Cognitive Development

Cognitive Development Beyond Piaget/Thinking

Pragmatic thought is when logic becomes a tool for solving real-world problems. • Inconsistencies are accepted as a part of life. • Contrasts with the adolescent world of possibilities. Labouvie-Vief’s Theory

Learn the transition from dualism to relativism in college. • Probably because you are taught to think this way (Vygotsky). • Simply because you do not know which idea is better, does not mean there is no truth or that all ideas are created equal. Perry‘s Theory: Adaptive Cognition

Schaie’s Theory • Acquisitive Stage: Childhood & Adolescence • Achieving Stage: Early Adulthood • Responsible Stage: Middle Adulthood (Executive Stage) • Reintegrative Stage: Late Adulthood Adult/Practical Thinking

Not a part of Piaget’s theory (Piaget was a modernist) • Relativistic vs. dualistic thinking • The idea of Postformal thought is closely aligned to the concept of postmodern thought Postformal Thought

Has these characteristics? Contextual, Provisional Relativistic (no absolutes) Realistic, practical Open to emotions & subjective Postmodern Thought

Traditional (modernist, premodernist) Western thinking • (European, hemisphere, Christian) • Truth is objective, universal • Absolute truth applies to everyone, everywhere (all cultures), all the time • This is the basis for science (modernism) • Also the basis for theistic religions. Formal Operational Thought

Reaction to and denial of modern thought and formal logic. • Truth is the “social construction of reality”. • Hence, truth is relative to cultures, societies, religions, etc. • People should try to embrace all variations of “truth”. All ideas are created equal. Postmodern Thought

Premodernism, Modernism, Postmodernism: Historical changes in the Intellectual Thinking Framework among Academics and Intellectuals Most of this information was gleaned from Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture by Gene E. Veith, Jr, 1994 (Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL)

Belief in the supernatural, a spiritual reality from which life gains its meaning • Nature is God’s creation. • Human beings are sinful, but valuable and the object of God’s salvation. • The physical world is orderly and knowable. • Truth is objective and there are absolutes. • Man, society and nature are not operating autonomously, but depend upon the sovereignty of God. Premodernism

The supernatural was discounted, ignored. • Religion was replaced with reason. • The sovereignty of God was replaced with the sovereignty of human reason (operating on the data of the senses). (science) • Sought a rational religion (deism), where God created the universe and abandoned it to man. • Morality became utilitarian. • Materialism – The only reality is what we can sense. The transition from Premodernism to Modernism

Things are understood by causes – effect within a closed system. • Actions are good if they make the system (society) work and evil if they do not. • (Can justify slavery, child labor, abortion, euthanasia, etc. under this system) Moral Utilitarianism

Social sciences – Can apply scientific methods to study people and groups/societies. • Can construct or engineer societies and economies. Karl Marx: Communist society will have no private property, no religion, and individualism and native cultures will be suppressed. • Existentialism. There is no inherent meaning or purpose in life. There are only the orderliness of nature and logical conclusions. • Relativism – People must create their own meanings. “What’s true for you may not be true for me.” Since meanings are personal and subjective, they must all be equally valid. It becomes impolite or politically incorrect to tell anyone that you think they are wrong. Results of Modernism

Modernism peaked in the 20th Century. • Postmodernism challenged its belief in linear progress, absolute truth, rational planning, standardization of knowledge, and “totalization of chaos” – the imposition of order which would be treated as objective and universally binding. • Postmodernism sought to replace it with reality as a “social construct” – where order is only provisional and varies from person to person. It embraces fragmentation and indeterminacy instead. It “affirms the chaos”. Postmodernism

Societies who suffer schism of the soul commit cultural suicide. • Fall into a sense of abandon • Stop believing in morality • Succumb to escapism • Sense of drift – yield to a meaningless determinism as if their efforts do not matter • Feel guilt or self-loathing due to moral abandon • Accept almost anything with uncritical tolerance • Surrender themselves to the “melting-pot” • Are decentered – not anchored to anything • Feel anxious, irrational and helpless Sir Arnold Toynbee, 1940

Russian psychologist • Contemporary of Piaget • Died young, short career • Recently popular in United States • Better suited to postmodern thinking Lev Vygotsky

Children develop their ways of thinking and understanding primarily through interaction with others. • Minds are shaped by culture Vygotsky

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) • Scaffolding • Private speech • Language used to plan, guide & monitor behavior Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Vital role of teaching • Assess & use the ZPD • Use more skilled peers • Monitor & encourage use of private speech • Place instruction in a meaningful context Vygotsky and Education

Cognitive Development