By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
- Describe the cognitive development that occurs during Piaget’s sensorimotor period.
- Discuss the types of thinking errors made by preoperational children.
- Explain the cognitive advances made during the concrete operational period. Be aware of the four mental operations that are mastered at this time.
- Understand the major characteristics of formal operational thought.
- Summarize the ways in which advances in cognitive development affect adolescent personality development as theorized by Elkind and others.
- For #5, be sure to have an understanding of the following: idealism, hypocrisy, pseudostupidity, egocentrism, introspection and self-concept.
- In connection with adolescent egocentrism, explain the effects of the imaginary audience and personal fable.
- Summarize the limitations and criticisms of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
- Describe two different models of post-formal operational thinking.
- Recap the aspects of formal operations that are still accepted by most developmental psychologists.
