Cognition and development - Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Question 1

What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

Answer 1

• Piaget suggests that the development of cognition depends on a process of active discovery, this is the child performing actions on the world and developing schemas as a result of these actions
• This theory is referred to as the “Child as scientist”

Question 2

What are schemas?

Answer 2

• Schemas are packages of mental information/knowledge formed from experience
• When we gain new information about the world that doesn’t fit our existing schema we are in a state of disequilibrium, this is unpleasant and in order to return to equilibrium we need to either use assimilation or accommodation

Question 3

What is assimilation?

Answer 3

-Assimilation is when new information is added to an existing schema

Question 4

What is accommodation

Answer 4

-Accommodation is when existing schemas are adapted to fit the new information or when new schemas are formed

Question 5

What are Piaget’s stages of intellectual development?

Answer 5

-Piaget suggested that all children passed through biologically determined stages of intellectual development which could be identified by cognitive abilities such as: Object permanence, conservation, egocentrism and class inclusion

Question 6

What is object permanence?

Answer 6

-When an infant has an understanding that an object still exists even when it is hidden from their view

Question 7

What is conservation?

Answer 7

• When an infant has an understanding that the quantity of an item/group is the same despite changes in appearance
• For example: If an object is closer to you then it appears bigger than it is, but the size of the object is not actually bigger

Question 8

What is egocentrism?

Answer 8

-When an infant has an inability to imagine the world from another persons perspective

Question 9

What is class inclusion?

Answer 9

• When an infant has an understanding that categories of objects have subsets
• For example: Big cats (Superordinate group) and tigers are a subset of this group (Part of the subordinate group)

Question 10

What are Piaget’s stages of intellectual development?

Answer 10

• Stage 1: Sensorimotor (Birth-2 Years)
• Stage 2: Pre-operational (2-7 years)
• Stage 3: Concrete operational (7-11 Years)
• Stage 4: Formal operational (11+ Years)

Question 11

What is the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 11

• When the infant learns about the world from them first performing instinctual reflexes, to intentional actions, they then start to construct mental representations of objects (Schemas)
• The infant develops object permanence

Question 12

What is the pre-operational stage?

Answer 12

• When the infant starts to talk, however they are unable to use logic effectively so they struggle with conservation and class inclusion tasks
• The infant is still egocentric

Question 13

What is the concrete operational stage?

Answer 13

• When the infant can perform a mental set of logical thoughts (An operation), but only on objects or events they can see (Concrete)
• The infant has a better performance at conservation, egocentrism and class inclusion tasks

Question 14

What is the formal operational stage?

Answer 14

-When the infant is able to use and understand abstract logic and they are capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning

Question 15

How does Piaget’s research support the theory of object permanence?

Answer 15

• Piaget allowed children to play with a toy ball which he then covered with a blanket
• The findings showed that children under 8 months wouldn’t search for the toy but children over 8 months would search for the toy
• This demonstrates that the older children realised that the ball still existed
• This supports Piaget’s stages of intellectual development as it shows infants in the sensorimotor stage start to develop object permanence

Question 16

How does Piaget and Inhelder’s research support the theory of egocentrism?

Answer 16

• Piaget and Inhelder sat children in front of a model of three mountains, each was unique (Snowy, with a cross and with a hut)
• A doll was then placed on the opposite side of the mountains
• The findings showed that children older than 7 could “Decenter” and pick the correct image that showed the dolls view
• However the findings also showed that younger children could not decenter as they were unable to pick the correct image that showed the dolls view

Question 17

How does Piaget’s research support the theory of conservation?

Answer 17

• The “Beaker conservation task” was conducted
• Water was moved from one of two identical beakers to a thinner and taller beaker
• 7 year olds failed in conservation (Saying there was now more water in the new beaker)

Question 18

What is a strength of research conducted by Piaget?

Answer 18

• Piaget’s research has significant implications for educational practice
• For example: There may be little use in role play before children are able to decenter (Before they are no longer egocentric)
• Also when to teach different aspects of mathematics is dependant on the intellectual stage that the infants would be in

Question 19

What is a weakness of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

Answer 19

• Evidence suggests that Piaget may have underestimated the cognitive abilities of children
• For example: McGarrigle and Donaldson found that after using a “Naughty teddy” to move counters, children were far more likely to conserve and correctly that there were the same number of counters

Question 20

What is a weakness of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

Answer 20

• Much of the research in this area assumes that a lack of ability equals a lack of understanding
• This is an inference and it may be that children are simply unable to communicate effectively, or they may have misunderstood the nature of the tasks presented