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Broad categories covered:		Theory base:		Pedagogical stance:
•	productive thinking	•	psychometry	• none noted
•	building understanding	•	cognitive psychology
•	information-gathering
Classification by:		Values:		Practical illustrations
•	level of generality	•	conscious processes	for teachers:
	of the cognitive ability		in the individual	• none
•	factor structure	•	empiricism

Demetriou’s integrated developmental model of the mind

Description and intended use

Demetriou and his colleagues set out to validate through empirical research an integrated developmental model of the mind, first outlined in 1985 (Demetriou and Efklides, 1985) and further developed by Demetriou (1993) and Demetriou, Efklides and Platsidou (1993). In addition to a series of cross-sectional studies (reported in Demetriou and Kazi, 2001), they carried out a longitudinal study in which specially devised assessments were regularly administered over a three-year period (reported by Demetriou, Christou, Spanoudis and Platsidou, 2002). Demetriou and Kazi also developed and researched an integrated model of the mind and personality, showing that personality is closely associated with cognition and interacts with it at the levels of self-representation, executive functioning and action/reaction. Here we shall focus on Demetriou’s general model of the developing mind, while acknowledging that his theorising extends to a dynamic and systemic understanding of intersubjectivity and to the influence of sociocultural contexts on life choices and activities.

Demetriou’s overall aim is to build and validate an overarching theoretical model, thereby ‘laying the ground for integrating the study of intelligence and cognitive functioning with the study of personality and self ’ (Demetriou and Kazi, 2001, p. 218). In pursuit of this primarily academic aim, Demetriou and his colleagues have devised a wide range of assessment tools, which they see as having practical applications in psycho-educational assessment. Demetriou’s mapping of cognition owes much to the psychometric approach of theory-building, test construction and construct validation through

226 Frameworks for Thinking

Fig. 5.2. Demetriou’s general model for the architecture of the developing mind (based on Demetriou et al. 2002, p. 5).

factor analysis and structural equation modelling. He seeks to achieve a theoretical synthesis by incorporating ideas from the three traditions of experimental, differential and developmental psychology.

Demetriou builds his general model of the mind on the three concentric circles shown in figure 5.2, which represent processing capacities, hypercognition and seven specialised capacity spheres (SCSs) which mediate interaction with the external world. The processing capacities (speed of processing, attentional control of processing and working memory) are present in all thinking and have a major influence on general problem-solving (or psychometric g). Hypercognition (meaning the supervision and co-ordination of cognition) is conceived as being an interface between mind and reality, between aspects of cognition, and between processing capacities and the SCSs. Its working and long-term functions are summarised in figure 5.3. The

Cognitive structure and/or development	227

Fig. 5.3. Demetriou’s model of working memory (based on Demetriou et al. 2002, p. 8).

seven domain-specific SCSs (also shown in figure 5.3) are close to the cognitive abilities identified by Carroll (1993) and Gardner (1983; 1993), as well as to Kant’s ‘categories of reason’. Each SCS is symbolically based and is to some degree autonomous. The seven SCSs cover the following types of thinking: categorical; quantitative; causal-experimental; spatial-imaginal; verbal-propositional; socialinterpersonal; drawing-pictographic.

Development of thinking and problem-solving within each SCS is influenced through the combined influence of constitutional, sociocultural and experiential factors, and inconsistent performance at the transition zones between levels is very common. Equally, development is very often uneven across domains. Nonetheless, there are important generic influences at work, involving processing efficiency, working memory, self-awareness and self-regulation. The four developmental stages identified in figure 5.2 are essentially those of Piaget (1950): sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational. Possible factors which influence developmental changes and

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mechanisms which enable them are discussed by Demetriou and Raftopoulos (1999).

For Demetriou, working memory ‘refers to the processes enabling a person to hold information in an active state while integrating it with other information until the current problem is solved’ (Demetriou et al., 2002, p. 7). This is a key concept, since the relevant information may come from at least three main sources, as shown in figure 5.3. It may come from the SCSs, which ‘contain’ rules, operations, skills concepts and beliefs; from specialised short-term storage buffers; and from the hypercognitive system.

