constructivist approach: infants build increasingly advanced understanding by
combining innate knowledge with experiences.
Children enter the world as active learning with specialized learning mechanisms.
Certain structures allow children to acquire important information for survival. Di erent
mechanisms produce development in each domain.
The Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky
Other people and the surrounding culture a ects a child’s development. Children are
seen as social learners, connected to others that help them develop.
Example is private speech in children
Cultural Transmission Theory: Tomasello
The tendency to teach others and to attend to and learn from others makes for the
spread and communication of cultural beliefs, values and practices. Cognitive
development takes place in social interaction.
- Intersubjectivity: the mutual understanding on an external object
- Joint action: focus on the same external object.
Dynamic Systems Theory: Thelen & Smith
Change occurs over varying time periods in complex systems. Development is seen as a
process of constant change. The child is seen as having an integrated set of subsystems
that work together to determine behavior. They are innately motivated to explore the
environment and practice new skills, and they have a precise way of problem solving.
Development is a process of self-organization, where attention, memory, emotions and
actions can help to adapt to a changing environment.
Mechanisms of change
- Variation: the use of di erent behaviors to get to the same goal
- Selection: increasing behaviors that are successful to reach a goal
