Piaget Flashcards
What are Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development?
Sensori motor stage (0-2 years)
Pre-operational stage (2-7 years)
Concrete operational stage (7-11 years)
Formal operational stage (11-18 years)
What are the main features of the sensori motor stage?
- The infant only knows the world through their immediate senses.
- Infants invent ways to problem solve by opening/closing and moving objects.
- At 8 months babies begin understanding object permanence
What is object permanence?
The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can’t be seen.
What are the main features of the pre-operational stage?
- Symbol function develops - play is main imaginative using objects in
representational ways eg. Stick becomes gun/sword - Children believe objects are real - Animism
- Symbolic thinking occurs
- Children are egocentric
What is symbolic thinking?
When children begin to use words and images to represent objects and ideas.
Eg. Pretend play, imaginative play
What is egocentrism?
Only being able to see things from their own point of view. Children cannot decentre - see things from other perspectives.
Explain the egocentrism test
Adult and a child sit either side of a mountain range model. The adult asks the child what they can see on their side eg. Tree, goat. Then they swap seats and the adult asks what the child can see now eg owl. Then the adult asks the child what can the adult see but the child repeats what they see eg. owl.
What does the egocentrism test show?
The mountain range test shows a child in the pre-operational stage is unable to centrate and is still egocentric. At ages 8+ a child can centrate.
What is conservation?
Children can’t appreciate that things may stay the same even if there appearance changes.
What are Piaget’s conservation tests.
Volume and beakers:
A short thick glass can hold the same amount of liquid as a tall thin glass.
Mass and balls of clay:
A round ball of clay can be the same amount as a squished ball.
Explain the concrete operational stage
- Children become more independent and use practical resources to understand the world eg. use counters in maths
- Children now use logic to understand - concrete logical thinking
- Children become less egocentric - they understand their thoughts are unique to them. Everyone can have individual thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
What is concrete logical thinking?
Children can think logically applying facts and justify.
Explain the formal operational stage?
- Young people now have the capacity for abstract thought and problem solving.
- Moral development occurs - learning right from wrong.
- Ideas are now reasoned and can be thought about through verbal statements.
- Consequences are now considered
What is a schema?
A schema is a category of knowledge as well as a process of acquiring new skills.
What are Piaget’s stages of intellectual development?
Assimilation, Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, Accommodation
What is assimilation?
The child constructs a theory or schema with new information.
What is equilibrium?
The childs experiences to date seem to fit the schema. Everything “adds up”.
What is disequilibrium?
An experience occurs that casts doubt on the effectiveness the schema. Things don’t “add up” anymore.
What is accommodation?
The child changes the original schema to fit the new experience.
