It has become increasingly clear during the past decade that developmental psychology represents, as Piaget and Werner have emphasized for so long, an important substantive area in the behavioral sciences. The recent paper, "The Course of Cognitive Development," by J. S. Bruner (American Psychologist, 1964, 19, 1-16) adds further support to this position and may be expected to increase efforts devoted to both the theoretical and empirical analysis of ontogenetic processes. Certainly many fundamental issues, some old and some new, emerge from consideration of Bruncr's genetic approach to cognitive growth. It is not our intent to present a discussion of these issues at this time, however. Rather, our concern is to clarify certain basic differences in theory and methodology between the Harvard and Genevan cognitive growth projects that have the common purpose of investigating the underlying processes which control the transition from one mode of thinking to another. Theoretical differences centering on the nature of developmental changes resulted in differences in the kind of transition studied as well as in the conclusions regarding the processes underlying the cognitive learning.According to Bruner, cognitive development consists in the acquisition of "techniques" of information processing. These techniques, through an "interiorization" process, form the basis for three information-processing systems: the enactive, the iconic, and the symbolic, representing different levels of cognitive functioning that are presumably correlated with cognitive development. The Harvard project was primarily concerned with the conditions necessary for transition from the iconic to the symbolic level of cognitive functioning. In the Genevan studies, however, the main preoccupation was clarification of the structurization processes which mediate the transition from one stage (in the Piagetian sense) of development to another stage. The difference between Bruner's concept of level and Piaget's concept of stage is more real than is apparent-and in order to understand this difference it is necessary to give a brief outline of the most pertinent aspects of Piagct's concept of developmental change.In Piagct's developmental theory, cognitive development consists of a progressive structurization whereby actions and intellectual operations become organized into coherent systems. These systems of coordinated actions are characterized by laws applying to the sys-tem as a whole, for example, the laws of reversibility and compensation. Three main stages can be distinguished in this structurization process:
This investigation was concerned with developmental changes in problemsolving strategies as reflected in children's solutions to permutation problems. In addition to the usual product measure of problem-solving efficiency (number of unrepeated arrangements), measures of strategies reflecting the experimental procedure of holding variables constant (holding initial marks constant, in this case) and degree of development of rule systems reflecting mathematical group properties were developed. Sixteen boys and 16 girls at each of three age levels (12, 15, and 18) homogeneous with respect to socioeconomic and ability level, were administered four permutation tasks that varied with respect to representational level and degree of task structure within an element set. Analysis of these data revealed two major nonexclusive problem-solving strategies which increased with age: (a) one reflecting mathematical group structure and (b) one of holding initial marks constant while permuting the remainder. In addition, the data indicated differential developmental trends in the usual product score as compared to the strategy scores. Stimulus variables had a complex effect on strategy selection and suggest significant sex as well as age differences. The implications of these data for further research on developmental strategies in problem solving and cognitive theory are presented.
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