Lecture 2/3 - Piaget

Question 1

Who created the first theory of cognitive development?

Answer 1

Jean Piaget

Question 2

Who was Piaget?

Answer 2

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and credited as the first person to propose cognitive development theory and considered to be the major figure in 20th-century developmental psychology.

Question 3

Describe the early life of Piaget

Answer 3

During early life Piaget was interested in zoology and philosophy with several of his publications on molluscs had gained him a reputation among European zoologists. After receiving his doctorate in zoology and philosophy he became interested in psychology, gaining immediate interest in (genetic) epistemology.

Question 4

Piaget’s change of interests

Answer 4

He first went to Zurich for a period he worked at Bleuler’s psychiatric clinic where he became interested in psychoanalysis. He then left for Paris in 1919 where he studied clinical psychology. In Paris Piaget worked with Binet creating the first standardised IQ tests to measure an individual’s intelligence and detect any cognitive impairment or developmental issues. During which, Piaget noticed that children’s thinking was different from adult thinking and that children of similar ages make similar mistakes. This helped to formulate his proposed theory of cognitive development occurs through stages (discontinuous).

Question 5

Piaget was a constructivist, explain what this meant

Answer 5

Piaget was a constructivist, he believed people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences, children act as active agents in their own development. This went against the commonly held view at the time that children are just ‘small’ adults and think in the same way. This assumption originated from the dominant schools of thought at the time, behaviourism and psychoanalysis, who saw children as passive in their own development.

Question 6

What are schemas in relation to cognitive development?

Answer 6

• Schemas are cognitive frameworks that help us to organise and interpret information. They are developed through experience and can affect our cognitive processing. In terms of cognition & development, Piaget viewed schemas as the basic unit or building block of intelligent behaviour. He described them as mental structures that help to organise past experiences and provide a way of understanding future experiences. For Piaget, a schema can be a physical action or skill, an idea, or a piece of knowledge.

Question 7

What is assimilation?

Answer 7

A cognitive process that manages how we take in new information and incorporate that new information into our existing knowledge. For example, when a young child learns the word dog for the family pet, he eventually begins to identify every similar-looking canine as a dog. The child has extended his learning, or assimilated, the concept of dog to include all similar 4-footed friends.

Question 8

What is accommodation?

Answer 8

Occurs when new information or experiences cause you to modify your existing schemas. Rather than make the new information fit into an existing schema, you change the schema in order to accommodate the new information. For example, a child learns that not all 4 footed animals are dogs and so alters schema accordingly.

Question 9

Explain equilibrium and disequilibrium

Answer 9

Equilibrium is a state of balance between individuals’ mental schemata, or frameworks, and their environment. Such balance occurs when their expectations, based on prior knowledge, fit with new knowledge. Disequilibrium is when individuals encounter new discrepant information, they enter into a state of disequilibrium.

Individuals naturally seek equilibrium because disequilibrium, which is a mismatch between one’s way of thinking and one’s environment, is inherently dissatisfying. Individuals naturally seek equilibrium because disequilibrium, which is a mismatch between one’s way of thinking and one’s environment, is inherently dissatisfying.

Question 10

Detail Piaget’s stage theory

Answer 10

Piaget considered intellectual development to be a continuous process of assimilation and accommodation. There are 4 stages (discontinuous) of development which he identified with no sharp dividing line between each. The order of stages is the same for all children, but the ages at which they are achieved may vary from one child to another (age ranges are approximate – individual differences). Piaget believed these stages are invariable and universal.

Question 11

Describe the sensori-motor stage (0-2)

Answer 11

The infant knows about the world through actions and sensory information. Infants learn to differentiate themselves from the environment, begin to understand causality in time and space, and develop the capacity to form internal mental representations. Infants begin to act intentionally on the world (helplessness at birth) and show means-ends problem solving

Question 12

Describe the pre-operational stage (2-7)

Answer 12

Through the symbolic use of language and intuitive problem solving, the child begins to understand about the classification of objects. Thinking is characterised by egocentrism, children focus on just one task at a time (centration) and lack operations like compensation and reversability. Children become imaginative in play and begin to display animism (often complex). Children tend to over-generalise based on limited experience and have problems with class inclusion.

