piaget’s stages of intellectual development Flashcards
What is Piagets stages of intellectual development?
The role of experience, children gradually becoming capable of different levels of thinking passing through stages of development. A set of stages characterised by a different level of reasoning ablilty
What is the sensori-motor stage?
Begins from 0-2 years, where the child’s understanding of the roof is directly through senses and movement. Only thinks about objects/people it can sense, and objects they can manipulate
What is object permanence?
• the ability to understand that an object still exists even though it can no longer be seen, develops around 8 months
When does the object permanence occur?
During the sensorimotor stage
The blanket and ball study is research evidence for
Object permanence
Outline the blanket and ball study
• Aim was to investigate what age children acquire object permanence
• hid a toy under blanket and observed whether or not the child was searching for the hidden toy
• if they were - that was a sign of object permanence, assumed that the child had a mental representation of it
Findings of the Blanket and Ball study
Found that infants searched for hidden toy when they were 8 months old
Concluded that children around 8 months have object permanence because they were able to form a mental representation of object in their mind
What is the pre-operational stage?
Occurs around 2-7 years of age, thinking about things symbolically so have the ability to link words and objects together.
Egocentrism
What do the children lack in the pre operational stage?
Conservation
What is conservation?
Understanding that something stays in quantify even though it’s appearance changes
Example of conservation
Around 7 years, children can conserve liquid because they understand that when water is poured into a different shaped glass, the quantity of liquid remains the same, even though its appearance has changed. So at the pre operational stage, they lack conservation because they haven’t developed logical mental rules
Egocentrism
Children see the world from their own perspective, unaware of others perspective
What research supports egocentrism?
Three mountain experiment
Three mountain experiment
Child seated on one side of a mountain scenery model, while a doll is seated on opposite side
Shown a series of pictures of mountain scenery and was asked to select one that corresponded most closely to what they would see
Findings of the three mountain experiment
Children in the pre-operations stage tended to choose picture that was most like the view they could see, evidence that the children were egocentric
The third stage of the intellectual development
The concrete operations stage, occurs between 7-11
What is the concrete operations stage
Can think logically but only about the physical objects they can see
Can demonstrate conservation
Struggle to think about abstract ideas and to imagine objects and situations they can’t see
Can’t work things out internally in their head
What is the last stage of intellectual development?
The formal operations stage - occurs 11+
What is the formal operations stage?
Children are able to think hypothermia and consider abstract ideas
Able to focus on the form of an argument rather than being distracted by its content
Develops moral reasoning
What’s a limitation of piagets theory?
Culturally biased
as his “abstract ideas” is due to his European background values where other cultures may place greater values on concrete operational abilities such as producing things.
Therefore brings issue of culture, as piagets theory may not be universally applicable
What’s a strength of piaget’s theory?
Can be applied to education
Like abstract mathematical calculations are difficult to teach pre operational children
Concepts can only be taught when children are “biologically ready”
If true, suggests that school curriculum needs to be amended to ensure children get suitable education
Final evaluation: A limitation of piagets theory is?
There’s evidence to suggest that Piaget may have underestimated pre operational children’s abilities
Evidence suggesting that Piaget underestimated….
For example, piagets methods has been criticised for confusing young children, eventually suffering from demand characteristics
Hughes et al - conducted a study where children were told to hide a doll so police couldn’t see him.
• Found that children who were age 3 and 1/2 could complete the task with one officer 90% of time
• 4 y/o could only do this when there are 2 officers
Suggests that Piaget’s methodology minimises children who were in the pre operational stage abilities
