On Cognitive Development

FLAVELL, JOHN H. On Cognitive Development. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 1-10. Does human cognitive development advance through a series of broad and general stages? If so, the child's mind at any point in its development should seem quite consistent and similar across situations in its maturity level and general style. That is, it should be relatively homogeneous rather than at any given age. There appear to be factors and considerations that make for both heterogeneity and homogeneity in the child's cognitive life. As to heterogeneity, many cognitive items (concepts, skills, etc.) may develop independently; they may not assist each other's development and there may be no common mediator to assist their codevelopment. Likewise, mental heterogeneity may occur because human beings have evolved to cope with certain cognitive tasks earlier or more easily than others. Intraindividual differences in aptitudes and experiences could also produce considerable heterogeneity. As to homogeneity, the child's information-processing capacity may impose an upper limit on how heterogeneous her mental level could be. There may also be more cognitive homogeneity (1) in the child's initial reaction to inputs than in her subsequent management of them; (2) at the beginning and end of an acquisitional sequence than in the middle of it; (3) in spontaneous, everyday cognition than in formal task or test situations; (4) in some cognitive domains than in others; (5) in some children than in others. It was concluded that cognitive development might appear more general-stage-like than many of us believed, if only we knew how and where to look.