Piaget

Question 1

What is the definition of cognition and cognitive developmental theory?

Answer 1

• how we think about things, way we understand our world (attention, memory, language, logic, problem-solving, decision-making)
• theory looks at how our cognition develops over time, doesn’t look at social behaviour

Question 2

What is the structure of cognitions?

Answer 2

• during development we acquire cognitive structures, representations of reality
• they’re how we organise and interpret our experiences
• 2 main structures: mental schemata and concepts
• mental schemata (mental representation of an action which includes the knowledge and experience we’ve acquired relating to that action, at birth only reflexes are available)
• concepts (rules that describe the properties of environmental events and how they relate to other concepts)

Question 3

How do we learn the cognitive structures?

Answer 3

• assimilation: when a schema is adapted to other objects but isn’t changed
• equilibrium: process of adapting schemata without any real change
• disequilibrium: coming across an object for which the existing schema is a poor fit creates a state of disequilibrium
• accommodation: process of changing an existing schema
• equilibration: back and forth between disequilibrium and accommodation

Question 4

What are the 4 stages of cognitive development?

Answer 4

• sensorimotor
• preoperational
• concrete operations
• formal operations
• invariant sequence and stages are universal

Question 5

What occurs in the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 5

• birth-2 years
• rapid progress
• discovery of relations between sensation and motor behaviour, thinking is on a physical level
• development of familiarity with objects through senses and own motor
• major characteristics of object permanence

Question 6

What occurs in the preoperational stage?

Answer 6

• 2/3-6/7 years
• use of symbols to represent objects internally and through language (acquire verbal skills)
• thinking separates from movement and the capacity to think increases greatly in speed, evidence of thinking abstractly
• they’re are egocentric (can’t appreciate others’ perspectives)
• focus on salient aspect of a situation
• rigidity in preoperational thought: lack of reversibility and more focus on appearance than reality

Question 7

What happens in the concrete operations?

Answer 7

• 7-11 years
• mastery of logic and development of rational thinking, increasingly flexible thinking
• theory of mind developed
• understanding of conservation develops (recognition that some properties remain unchanged)
• 3 ways to conserve: compensation, reversibility and identity

Question 8

What occurs in the formal operations stage?

Answer 8

• 11 years onwards
• development of abstract thinking and hypothetical reasoning
• formal, abstract and rational thought
• use of metaphors and analogies
• exploring beliefs, values and philosophies

Question 9

What are the criticisms of the theory?

Answer 9

• under-estimation of ages
• no distinction between performance and competence
• concerns over reliability of using stage theories
• issues with case studies
• difficult to assess how each stage derives from previous
• ethnocentric
• development beyond adolescence
• social context isn’t taken into account

Question 10

What is the scientific impact of the theory?

Answer 10

• highlighted need for studying children’s cognitive development
• emphasised constructivism (contribute to own development, systematically construct understanding of the world)
• instigated research in developmental psychology, cognitive revolution, moral reasoning, primatology and comparative psychology

Question 11

What is the applied impact?

Answer 11

• contributions to education: findings led to more ‘child-centred’ approaches and emphasis on peer interaction
• used extensively today in development of children’s moral reasoning and speciesism and children’s development

Question 12

What are the alternative accounts?

Answer 12

• information processing: processes such as memory, mental capacity and perception are important and it isn’t stage-like
• connectionism: more sophisticated information-processing approach, focuses on how the brain learns through establishing connections, development is often modelled through computer simulation
• Vygotsky: internalisation of social and cultural norms important, language and culture is central to psychological development and human thought, there’s no rigid stages