Knowledge and Development

1 Chance and Dialectic in Biological Epistemology: A Critical Analysis of Jacques Monod's Theses.- 1. Discriminative Properties.- 2. A Hereditary Linguistic Nucleus?.- 3. A Cybernetic Perspective.- 4. An Active Choice.- 5. The Role of Chance.- 6. An Ordered Series.- 7. The Role of the Environment.- 8. The Sources of Knowledge.- 9. Logical-Mathematical Experience.- 10. Phenocopies.- 11. The Problems of Innateness.- 12. A Negation of Constructivism.- 13. Monod and Meyerson.- 14. The Dialectic of Nature.- 15. Death Is Not the Inverse of Life.- 16. An Ordered System of the Whole?.- 17. Compensatory Regulations.- References.- 2 The Role of Action in the Development of Thinking.- 1. The Figurative and Operative Aspects of the Cognitive Functions.- 1.1. Proposed Classification and Statement of the Problems.- 1.2. Perceptions, Concepts, and Operations.- 1.2.1. Divergent Evolution of a Perception and a Corresponding Concept.- 1.2.2. Prefiguration of Concepts by Perception.- 1.2.3. Relation of Perception to Concept.- 1.2.4. The Gestalt Position.- 1.2.5. Perception and Thinking.- 1.3. Relations between Mental Images and Operations.- 1.3.1. Reproductive Images.- 1.3.2. Images of Operations.- 1.3.3. Conclusion.- 2. Action and the Operations of Thought.- 2.1. The Subject and the Object.- 2.2. The Development of Operations.- 2.3. Physical Experience and Logical-Mathematical Experience.- 2.3.1. Two Types of Experience.- 2.3.2. The Time Lag of Physical Knowledge.- 2.3.3. Experience and Deduction.- 2.3.4. Objections.- References.- 3 The Development of the Concepts of Chance and Probability in Children.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Intuition of an Increasing Mixture in a Collection of Discrete Elements.- 2.1. Problem.- 2.2. Method.- 2.3. The Developmental Pattern.- 3. The Notion of a Random Distribution and of the Experimental Method.- 3.1. Problem.- 3.2. Method.- 3.3. The Developmental Pattern.- 4. Chance and Miracle in the Game of "Heads or Tails".- 4.1. Problem.- 4.2. Method.- 4.3. The Developmental Pattern.- 5. Random Selection of Pairs.- 5.1. Problem.- 5.2. Method.- 5.3. The Developmental Pattern.- 6. The Quantification of Probabilities.- 6.1. Problem.- 6.2. Method.- 6.3. The Developmental Pattern.- 7. The Concept of Random Situations in Psychotic Children.- 8. Conclusions.- 4 Review of Piagetian Infancy Research: Object Concept Development.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Introduction to Research on Object Concepts.- 3. Studies of Infants under Six Months of Age.- 4. Studies of Later Infancy.- 4.1. Search in One Location.- 4.2. Search in Two or More Locations.- 4.3. Do Infants Really Search and for What?.- 5. Other Developments.- 6. Conclusion.- References.- 5 Social Cognition: A Selective Review of Current Research.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Person Perception.- 3. Role Taking, Social Decentering, and Egocentricity.- 3.1. General Methodological Issues and the Relation between Social Role Taking and Mental and Chronological Age.- 3.2. Decentering in and out of Social Situations.- 3.3. Role Taking and Social Competence.- 4. Empathic Understanding.- 4.1. The Anticipation and Identification of Affective Cues.- 4.2. Feeling for or with Others versus Knowledge of Others' Feelings.- 4.3. Empathy and Role Taking.- 5. Conclusion.- References.- 6 Memory from a Cognitive-Developmental Perspective: A Theoretical and Empirical Review.- 1. Overview.- 2. The Operative Approach to Memory: Theory and Research.- 2.1. Theoretical Foundations.- 2.1.1. Acquisition of Knowledge.- 2.1.2. The Storage and Retrieval of Knowledge.- 2.2. Genevan Research on Memory.- 2.2.1. The Research Paradigm.- 2.2.2. Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data.- 2.3. Summary.- 3. An Empirical and Methodological Review.- 3.1. Introduction.- 3.2. Long-Term Memory Improvements: Operative and Nonoperative Explanations.- 3.2.1. Effects of Repeated Testing.- 3.2.2. Attention to Relevant Attributes of Stimuli.- 3.2.3. Evaluating Long-Term Regressions.- 3.2.4. Short-Term Changes in Memory.- 3.2.5. Memory for Arbitrary Stimuli.- 3.2.6. Memory for Operatively Primitive Stimuli.- 3.2.7. Summary.- 3.3. The Relation between Operative Level and Memory Performance.- 3.3.1. Cross-Sectional Evidence.- 3.3.2. Within-Subject Analyses: Short-Term and Longitudinal Data.- 3.3.3. Conclusions.- 3.4. Summary.- 4. Loci of Operative Effects on Memory.- 4.1. Perception of the Stimulus.- 4.2. Memory Fixation.- 4.3. Memory Retrieval.- 4.4. Memory Retention.- 4.5. Are These Mnemonic Effects?.- 4.6. Summary.- 5. The Operative Approach in the Context of Other Mnemonic Theories.- 5.1. Introduction.- 5.2. Alternative Approaches to Memory.- 5.2.1. Associationism.- 5.2.2. Gestalt Psychology.- 5.2.3. Contemporary Approaches to Organization in Memory.- 5.2.4. Psychoanalytic Approach.- 5.2.5. Information Processing.- 5.2.6. Bartlett.- 5.2.7. Neisser.- 5.2.8. Dialectic Approach.- 5.2.9. Contextualism, Constructive Theory, and Assimilation Theory.- 5.3. Summary.- 6. Conclusions.- References.- 7 Logical Concept Attainment during the Aging Years: Issues in the Neo-Piagetian Research Literature.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Investigations of Piagetian Concept Performances during the Aging Years.- 2.1. Infralogical Abilities in the Elderly.- 2.2. Logical Abilities in the Elderly.- 2.2.1. Concrete Operations Abilities.- 2.2.2. Formal Operational Abilities.- 2.3. Studies of Animistic and Egocentric Thought.- 2.3.1. Animism.- 2.3.2. Egocentrism.- 2.4. Training Logical Operations in Old Age.- 3. Discussion.- 3.1. Factors Which May Influence the Performance of Aged Individuals.- 3.1.1. Neurological Intactness and Piagetian Task Performance.- 3.1.2. Social-Interaction Factors and the Role of Institutionalization.- 3.1.3. The Role of Formal Educational Factors.- 3.1.4. The Relationship of Logical-Concept Proficiency to Other Intelligence Measures.- 3.2. Methodological Issues.- 4. Conclusions.- References.