Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Development During Infancy and Childhood387Like schemas in general (see Chapter 6), children’s gender schemas do seemto influence what they notice and remember. For example, in a classic experiment,5-year-olds were shown pictures of children engaged in activities that violatedcommon gender stereotypes, such as girls playing with trucks and boysplaying with dolls (Martin & Halverson, 1981, 1983). A few days later, the 5-year-olds “remembered” that the boys had been playing with the trucks and thegirls with the dolls!Children also readily assimilate new information into their existing genderschemas (Miller & others, 2006). In another classic study, 4- to 9-year-olds weregiven boxes of gender-neutral gadgets, such as hole punches (Bradbard & others,1986). But some gadgets were labeled as “girl toys” and some as “boy toys.”The boys played more with the “boy” gadgets, and the girls played more withthe “girl” gadgets. A week later, the children easily remembered which gadgetswent with each sex. They also remembered more information about the gadgetsthat were associated with their own sex. Simply labeling the objects as belongingto boys or to girls had powerful consequences for the children’s behavior andmemory—evidence of the importance of gender schemas in learning and rememberingnew information.Children are gender detectives whosearch for cues about gender—whoshould or should not engage in aparticular activity, who can play withwhom, and why girls and boys aredifferent. Cognitive perspectives ongender development assume thatchildren are actively searching for waysto find meaning in and make sense ofthe social world that surrounds them,and they do so by using the gendercues provided by society to help theminterpret what they see and hear.CAROL LYNN MARTINAND DIANE RUBLE (2004)Cognitive DevelopmentKey Theme• According to Piaget’s theory, children progress through four distinct cognitivestages, and each stage marks a shift in how they think and understandthe world.Key Questions• What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development?• What are three criticisms of Piaget’s theory?• How do Vygotsky’s ideas about cognitive development differ from Piaget’stheory?Just as children advance in motor skill and language development, they also developincreasing sophistication in cognitive processes—thinking, remembering, and processinginformation. The most influential theory of cognitive development is that ofSwiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Originally trained as a biologist, Piaget combined aboundless curiosity about the nature of the human mind with a gift for scientificobservation (Brainerd, 1996).Piaget (1952, 1972) believed that children actively try to make sense out of theirenvironment rather than passively soaking up information about the world. ToPiaget, many of the “cute” things children say actually reflect their sincere attemptsto make sense of their world. In fact, Piaget carefully observed his own threechildren in developing his theory (Fischer & Hencke, 1996).According to Piaget, children progress through four distinct cognitive stages: thesensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to age7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to age 11; and the formal operationalstage, which begins during adolescence and continues into adulthood. As a childadvances to a new stage, his thinking is qualitatively different from that of the previousstage. In other words, each new stage represents a fundamental shift in howthe child thinks and understands the world.Piaget saw this progression of cognitive development as a continuous, gradualprocess. As a child develops and matures, she does not simply acquire more information.Rather, she develops a new understanding of the world in each progressivestage, building on the understandings acquired in the previous stage (Siegler &When Laura was almost 3, Sandy andLaura were investigating the tadpolesin the creek behind our home. “Do youknow what tadpoles become whenthey grow up? They become frogs,”Sandy explained. Laura looked veryserious. After considering this new bitof information for a few moments, sheasked, “Laura grow up to be a frog,too?”