piaget's stages of intellectual development Flashcards
what age is the sensorimotor stage?
approximately 0-2 years
what is a baby’s early focus on in the sensorimotor stage?
physical sensations + development of basic physical co-ordination
what is object permanence?
the ability to realise that an object still exists event when it passes out of view
how did Piaget research object permanence?
~ he hid a toy under a blanket + observed the age at which children began to reach for the toy
~ children under 8 months immediately switched attention when the object was hidden (as they thought it no longer existed)
at what age did Piaget find that object permanence develops?
8 months
what did Bower + Wishart suggest as counter-evidence to Piaget’s research into object permanence?
they suggested that babies may have been distracted by the cloth in Piaget’s study, making findings unreliable
what were Bower + Wishart’s findings?
they found that infants aged 1-4 months continued to reach for an object for up to 90 seconds after the lights went out - therefore they suggested that object permanence may occur at a much younger age than Piaget first thought
what age is the pre-operational stage?
approximately 2-7 years
what is conservation?
the ability to realise that quantity remains constant even when appearance of objects changes
how did Piaget research conservation?
~ he placed 2 rows of 8 identical counters side-by-side
~ at this point, children recognised that each row had the same number of counters
what were Piaget’s findings for his research into conservation?
when the counters in one of the rows were pushed closer together, pre-operational children struggled to conserve + usually said that there were fewer counters in that row
what did McGarrigle + Donaldson suggest as counter-evidence for Piaget’s research into conservation?
they said that children may have been put off by the researcher deliberately moving the counters
what were McGarrigle + Donaldson’s procedure + findings?
~ they replicated Piaget’s study, but made the counters move ‘accidentally’
~ a ‘naughty teddy’ appeared + knocked the counters out of place, rather than them being deliberately moved by the researcher
~ 72% now said that there were the same number of counters as before
what is egocentrism?
a child’s tendency to only see the world from their own POV
what were Piaget’s procedure + findings for his research into egocentrism?
~ children were shown 3 model mountains, each with a different feature (e.g. cross/house/snow)
~ a doll was placed next to the model so that it faced the scenes from a different angle to the child
~ the child was asked to choose what the doll would see from a range of photos - children tended to choose the photo with their own POV
what were Donaldson’s procedure + findings as counter-evidence to Piaget’s research into egocentrism?
~ Donaldson used a model with 2 intersecting walls + 3 dolls (1 boy + 2 police officers)
~ children were asked to position the boy where police officers couldn’t see him
~ 3.5 year olds could do this 90% of the time with 1 police officer
~ 4 year olds could do this 90% of the time with 2 police officers
what is class inclusion?
the idea that all objects fall into categories
what were Piaget’s procedure + findings for his research into class inclusion?
~ he showed 7-8 year olds pictures of 5 dogs + 2 cats and asked ‘Are there more dogs or animals?’
~ children tended to respond that there were more dogs
~ shows that younger children can’t see simultaneously that dogs are a member of both ‘dog class’ + ‘animal class’
what were the procedure + findings for the counter-evidence to Piaget’s research into class inclusion?
~ Siegler + Svetina gave 100 5-year-olds 10 class inclusion tasks, receiving an explanation of the task after each session
~ in one condition, they said there must be more animals as there were 9 animals but only 6 dogs
~ another condition said there must be more animals as dogs are a subset of animals
~ this shows that some children under 7 are capable of understanding class inclusion
what age is the concrete operations stage?
approximately 7-11 years
how are children’s reasoning abilities during the concrete operations stage?
reasoning abilities can only be applied to physical objects in child’s presence, as they still struggle to imagine objects/situations they cannot see
what was Schaffer’s procedure + findings for his research into concrete operations?
~ Schaffer asked children ‘If you had a 3rd eye, where would you put it + why?’
~ most 9-year-olds chose forehead because that’s where your eyes are, showing that they could not think beyond concrete reality
what is one counterpoint to the concrete operations stage?
many children can use logical abstract thinking in their schoolwork towards the end of primary school, long before they apply it to life situations
what age is the formal operations stage?
approximately 11+ years
how are children’s reasoning abilities during the formal operations stage?
children become able to focus on the ‘form’ of an argument + not be distracted by its content
what was Smith’s procedure + findings for his research into formal operations?
~ he asked children ‘All yellow cats have 2 heads. I have a yellow cat called Charlie. How many heads does Charlie have?’
~ he found that children became distracted by the content + reasoned that cats don’t actually have 2 heads
how did Bradmetz provide counter-evidence to Smith’s research into formal operations?
he showed that at age 15 only one participant could reliably show formal reasoning
