Chapter 5 Developmental Psychology

Deferred and Inferred Imitation.

. Laboratory research suggests that it is present at 6 weeks of age! Infants who watched an unfamiliar adult's facial expression imitated it when exposed to the same adult the next day (Meltzoff & Moore, 1994). As motor capacities improve, infants copy actions with objects. They retain modeled behaviors for at least several months, copy the actions of peers as well as adults, and imitate across a change in context—for example, enact at home a behavior seen at child care (Meltzoff & Williamson, 2010; Patel, Gaylord, & Fagen, 2013). The ability to recall modeled behaviors in the order they occurred—evident as early as 6 months—also strengthens over the second year (Bauer, Larkina, & Deocampo, 2011; Rovee-Collier & Cuevas, 2009). And when toddlers imitate in correct sequence, they remember more behaviors. Older infants and toddlers even imitate rationally, by inferring others' intentions! They are more likely to imitate purposeful than arbitrary behaviors on objects

The Sensorimotor Stage

1. Reflexive schemes (birth-1 month): Newborn reflexes 2. Primary circular reactions (1-4 months): Simple motor habits centered around the infant's own body; limited anticipation of events 3. Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months): Actions aimed at repeating interesting effects in the surrounding world; imitation of familiar behaviors 4. Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12 months): Intentional, or goal-directed, behavior; ability to find a hidden object in the first location in which it is hidden (object permanence); improved anticipation of events; imitation of behaviors slightly different from those the infant usually performs 5. Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months): Exploration of the properties of objects by acting on them in novel ways; imitation of novel behaviors; ability to search in several locations for a hidden object (accurate A-B search) 6. Mental representation (18 months-2 years): Internal depictions of objects and events, as indicated by sudden solutions to problems; ability to find an object that has been moved while out of sight (invisible displacement); deferred imitation; and make-believe play

Circular reaction

According to Piaget, at birth infants know so little that they cannot explore purposefully. The circular reaction provides a special means of adapting their first schemes. It involves stumbling onto a new experience caused by the baby's own motor activity. The reaction is "circular" because, as the infant tries to repeat the event again and again, a sensorimotor response that first occurred by chance strengthens into a new scheme.

schemes

According to Piaget, specific psychological structures—organized ways of making sense of experience called schemes—change with age.

The balance between assimilation and accommodation

According to Piaget, the balance between assimilation and accommodation varies over time. When children are not changing much, they assimilate more than they accommodate—a steady, comfortable state that Piaget called cognitive equilibrium. During times of rapid cognitive change, children are in a state of disequilibrium, or cognitive discomfort. Realizing that new information does not match their current schemes, they shift from assimilation to accommodation. After modifying their schemes, they move back toward assimilation, exercising their newly changed structures until they are ready to be modified again.

Core knowledge perspective

According to this core knowledge perspective, babies are born with a set of innate knowledge systems, or core domains of thought. Each of these prewired understandings permits a ready grasp of new, related information and therefore supports early, rapid development.

Primary circular reaction,

Around 1 month, as they enter Substage 2, infants start to gain voluntary control over their actions through the primary circular reaction, by repeating chance behaviors largely motivated by basic needs. This leads to some simple motor habits, such as sucking their fist or thumb. Babies also begin to vary their behavior in response to environmental demands. For example, they open their mouths differently for a nipple than for a spoon. And they start to anticipate events. When hungry, 3-month-old Timmy would stop crying as soon as Vanessa entered the room—a signal that feeding time was near.

Problem Solving

As Piaget indicated, around 7 to 8 months, infants develop intentional means-end action sequences that they use to solve simple problems, such as pulling on a cloth to obtain a toy resting on its far end (Willatts, 1999). Out of these explorations of object-to-object relations, the capacity for tool use in problem solving—flexibly manipulating an object as a means to a goal—emerges (Keen, 2011). By 10 to 12 months, infants can solve problems by analogy—apply a solution strategy from one problem to other relevant problems.

Secondary circular reaction

During Substage 3, from 4 to 8 months, infants sit up and reach for and manipulate objects. These motor attainments strengthen the secondary circular reaction, through which babies try to repeat interesting events in the surrounding environment that are caused by their own actions. For example, 4-month-old Caitlin accidentally knocked a toy hung in front of her, producing a swinging motion. Over the next three days, Caitlin tried to repeat this effect, gradually forming a new "hitting" scheme.

Intentional, or goal-directed, behavior

In Substage 4, 8- to 12-month-olds combine schemes into new, more complex action sequences. As a result, actions that lead to new schemes no longer have a random, hit-or-miss quality—accidentally bringing the thumb to the mouth or happening to hit the toy. Instead, 8- to 12-month-olds can engage in intentional, or goal-directed, behavior, coordinating schemes deliberately to solve simple problems. Consider Piaget's famous object-hiding task, in which he shows the baby an attractive toy and then hides it behind his hand or under a cover. Infants of this substage can find the object by coordinating two schemes—"pushing" aside the obstacle and "grasping" the toy. Piaget regarded these means-end action sequences as the foundation for all problem-solving.

