Piaget's theory of cognitive development Flashcards
Cognitive development
the development of thinking and reasoning skills
Piaget suggests that children move through four stages of intellectual development
Schemas
mental ideas about objects, actions and situations
Assimilation
apply an existing schema to a new object or situation
Accommodation
altering a schema as a result of an experience
Equilibrium
mental state that occurs when existing schemas can deal with new information through assimilation.
Disequilibrium
mental state that occurs when objects and experiences cannot be assimilated
Equilibration
balance achieved between using existing schemas to assimilate new information and accommodating schemas that do not work
Sensimotor stage
Age: birth to 2
Children gather information about their senses and actions.
Simple motor reflexes such as grasping and sucking.
Main task: lack of object permanence - the understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight
Study:
He took a toy from a child’s hand and hid it beneath a blanket. If the child looked for it it would suggest that they know it still exists.
Children under 8 months looked for it but those 8 months and over searched for it but at the last place they found it rather than at the last place they saw it.
This indicates simple object permanence.
Limitations:
Other possible explanations- infants may not have searched for the toy as they did not have motor skills to do so or were just not interested in finding it.
Contradicted by a study where researcher turned off and observed a child with infrared cameras. They found that children continue reaching for objects in the dark.
Preoperational stage
Age: 2-7 years
Children recognize symbolism and that one thing stands for another
Main task: egocentric - don’t understand that people have a different point of view than they do.
Study:
3D mountain model
The doll was placed in various positions around the mountain
Images were shown to the children and they have to choose what they thought the doll could see from their position
Children at the middle of the stage tended to choose to their own view where as 7-8 year olds they began to lose this egocentric trait
Limitations:
The children may have found it difficult to analyze the pictures and may recognize that the doll sees a different view but could not tell which
They may have felt a lack of interest as it is irrelevant and unfamiliar to their everyday life
Concrete operational stage
Age: 7-11 years
Main task: conservation - the understanding that a liquid substance stays the same amount despite its change of appearance caused by the container
Study:
Aim: to see the age at which children can conserve volume
Showed them 2 identical beakers and asked them which contained more water
The water from one beaker was poured into a third taller and thinner beaker
They were asked which had more water
Most children under 7 said that the 3rd beaker had more, showing a lack of understanding for conservation of volume
Limitation:
Demand characteristics- children may have assumed that he was expecting a different answer as he poured it in a different beaker
Their language skills may be different. May have interpreted “more” as higher or fuller.
Formal operational stage
Age:12 and up
Main task: abstract thoughts and reasoning, moral reasoning
Limitation:
Few adults demonstrate the thinking required for scientific reasoning
