Cognitive theory is a learning theory of psychology that
attempts to explain human behavior by understanding the thought processes.
Since the 1960's cognitivism has
provided the predominant perspective within which Learning Research
has been conducted and theories of learning have evolved.
History of and
assumptions of cognitivism:
Edward Tolman proposed a theory
that had a cognitive flair. He was a behaviorist but valued internal mental
phenomena in his explanations of how learning occurs.
Some of his
central ideas were:
Behavior should be studied at a local
level.
Learning can occur without
reinforcement.
Learning can occur without a change in
behavior.
Intervening variables must be
considered.
Behavior is purposive.
Expectations of fact behavior.
Learning
results in an organized body of information.
Based on his
research of rats, Tolman proposed that rats and other organisms develop cognitive
maps of their environments. They learn where different parts of the environment
are situated in relation to one another. The concept of a cognitive map also
called a mental map has continued to be a focus of research.
Gestalt
psychology:
Gestalt
psychologist emphasized the importance of organizational processes of
perception, learning, and problem solving. They believed that individuals were
predisposed to organize information in particular ways.
The basic ideas of Gestalt
psychology are:
1. Perception
is often different from reality. This includes optical illusions.
2. The whole
is more than the sum of its parts. They believed that human experience cannot
be explained unless the overall experience is examined instead of individual
parts of experience.
3. The
organism structures and organizes experience. The German word Gestalt
means "structured whole." This means an organism structures
experience even though structure might not be necessarily inherent.
4. The
organism is predisposed to organize experience in particular ways. For
example, the law of proximity is that people tend to perceive as a unit
those things that are close together in space. Second example: similar people
tend to perceive as a unit those things that are similar to one another.
Problem-solving
involves restructuring and insight. It
was proposed that problem-solving involves mentally combining and re-combining
the various elements of a problem until a structure that solves the problem is
achieved.
Piaget's
developmental theory
Besides
psychology, Piaget was interested in epistemology. Piaget used something he
called the clinical method. This was research in which he gave children a
series of tasks or problems, asking questions about each one. He then tailored
his interviews to the particular responses that each child gave. His follow-up
questions varied from child to child. This methodology was very different from
the methods of contemporary behaviorist research.
Piaget's ideas
about human learning:
People are
active processors of information. Instead of being passive respondents to
environmental conditions, human beings are actively involved and interpreting
and learning from the events around them.
Knowledge can
be described in terms of structures that change with development. Piaget
proposed the concept of schema. As children develop, new schemes emerge, and
are sometimes integrated with each other into cognitive structures.
Cognitive
development results from the interactions that children have with their
physical and social environments. As a child explores his world, and eventually
they began to discover that they hold a perspective of the world uniquely their
own.
The process
through which people interact with the environment remains constant. According
to Piaget, people interact with their environment through to unchanging
processes known as assimilation and accommodation.
In
accommodation, an individual either modifies an existing scheme or forms a new
one to account for the new event.
In
assimilation an individual interacts with an object or event in a way that is
consistent with an existing scheme.
People are
intrinsically motivated to try to make sense of the world around them.
According to this view, people are sometimes in the state of equilibrium, they
can comfortably explain new events in terms of their existing schemes. However
at times they can encounter events they cannot explain our make sense of this
is called disequilibrium, a mental discomfort. Through reorganizing thought
people are able to then understand the previously un-understandable and return
to equilibrium.
Cognitive development occurs in
distinct stages, with thought processes at each stage being qualitatively
different from those and other stages.
Piaget's four
stages:
1.
Sensorimotor stage:
2.
Preoperational stage:
3.
Concrete Operations:
4.
Formal Operations:
5.
Sensorimotor
stage: from birth until about two years of
age. At this age children are only aware of objects that are directly before
them, thus the saying, "out of sight, out of mind." (Example:
The game of "peek-a-boo" is enjoyed only by infants. Their joy
in this game comes from their "finding" the adult --
who"hides" by blocking the child's view and thus
"disappears" and "re-appears" as the child experiences it.)
Preoperational
stage: emerges when children are about two
years old until they are about six to seven years old. This is the stage of
language development. Expanding childrens’ vocabularies reflect the many
new mental schemes that are developing. This stage is characterized by a
logical thinking, but not according toadult standards. A classic example is how
young children cannot understand conservation of liquid. They will usually
think that a taller glass has more water than a short glass even though both
have been demonstrated to have the exact same amount of water.
Concrete
operations: this third stage of cognitive
development appears when children are six or seven years old and continues
until they are about 11 or 12 years old. Children begin to think logically
about conservation problems and other situations as well. However, they
typically can apply their logical operations only to concrete,
observable objects and events.
Formal
operations: the fourth and
final stage usually appears after children are 11 or 12 years of age and
continues to evolve for several years after that time. During this time the
child develops the ability to reason with abstract, hypothetical, and
contrary-to-fact information.
[It must be
noted that some recent research does not confirm Piaget's four stages in their
entirety.]
Vygotsky's
developmental theory:
This Russian psychologist conducted
numerous studies of children's thinking.
Some of his
most influential ideas are:
1. Complex
mental processes began as social activities. As children develop, they
gradually analyze these processes and can use them independently of those
around him. Vygotsky called this process of social activities being
internalized as mental activities "internalization."
2. Children
can often accomplish more difficult tasks when they have the assistance of
other people more advanced and competent than themselves.
3. Tasks
within the zone of proximal development promote maximum cognitive
growth. This is the zone of learning for a child where he can learn something
with the assistance of others. Without such assistance he would not be able to
learn the subject.
4. The idea of
scaffolding learning comes from Vygotsky's zone of proximal
development theory. Scaffolding refers to learning situations in which
adults and other more competent individuals provide some form of guidance or
structure that enables students to engage in learning activities within their
zone of proximal development.
Reference: http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~Lynda_abbot/Cognitive.html
