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Related Concept Videos

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

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The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood01:25

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

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Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the role of thinking in a child's learning process, suggesting that children are naturally curious about their environment. His approach to development is discontinuous, proposing that cognitive abilities progress through distinct stages, each with unique characteristics. Central to Piaget's theory is schemata—mental structures that allow individuals to understand and interpret the world.
Schemata: Building Blocks of...
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Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

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The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone,...
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Observational Learning01:12

Observational Learning

188
Albert Bandura's observational learning, also known as imitation or modeling, occurs when a person observes and imitates another's behavior. It is a quicker process than operant conditioning. A well-known example is the Bobo doll study, where children who saw an adult acting aggressively towards the doll were more likely to act aggressively when left alone, compared to those who observed a nonaggressive adult. Many psychologists view observational learning as a form of latent learning...
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The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

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The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to...
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Steps in the Modeling Process01:14

Steps in the Modeling Process

217
Albert Bandura's theory of observational learning identifies four critical processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement or motivation.
Attention is the first necessary component for observational learning. It involves focusing on what the model is doing and saying. For example, if you decide to take a drawing class to enhance your skills, you need to pay close attention to the instructor's words and hand movements. The characteristics of the model significantly...
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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
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Young Children's Interactions with Objects: Play as Practice and Practice as Play.

Jeffrey J Lockman1, Catherine S Tamis-LeMonda2

  • 1Tulane University.

Annual Review of Developmental Psychology
|October 20, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Children learn to use objects by intertwining real-world skills with imaginative play. This integrated development enhances object exploration and skill acquisition from infancy through childhood.

Keywords:
manual skillmotor developmentobject manipulationplaypretend playpretensetool use

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Human-Object Interaction

Background:

  • Objects are central to human culture and imagination, presenting unique developmental challenges and opportunities for children.
  • Existing research on manual skill and play development is often siloed, limiting a comprehensive understanding of object interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how young children learn to utilize objects in both physical and imaginary contexts.
  • To propose a new framework integrating manual skill and play development for a holistic view of object interaction.

Main Methods:

  • The study integrates existing literature on manual skill and play development.
  • It analyzes developmental parallels in children's real and imagined object use.
  • The framework emphasizes the embodied, reciprocal, and intertwined nature of these developments.

Main Results:

  • Children's real and imagined object interactions show parallel developmental trajectories.
  • Children increasingly move beyond designed functions, extend interactions beyond the self, and transcend the present.
  • Play and object skill development are mutually reinforcing throughout childhood.

Conclusions:

  • Children's development of manual skill and imaginative play are deeply intertwined and reciprocally influence each other.
  • An embodied and integrated approach offers significant theoretical, empirical, and translational implications for understanding child development.
  • This framework provides a unified perspective on how children master object manipulation and symbolic representation.