cognition and development - piagets stages evaluation

Question 1

strength of object permanence - (supporting evidence)

also supporting research for sensorimotor stage

Answer 1

Piaget found that object permanence develops around 8 months. He hid an object under a cloth and observed whether children would continue to reach for the object. Before 8 months, the children immediately switched their attention away but after 8 months, they continued to reach for it suggesting they understood it still existed.

Question 2

supporting research for pre-operational stage and conservation

Answer 2

Piaget showed children two rows of counters and asked them to confirm they were the same.

spaced out one row of counters and asked if they were still the same

Pre-operational children often said they were no longer the same which demonstrated that they could not conserve

Question 3

strength for egocentrism

Answer 3

Piaget and Inhelder (1952) showed children a model of three mountains and placed a doll at a different viewing angle to the child. They then asked children to identify the dolls’ view from a set of pictures. Pre-operational children were not able to do this.

Question 4

supporting research for class inclusion + preoperational stage

Answer 4

showed 7-8-year-olds pictures of five dogs and two cats and asked whether there were more dogs or animals in the picture.

Children at this stage tended to say there were more dogs

> could not simultaneously see a dog as a member of the dog class and the animal class. 

Question 5

supporting research for syllogistic reasoning + concrete operations stage

Answer 5

smith et al
children younger than age in concrete operations stage
“how many heads a yellow cat has if all yellow cats have two heads?”
children answered with 1 when actually it is 2
distracted by content

Question 6

what is a limitation of piagets stages (wrong age for object permanance)

Answer 6

Object permanence may occur at a much younger age than Piaget theorised.

Bower and Wishart (1972) found that infants aged 1 to 4 months continued to reach for an object for up to 90 seconds after the lights were turned out.
The baby may have been distracted by the cloth in Piaget’s original study - so did not continue to reach

This reduces the validity of Piaget’s work.

Question 7

limitation of piagets stages (abilities underestimated)

Answer 7

pre operational stage - ability underestimated

McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) found that children aged 4 to 6 could conserve,

If the counters were moved accidentally by a ‘naughty teddy’ then 72% of children under 7 correctly said the number was the same as before.

piaget original study - hearing two questions from the researcher prompted them to change their original answer
therefore lacked validity

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Question 8

limitation of piagets stages (abilities underestimated)

Answer 8

pre operational stage - ability underestimated

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Question 9

limitatation of piagets stages (evidence against when egocentrism starts)

Answer 9

There is evidence to suggest egocentrism can occur before 7 years old.

Hughes (1975) showed children a model with four walls in a cross layout. The model contained two dolls – a boy and a policeman. The policeman doll was placed at different locations and the children were asked to say whether the policeman could see the boy doll.

90% of 3½ to 5-year-olds could understand two viewpoints at the same time.
contradicts Piaget’s claim that children could not understand another person’s viewpoint at this age.

Question 10

limitation of piagets stages (abilities underestimated)

Answer 10

pre operational stage - ability underestimated

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