Cognitive Development in Infancy and Childhood

This Element explores the biological, psychological, social, and cultural contributions to the development of human cognition.

Mary Gauvain (Author)

9781108958127, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 August 2022

75 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 0.6 cm, 0.14 kg

This Element describes the main theories that guide contemporary research in cognitive development along with research discoveries in several important cognitive abilities: attention, language, social cognition, memory, metacognition and executive function, and problem solving and reasoning. Biological and social contributions are considered side-by-side, and cultural contributions are highlighted. As children participate in social interactions and learn to use cultural symbols and tools to organize and support their thinking, the behaviors and understandings of the social community and the culture more broadly become an integral part of children's thoughts and actions. Culture, the natural ecological setting or habitat of human beings, plays a significant role by providing support and direction for cognitive development. Without the capacity to learn socially, human cognition would be markedly different from what it is today.

1. Introduction
2. Cognitive development: Coming to understand and act in the world
3. Processes and mechanisms of cognitive development
4. Acquiring knowledge and connecting with the social world
5. Developing and using the cognitive system
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Cognitivism, cognitive theory [JMAQ]