Tertiary circular reaction

In Substage 5, from 12 to 18 months, the tertiary circular reaction, in which toddlers repeat behaviors with variation, emerges. Recall how Timmy dropped objects over the basement steps, trying first this action, then that, then another. This deliberately exploratory approach makes 12- to 18-month-olds better problem solvers. For example, Grace figured out how to fit a shape through a hole in a container by turning and twisting it until it fell through and how to use a stick to get toys that were out of reach. According to Piaget, the capacity to experiment leads toddlers to look for a hidden toy in several locations, displaying an accurate A-B search. Their more flexible action patterns also permit them to imitate many more behaviors—stacking blocks, scribbling on paper, and making funny faces.

Adaptation

Involves building schemes through direct interaction with the environment. It consists of two complementary activities, assimilation and accommodation. During assimilation, we use our current schemes to interpret the external world. For example, when Timmy dropped objects, he was assimilating them to his sensorimotor "dropping scheme." In accommodation, we create new schemes or adjust old ones after noticing that our current ways of thinking do not capture the environment completely. When Timmy dropped objects in different ways, he modified his dropping scheme to take account of the varied properties of objects.

Symbolic Understanding.

One of the most momentous early attainments is the realization that words can be used to cue mental images of things not physically present—a symbolic capacity called displaced reference that emerges around the first birthday. It greatly enhances toddlers' capacity to learn about the world through communicating with others. Observations of 12- to 13-month-olds reveal that they respond to the label of an absent toy by looking at and gesturing toward the spot where it usually rests (Saylor, 2004).

Piaget's sensorimotor stage

Piaget's sensorimotor stage spans the first two years of life. Piaget believed that infants and toddlers "think" with their eyes, ears, hands, and other sensorimotor equipment. They cannot yet carry out many activities inside their heads. But by the end of toddlerhood, children can solve everyday practical problems and represent their experiences in speech, gesture, and play.

Object permanence

Retrieving hidden objects reveals that infants have begun to master object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight. But this awareness is not yet complete. Babies still make the A-not-B search error: If they reach several times for an object at a first hiding place (A), then see it moved to a second (B), they still search for it in the first hiding place (A)

Organization

Schemes also change through organization, a process that occurs internally, apart from direct contact with the environment. Once children form new schemes, they rearrange them, linking them with other schemes to create a strongly interconnected cognitive system. For example, eventually Timmy will relate "dropping" to "throwing" and to his developing understanding of "nearness" and "farness." According to Piaget, schemes truly reach equilibrium when they become part of a broad network of structures that can be jointly applied to the surrounding world.

Why is the violation-of-expectation method controversial.

Some researchers believe that it indicates limited, implicit (nonconscious) awareness of physical events—not the full-blown, conscious understanding that was Piaget's focus in requiring infants to act on their surroundings, as in searching for hidden objects (Campos et al., 2008). Others maintain that the method reveals only babies' perceptual preference for novelty, not their knowledge of the physical world (Bremner, 2010; Bremner, Slater, & Johnson, 2015). Let's examine this debate in light of recent evidence.

Mental representations

Substage 6 brings the ability to create mental representations—internal depictions of information that the mind can manipulate. Our most powerful mental representations are of two kinds: (1) images, or mental pictures of objects, people, and spaces; and (2) concepts, or categories in which similar objects or events are grouped together. We use a mental image to retrace our steps when we've misplaced something or to imitate someone's behavior long after observing it. By thinking in concepts and labeling them (for example, "ball" for all rounded, movable objects used in play) Representation enables older toddlers to solve advanced object permanence problems involving invisible displacement—finding a toy moved while out of sight, such as into a small box while under a cover. Representation also permits deferred imitation—the ability to remember and copy the behavior of models who are not present. And it makes possible make-believe play, in which children act out everyday and imaginary activities. As the sensorimotor stage draws to a close, mental symbols have become major instruments of thinking.

violation-of-expectation method

To discover what infants know about hidden objects and other aspects of physical reality, researchers often use the violation-of-expectation method. They may habituate babies to a physical event (expose them to the event until their looking declines) to familiarize them with a situation in which their knowledge will be tested. Or they may simply show babies an expected event (one that is consistent with reality) and an unexpected event (a variation of the first event that violates reality). Heightened attention to the unexpected event suggests that the infant is "surprised" by a deviation from physical reality and, therefore, is aware of that aspect of the physical world.