Chapter 1: Problem 7

Describe how the cognitive perspective explains lifespan development.

Short Answer

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Cognitive perspective explains lifespan development as a process of information intake, storage, retrieval, and use that changes with age. Theories from Piaget and Erikson explain various developmental stages throughout life, focusing on thinking processes and cognitive abilities at different periods. Cognitive lifespan development can be seen as a progression of cognitive stages, influenced by both genetics and environment, from infancy to old age.

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Introduction to Cognitive Perspective

The cognitive perspective studies how people understand, think, remember and learn. This approach believes that people are able to learn through information intake, storage, retrieval, and use. To explain lifespan development, the cognitive perspective focuses on the changes in how these processes happen as individuals age.

Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

Piaget’s cognitive development theory explains how a person perceives, thinks, and gains an understanding of one's world through the interaction and influence of genetic and learning factors. He broke this down into four stages, each representing a qualitatively different type of thinking: sensorimotor stage (0-2 years), preoperational stage (2-7 years), concrete operational stage (7-11 years) and formal operational stage (11 years and beyond). In each stage, individuals display different thought processes and understandings of the world.

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

Though it is primarily a psychosocial theory, Erikson's Theory also contributes to cognitive lifespan development. Erikson's theory identifies eight stages in which a healthy individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood. Each stage is construed by a 'crisis' or challenge, the resolution of which develops a person's psychosocial and cognitive trait - trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and ego integrity.

Lifespan Cognitive Development

Combining these theories and more, cognitive lifespan development can be understood as a series of transitions from one cognitive stage to another, influenced both by biological maturation and interaction with the environment. It is a lifelong process, from learning via sensory experiences in infancy, to cognitive engage in childhood and adolescence, and then maintaining cognitive abilities in adulthood while facing cognitive decline in old age. Each stage is characterized by different cognitive skills and abilities.

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Describe how the cognitive perspective explains lifespan development.

Short Answer

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Introduction to Cognitive Perspective

Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

Lifespan Cognitive Development

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