Piaget's stages of cognitive development Flashcards
What is cognitive development?
The development of all mental processes- particularly our thinking, understanding and reasoning skills.
This development continues throughout lifetime, but special focus is paid to what happens to our development during childhood.
What did Jean Piaget do?
Created his theory of cognitive development.
He argued that children simply do not know less than adults but the way in which they think is entirely different to adults.
He divided childhood into stages- each stage represents a new development in skill.
What is a schema?
A package of knowledge/beliefs on objects/places/people etc.
This develops through experience starting off very basic and becomes more detailed based on experiences we go through. They also act as shortcuts to help us process the world around us more quickly.
What did Piaget believe about schemas?
Piaget stated children are born with few schema, just enough to interact with the world/others around them.
From infancy, schema begin to develop e.g. the “me-schema”- what a child knows about themselves.
As schema develop with age, they also link to more abstract concepts such as justice/morality.
What is the key idea behind Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
The motivation to learn
What does Piaget believe about the motivation to learn?
He believes we are pushed to learn when our existing schema don’t allow us to make sense of something new. This causes us to feel “disequilibrium”- this is an unpleasant sensation. To limit this, we have to adapt to the new situation by exploring/developing our understanding. When we do this we experience “equilibration”- our preferred state.
What is assimilation?
A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information/more advanced understanding of an object, person or idea. When understanding doesn’t radically change our understanding of something we incorporate (assimilate) it into our existing schema.
What are the two processes that take place when we are adapting to a new situation so we understand it?
Assimilation and accommodation.
What is accommodation?
A form of learning that occurs when we acquire new information that changes our understanding of a topic to the extent to which we need to form a new one or drastically change the existing schema.
How does assimilation and accommodation link to equilibrium?
When either we experience assimilation or accommodation, that feeling that either of those two processes have caused e.g. disequilibrium disappears. We feel balanced again (in a state of equilibration) and have escaped the discomfort that lack of balance has caused.
What is the order of these processes?
Assimilation
Equilibrium
New situation
Disequilibrium
Accommodation
What is a strength of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
What are the limitations of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
