Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Flashcards
Who is Jean Piaget?
developmental psychologist
known for his research on children’s cognitive development
created a theory that described the stages that children pass through in the development of intelligence and formal thought processes
the idea that children think differently than adults and his research identified several important milestones in the mental development of children
What is the Sensorimotor Stage?
birth - 2 yrs
children utilize skills and abilities they were born with:
-looking, sucking, grasping, and listening
children know the world primarily through their senses and motor movements.
***development of object permanence
What is the Pre-operational Stage?
2 - 7 yrs
the emergence of symbolic play; role playing
*** development of language
egocentrism - inability to understand that another person’s view or opinion may be different than their own
What is the Concrete Operational Stage?
7 - 11 yrs
learn the idea of conservation
logical thought emerges but children still struggle with abstract and theoretical thinking
What is the Formal Operations Stage?
12 - adulthood
children become much more adept at abstract thought and deductive reasoning
deductive logic
abstract thinking
problem solving
moral reasoning
What are schemas?
cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information
What is accommodation?
When experiences introduce new information or information that conflicts with existing schemas, you must accommodate this new learning in order to ensure that what’s inside your head conforms to what’s outside in the real world
involves actually changing your existing knowledge of a topic
What is assimilation?
keeping your existing knowledge and schemas intact and simply finding a place to store this new information. It’s like buying a new book and finding a place to keep it on your bookshelves.