The hypercognitive system is described as having an active selfknowing component (working hypercognition) and a self-descriptive component (long-term hypercognition). Working hypercognition (the efficiency of which depends on the processing capacities described above) is concerned with organising, monitoring and evaluating the responses and performances of the self and of others, while long-term hypercognition incorporates a model of the mind, a general model of intelligence and self-image. Working hypercognition ‘is responsible for the management of the processing system’ and ‘carries over to the processing system, so to speak, both the person’s personhood and the person’s more general views about the mind’ (Demetriou and Raftopoulos, 1999, pp. 328–329).

Evaluation

The quantity and quality of the research undertaken by Demetriou and his colleagues is truly impressive, and empirical support for his models has steadily accumulated. Demetriou is well aware of the limitations of factor analysis and structural equation modelling, but has used other methods, such as comparing means, and has triangulated test performance with self-reports and parental ratings. His model has more solid empirical support than any others we have encountered.

Support for Demetriou’s ideas comes from a wide range of sources. His treatment of cognitive abilities has affinities with Carroll’s threestratum theory (Carroll, 1993), Sternberg’s triarchic theory (Sternberg, 1985) and Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory (Gardner, 1983; 1993)

– although Demetriou has not yet found room for the musical and kinaesthetic domains. His model of working memory incorporates

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and extends that of Baddeley and Hitch (1974). Demetriou presents a richer account of metacognition and self-regulation than many authors. Like Marzano (1998) he distinguishes between cognitive, metacognitive (termed ‘hypercognitive’ by Demetriou) and self systems (‘self-representation’ for Demetriou). Demetriou’s theory is the more ambitious and complex of the two, as it has parallel interacting structures for cognition and personality (for example interacting mental representations of general cognitive efficiency and general selfworth). Demetriou also adopts a more systemic approach, specifically addressing interpersonal, situational and developmental contexts.

While Demetriou provides a general account of problem-solving, he has relatively little to say about either critical or creative thinking. Neither has he explicitly illustrated how the self-regulatory functions of hypercognition might operate in the management of motivation and affect. Pintrich’s general framework for self-regulated learning (Pintrich, 2000) is more detailed here, as it specifies four areas for regulation.

Although no simple set of dimensions and categories can do full justice to the complexities of human thought and action, Demetriou has succeeded in bringing together theories from diverse sources, in identifying their philosophical and psychological ancestries and in generating a substantial amount of supportive evidence. Throughout, his stance is that thinking and learning exhibit both general patterns and individual differences. Some patterns (including core features in the domains of thought) relect ‘hard-wired’ characteristics, while individual differences usually reflect complex systemic interactions and personal constructions of meaning.

The task facing educators is be sensitive to how others understand their own minds and personalities and to facilitate the developmental process at all levels both within and across domains. For this to happen, more is required than a rather complex model which incorporates some unfamilar theoretical constructs. It is difficult, due to its complexity, to see how practitioners will be able to use Demetriou’s model to plan for and mediate teaching, learning and assessment without considerable and extended support. However, to start the ball rolling, Demetriou has outlined the basic principles of his model and its implications for instruction and assessment (Demetriou, 1998b).

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Summary: Demetriou

				Relevance for teachers
Purpose and structure		Some key features		and learning
Main purpose(s):		Terminology:		Intended audience:
•	to achieve a unified	•	assumes familiarity	•	designers of
	theory of the mind		with cognitive		assessment
•	to provide a new		psychology	•	theorists and
	model of working	•	Demetriou uses		researchers
	memory		the term
•	to provide empirical		hypercognition
	support for these		instead of
	models		metacognition
Domains addressed:		Intended audience:		Contexts:
•	cognitive	•	not an easy read,	•	life in general,
•	conative		as the claims are		especially during
•	affective		supported in detail		the school years
			by statistical analyses
Broad categories covered:		Theory base:		Pedagogical stance:
•	self-engagement	•	Kantian philosophy	•	for transfer,
•	reflective thinking	•	developmental		teachers should
•	productive thinking		psychology (especially		encourage
•	building understanding		Piaget and		domain-general
•	information-gathering		neo-Piagetian		learning at a
			theories)		metacognitive level
		•	cognitive psychology
		•	psychometry
		•	‘constrained
			constructivism’
Classification by:		Values:		Practical
•	structural features	•	empirical	illustrations
	and functions of the	•	open-minded about	for teachers:
	mind		the interplay of nature,	•	the importance of
•	domain of thought		nurture and culture		working memory,
•	developmental level				speed of processing
					and cognitive
					complexity are well
					illustrated