Question 13

Describe the concrete operational stage (7-12)

Answer 13

Children understand conversion of mass, length, weight and volume (last to comprehend), and can more easily take the perspective of others; can classify and order, as well as organise objects into series. A child understands that the properties of materials stay the same even when altered, conservation. The child is still tied to the immediate experience, but within these limitations can perform logical mental operations

Question 14

Describe the formal operational stage (12+)

Answer 14

Abstract reasoning begins. Children can now manipulate ideas; can speculate about the possible; can reason deductively and formulate and test hypotheses. Children show decentration – they are able to mentally pull away from a focus on one thing

Question 15

What are the 6 substages of the sensori-motor stage?

Answer 15

reflex activity, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, co-ordination of secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions and internal representation

Question 16

Detail the reflex activity substage of the sensori-motor stage (0-1 months)

Answer 16

Infants practise innate reflexes (e.g. sucking, looking). Behaviour is largely but not entirely, assimilative

Question 17

Detail the primary circular reaction substage of the sensori-motor stage (1-4 months)

Answer 17

Behaviour is primary in the sense that it is basically made up of reflexes or motor responses; it is circular in the sense that the child repeats it. Primary-circular reactions centre on the infant’s own body. There appears to be no differentiation between self and outside world

Question 18

Detail the secondary circular reaction substage of the sensori-motor stage (4-10 months)

Answer 18

Infants now focus on objects rather than on their own body. They begin to make interesting things happen (e.g. moving a hanging toy by hitting it). They have begun to change their surroundings intentionally. Object permanence occurs at this stage (around 9 months) in which an understanding of the continuation of objects existence when they cannot be perceived

Question 19

Detail the coordination of secondary circular reactions substage of the sensori-motor stage (10-12 months)

Answer 19

Infants begin to combine schemas to achieve goals, and to solve problems in new situations (e.g. they will use the hitting schema to knock down a barrier between themselves and a toy).

Question 20

Detail the tertiary circular reactions substage of the sensori-motor stage (12-18 months)

Answer 20

Infants actively use trial-and-error methods to learn about objects. Increased mobility enables them to experiment and explore. They learn new ways of solving problems and discover more about the properties of the environment

Question 21

Detail the internal representation substage of the sensori-motor stage (18-24 months)

Answer 21

The beginning of mental action and insightful solutions to problems. Objects and people can be represented symbolically; behaviour can be imitated from previous observations

Question 22

Describe object permanence

Answer 22

The main development during the sensorimotor stage is the understanding that objects exist and events occur in the world independently of one’s own actions (‘the object concept’, or ‘object permanence’). Object permanence means knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object.
For example, if you place a toy under a blanket, the child who has achieved object permanence knows it is there and can actively seek it. At the beginning of this stage the child behaves as if the toy had simply disappeared. The attainment of object permanence generally signals the transition from the sensorimotor stage to the preoperational stage of development.

Question 23

Detail the blanket and ball study

Answer 23

Aim – Piaget (1963) wanted to investigate at what age children acquire object permenance.
Method - Piaget hid a toy under a blanket, while the child was watching, and observed whether or not the child searched for the hidden toy. Searching for the hidden toy was evidence of object permanence. Piaget assumed that the child could only search for a hidden toy if s/he had a mental representation of it.
Results - Piaget found that infants searched for the hidden toy when they were around 8-months-old.
Conclusion - Children around 8 months have object permanence because they are able to form a mental representation of the object in their minds.
Evaluation - Piaget assumed the results of his study occur because the children under 8 months did not understand that the object still existed underneath the blanket (and therefore did not reach for it). However, there are alternative reasons why a child may not search for an object. The child could become distracted or lose interest in the object and therefore lack the motivation to search for it, or simply may not have the physical coordination to carry out the motor movements necessary for the retrieval of the object (Mehler & Dupoux, 1994).

Question 24

What is egocentrism

Answer 24

Piaget pointed out that the preconceptual child is still centred in their own perspective and find it difficult to understand that other people can look at things differently

Question 25

Who conducted the three mountains experiment

Answer 25

Piaget and Inhelder (1956)